This is what a Wildflyer looks like

360 miles

72 laps

51 backers

12 team members

4 sponsors

And a lot of sore legs

Well, Powderhorn 24 was a smashing success! Twelve team members biked a total of 360 miles and raised a total of just over $4,000 to end youth homelessness.

What a night. There were brutal hours spent alone in the saddle. Copious amounts of cold brew consumed to rejuvenate weary bodies. Moments of awe as we pedaled through the city and watched the sunrise after being in the dark all night. There was camaraderie, laughter, naps in the grass, bad jokes, borderline hysteria, and a whole lot of love.

One incredible moment was having our former employee, Aza, on the team. During one lap, he went zooming past with arms spread wide screaming "this is what a Wildflyer looks like." This comment struck me, and my eyes started welling up, whether it was from the incredible emotion of what I was witnessing or sheer exhaustion I couldn't tell.

However, as I pedaled through the city in the dark, early hours of the morning, I reflected on how real his rallying cry was. Wildflyers look like a group of friends committed to ending youth homelessness through unconventional means (how many people do you know who would be crazy enough to ride for 24 hours), it looks like a program graduate who is stable, happy and working a dream job coming back to ride laps so that other youth can have the opportunity he did, it looks like coffee professionals not viewing each other as competition but transcending differences to end injustice in their community.

At that moment, we were all wildflyers, and we were unstoppable.