Triple Bypass

Yesterday started off with a 5:00 a.m. pickup by my friends Charlene and Brian. They were doing the Triple Bypass bike ride (that's bicycle for all my Harley riding friends out there!) and I was to drive sag wagon (support vehicle) for them. The Triple Bypass is a beast of a ride- the route is 120 miles from Evergreen to Avon, CO. It goes over three mountain passes: Squaw (11,140 ft.), Loveland (11,990 ft.), and Vail (10,560 ft.) and includes 10,000 ft of climbing.

Although competition juices are running, it's not really a race. Rider's can start anytime between 6:00 and 7:30 a.m., so the finish line isn't really a gauge of placing. The ride is capped at 3500 riders and I think they had a full roster by the number of people I saw out on the course! I had driven sag wagon for Charlene back in 2003 when I was an intern and she had done the ride with the USA Swimming intern at the time, Ryan. This was her husband Brian's first time doing this ride.


My job as "sag hag" was to be at every Aid Station along the way to refuel them and to help distribute their gear. According to spectators along the route I spoke with, the weather for last years' ride was so bad that half the riders who started didn't finish. In the mountains you never know what the weather will do and there is a constant change of temperatures, so there is a constant shuffle of warm and/or rain gear. Thankfully the weather was gorgeous the whole day, so Brian & Charlene never had to pull out the rain gear stuffed into the back of their jerseys.


After shooting this pic of them in Georgetown, I headed up to the Loveland ski area to catch them as they were making their way up Loveland Pass. The ski area was obviously shut down for the season (although you can still see snow on the peaks!), so it made a great staging area for entertainment, bike repairs and refueling for the riders. We chuckled on the way home later as Charlene commented on the fact that the majority of these riders baby their bikes all year. Most bikes are well within the $1000 and higher range, so they are usually never allowed to stay outside, rest or rub against anything and are kept meticulously clean and maintained. Take a look at all these bikes laying on the ground at the Aid Station!


As sag hag, my job wasn't just to facilitate fueling and gear exchanges, I was also the cheering squad. I would drive ahead to the next Aid Station, park the car, jump out and set up my lawn chair, get my camera ready and start cheering. In 2003, I wasn't so proficient and missed my riders at a few stops. This year the stars lined up and I miraculously made it to each Aid Station just ahead of Charlene and Brian! I even managed to find time for a photo safari! I took tons of pictures of the riders and scenery in between my sag wagon duties. I ended up taking over 70 pictures during the day!


One of the Aid Stations was at the Vail Pass rest area. The ride organizers had closed off the vehicle access to the restrooms at the rest area. I felt sorry for motorists as I watched them find a rare parking spot and look around wondering what the hell was going on! A group ride of Pikes Peak Harley Owner's Group (HOG) pulled into the rest area complete with their own sag wagon (much more advanced and bigger than ours!!). They didn't stay long as they gazed out over the hundred's of cyclists swarming the facilities of the rest area. I remember having that same pang of sympathy as I did the Gulf Coast Half-Ironman triathlon in Panama City a few years ago and cycled parallel to miles of cars stuck in traffic because of the race. Moral of this story, check to see if there are any scheduled road closures before taking off on a road trip!


I can only attach 5 pictures to each post, so I'll follow this one up with the rest of the day!