“Your overall sleep quality was low. You may feel very tired today”. That’s what my Garmin watch said at 3a on Saturday morning. Understatement of the year.
Today would be my 7th attempt at the Triple Bypass. I previously completed it in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2024. I’ve yet to crash, flat, or have a mechanical and had my fingers crossed that Lucky #7 would be just that. 118 miles and 10,400+ feet of climbing over Juniper, Loveland, and Vail passes this year. Starts in Bergen Park with the finish line in Avon, CO.
Despite not doing more than 35 miles on any single training ride in the months leading up to today, I felt strong. I did a ton of zone 2 steady-state training, plenty of climbs around Boulder, Estes Park, and Evergreen, and almost daily running and lifting. I quit drinking back in March and lost around 25 lbs. It’s funny how I used to measure the weight of tires, bottle cages, and bolts on my bike (in grams, lol), yet would ignore the biggest weight of them all.
As I was driving to Bergen Park on I-70 at 4:30a it started raining and was pretty cloudy/misty. Ugh. Luckily the rain subsided and I crossed the start line in Bergen Park at 5:05a towards my rendezvous with destiny.
GERONIMO! Let the pain begin…
My cockpit view for the next 10+ hours… 18 miles to first aid station at Echo Lake. 55 miles to lunch at Loveland Basin. 118 miles to the finish line
Heading up lower Squaw Pass was pretty chill. I think most folks are still slightly asleep and just trying to ignore the dozens of blinking tail lights in front of them. It was dark and misty and the clouds were pretty low in the valley. Halfway up Squaw Pass we were riding above the clouds which was pretty cool. I focused on keeping my heart rate below 140 and just spun a pretty high cadence up the ~14 miles uphill to Juniper Pass.
I’m not sure why, but every year they change up the aid station locations. The last few times they had the first aid station at the Juniper Pass summit about 14-15 miles up. This year they pushed it to Echo Lake. about 18 miles up. Luckily once you hit the Juniper summit its a slight downhill to Echo Lake.
I was feeling pretty good when I arrived at Echo Lake. I fueled up, hit the bathroom, and slammed a LMNT packet in my water bottle. I was eager to keep moving and forgot to put on my jacket or arm warmers for the descent into Idaho Springs. Boy, was that a mistake. It must have been in the low 40’s and I froze my ass off for the roughly 13 mile descent. I was shivering for most of the descent, kept my bike under control, and fortunately didn’t witness any crazy moves by others (or crashes).
The next section after reaching Idaho Springs is the hardest for me. Everyone stresses over the passes (Juniper, Loveland, Vail), but honestly Loveland is only 4 miles, and Vail maybe 6 miles. The stretch between Idaho Springs, through Georgetown, and up to the Loveland Basin is flat out painful. It’s low grade uphill for maybe 35 miles along I-70 frontage roads and bike paths, but it can wear you out, especially if it gets hot. The worst part is the last 6 mile bike path before Loveland Basin. That’s a roller-coaster of a ride through the forest that is miserable due to the ups and downs.
This is where I feel like my training strategy paid off. It didn’t suck this year. Yes, it was still a long 35 miles, but I kept my HR as low as possible and just spun along at 90 rpm. I definitely wasn’t in zone 2, but I kept it out of zone 4 and 5. The temps stayed cool and I pushed through. There’s an aid station right before Georgetown that almost always has a ton of donuts… not this year though. Slammed another LMNT packet (more on that later).
I arrived at Loveland Basin for lunch slightly after 11a which was way ahead of what I was expecting. Lunch was meh… turkey wraps and fruit, but it was better than the spicy mac & cheese they had last year. I want to know who thought spicy mac was a good idea for a bike ride…
Everyone fears Loveland Pass, but it’s only 4 miles, the views along it are amazing, and it’s not really that steep. A few years back climbing Loveland I came across a guy on a Moots titanium gravel bike and chatted him up about it. He asked me if I was going to get one. I told him I needed to win the lottery first and he replied, “yeah, well, I’ve been successful at life”. I muttered something mean under my breath and took off. Now that I’m riding a titanium frame (albeit, a budget-friendly Lynskey, not a Moots) I’ve been telling myself I’ve been successful at life. Yes, I’m a dumb ass.
Loveland summit came to pass and I took the obligatory sign photo. Someday I’m going to compile all of my Loveland summit photos in a post. I climbed this pass for the first time back in June 2008 shortly after moving to Denver in my old Richardson Bike Mart (Dallas) kit. I feel like I’ve probably climbed it at least a dozen times on my bike and what seems like hundreds of times heading to A Basin or Keystone.
Oddly enough the last 2 years there have been a bunch of guys in kilts playing bag pipes at the Loveland summit. I’m not sure I know the significance of that, but it seems cool and everyone gets fired up.
“Due to inflation, this ride now has 4 passes”. That’s what a spectator sign read outside of Keystone. After flying down the Summit County side of Loveland Pass I expected to turn left and head up Swan Mountain Road as usual. BUT, the sheriff at the intersection was diverting riders onto a bike path that appeared to go in the opposite direction. Ugh. It turned out that Swan Mountain Road was being paved so they diverted us onto a bike path that felt steeper than the road. Oh well.
Swan Mountain Road has a bit of significance to me as I proposed to Meg at the summit, Sapphire Point, many years ago.
After the ride I checked out the map and I guess the diversion didn’t really add much more distance or elevation, but it sure felt like it. Lol.
I made a quick stop at the last full aid station at Summit County High School and headed onto the next long slog through Frisco to Copper Mountain. Much like the section from Idaho Springs to Loveland Basin, this is a low grade uphill section that runs on a bike path and can be a real morale drain. It wasn’t too hot today and I still felt relatively strong so I arrived at Copper in what seemed like record time.
Next up, Vail Pass… a few years back I had massive cramps while climbing Vail Pass and at one point fell off my bike into the grass because I couldn’t unclip from the pedal (due to the cramps). A few guys stopped to help as I was laughing and lying on the ground. I’ll never forget one guy telling me to just get back up as it’s only a few more miles to the finish (and glory or something like that). I was like, yeah, I’ve done this a few times, but I’m cramping. I just need to take a break.
Vail Pass is silent slog. It’s not very long, but it’s tight and you’re fighting for space with people passing and tourists descending the pass on e-bikes.
I mentioned LMNT a few times… wow, I love that stuff. I think I had 5 packets the whole day and I didn’t get any cramps whatsoever. It has a 1000mg of sodium and a bunch of potassium, but no sugar. I switched from LMNT to plain water every other bottle. Highly recommend it for long days in the saddle!
I began in Bergen Park at 5:05a and crossed the finish line in Avon at 3:45p, 10 hours and 40 minutes later. From what I can tell from my Wahoo records, that’s my best all-in, gate to gate time. I typically take 12+ hours all-in. My moving time was 9 hours, 22 minutes, which is definitely slower than my personal best of 8 hours, 30 min, but I didn’t try to PR any of the climbs. Either way, it was a great day in the saddle and my training paid off.
I think everyone experiences a flood of emotions as they cross the finish line and today was no different. It’s a sense of accomplishment, but also a sense of grief that it’s over. It’s hard to explain, but it’s sort of an addiction to pain. During the train-up I was telling myself I never wanted to ride a bike again. Lol. Let’s just say I plan to continue riding the Triple Bypass for decades to come.
Lucky #7 is now in the books! Heading to Pensacola, Florida for a family beach week and then it’s time to start preparing for 2026.
