Mountain - Plains - Beat the heat 7/1-Copper Triangle/TBP Primer Group Ride

It's going to be 101 on Sunday in Denver. In contrast, it's expected to be 75-80 in Summit/Eagle counties this weekend. Anybody interested in coming up for a glorious ride from Copper to Leadville to Minturn to Vail and back to Copper?

telenick, ht001 and I are commited for Sunday. Just like last time, this is a no drop ride. This is from telenick's previous post:


This is an very easy ride to self support because there are regular stops for water and food. The route is about 85 miles and about 7K feet of elevation gain. It usually takes me about 5.5 to 6 hours at a tempo pace ...not too fast, but faster than casual ...not stopping for too long either. We can organize a couple of groups for different speeds and regroup at a few key locations if needed.

If you're not familiar with this ride then read on... It will start at Copper Mountain Resort and ascend up hwy 91 to the top of Fremont Pass ...down to Leadville ...ascend again up hwy 24 to Tennessee Pass ...down to Camp Hale ...up to Battle Mountain ...down to Minturn, through Vail along the frontage road ...up Vail Pass on the MUP ...down to Copper. Optional cocktails and food to follow the ride at the Tiki Bar at the Dillon Marina.

The views on this ride are reason enough to join. We'll ride along the Ten Mile Range, Holy Cross Wilderness and Gore Range. The elevations we'll be riding at are perfect for priming for the Triple, if you're signed up for that ride. The hill climbing is also perfect for preparing for the Triple as well. In fact, the Copper Triangle has long been a Triple primer by Team Evergreen as it is usually scheduled as a group ride the week before the Triple.

Probably start no later than 8am, meeting in the "Starbucks" parking lot at Copper. Not the actual Starbucks parking lot, but about 1 block east by the ponds.

Hopefully I'll remember to bring a camera so I can post some post ride pics.

Anybody interested?

I'm interested, would be more interested if there was some car pool option from the front range.

if any ftc folks are drivin' i might be up for taggin along and chippin in for gas

Not in the cards this weekend, but the following weekend looks promising if you're going to try and get another ride in before the TBP.

sorry kids, I'm out. Enjoy!

I'm in.

I'll echo valygrl's request for her sake ...if there's anyone that's interested in the ride and wants to carpool, I know that valygrl would love to ride share.

It's shaping up to be a glorious day in the middle of our monsoon season ...a rarity. Today, the weather folks are calling for 80 degrees and 10 percent chance of precipitation. Take advantage while you can of the opportunity to not get nailed by rain, lightening, hail and all that fun stuff.

Okay, that's my best 2 minute pitch ...now it's up to you.

OK, let's hear about it...

I road locally with a couple of other ladies, we left boulder at 7:30, went up lefthand canyon to Ward, north on the peak to peak highway, down to lyons, back on 36. It was hot but not bad until the last leg back from Lyons.

Didn't do the century I was planning, the other riders weren't into it, but i did get 75 miles and 5100 feet.

Yeah, I'm not read for the TBP.

...well, it was hot here too. I saw 82 driving home. So, that probably meant it was close to 90 in Vail and going up Vail Pass ...it sure felt that hot on the climb.

bsyptak and his wife were awesome companions. We kept a pretty fast pace and chatted on the stops and a little on the ride.

Before someone chimes in about pics ...bsyptak and his wife brought a camera and snapped a few. I'm sure he'll get around to posting them soon enough.

We hooked up with another rider early on after the descent from Fremont Pass. His name was Cy and he was a kind, elderly gent. I'd give him 65+. We rode the rest of the ride together and Cy told us how he had just returned from Europe for a month of cycling. Cy kept a really good pace and then proceeded to trounce us up Vail Pass. First it was just 50 yards off the front. Then 50 turned to 100. Then he was gone. If you ever run into a silver haired fox who stands at 6'2" and calls himself Cy, then watch out.

I'd be cool if we could put together a larger group sometime for this ride and still hit the awesome weather we've been having these past few weeks.

Happy 4th everyone!

i just rode fc > estes park > devils gulch > Drake > masonville > horsetooth

it was really nice today.

we're a one car family and i cant leave the wife and the kid carless all day for a bike adventure, so unless theres somebody carpooling from or through fc, i'm not gonna be able to make many of these rides, but i'll always try.

badhat, that sounds like a nice ride. How many miles?

I've been remiss in uploading a chronicle of the ride. You see, I've been recovering for hours. Notice the difference in the rider to the left and the rider to the right. Rider to the right just finished a half Ironman the week prior, and so felt nothing with today's ride. I, on the other hand, am cooked:
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/3685/dscn1639vk4.jpg
Anyhoo, here we go. Didn't take as many pictures as I would like to have, I was trying to keep up with Cy, ht001 and telenick. Yes, I was the one being dropped all day as you can imagine from the picture above. Holy smokes, coming up Vail Pass from the west ain't easy. Especially after 3 other mountain passes and some 70 miles! I'm not going to to tell you how many times I stopped because my heart and lungs were blowing through my chest. I did finally make it and with all our refuel/rewater stops, I think we were somewhere around 6.75 hours total. Ride time probably just under 6 hours.

Here's the first picture at the top of Fremont Pass about 10 miles UP from Copper (me, ht001, telenick). In the background telenick says is the sleeping indian (head left)
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8681/dscn1634gz5.jpg
This next one is at the 10th Mountain Division Memorial just outside of Leadville. We picked up a solo rider named Cy (Cy, telenick, me)
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7459/dscn1635ci3.jpg
This next one is telenick, Cy and ht001 in East Vail just before the gnarly climb up Vail Pass
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/277/dscn1636qw2.jpg
Waterfall just to the left of above pic
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/3182/dscn1637jq2.jpg
So, in my ride induced stupor, I forgot to take a pic at Vail Pass to prove that I made it up. But this entry sort of proves it. The ride down from Vail Pass to Copper was all downhill. I was thankful for that. Don't think I could have done much more today.

Our thanks to telenick for being our guide on this our first Copper Triangle ride. Hope I didn't hold you up too much. Good luck on the Firecracker 50 on 7/4.

See what y'all missed!

Oh, and if you don't have gravity chairs like the ones in the first picture...to quote Ferris Buehler, "if you have the means I highly recommend picking one up".

badhat, that sounds like a nice ride. How many miles?

its roughly 85-90 miles... i didnt set my trip clock before i left so i';m guessing.

but its about

20 miles from my house to the carter lake turn off

22 miles from there to estes

22 miles back

6 miles to masonville

4 miles masonville to horsetooth parking lot

15 miles from there to my house via the dam

those are jsut guesses but that puts it at around 90.


you can make the ride easier or harder by going up devils gulch - down 34 (much harder) instead of up 34 - down devils gulch

and by how many of the big climbs on horsetooth reservoir you do before ducking back down to FC

bsyptak -- sounds like you and I can ride together :D

I didn't ride at all this weekend, opting instead to hike with the girlfriend in Reynolds Park. Pics coming....