Copper Triangle
When I first heard of this ride, it was because Colorado Cyclist sent me a brochure in the mail around March or April this year describing it, and my first thought was...... wow! What a ride!.... Then, I hapened to notice that it was a ride made expresssly for me, they even held it on my birthday! It was a ride that, even a year ago, I would never have thought about seriously, but, thoughts were creeping into my head. Maybe....... Nah......I'd never be able to handle the altitude ....well ... maybe ..Maybe if I trained really hard, and tried out my luck at a bit lower elevation first. So, I signed up for the Santa Fe Century and managed to complete that one, and was a bit encouraged. Still, I knew I was lacking confidence in my climbing abilities, as well as my high altitude tolerance. I'm not really a climber, so I had many thoughts about this one. Finally, I threw caution to the wind..... sent in my reservation and fee, and decided to get serious about training! This was not exactly a cheap, Oklahoma style ride. I couldn't do much about the altitude training, so I decided to build myself up as much as I could, which is why I rode 3000 miles in the last three months. Finally, on the 3rd of August, I loaded up the car, put the bike on the carrier, and departed for the high country. I had reserved a condo at Copper Mountain ski resort ....I mean, what the hey...... if you're gonna do it, do it right! Here's where I stayed...........
This will be continued in the next comment......
This will be continued in the next comment......
3 hours ago
There is a wonderful bike path there that runs all the way from Frisco, Colorado, over the top of Vail Pass, and back into Vail. It's really nice, but I will post that on Biking Trails and get on with the main story here. One quick picture of the bike path before we jump ahead. I had given myself a couple of days to hopefully acclimate myself to the elevation somewhat, after all, Copper was already over 9000 feet. So, Thursday, I rode down to Frisco and back, and Friday, I did the same thing, but this time caught up with another rider, and we chatted as we rode. When we got back to Copper, I asked him how far he was riding, and he replied..... oh, up to the top of Vail........ OK.....want some company? So, I started up the east side of Vail Pass with him.
I was much encouraged with the results, and decided that maybe this was going to be possible after all. I did notice all the out of shape people coming down, whole touristy families, kids, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpas..... and not very skilled at bike handling, in fact a couple of them ran off the trail right in front of me, fortunately up-slope and not down. So, I asked my new found friend about it, and he told me.... they rent the bikes at the resort, and the resort shuttles them to the top of the pass, and down they come! He cautioned me to be careful on this bike path. Anyway.....on with the main ride!!!
August 6th dawned with me already on the road, having set out at 5:30 in the pre-dawn chill. Front and rear lights on my bike and the Colorado State Patrol allowed me on the road. I wasn't the only one, there being a number of early risers who wanted a jump on the day. I was sure that I would be the last one in anyway. So, starting out, and up from the bottom of Fremont Pass.
The camera tried to make this into day, but if you notice, everyone coming down had lights on. This was my first climb of the day...... right out of the sack. Twelve miles up to the summit. Beautiful scenery all the way up...... I had such a hard time deciding on pictures to post.
Twelve miles..... there were times I wondered if I was going to get there. Not particularly steep, but somewhat relentless in it's steady uphill climb. I was able to keep my breathing in check by spinning easily in a lower gear, and not exerting myself any more than I had to. Slow and steady get's the job done. I didn't know it at the time, but this was to be a cake-walk compared to what was coming after. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, but in reality was only about an hour and a half...... I arrived!
The temperature had dropped a few degrees and I noticed a bit of frost on the signs at the summit. I really didn't have enough clothes on! I had my shorts, jersey, Santa Rosa vest, windbreaker and short fingered gloves. Shoulda had way more!. I really hate stuffing stuff in my jersey pocket when it warms up however, and going down the rode looking like a bicycling Michelin Man. So, started down the south side of the pass toward Leadville in the cold. That side of the pass was all in the shade, and I was shaking so badly from the cold I was having trouble controlling the bike. Hey....it was 110 the last two months in Oklahoma! So, while I would have liked to turn it loose and swoop down the pass, I found the wind chill to be unbearable at any speed over 25. I held it in check and even then had to stop when I broke out into a little sun so I could stop shaking. Finally, down at Leadville, things were looking a bit better, sun was up, air temperature was warming, and I took a little warm up break at the junction of 91 and 24.
Once again, the scenery of the area impressed this flatlander.
Now, came the second climb for the day. Going north on Hwy 24 soon brought us to the base of Tennessee Pass, and by now, the rest of the crowd had caught up. There were 3000 riders on the ride, and I think they were all around me by then. It was so hard to stop without being run over, but even harder to find a gap to get started again once you got your picture.
Tennessee Pass proved to be rather tame compared to Fremont, but you still knew you were going up. Not as long or as steep in places, but a good climb none-the-less. Finally topping out.... I waylaid a young lady by the sign and asked her to take my photo.
She was happy to, and did a great job. So....second pass down, and only 8:30am. I got to talking with the young woman who took my picture, and told her I was a flatlander and wasn't really a confident descender, so she took me under her wing so to speak and decided to give me a good lesson on mountain riding. She said....."follow me".....and off the top we went. A couple of tight bends at the top, and the rest of the rest of the long descent was fairly straight. By the time we got down to Camp Hale, we were zipping along at around 43 mph when I had courage enough to look down at the speedo. I stayed eight to ten feet behind her all the way down, and did exactly what she did. She was indeed an accomplished mountain rider. A lucky choice for a teacher for me. We stopped at the Camp Hale overlook for a couple of minutes in order to let my nerves calm down a bit.....
For those who are not familiar with Camp Hale.... it was the U.S. Army's high altitude training camp during WW2. All there is left now is a few foundations and concret structures. Anyway, we stayed there a couple of minutes and started on down again to Red Mountain where it sort of leveled out again for a bit. Then we rounded a curve and saw the beginnings of Battle Mountain. Whoa!!!! This was totally unexpected. I knew about the three passes, but now one told me anything about this! The steepest climb yet, and totally unrelenting for five, tough miles. This is the start, if you look hard, you can see riders up on the cut. This just kept going up, and turning another corner, and up some more, and another corner.....etc....
Finally, I reached the top, a bit out of breath, but not really having any problems. I figured I had lost my wonderful descending coach, but there she was at the top waiting on me! She let me rest a few minutes before plunging off the top again. This one was steep and long, many sharp curves, and a couple of hairpins down near the bottom. A very fast descent, but we kept it down to 35 or so for most of it. There were lots of guys going down both of these grades (Tennessee and Battle Mt.) at 50 to 60mph. Not this old man! Anyway, we rolled into Minturn and I moved up alongside her for a bit and complimented her on her skills. She smiled and replied....... "yeah, and we both still have all our teeth too". I lost her in some traffic going through Minturn and never saw her again the rest of the ride. At I-70, we turned onto the bike path and started toward the town of Vail, made a short stop at the west Vail rest stop to grab a banana and a snack, and started up the toughest climb of the whole route. Vail Pass was uphill from the Minturn Junction for 22 miles to the top. Three thousand vertical feet of climbing in 22 miles.
At every town, and every turn, I was surprised at the support this ride has gotten from local police who stopped traffic to let us by.
Now....the tough part begins. This hill required many Kodak moments to climb.
But the scenery was awesome, so I didn't mind. I wasn't racing anybody anyway.
We just kept climbing, and climbing, and climbing.....and I really thought at times there was no end. In fact, it was working on me so much that if there would have been a guy in robes standing out there with a sign saying "The End Is Near" I would have known it was mine! Finally, more or less topping out at Black Lake, there was only a short little climb to the summit after that. Believe me, the west side of Vail is many, many times harder than the east.
Finally, the last little climb over the top. There was a time when I really never thought there was a top! The last three miles I was very tired, and having problems with maintaining the desire to finish, in fact, if there would have been a SAG wagon, I might have caved. But, this being a bike path....no SAG's! Unfortunately.....there is no sign announcing the summit on the bike path, so this will have to do.
This is the last rest stop ...... the top of Vail Pass. I had run out of water..... emptied both bottles as I was going by Black Lake. I had filled both at the east Vail rest stop just before the hard part of the climb began. I was glad to see the summit rest stop. They had it in the State rest area for the Interstate. From the time I started east from the Minturn Junction, it took me three long hard hours to the top.
Now....a zip down the bike path back to Copper, under the "finish" sign....... and it was over!
I was elated that I had accomplished this ride as it was indeed a temendous challenge for me. On the other hand, I was so very tired, and sore from head to foot. I finished the ride at 1:30pm.....a total of 7 hours on the road for the 80 miles. The ride was billed as 6000 feet of total climbing and I felt every one that evening. A post ride massage helped bunches after I settled my breathing and heart rate down a bit. Would I do it again? Maybe, if I was ten years younger..... but I really think I'm glad I did this now, instead of waiting another year. Probably wouldn't have then. It was a great ride, but expect a tough ride if you want to do this one. I'll have some great memories though for the rest of my life. Not an epic ride like RDW's Wyoming Tour, not a test of strength like Jim Bang's epic tour across the top of the rockies, and not even an excursion that rivalled TL's Wild Ride in the High Sierra's, but for this old man, a ride to remember.
Three big mountain passes, and don't forget Battle Mountain...... all in all, a great ride. My bithday present to myself..... and a great Birthday it was.
I was much encouraged with the results, and decided that maybe this was going to be possible after all. I did notice all the out of shape people coming down, whole touristy families, kids, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpas..... and not very skilled at bike handling, in fact a couple of them ran off the trail right in front of me, fortunately up-slope and not down. So, I asked my new found friend about it, and he told me.... they rent the bikes at the resort, and the resort shuttles them to the top of the pass, and down they come! He cautioned me to be careful on this bike path. Anyway.....on with the main ride!!!
August 6th dawned with me already on the road, having set out at 5:30 in the pre-dawn chill. Front and rear lights on my bike and the Colorado State Patrol allowed me on the road. I wasn't the only one, there being a number of early risers who wanted a jump on the day. I was sure that I would be the last one in anyway. So, starting out, and up from the bottom of Fremont Pass.
The camera tried to make this into day, but if you notice, everyone coming down had lights on. This was my first climb of the day...... right out of the sack. Twelve miles up to the summit. Beautiful scenery all the way up...... I had such a hard time deciding on pictures to post.
Twelve miles..... there were times I wondered if I was going to get there. Not particularly steep, but somewhat relentless in it's steady uphill climb. I was able to keep my breathing in check by spinning easily in a lower gear, and not exerting myself any more than I had to. Slow and steady get's the job done. I didn't know it at the time, but this was to be a cake-walk compared to what was coming after. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, but in reality was only about an hour and a half...... I arrived!
The temperature had dropped a few degrees and I noticed a bit of frost on the signs at the summit. I really didn't have enough clothes on! I had my shorts, jersey, Santa Rosa vest, windbreaker and short fingered gloves. Shoulda had way more!. I really hate stuffing stuff in my jersey pocket when it warms up however, and going down the rode looking like a bicycling Michelin Man. So, started down the south side of the pass toward Leadville in the cold. That side of the pass was all in the shade, and I was shaking so badly from the cold I was having trouble controlling the bike. Hey....it was 110 the last two months in Oklahoma! So, while I would have liked to turn it loose and swoop down the pass, I found the wind chill to be unbearable at any speed over 25. I held it in check and even then had to stop when I broke out into a little sun so I could stop shaking. Finally, down at Leadville, things were looking a bit better, sun was up, air temperature was warming, and I took a little warm up break at the junction of 91 and 24.
Once again, the scenery of the area impressed this flatlander.
Now, came the second climb for the day. Going north on Hwy 24 soon brought us to the base of Tennessee Pass, and by now, the rest of the crowd had caught up. There were 3000 riders on the ride, and I think they were all around me by then. It was so hard to stop without being run over, but even harder to find a gap to get started again once you got your picture.
Tennessee Pass proved to be rather tame compared to Fremont, but you still knew you were going up. Not as long or as steep in places, but a good climb none-the-less. Finally topping out.... I waylaid a young lady by the sign and asked her to take my photo.
She was happy to, and did a great job. So....second pass down, and only 8:30am. I got to talking with the young woman who took my picture, and told her I was a flatlander and wasn't really a confident descender, so she took me under her wing so to speak and decided to give me a good lesson on mountain riding. She said....."follow me".....and off the top we went. A couple of tight bends at the top, and the rest of the rest of the long descent was fairly straight. By the time we got down to Camp Hale, we were zipping along at around 43 mph when I had courage enough to look down at the speedo. I stayed eight to ten feet behind her all the way down, and did exactly what she did. She was indeed an accomplished mountain rider. A lucky choice for a teacher for me. We stopped at the Camp Hale overlook for a couple of minutes in order to let my nerves calm down a bit.....
For those who are not familiar with Camp Hale.... it was the U.S. Army's high altitude training camp during WW2. All there is left now is a few foundations and concret structures. Anyway, we stayed there a couple of minutes and started on down again to Red Mountain where it sort of leveled out again for a bit. Then we rounded a curve and saw the beginnings of Battle Mountain. Whoa!!!! This was totally unexpected. I knew about the three passes, but now one told me anything about this! The steepest climb yet, and totally unrelenting for five, tough miles. This is the start, if you look hard, you can see riders up on the cut. This just kept going up, and turning another corner, and up some more, and another corner.....etc....
Finally, I reached the top, a bit out of breath, but not really having any problems. I figured I had lost my wonderful descending coach, but there she was at the top waiting on me! She let me rest a few minutes before plunging off the top again. This one was steep and long, many sharp curves, and a couple of hairpins down near the bottom. A very fast descent, but we kept it down to 35 or so for most of it. There were lots of guys going down both of these grades (Tennessee and Battle Mt.) at 50 to 60mph. Not this old man! Anyway, we rolled into Minturn and I moved up alongside her for a bit and complimented her on her skills. She smiled and replied....... "yeah, and we both still have all our teeth too". I lost her in some traffic going through Minturn and never saw her again the rest of the ride. At I-70, we turned onto the bike path and started toward the town of Vail, made a short stop at the west Vail rest stop to grab a banana and a snack, and started up the toughest climb of the whole route. Vail Pass was uphill from the Minturn Junction for 22 miles to the top. Three thousand vertical feet of climbing in 22 miles.
At every town, and every turn, I was surprised at the support this ride has gotten from local police who stopped traffic to let us by.
Now....the tough part begins. This hill required many Kodak moments to climb.
But the scenery was awesome, so I didn't mind. I wasn't racing anybody anyway.
We just kept climbing, and climbing, and climbing.....and I really thought at times there was no end. In fact, it was working on me so much that if there would have been a guy in robes standing out there with a sign saying "The End Is Near" I would have known it was mine! Finally, more or less topping out at Black Lake, there was only a short little climb to the summit after that. Believe me, the west side of Vail is many, many times harder than the east.
Finally, the last little climb over the top. There was a time when I really never thought there was a top! The last three miles I was very tired, and having problems with maintaining the desire to finish, in fact, if there would have been a SAG wagon, I might have caved. But, this being a bike path....no SAG's! Unfortunately.....there is no sign announcing the summit on the bike path, so this will have to do.
This is the last rest stop ...... the top of Vail Pass. I had run out of water..... emptied both bottles as I was going by Black Lake. I had filled both at the east Vail rest stop just before the hard part of the climb began. I was glad to see the summit rest stop. They had it in the State rest area for the Interstate. From the time I started east from the Minturn Junction, it took me three long hard hours to the top.
Now....a zip down the bike path back to Copper, under the "finish" sign....... and it was over!
I was elated that I had accomplished this ride as it was indeed a temendous challenge for me. On the other hand, I was so very tired, and sore from head to foot. I finished the ride at 1:30pm.....a total of 7 hours on the road for the 80 miles. The ride was billed as 6000 feet of total climbing and I felt every one that evening. A post ride massage helped bunches after I settled my breathing and heart rate down a bit. Would I do it again? Maybe, if I was ten years younger..... but I really think I'm glad I did this now, instead of waiting another year. Probably wouldn't have then. It was a great ride, but expect a tough ride if you want to do this one. I'll have some great memories though for the rest of my life. Not an epic ride like RDW's Wyoming Tour, not a test of strength like Jim Bang's epic tour across the top of the rockies, and not even an excursion that rivalled TL's Wild Ride in the High Sierra's, but for this old man, a ride to remember.
Three big mountain passes, and don't forget Battle Mountain...... all in all, a great ride. My bithday present to myself..... and a great Birthday it was.
about 2 hours ago
Awesome photos! & happy birthday! Looks like a fabulous ride.
What a grand accomplishment! Congratulations. Love the pictures. Thank you.
33 minutes ago
What an adventure! Great photos as usual.
1 minute agonew
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