118 miles, climbing 10,800 feet over 3 Colorado passes.
This past Saturday was the day, and I was able to complete the ride.
In fact, I was able to complete it much faster than I thought that I'd be able to do it.
This being my first time attempting any organized ride, let alone one so long, I wasn't sure how to pack. I wasn't sure if I'd want my camelbak, or if I'd be able to just use water bottles, filling up at the aid stations.
I also wasn't sure how much food to bring, or how to pack for unexpected weather.
I ended up at what I thought was a pretty good compromise with being prepared without carrying too much stuff.
My wife was available with a sort of SAG wagon, but since the route was closed, she wasn't allowed on most of the route itself.
We did identify a few spots close to the route where we could have met if we needed to.
Anyway, she dropped me off a little after 5:30 AM about a mile from the official ride start.
She then returned home for a couple of hours.
So, as you know if you have been following along on Sheppy's Blog: Triple Bypass, most of my long climbs for training have included the first part of the Triple Bypass ... "Juniper Pass".
One thing I noticed Saturday is how much easier Juniper Pass is when you actually start your ride in Evergreen, as opposed to having 2 to 2.5 hours of climbing done before starting.
The climb up Juniper Pass was particularly confidence inspiring to me, because I was pretty much flying past hundreds of riders.
The training obviously paid off early.
There was a timed segment pretty much from the start of the ride to just before the first Aid Station, and I easily beat my previous best over that segment.
I had only finished one of my water bottles by the first aid station. I filled it up and ate some food at this point and then took off again.
The climb went on for the rest of Juniper pass. I was still very pleased with my pace.
The first decent was fun. After that, the ride started a steady climb from Idaho Springs to the parking of Loveland Ski area.
The 2nd aid station was on the East Side of Georgetown. I actually had to fill both water bottles at this point. Of course I had some more food.
I think in retrospect, the portion from aid station 2 to aid station 3 was the toughest. It wasn't all that steep, it just seemed to go on forever, and it felt hotter than most of the rest of the ride.
But around 10:30 or so, I arrived at the "Loveland ski area" aid station. This was one of the spots that my wife was able to meet me.
I gave her some of the stuff that I wouldn't need anymore, and she had some sunscreen for me.
The food and hydration at this station was wonderful.
This was my biggest break of the whole day.
Then, I headed up Pass #2 .. Loveland Pass. I wasn't particularly fast up this climb, but it wasn't all that long.
Once at the top of Loveland Pass, I figured I was through the most difficult part of the ride and the rest was (comparably) easy.
Well ... not easy, but easier.
And the views from the top of Loveland Pass are spectacular.
The descent down the pass is maybe the most fun I've ever had on a road bike.
Beautiful country and flying down hill was amazing. Yes, I'm not as fast as many people, but it was very fast for me.
And, then, I was down in the Dillon / Frisco area. We had a little climb over Sapphire Point and then hit another aid station where I had some more food and filled up water bottles.
My wife found a spot along the path in Frisco and cheered me on from there.
From there, I headed towards the climb out of Frisco into the Copper Mountain climb.
Climbing up to Copper Mountain is actually a very fast / easy climb, even after having ridden so many hours, and it really didn't take me long to get to Copper Mountain.
In fact, the wife met me there and only arrived a few minutes before me.
At that point, I grabbed some ice water from her. After so much not-so-cold electrolyte water, the ice cold water was really nice.
Our hotel for the night was in Copper Mountain, so she checked into the hotel while I headed up Vail Pass.
The climb got a little more challenging after Copper Mountain, but really was quite tame compared to the first two passes.
And, it wasn't long before I was at the final aid station. It was basically all down-hill from there.
The ride down from Vail pass into the Vail Valley is another really fun ride. I actually reached my max speed of the whole ride sometime during this descent (43.2 mph).
Once down into the valley where it flattened out a little, the heat felt really ... well ... hot. Luckily it was flat to downhill, so there wasn't as much effort for this last 10 or 15 miles or so.
I found myself pushing past people, trying to get to the finish as fast and strong as possible. It sort of felt like most other riders were just trying to struggle to the end. I actually felt pretty energized.
And, I flew past the finish line, where I saw and heard my wife cheering loudly and then the announcer spoke my name.
I stopped my bike computer at 8:22:36 riding time and 10:14:56 total elapsed time. My goal before the ride was to finish in 10 hours riding time, which I thought would be a big challenge, so I was pretty pleased with the less than 8.5 hours.
And .. while I was certainly tired, I wasn't nearly as "wrecked" as I figured I would have been.
The ride was a resounding success.
The post ride party was pretty awesome. I had a burrito and some beers.
Then, we headed back to our hotel, and had dinner.
I slept decently that night. My legs were a little sore, but again not nearly as bad as I figured they would be.
The next day we headed home. Honestly, the drive from Copper Mountain to home was the worst part of the experience. Westbound I70 traffic really sucks on Sundays.
So, I survived and even surpassed my most optimistic expectations for the ride. It was great. Now, I'm already wondering what my next big challenge should be.
One thing I know for sure ... I'll be riding the Great Cycle Challenge again this September.
Don't forget that if you'd like to help fight childhood cancer, you can make a donation ... you can visit my page ...
https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard
Or ... if you are a cyclist yourself, sign up and pledge your own miles. Let me know your GCC Page URL and I'll follow you.
As always, stay tuned on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with beer and other things: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.
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