The Triple Bypass

Saturday I rode the Triple Bypass, but before I get into my ride report I want to assure everyone that Hank and Ki Branjdten's Golden Retriever, Bailey, is OK. If you have been following the Tour de France you probably saw Bailey's badly timed attempt to cross the road in front of the peloton on July 4th, during Stage One of the race. Bailey managed to take down two Tour favorites and was briefly down herself. Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso and David Millar of Britain were back on their bikes after the crash that occurred about 56 kilometers after the start. They were able to rejoin the main group with the help of their teammates. There must have been a tennis ball on the other side of the road or perhaps Bailey mistook Lance for Hank. When contacted by

French animal control officers, Hank told them that he was pretty sure that Bailey was down by White Bear Lake, but the screen shot from the video above clearly shows Bailey rushing out in front of the on-coming peloton. The good news is that Bailey is OK and was back home with Hank and Ki in Minnesota moments later.

I did not get a whole lot of sleep the night before the Triple Bypass. My friend Tony Klaich

came in from Chicago and spent Thursday night at my house. We got some riding in on Thursday and Friday, then Friday night Tony's fiance Ying flew in late from San Francisco. The plan was for Tony to pick up Ying and we would all meet up at a house he had rented up in Evergreen. Ying's flight was late enough that we did not get up there until about 1:00 AM Saturday morning. The good news is I found a way to absolutely crush Ironman-Distance-Triathlete Tony time-wise on the Triple Bypass course. All I had to do was get up at 5:00 AM on Saturday and start riding three hours before he did. Despite getting only four hours of sleep I felt pretty good and I was also probably helped by my inability to do the grueling ride up Left Hand Canyon with Tony the day before due to mechanical issues with my bike. All this assured me of leaving Tony pretty much in the rear view mirror for the whole Triple Bypass. I say the whole Triple Bypass, but we did not do the whole ride. We did all the climbing and most of the descending and pulled the plug on doing the final downhill into the Vail area when Tony caught up with me on top of Vail Pass.

Tony did the ride 'bandit' style, meaning he didn't actually have an entry. He thought he did, but he didn't. The race number on his helmet was one he found on the route. He had to wait to start until they had reopened Squaw Pass (the first of the three passes on the ride) to non-participants. So it was fairly late by the time Tony got to the top of Vail pass and we wanted to spend some time with Ying who had been nice enough to drive my truck to Vail to pick us up and take us back to Evergreen. With that in mind we blew off the final descent into Vail and hopped in my truck to head to the Buffalo Bar in Idaho Springs for a well earned dinner. Below is my Garmin map of the ride and the route profile.

We did 10,731 feet of climbing and 7,942 feet of descending over about 93 miles. I had a good ride and felt fine right to the end. Both Tony and I got rained on a couple of time. The weather looked like it might really get evil when I went over Loveland Pass. Below are pictures of the aid station at the Loveland Ski Area (with 3,500 riders it was a zoo), the line of riders starting up Loveland Pass, and the top of Loveland Pass as I approached the summit.

When I reached the top of Loveland Pass the wind was howling and it was starting to rain. I did not dally up there to take a photo as I have other years. I rode out of the rain on the descent and had a nice ride up and over Swan Mountain on the south side of Lake Dillon. It started raining again when I was at the aid station in Frisco and I thought we really might catch hell with rain or perhaps even a thunderstorm on Vail Pass, but we caught a break and the weather totally cleared. Below a picture of the conquering heroes.

Thanks, Tony, for coming out, and thanks to Ying, too, for coming and driving support! There is bold talk of us doing the California Death Ride in the Sierras next year which is always on the same date as the Triple Bypass. And Hank, when you read this I just want you to know that I am glad Bailey is OK and I missed you on the climbs during the Triple Bypass after all the climbing we did together in France.