Perfect - thank you!
Do you remember how many aid stations they had? Trying to decide if I have to pack a bunch of calories/drink mix, or if I can ātravel lightā
I donāt remember exact number, but thereās enough that you can eat/drink entirely off the course. Iāve never brought any food with me however Iāve never attempted to āraceā it, itās just a long day out for fun so Iāve never cared about having my exact custom mix for optimum performance.
That said, they did mess up royally and run really low on supplies and water one year, either 2018 or 2019, and it was a whole big thing. They made big changes after that so I donāt think itād happen again.
Have fun out there, Iāve done it the last last 4 years Iāve lived out here but wonāt be doing it this year since itās the same weekend as Leadville. Hoping they go back to the July date next year.
Looks like 4 aid stations on the route profile.
Oh man. Not what I wanted to hear lol.
I donāt think the scale is quite accurate on this profile view vs the official one, I think it makes it look worse than it really is, but I do think it shows much more detail in the profile. Note that itās in metric.
You have 1 big climb to start with, then 1 long descent. You then have one really, really long climb from Idaho Springs to Loveland but itās more gradual and you donāt really think youāre climbing at first because youāre just on feeder roads and bike paths and not climbing twisty exposed switchbacks. By the time you hit the proper high elevation part of Loveland pass where thereās switch backs and stuff youāre actually pretty close to the top (labeled Loveland Pass Road in the profile). Then you have another long descent, a rolling section, and the another gradual climb up again to Vail pass which is much easier than the previous 2, but also comes at a point where you have tired legs.
Hereās the good news though, I actually encourage you to lie to yourself and tell yourself itās not really a ~120 mile ride and that itās really a 93 mile ride plus a long cooldown. When you get to the top of Vail pass thereās a long fun downhill followed by some flatter but still mostly downhill sections all the way to the end. You still have to pedal, but I always get a second wind and find the final stretch into Avon goes by quite easily each year.
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Thanks for the info! Just starting to panic a little because I havenāt made the progress I wanted to have made in my fitness and my weight by now. Iāve done rides with similar distance and amount of climbing before, just never at altitude and with such long sustained climbs. Iām sure Iāll make it to the finishā¦eventuallyā¦
Iām sure youāll do fine. Triple Bypass has always had a very social and non-competitive atmosphere the years I have done it. Thereās just thousands of people all riding at their own pace, stopping, taking breaks, just slowly chugging along. Many with less than ideal fitness and/or equipment choices.
Youāve done other long events so you know this, but #1 thing is to keep eating and drinking. You dehydrate easier at altitude and itās less apparent when you do because the air is so dry. You donāt have to be dripping with sweat to be losing a ton of water. The worst thing you can do on a day this long is dig yourself into a big hole and make yourself so miserable you donāt enjoy the day. Slow is fine as long as you arenāt hating every minute.
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I did the Tour de Big Bear this past Saturday. My first ever climbing fondo at elevation.
Not quite as crazy as the Triple Bypass, but similarish: 8700ā of climbing over 98+ miles, 7,000 ft average elevation, one continuous 1600ā climb and one continuous 2000ā climb.
I was hyperfocused on conservative pacing at elevation and fueling, and hydration was good, but what got me in the end was the heat. Weather report said 81F highs, which was accurate at Big Bear Lake. Climbing up the backside of the main summit, I stared at my Garmin as the temperature creeped up past 106F. That was unexpected. An ice water drench at mile 80 got me going again and I felt like I had more in the tank as I crossed the finish.
In hindsight, I couldāve gone faster, but I know that I couldāve also gone a lot slower had I cramped or bonked (which I avoided). So Iām happy with how it went. First timeās a learning experience. Next year Iāll come back a little bit fitter, a little bit lighter, and lot more experienced.
My husband is riding it with a friend. His goal - finish upright, after having a rough go with the SBT blue course last weekend.
Iāll be cheering at the finish with the kiddo - good luck to everyone!
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Iām flying out from Atlanta tomorrow. A buddy from Tallahassee Florida is meeting me to ride it too. My plan is to finish upright without any thought to time and not be cripple afterward. 10 years ago I weighed nearly 400 pounds and riding a bike 110 miles across three mountain tops was only a dream. 230 pounds lighter and Iām only 3 days away from doing this! I hope everyone has a great ride. Big shoutout to all the people at Trainerroad, Nate, Chad, Amber, and Jonathan for their constant encouragement and sharing their collective wisdom. Thank you!
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Just finishing is the goal currently! Been fighting off a stomach bug for this whole week, and coming into this from sea level mean Iāll be at far less than 100% (which isnāt much to begin with! lol)
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Iām planning to do the same starting mid Sep and resume interval training in the winter.
At TdBB I got smoked up the climbs by some 60+ year old men and women who clearly had a LOT more miles under their belts.
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I usually skip the first aid station for the same reason.
I start with two tall bottles of high carb mix and take small sips regularly. I make sure those two bottles are completely empty by the 2 hour mark when I make my first pit stop.
Underfueling early in the ride and/or chugging bottles right before an aid station has always ended in regret for meā¦
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This should work as long as youāre getting in plenty of fuel between Idaho Springs and Georgetown, but Iāve seen a ton of people who come into Georgetown wiped and need to stop and really catch up there in order to salvage the rest of the day.
You say youāre dialed in so trust you on that, but this event in can be so miserable if you donāt stay fueled early so any plan of skipping or rushing aid stations is not without risk,.
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Good luck to everyone tomorrow, hopefully we get good weather all day too!
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Has Triple Bypass ever been marketed as anything other than a recreational ride?
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The quality of food/drink is what I would expect to see at an event like this and the variety was exceptional - fresh oranges and bananas, PBJ, AM muffins and bagels with cream cheese or Nutella/PB, fig newtons, chips, sandwiches (meat, veggie, and GF options) and sodas for lunch, abundant water and electrolyte solutions, gels, and I probably missed some others.
On speed, the triple is not a race but they added a Gran Fondo option for being timed up climbs. That said, I have similar power numbers and got passed by plenty of much faster people.
Overal, I thought it was a well run event with lots of friendly volunteers and we had great weather for a high altitude mountain event.
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Itās really hard to judge this in an event that doesnāt have a fixed start time. There are fast people there, but they can be diffused over a 2 hour start window so who you see on course can be kind of a crapshoot.
Iāve always assumed that the event does this on purpose to preserve the recreational atmosphere. Despite the fondo only timing the climbs if more people treated it like a race youād see more people attacking the descents which would lead to more crashes. The objective of the organizers is to move a crap ton people of wildly different ages and abilities through the course as safely as possible.
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Also, Why would you go out and bury yourself on a recreational event? Sure, I could push 3.5w/kg up the climbs, but why? for what? Instead I could roll up at a much more reasonable pace and maybe get to know the stories of the people Iām sharing the road with.
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