TriAptitude Coaching

I have lived in Evergreen, Colorado for 15 years.  It is a gorgeous area and also the home of Team Evergreen Cycling and the starting line of the epic Triple Bypass ride. In 2019, the Triple Bypass Ride celebrated it’s 31 year history with fabulous weather and a fantastic day on the bike.  Believe it or not, this year was also my first time riding the Triple Bypass which covers 120 miles from Evergreen to Avon, goes up and over Squaw and Juniper Pass, Loveland Pass and Vail Pass adding up to just over 10,000 feet of climbing and which is also considered the premier cycling event in Colorado as well as one of the best known in the nation.  All proceeds from the Triple Bypass go right back to the community through donation to local non-profits as well. So, all the effort and time which goes into training and event day are not only indicative of a great personal accomplishment but also in benefit of those around us.

I have wanted to ride the Triple Bypass for the past ten years but the date has never worked quite right for me.  Usually in July, we are on the East Coast and I watch from afar as my friends accept the challenge and ride this incredibly scenic course.  It’s always been a bit sad for me!  I live only 4 miles from the start line for goodness sake!  Regardless, this ended up being my year to do the Triple and I was thrilled to be participating with some friends from Evergreen.  If you are going to ride this kind of mileage and elevation then it sure makes things more enjoyable when you have good friends with whom to share the journey!  I was grateful that my coach, Kathy Alfino, worked it into my training for lead up to Ironman Louisville.  So far, it has been a definite highlight of my summer. We had a fantastic day on the bikes.

I am racing Ironman Boulder 70.3 in three weeks, so I did not want to absolutely crush my legs, so my plan was to ride easy with friends and try to maintain an average power output just shy of my Ironman projected power.  I wanted to try out my nutrition plan as well. This would be a long day in the saddle – 8.5 hours ride time and almost 11 hours with stops at the SAG (stop and gather) locations and to have lunch.  I had plenty of time to try out my clothing choices (I had a few questions as to which chamois would work the best for me for long miles on the bike), dial in my nutrition on the bike with my Infinit custom blend, work on pacing as I climbed long, steady hills (mountains) and also shorter and steeper ones, bike handling skills on the descents and also evaluate how I felt coming off the bike after 120 miles.  Were my legs ready to run??  Yes, how do my legs feel because I am going to have to run 26.2 off the bike in Louisville. The stronger my bike fitness and my legs, the better that run will go.  Added bonus- I had the chance to chat with my girlfriends Audra and Gretchen about race plans and strategy for my Ironman race as well which was really helpful.  And, after 11 hours together on the bikes, we talked about just about everything. It was a fantastic bonding day for the ladies.

Our day started early. My alarm went off at 3:15 am. I planned to be at Gretchen’s house by 4:30am to make final preparations and be on course by 5:00 am.  Thunderstorms were in the forecast for the afternoon so wanted to get an early start and finish before the rain came through the High Country.  As luck would have it, our plan worked. We rolled into Avon a little before 4:00 pm and the thunderstorms followed a few hours later.  We were busy eating tacos and drinking beer by that point so we were safe. But, we did worry about those riders still out on the course.  Luckily, as far as we know, everyone made it safely in to the finish.

The first 40 miles of the TB route  we know like the back of our hands.  It is our backyard and we train on Squaw Pass often when the weather allows. It is a long climb from Evergreen up to Echo Lake on the way to Mount Evans, approximately 18 miles, but it is at about 4% incline. If you settle into your saddle and pace well, it goes by quickly with good conversation and friends.  Of course, all the Coloradoans (especially the Evergreen crew) have the altitude in our favor since we live here. I know that for other riders, coming from lower elevations adds even more challenge to the day. So, I do not take these early miles for granted as easy. They are not by any means.  I am just very familiar with this part of the ride.

Once at the top, we took a quick photo by Echo Lake and then started our descent down into Idaho Springs. It was about 7:30 in the morning by this point and the road was quite shady in parts, so we added some layers and started our 14 mile descent.  In general, this was pretty uneventful. Gretchen, John, Audra and I are all fast and comfortable going down the mountain.  We were very safe and all have good bike handling skills.  Now….I can not say the same for many of the riders participating.  And, we knew going into the descents that we not only had to be careful ourselves but we had to be especially cognizant of riders around us and their possible erratic, unsafe bike behavior.  Being aware of those around us was important.  Some of the riders on the descent were reckless.  Descending at extremely high speeds, they were crossing the double yellow line on passes and facing on coming traffic, moving back into the lanes and pressing into our space. At one point, a few almost rear ended us when we slowed (with warning) for a cyclist in front of us.  I am so grateful there was not an accident.  It reinforced in my mind my personal focus of the day.  The Triple Bypass is not a race. It is a ride.  There is no need to race others and  it is never acceptable to be reckless at the jeopardy of others’ safety. I recall saying something like this to a few of those crazy riders at that point but in decidedly harsher terms.  Luckily, we all cruised into Idaho Springs unharmed albeit a bit shaken.

In Idaho Springs, we picked up the new bike path to head toward Georgetown.  The trail up to Georgetown was pretty uneventful in itself but was a great time for conversation and fun amongst us.  This part of the course is a bit deceiving because after a climb like Squaw Pass it seems almost flat but it is definitely an incline which can easily wear on the legs.  I watched my power output and tried to remain in my zone 2 (endurance) power as it was going to be a few hours until we got to Loveland and the lunch SAG stop there.  After that we had a strenuous 4 mile climb up to 12,000 feet elevation.  This trail was also very congested with riders so it made little sense to push my pace and try to pass a ton of people. That was not my goal for the day and I much preferred hanging with Audra, Gretchen and John sharing stories.  As we entered Georgetown, we took a brief pit stop and then skipped the official SAG stop since we all had plenty of water and knew we would stop in Loveland for lunch.  The route took us up a climb up and around the Georgetown Railroad Loop which I loved. It brought back great memories of my first trip on the train with our son Connor at the age of 6 months right after we moved back to Colorado.  So many special memories here. It is approximately 13 miles from Georgetown to the Loveland Pass on the trail.  Seven of those miles after Bakerville are on a gorgeous stretch of  wooded area but a very slow one as it is narrow and there are lots of people passing in a small space. Although beautiful, it did wear a bit on me mentally and I was ready to get to Loveland Pass and have some lunch.

At the base of Loveland, we grabbed some sandwiches, bananas, refilled our bottles and  took about 20-30 minutes to regroup before we faced the 4 miles of climbing to the summit of Loveland Pass.  This particular pass tops out at approximately 12,000 ft.  Being a first timer to the Triple and one who had never climbed this pass before on my bike, I did not really know what to expect. I expected it to be hard but I was just not sure exactly how hard.  As we got back on our bikes, some cute 10 year old volunteers handed us some Honey Stinger GUs.  I really should have downed at least one of them before I left the SAG stop.  I rounded the corner at Loveland Ski resort parking and took another look at the pass and promptly fell into my lowest gear within the first 1/2 mile of the climb.  I have a new road bike which is amazing but I really should have thought through my gearing selection before this…lol.  I’m strong on the climbs but it’s always nice to have a few extra gears to fall into when needed.  I maxed out several times on this ride and my quads paid for it in the end.  Nonetheless, I settled into my saddle and found a good climbing cadence and just focused on efficiency in effort and power as I climbed the switchbacks.  I passed several men and got some encouraging comments which were really nice and much appreciated as we headed into the last stretch to the top.  I hit the top, waited a few minutes for Audra and Gretchen so we could grab a photo and then we threw on some jackets for the long descent into Keystone.

I love to descend and go fast on my bike. It’s a new Specialized with disc brakes and it handles smoothly. I feel solid and safe on it.  It has a very different feel than my triathlon bike and I was looking forward to trying out again on the backside of Loveland.  Audra led us down the mountain.  The road was bumpy coming down and it has potholes in bad spots so my neck and shoulders tensed up as I grabbed my drops more securely.  My shoulders really began to hurt by the time we came into Keystone and they stayed pretty painful and tense from there right to the end of the ride. The backpack I was wearing did not help matters.  Note to self- less gear in backpack next year. Rely more on SAG stops.  By this time, temperatures had risen to over 80 degrees and it was getting HOT. Audra, Gretch and I stopped at the corner gas station in Keystone and filled our water bottles with ice. ICE- that was one of the best moments of the afternoon!!!  Ice cold water on my bike for two hours!  Loved that! The SAG stops were great and had plenty of cold water but it was incredible to actually stop and get ice for our bottles.

My biggest surprise of the day was the unexpected climb up Swam Mountain in Breckenridge.  I just was not expecting it to be quite the climb it was. But, on the way down we got to stop at the Breck SAG stop where there were smoothies awaiting us. That was pretty great. We stopped briefly and then decided we really wanted to get to Copper and on to Vail Pass to finish our day. Gretchen’s husband David was our Sherpa/SAG master and he did an incredible job of being at certain stops for us to drop or pick up gear from the car as we needed.  He met us in Copper and I dumped most of my gear from my backpack with him as the weather looked nice enough that I was not worried about rain on the descent from Vail Pass and my shoulders needed a break from the extra CO2 cartridges, nutrition and spare tube.  All those Clif Bars and Gus added up in weight and I had plenty of food at the SAG stops.  On to the last pass of the day and then a nice speedy final 20 miles from Vail into Avon.

We rode quickly through Copper Mountain resort and headed up the pass towards Vail.  I think Vail Pass is lovely. It winds along the river and is extremely scenic with beautiful wildflowers.  It is a longer pass but not incredibly steep and this portion of the ride finishes at Summit High School which was our last stop for the day before the finish.  The descent into Vail is fast and on a bike path which can be dangerous if you get too much speed and oncoming bikers are not paying attention. I rode my brakes a bit more than I normally do on this path because I was feeling a little tired, my shoulders hurt and my eyes were itchy from the pollen and whatnot in the air.  I just felt my reflexes were not as sharp at 3pm as they had been at 8am. It had been a long day in the saddle.  We rode as a group and made it through the beautiful trail down to Vail and then when the road opened up a bit on the way to Avon, we formed a pace line and just cranked out the final miles.  I was surprised by the power and speed I found in my legs after 8 hours riding in the saddle but I was pleased that I had paced the day well enough that we crossed the finish line feeling strong and happy.  It had not only been a fun day but also a remarkable training day for me in preparation for Ironman Louisville in the fall.  I felt strong on the bike at this distance and the large elevation gain so it was a nice self-confidence booster for me in terms of accessing my bike fitness.  Most importantly though, I had such a fantastic time with my friends on the course and I had finally crossed the finish line of the Triple Bypass. Sign me up for 2020!