Not Gold…

If you have ever successfully ridden the Triple Bypass these notes about the day along the way will make you laugh out loud, really!  Fred was riding to the top of Loveland Pass and then back toward Denver.  Caroline and Dee were riding all the way to Avon.  Their impressions are priceless.

Fred to Tom:

I suspect Dee and Caroline made it in fine shape to the end….and Andrew came by to cheer them home???

Thank you for the water!! And great to see you – guess we both are very recognizable….

I did hear the girls yell at me as I went down Loveland pass..they were only about 10-15 min behind me.

Some observations (From Fred)

– ask the girls if they saw a BIG dude – add 30lbs to me – riding a bike with NO SADDLE – probably 3/4 way up Squaw pass road….I rode beside him to make sure my eyes were not off…he was huffing and puffing….grinding it out…

– LAST riders I saw about 2:10 were at the Georgetown (below the lake) rest stop, there were 3 people getting on the sag vans.

– The last ridding riders – were at Silver Plume at 1:47…..on the bike trail there were probably 100-200 people still grinding it out

– Going down that bike path was NO fun – not sure it would ever be fun since you don’t know what is around a corner – could be a deer – in this case just riders on the wrong side. Beautiful path however – I never knew it was there!

– That has to be one of the most expensive bike rides I have been on – I would suspect the AVG cost of a bike is 3-4K…I saw several bikes over $10K – a Pinarello Dogma or a Colnago Super – are in that price range…Ride of the Rockies doesn’t even have that average

– I didn’t like waiting in line to use the potty at Loveland ski area….although I talked to young lady who had no clue as to where the ride was going next (yes I pointed at the riders going up the Loveland pass road) and was wondering whether to wear a coat or not….I think she should have gone to medic tent for hypoxia! Guess she was from out of town.

– The bike path from ID Springs to Floyd hill is open…and oh my oh my…the climb up the back of Floyd was a test of determination

– I-70 on the weekends going west is for the birds!!! – I got to my car at Soda Springs Exit on I-70 at 2:25…traffic was starting to back up there all the way to ID springs tunnels as I saw it from the path, and I had lots of cars on the frontage road down Floyd hill.

– I ended up at 98 miles….obviously not as much work as what the girls put in.

Great riding Dee & Caroline – and great sagging Tom!!!!

Caroline to Fred:

This is Caroline responding to Fred in the car on the way home:

– Fred, you were the talk of Loveland pass!! Everyone around me was like oh my gosh he is hauling!! Followed by, wow, he is having way more fun than us, who’s the sucker now? 

– couldn’t believe all the instant casualties (mostly flats I presume) up squaw pass, but then realized I have been a casualty of squaw once before and shouldn’t be too hard on them;)

– heard what I thought were multiple gun shots along the ride only to find out it was amateur tube pumping hour with co2 cartridges that blew the tube to smithereens…

– the constant dodging of other people’s snot rockets got a bit tricky on the tight paths

– witnessed a wild near wipeout at the bottom of a slick vail pass. Dude hit the cement wall and somehow recovered with rubber side down

– one guy barely got 10 ft off the road to squat in the woods, and I’m pretty sure guys don’t squat to pee

– tommy enjoyed making fun of all the riders with cycling shoes still on, walking around the BBQ looking incredibly crippled. 

– deedee’s only war wound was a blood blister from getting her thumb caught in a Porta-potty door handle…rough

– a lot of Texans out there. Ride the same way they ski, like goobers.

All in all, good times and good sag wagon to keep the blood sugar flowin:)

Fred’s Follow Up:

Oh my – did your note make me laugh…well written…..

Yeah I don’t get the number of nose blows I encountered also…to crazy…. Lots of work for ENTs I guess….Way I look at it – you not working hard enough if all those pipes are not cleaned out in the 1^st 10 min of ride!!! LOL!

As for speed Garmin says 52 mph at the last turn off Mt Evans road- where it becomes Chicago Basin, possible but it is not that steep there…. more believable is 44 down Loveland pass which was captured over duration than a blip… it is fun to go down – but I would prefer without anyone around – maybe an AIR HORN for descents and a bell for ascents!!! LOL!

Goobers – to funny!!! And Tom is right about people walking in those shoes!!!

You have to love bikers talking the day’s events over.  With thousands out for the Triple, you have to believe one’s own eyes.  It truly is a people watching event!