Trip Leader & Guide
Patrick Colleran
I grew up in Boise, Idaho, and only rode pavement if I was on my way to the mountain bike trails in the foothills near my home. I wasn’t much of a team sports guy unless you count the swim team or the ski team. Once I moved to Missoula, Montana for college I ended up getting a road bike and realized I could ride more than 15 miles at a time. Soon, no destination was too far and I started pushing myself to see what I was capable of. Since 2012 I’ve been blurring the lines between work and play and started guiding bike rides and organizing large charitable events with hundreds of cyclists.
Through the years I’ve been lucky enough to bikepack the Camino de Santiago in Spain with my wife, eat 100 tacos in two weeks on a bike tour through Baja, ride through the heaviest of downpours in Nova Scotia and climb up volcanos in Iceland. At home, the Missoula cycling community pushes me to become faster and stronger by continually smoking me in the local cyclocross and mountain bike races. In my free time when I’m not out riding the trails roads in western Montana, I’ll explore the peaks by backcountry skis and the river bottoms by canoe. My dog has been teaching me to trail run over the past few years and she thinks I’m getting pretty good at it, too. I love getting to ride with people from all over who come to the Cycling House and look forward to sharing more great food and stories with them on and off the bike.
What's the best thing about working at The Cycling House?
Aside from getting to ride in amazing places with awesome people, the best part about working at the Cycling House is it's like the greatest hits album of every job I've ever loved but eventually got sick of. At the Cycling House I still get to do the best parts of those jobs but don't have to relive the worst parts.
For example:
-Barista: I love making coffee and drinking it, but at TCH they don't play polka Christmas music all day for weeks on end.
-Taxi driver: TCH guests always carry good conversations and don't drunkenly make out in the back seat when you're trying to ask them where they want to go.
-Dishwasher: Daily job at TCH but the chef doesn't throw hot sautee pans at you.
-Pizza Cook: That pizza oven rules and it is outside so you don't feel like you're working in a sauna.
-Hiking guide: For a sunset hike, there's no need to carry a 70lb pack.
Do you have a favorite ride?
Down in Tucson, I love that Saguaro East loop. It feels like the bicycle version of Mario Kart. Though I've seen a banana peel I haven't seen any turtle shells yet. Hopefully, after a few more laps around that track, I'll see a desert tortoise and it will be just like the videogame.
What is the most memorable day you've had on the bike?
Tough question because there are so many to choose from. One that I think about all the time was while on my honeymoon along the coast in France. We had a long and beautiful ride along beaches and high bluffs overlooking the Atlantic ocean. It was getting dark and we still had ten miles to ride to get to our camp for the night. On the side of the road with no buildings for miles, there was a random vending machine that was glowing in the fading light. My wife wasn't stopping until camp and was picking up the pace even though I yelled "look, it's a pizza vending machine, I need some coins!" She crested the hill out of sight and there was nothing I could do to convince her that we needed to turn back to experience such a once-in-a-lifetime coincidence. Someday I'll go back with plenty of coins, it probably is, after all, the best pizza in the world.
