Copper Triangle finish

[Bruce K]

Almost perfect weather, a classic route, and three good rides.

Bruce K, RABikes2, and Bradford are tired but happy campers after a great day in the Colorado Rockies. 80 miles and 6000' of climbing all done in under 6.5 hours total ride time (with water stops).

BK

[AngryScientist]

nice Bruce. I'm intrigued - hopefully i can join you next year. 6000' - strong work.

[firerescuefin]

You guys look great....congrats.

[Bradford]

The picture doesn't really capture the sheer exhaustion all that well. I rode a lot faster than previous years, but just as much pain. For the first time, I rode all 4 passes without taking an breaks to catch my breath. The first time I rode Vail pass, I think I stopped at least 10 times, at least for a minute or two. Yesterday I went up without stopping at all and even rode past the last rest stop. It makes me wonder what the ride would be like if I were down to my fit weight and had a decent number of miles under my butt.

The only bad thing is that my Nitto seatpost is slipping. The back of the saddle is getting pushed down, raising the tip. I had to stop and work on it twice yesterday to get it back to level. I might have to go back to a two-bolt post like a Ritchey.

The good news is that Bruce gave me this really cool Florida Gators hat. He said he won it off some guy from Denver in a bike race. It was either that or firerescuefin forget it and I have to get it back to him next week. I can't remember which is the true one, so I think I'll go with the race story.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . and I'm jealous. Great riding here, of course, but this event and course look stellar and I wish I was there.

Bruce, maybe next year if I can get the vacation time together and REALLY work on my sprint-- --so next time I won't be so embarrassed!

BBD

[firerescuefin]

Originally Posted by Bradford

The good news is that Bruce gave me this really cool Florida Gators hat. He said he won it off some guy from Denver in a bike race.

To make a long story short, Bruce basically gave me "the look" (he later told me he licensed it to Armstrong)....and put in an attack that left me looking like Ulrich stopped at the local Sonic drive thru....Damn, I liked that hat.

[Bradford]

Originally Posted by firerescuefin

To make a long story short, Bruce basically gave me "the look" (he later told me he licensed it to Armstrong)....and put in an attack that left me looking like Ulrich stopped at the local Sonic drive thru....Damn, I liked that hat.

I'm not surprised. At the beginning of the Copper Triangle, I asked him to take it easy on us. He turned around and said "Go drink some Coke because I'm leaving on the first climb." We turned the corner to Freemont Pass and that was the last I saw of him.

I'm waiting for his tests to come back, I wouldn't be surprised if they find something hinky in his A sample.

[konstantkarma]

Sorry I missed you guys. I started at 6:03 AM (daybreak at Copper) and finished at 1:14. My average speed on the bike, not including nutrition breaks was 14.9 MPH. Not bad for only 2 days of elevation acclimation. It was fun, but exhausting. I wished I'd known about the "Victory Crew" jerseys. I saw lots of you at the end of the ride at Copper.

Thanks again to Jack Brunk for the opportunity!

I plan on riding Independence Pass from Aspen to the summit tomorrow.

[BumbleBeeDave]

At the Rhode Island Red Ramble he (Vladimir) "Karpets bombed" me right into the barriers and just kept going.

THEN he told everybody that it was an errant TV car that had taken me out!

BBD

[Bruce K]

All right, enough is enough.....

We all agreed to climb these long grinding climbs at our own pace and re-group at the tops if possible.

This we did at the top of Fremont Pass.

At Tennessee Pass I was a bit chilled (riding in the 40's will do that) and decided to skip the rest stop. I managed to get a bottle refill from a nice young lady who was doing support for her team of riders and headed off down the descent towards Battle Mountain.

That probably acccounted for most of the time difference to RA as she rode like the freakin' Energizer Bunny all week. Just rock steady with not even a hint of quit in that woman.

In the end I rolled in at 12:05 PM (with a start time of 5:50 AM). Overall I was very happy with my ride even with 2 asthma issues on Vail Pass.

It is a great route with lots of fun folks and the Davis Phinney Foundation is a very worthy cause to be associated with.

Hopefully more folks will be able to make it next year. It's a really nice place to spend a week riding your bike each day.

BK