Friends and family of Tim Watkins gathered outside his memorial and a newly established plaque to embark on a bike ride in his honor as the community remains yearning for answers in the unsolved case of the beloved mountain biker seven years after his murder.

“If Tim were here, he’d be blown away,” Vicky Meeker, a friend of Tim Watkins, said to the crowd of cyclists gathered early Saturday afternoon.

“Enjoy the ride today; it’s going to be a little warm.”

Although a boulder and bike frame designed for Watkins before his death has been on display outside the Palmer Lake Library and town hall since 2018, a plaque in his honor was unveiled Saturday.

The metal plate installed on the boulder reads: “Tim Watkins riding in paradise.”

Tim Watkins disappeared in September 2017, after setting off for a ride down one of his favorite trails north of Colorado Springs. Three days later, the 60-year-old’s body was discovered in a shallow grave about 20 feet from that popular Mount Herman route, which snakes through the mountains southwest of Monument.

Although the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office told The Gazette Thursday there were no updates in the case available to the public or the press, friends of Watkins said on Saturday that they had been reinterviewed over the past month.

Meeker said she has spoken to a detective numerous times over the past weeks.

When asked if she knew of any update, she said, “It sounds like there is, and that’s all we can hope for.”

Watkins’ close friend Rob Meeker expressed his frustration with the Sheriff’s Office and their investigation to the crowd gathered Saturday, claiming video footage of a deputy loading Watkins’ bike onto a county vehicle without wearing gloves is evidence of a botched investigation.

“It’s crazy that it’s been seven years. It feels like it was yesterday, and it feels like it was 100 years ago at the same time, ya know?” Rob Meeker said.

“I’m going to speak freely because I don’t care whether the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office believes they are worthless or not, but through that entire experience they were completely worthless and, if anything, I’d say counterproductive.”

Through his frustration, however, Rob Meeker claims to have hope with the recent investigative efforts unfolding over the past summer months.

“The new detective has reached out to me and I’m going to connect with her this week. I’ve been a part of this since the beginning. I feel like she’s doing more than anyone’s done thus far and that does give me a degree of hope.”