Hey everyone...how'd the Triple go for you yesterday?

I had a great ride. The weather was perfect. Finished in 7:36 ride time which I was please with. The worst part of the day/route was the stretch along I-70...that was not fun. The best part was the last 30 miles, flying down the Vail Valley in a paceline with, among others, Chris Carmichael. I got to talk to him afterwards, really cool guy. I thanked him for his training videos, especially the 'Climb Right' one - that DVD was a big part of my preparation on days I couldn't ride outside.

Anyway, a great day. Legs are a bit sore today, but noting a little Vitamin I won't help!

Hoff

I had a great day! Perfect weather. My training worked great I was feeling really strong. My pace wasn't nearly as fast as yours but I was over my mph target.

And then.... mile 88, about a quarter mile up vail pass from where you get on the path in copper I BROKE A SPOKE! ARGHHH!!!!!!!

Couldn't make the wheel work - i have velomaxs with like maybe 20 spokes so it was so out of true it wouldn't go past the brake, even with the break cable loosened. Sigh. Sagged up to vail, to see if I could get the mechanic to fix it. No mechanic. Tried to borrow a wheel from someone who was sagging. No deal.... 2 hours of messing around, finally gave up and sagged in to Avon.

SO i guess it was the double bypass for me.

Ooh Bummer, sorry to hear that. But it sounds like you had a ton of fun up to that point. :D

Perfect weather - Wonderful company ...thanks valygrl - sorry I wasn't there to help out with the wheel biz. You must've been only a couple of miles from Vail Pass. That's good enough.

Chatted with snowy on the way up to Loveland Pass. So nice to see you again, Snowy.

OK! Who stole all the gel packs from every aid station? Can you believe it? That's what a volunteer guy said - someone kyped all the gel that morning. I hope they get a stomach ache from OD'ing on that junk.

Thanks Nick, I shoulda said, too - great company! Chatting the whole way makes it the saddle-time fly by! Thanks for hanging out at my pace the entire ride. You were like 50 feet ahead of me when I broke my wheel, and didn't hear me yell. And we started with Superdex, he gave us some funny sh*t when he saw us after Georgetown.

Hi Snowy!

I just got back from Denver and here is this post, excellent timing!!

TBP went really well for me, it was soo nice being able to decend squaw/juniper pass into idaho springs and be able to go on with great weather!!:)....What a great ride, did all three passes, well really 4 but swan mtn. isn't that long, but it was a great ride, I'm glad I've done it now.

7 hours and 3 minutes of ride time for me, the decents were just awesome!!...I really like cycling out in CO!!

Take care,

Benjamin

Hi all,
Finished the ride in 9hrs. I was pretty happy with the results and pretty tired today. :) I can't believe that I ran into everyone except for S.dex :( Anyhoo, it was great chatting with everyone, I thought I was going to die on that stretch from Georgetown to Loveland (bad tummy ache), it went away though. :)

It was so amazing to get to the finish line!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Hi Telenick, Valygrl :) and S.dex we will meet up!!!

I got sick and sagged out. I made the first pass, sagged the last little bit into Loveland basin, recovered for a bit, and rode the rest of the way up Loveland and down. Sagged out at Swan Mountain Rd, and rode the rest of the way to Vail in the sag vehicles.

Couldn't even enjoy the barbecue... I couldn't manage to eat anything but a little salad. :(

Had a good day anyway, though!

Hey guys:

I finished in 7:44 (excluding the Feedzones for an average speed of 15.3 mph) 8:56 if you include the feedzones and the 20 minute wait for a bathroom at an S-Bucks outside of Idaho Springs. I had a really strong ride up Sqauw Pass, and I-70 I found to be relatively easy, as I was able to maintain a fairly fast ride.


For some reason, I struggled up the 4 mile ascent to the top of Loveland Pass. The next time I do the Triple, I am going to pass on this feed station. I think I cooled down a little bit too much, and struggled to get back into a rhythm. I also struggled on the bike path from Frisco to Vail. I could only maintain an approximately speed of 16 – 17 mph on what seemed a relatively flat path.

Vail Pass I was stronger than I suspected, but I also think I benefited from knowing how short it was, unlike many out-of-staters who maybe held back not realizing how there are really only 2 steep sections which are both relatively short.

Finally, once I hit Vail, I hit a wall. Not sure, but my legs kind of gave out, especially when hit with that nasty head wind.

Either way – I trained for it, and feel that it paid off immensely. Had I tried this last year, I would have SAGged out probably near Vail Pass.

Curious what gearing everyone was using. I put on a 12-27 which allowed me the 39x21 / 39x24 and 39x27 ratios which I benefited from immensely, especially on I-70. Where others had to hammer away, I was able to keep up a higher cadence. In addition, prior to the TBP, I made sure to use at most the 39x21 whenever I climbed in order to build up leg muscle unless I absolutely had to drop down.

One complaint – Accelerade is great an all, except it is not good for Lactose Intolerant people due to the Whey Protein component. I know they sponsor the event, but PLEASE at least keep 1 container of Gatorade or Poweraid for those of us who cannot digest lactose.

That was my 7th straight TBP and I can't remember the weather ever being better. I was about 1:38 to top out at Juniper/Squaw, but around 5:30 to go over Loveland. I guess the Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Loveland slog was as slow as it felt. My cassette blew apart right near the entrance to the bike path at Copper (The first position (12) gear broke). I messed around with the wheel and got it where I could coast and rode back to our SAG below the Starbucks and grabbed another wheel. To my pleasant surprise, the Shimano 10 worked swell with my Campy drive and I finished with no more problems. Total ride time was about 8 hours flat including the double back.

Although it has been the same menu every year I've done this ride, the food was markedly better this time. The salad had plenty of tomatoes and cukes, and the chicken was great. The 4 Amber Lagers were the best though.

Zagnut

You guys make me a little sick. I had 10:00 ride time on the dot, for an 11.7mph average; about 12 hours total (I rolled into the school just before 6pm). Snowy, that's why you never saw me, You've gotten fast (congrats).

That being said, I had a BLAST. I kept the heartrate down, took my time, kept eating and drinking (having Accelerade the whole ride made a huge difference), took lots of pictures (I'll post tonight). Heck, I even stopped at Starbuck's in Copper for a 'last-pass latte' and it was perfect. I flew up and over Vail Pass, then flew home to Avon. Felt good enough to sprint over the railroad tracks and into the school. I was on such an adrenaline high I didn't nap in the car on the way home (go figure). The girlfriend even said I looked good (unlike a few weeks ago when B-Mic and I rode up to Echo Lake from Chatfield). Great, great ride. We stopped at Dam Brewery for food, yumm

VT_Biker, there was Gatorade at a couple of the stops, but not all. :(

Kudos to:
* Team Evergreen. Great support, well stocked aid -- WATERMELON never tasted so good!, and the road closures made for a wonderful ride
* TeleNick and Valygrl, who were willing to ride with me. Sorry I couldn't keep up guys
* The people who make the SweatVac (http://www.sweatvac.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SweatVac&Product_Code=SVVW-GRN&Category_Code=SVVC) skull cap. See I sweat. A LOT. This little cap kept it all out of my eyes, kept my head cool, and never(!) got saturated. I'm impressed.
* The Girlfriend for support
* The guy from Texas that I chatted with up Loveland Pass. We were going about the same speed, so I started chatting to keep my mind off the pedals. It worked; thanks--

Stats:
117 mi
11.7mph avg
10:00:change ride time
44.5mph max
66 avg cadence
110 max cadence
5 tandems that passed me
6 pounds lost!

Now, on to the HHH ...

Hhh?

Hhh?

I'm assuming "Hotter'n Hell Hundred", Wichita Falls Texas, last weekend of August.

Zagnut

I'm assuming "Hotter'n Hell Hundred", Wichita Falls Texas, last weekend of August.

Zagnut


yep. that very one....

Wow, Superdex thats great your still doing that one :)

Me I'm onto playing now. Crested Butte in 3days for some pure riding fun. :)

Sounds like everyone had a pretty great day...congrats! Can't wait until next year.

I clocked 82.3 miles and around 12,750 feet of climbing before I sagged out, with an on-bike time of 5 and a half hours.

I think I was doing pretty good. Wish my wife hadn't gotten me sick. :( Ah, well... I guess that's married life.

Next time I have a big ride coming up and my wife gets sick I'm gonna go stay with the neighbors. Maybe I'll leave her some food outside the door once in a while. :fight: :D

edit: The climbing is as reported by TopoUSA... I think it's high. Though I only missed the last pass, so I probably got around 10,000 feet of climbing in. Hrrmm... Maybe i'll double check it with other mapping software

edit: The climbing is as reported by TopoUSA... I think it's high. Though I only missed the last pass, so I probably got around 10,000 feet of climbing in. Hrrmm... Maybe i'll double check it with other mapping software

My experience with TopoUSA is that it counts. every. foot. climbed, which will be a higher number compared to taking the difference between your start and ending elevations, which is what I've noticed most ride organizers do to get their elevation change. Our ride to Echo Lake TopoUSA put at 12k+ of climbing, for example....

Curious what gearing everyone was using. I put on a 12-27 which allowed me the 39x21 / 39x24 and 39x27 ratios which I benefited from immensely, especially on I-70. Where others had to hammer away, I was able to keep up a higher cadence. In addition, prior to the TBP, I made sure to use at most the 39x21 whenever I climbed in order to build up leg muscle unless I absolutely had to drop down.


I was running a 34/28 bottom end, and used it often to keep the rpms up and the heartrate down....

edit: The climbing is as reported by TopoUSA... I think it's high.

I had to stop at the bottom of Vail Pass, just about 1/4 mile up from where the bike path exits Copper. I got 89 miles and 9500 feet of climbing.

Ok, this is embarrassing: I actually have 2 bike computers both with barometric altimeters that record these stats on my bike (because the old one has a thermometer that my new one doesn't have, so I haven't ditched it). The two computers agree within 1/4 mile and 38 feet, so I'm pretty much believing it.

On those topo programs, if you are drawing a line, and deviate even a little from the road's line, you can easily add a huge amount of altitude gain/loss to the calculation. I haven't used TopoUSA for a lot of years, but IIRC, you draw a line.

ANyway, sorry you sicked out. Hey are you still doing trail ridge, and could you stand a slow person starting with you? (me).

:)
anna

Triple with a dinnerplate for me: 30x27 low gear.

Guys,

I normally ride with the RMCC but definately would not mind joining everyone the next time you guys set up a group ride. Also - I am the ride leader on 7/28 for the Out-&-Back ride from Pine Junction - Deckers- Woodland Park.

You guys are welcome to join all of us. The link below will give more information.

I consider it to be one of the better rides in the Front Range due to the overall scenery and the quality of the climbs.


http://www.rmccrides.com/schedule200707.html

Hi VT Biker, I sometimes ride with the RMCC too, if the ride start is on the north side of Denver or it is appealing enough to outweigh my aversion to driving to a ride. I think I'll be doing the Mt. Evans thing this saturday, if the weather looks cooperative. You?

On those topo programs, if you are drawing a line, and deviate even a little from the road's line, you can easily add a huge amount of altitude gain/loss to the calculation. I haven't used TopoUSA for a lot of years, but IIRC, you draw a line.

TopoUSA has routing, the only problem is that you can't switch back and forth between road routing and trail routing, so for the part along the freeway on the trail, I had to route along the freeway.

If you had 9500 feet of climbing, I was probably pretty close to just over that. I started from my house and rode to Bergen Park, so I added around 18 miles and quite a bit of climbing there.

Anyway, about the Trail Ridge ride, I'm riding it with Club Hypoxia, and they're a GREAT group of people. I'm sure you'll be more than welcome to come along! PM me if you're interested.

Hi VT Biker, I sometimes ride with the RMCC too, if the ride start is on the north side of Denver or it is appealing enough to outweigh my aversion to driving to a ride. I think I'll be doing the Mt. Evans thing this saturday, if the weather looks cooperative. You?


A couple of things:

If you are referring to the RMCC Mt. Evans ride, then this has been rescheduled to Sunday in order to NOT conflict with the Mt. Evans Memorial Hill Climb race. So you might want to look into that.


I am fairly certain I will do it. However - I may need a break from that route, since I have ridden up Squaw Pass already twice in the past 10 days, I may need a little bit of a change.

VT Biker

wow, thanks for the heads-up. I woulda felt pretty dumb showing up for that on saturday....

:)

Wahooooo!!! what a freaking fantastic ride! I flew out Thursday the 5th from NJ for a cycling vacation not even thinking I would be able to do the Triple. One of the guys I was riding with that week had an extra # and handed it to me along with full transportation!!!! How could I resist. So 330 miles and close to 12,000 feet of climbing later I take Friday off from riding and Start fresh on Saturday. I hooked up with Team Numb Nuts ((A bunch of crazy Colorado dudes)and a couple of ladies). Rode with them the whole way in from Evergreen. 7 hours 45 minutes. Not too shabby for a guy who rarely even rides 100 miles a week and does little climbing at home. Yeah I should move out there!

Yeah I should move out there!

robbiedob,

You sound like a nice guy and all, but

http://img323.imageshack.us/img323/5449/novacancy8st.jpg

We're full up here.;)

Yeah - New Jersey is much more beautiful ~ trust me = )

Colorado is horrible. Not a good place to ride. You will hate it.

Question for everyone:

Are your times including breaks at the feed stations or excluding them?

This was my first time riding TB, and wow, what a blast I had! I didn't know I was going to do the ride until Friday where my coworker backed out because of an injury. The aid stations kept me from hitting the wall, unlike my last (and first) century ride where I only had 3 bars. I must had 4 packs of Clif blocks (yum), and whoever came up with the peanut butter filled cookies, thank you! The Acceleraid has to go. My Gookinaid tasted so much better, but I only had 2L of it. Vail Pass was absolutely gorgeous but I spent most of the time tucked into the head wind. The 5 mile stretch on I-70 was the worst part of the ride. A bike path is desperately needed there. I picked up a pace line descending into Avon to cover 30 miles in less than one hour. The ride time came to 6:55 with 3 stops: one atop Squaw and 2 before each of the subsequent passes.

Question for everyone:

Are your times including breaks at the feed stations or excluding them?

my polar says 10:00 exe time, so that's ride time for me. I'm slow. :p

Question for everyone:

Are your times including breaks at the feed stations or excluding them?

My ride time was 7:36, with stops the total elapsed time was about 9 hours.

I switched my 12-25 cassette out for a 12-27 so my lowest gear was a 34-27. I used it some, but mostly tried to keep it 'in reserve' if I needed a bail out gear. Next year, I think I will run SRAMs 11-26 cassette as that would give a better top end speed with about the same small gear.

Nice time climbing_ian! That's impressive, 17mph average or so, not shabby at all!

Question for everyone:

Are your times including breaks at the feed stations or excluding them?


The time I listed was my ride time.

Are you the Biker Police??? ;)

I took 86 pictures, so instead of killing BF, they're up here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=mklrhef.bhd3zr73&x=0&y=-lixa2z

I'm bummed. I wish I was in someone's picture somewhere, but no luck so far.

Great pictures Superdex! Looks like it was a lot of fun. I'm so doing that ride next year. Thanks for sharing.

I came out from Va, where I live at 300 feet elevation, spent one night in Golden at 5,000 feet, then one night with friends at Evergreen at 8,000 feet then rode TBP in 9:45 riding time. Slow, but I was happy to finish. What a ride! The scale of the mountains is awesome, the descents were astonishing. The climbs aren't as steep as what we have in the Blue Ridge, but twice as long as what I'm used to. I'll do this again if I can manage the transportation.

The time I listed there was "ride time", I left at 630am from evergreen and got into avon at 3pm on the dot..

I run a 12-25 casette, with a 52-40-32 triple up front, but then I do it on a bike friday, with 20 inch wheels, so I spin a ton!! That's what get's me up the mountains quickly, but then on the decents I can only achieve 45 to 48 or so max, instead of in the 50's like the regular size wheeled bikes..

Great ride though!! Very pretty out there and I was very happy to have the great weather this year as compared to last years ride..

Take care,

Benjamin

I run a 12-25 casette, with a 52-40-32 triple up front, but then I do it on a bike friday, with 20 inch wheels, so I spin a ton!! That's what get's me up the mountains quickly, but then on the decents I can only achieve 45 to 48 or so max, instead of in the 50's like the regular size wheeled bikes..


Would that be a GREEN Bike Friday? Someone went by me like he was shot out of a cannon on one -- you perhaps?

Does anyone know if there is an official (or unofficial) record time (ride time) for the Triple? I think that would be interesting to know. I think that the ride compares to a TdF stage and was thinking that the pros would do it in sub 6 hours.

I wish Colorado had more (any?) timed centuries. I don't know why there aren't any.

barely ...just barely sub 6 hours. It has stood for several years.

Oh, and all this business about "ride time" is, IMO, nothing more than pure road apples.

The whole enchilada is about ride time ...rest time ...repair time ...everything counts - start to finish. That is if you're counting.

I wish Colorado had more (any?) timed centuries. I don't know why there aren't any.

Because with 3500 people riding a day route, the last thing you want to encourage is a racing mentality.

The Breck 100 is this Sunday and the Firecraker 50 was on the 4th. Those are very good races to test your cycling prowess. I wish the Red Zinger Classic was still around. Boulder to Breck on asphalt and dirt.

Because with 3500 people riding a day route, the last thing you want to encourage is a racing mentality.

The Breck 100 is this Sunday and the Firecraker 50 was on the 4th. Those are very good races to test your cycling prowess. I wish the Red Zinger Classic was still around. Boulder to Breck on asphalt and dirt.

I disagree with that reasoning...L'etape du Tour has 8500 riders and they manage to time it just fine. The 'Gran Fondos' (spelling) in Italy have that many as well and those are timed. Even here in the states there are many timed centuries. There just aren't any in CO that I know of. Not everyone...or even most people would be racing it and it would get so spread out that it wouldn't be any more dangerous. People are already going all out. It would be good to be able to compare my abilities with those of others.

Those other rides are mt. bike rides (right?) and I'm not a mt. biker!

barely ...just barely sub 6 hours. It has stood for several years.

Oh, and all this business about "ride time" is, IMO, nothing more than pure road apples.

The whole enchilada is about ride time ...rest time ...repair time ...everything counts - start to finish. That is if you're counting.


Thanks Nick, that's a pretty smokin' time.

I agree with you on ride time vs. total elapsed time...it isn't very interesting to set a good ride time if you take 12 hours of breaks! That's one of my goals for next year, to spend less time at the rest areas.

Yes, I'm a competitive, type A person! ;)

snip...I'm not a mt. biker!

Whaaaa?!!!? No fatty?

All that respect I had for you just went out the dang window, Chezoff! :D

You're right about the other "timed" tours. CO needs a burly ride that will draw the type A in us all to the start line.

Here's a suggestion right out of my little mind:
Glenwood to Vail to Copper to Leadville to Twin Lakes - over Independence Pass and back to Glenwood.

Whaaaa?!!!? No fatty?

All that respect I had for you just went out the dang window, Chezoff! :D

You're right about the other "timed" tours. CO needs a burly ride that will draw the type A in us all to the start line.

Here's a suggestion right out of my little mind:
Glenwood to Vail to Copper to Leadville to Twin Lakes - over Independence Pass and back to Glenwood.

Lol...good to know you had respect for me! :) I'd actually like to mountain bike more but I had to make a choice in what to do w/ my limited time...road biking is easier for me as I can do it right from my house. If I mountain bike I have to drive 30 minutes each way minimum and that cuts into my ride time!

That would be pretty cool route, how long would that be? 150 plus miles?...is there another route from Glenwood to Vail besides I-70?

Hey guys... those things are called "Brevets"

Hey guys... those things are called "Brevets"

With brevets though you don't really get to compare your time to others do you? I thought it was mostly about finishing within the allotted time for the distance of the brevet you were riding.

Not sure I, or my ass, wants to ride 600km in one sitting either!

My ride time was 7:36, with stops the total elapsed time was about 9 hours.

I switched my 12-25 cassette out for a 12-27 so my lowest gear was a 34-27. I used it some, but mostly tried to keep it 'in reserve' if I needed a bail out gear. Next year, I think I will run SRAMs 11-26 cassette as that would give a better top end speed with about the same small gear.

Nice time climbing_ian! That's impressive, 17mph average or so, not shabby at all!

Exactly what I was running with. I found that except for Squaw Pass and the last 4 miles of Loveland Pass and a few sections of Vail Pass I was able to ride pretty much in the 39 x 21 gear ratio or higher, leaving the 39x24 and 39x27 for when I hit the really steep sections.