'An actual live stream': Boulder's Tube to Work Day returns after pandemic hiatus

Jul. 15—After two years of remote meetings, home offices and isolation, Boulder Creek was once again the site of an in-person commute unlike any other.

"Today's event is an actual live stream," Jeff Kagan shouted to a crowd gathered at Eben G. Fine Park for the return of Tube To Work Day after two years off due the COVID pandemic.

Co-founded by Kagan and Andy Gruel in 2008, Tube To Work Day had grown from two men to a tradition that in the years just before the pandemic would draw more than 1,000 people to Boulder to celebrate the alternative in alternative transportation.

But like so many events, Tube To Work Day was derailed in 2020 and 2021 before returning for its delayed 14th year on Friday. Even with new registration fees and a new cap on participants, Kagan said about 500 people signed up.

"The excitement is coursing through my body like the coursing waters of Boulder Creek," Kagan said. "Just to see this many people gathered again... This is my kind of networking."

For veteran tubers like Chrissy Gedenberg and Kelly McBride, it was a relief to see the event return, a chance to once again pay nothing at the pumps and get in a traffic jam that did not involve state highways.

"I'm so glad it's back," Gedenberg said. "I'm so glad (Kagan) is keeping this alive."

Added McBride, "It's better than Christmas morning."

The return of the event also meant rookies like Kay Davis got to experience the rush of rush hour on Boulder Creek.

"It was so fun, so chaotic just being Plinkoed around," Davis said. "It's the spirit of Boulder."

Haley Berry went to the event in 2019, and couldn't wait for it to come back so she could bring along her coworkers from her company, rule4. Berry and her coworkers all donned ears and tails to match the company's fox mascot.

"We get super into it," Berry said. "We're so excited it's back."

Berry's choice of tube this year was a large and flat boat-shaped tube, mean perhaps more for leisure than rapids.

"A cooler is supposed to go there, but that seemed like a lot," Berry said pointing at a storage area in the front of the tube. "It's a calculated risk. It's gonna happen as it happens."

As usual, the level of "work" tubers engaged in after getting out of the water varied.

"I get to miss a lot of meetings," Jessica McDaniel said as she relaxed in her tube.

But many others did really tube to work, even if in the post-pandemic landscape that meant more people making round trips.

"I walked to tubing," said Michael Green. "And then I tubed to home, which is work."

But Green said he would be taking a break at the breakfast station and dance bash at the first get-out point in downtown Boulder.

"The party is not insignificant," Green said.

For some, the time spent at the party far outlasted their time in the water. Ginger Wolfe and Brett Thrash barely made it past the first rapid before they capsized in a Pegasus-shaped tube that was fit for the Greek gods but less fit for a Class 2 rapid.

"We had some barrel rolls," said Wolfe, who was tubing Boulder Creek for the first time. "We definitely had a crash course."

But as Thrash said, it was all about setting expectations for their first time.

"We wanted to last 60 seconds," he said. "Went went 70."

But other first timers like Thad Daguilh and Nate Johnson adapted to the creek well.

"Thirty seconds in I felt at home," Daguilh said. "A lot of backwards though. I did get a piece of bacon."

Daguilh's feat was especially impressive since he spent the majority of the ride tubing without his hands, which were busy waving two tiny American flags.

"You were committed to that," Johnson noted.

Daguilh said he moved to Boulder in the fall of 2019 just after that year's event. He had heard about Tube To Work Day before, but had to be patient for the chance to participate himself.

"I've been waiting for two and half years," Daguilh said.

So was it worth it?

"Everything you could have hoped for," Johnson said.