Colorado day 8: Most fun on the bike ever!

Triple Bypass was the culmination of our Colorado vacation. 120 miles and over 10,000 feet of elevation gain over three mountain passes. I felt great pretty much all day! Of course it wasn't a race, but it seemed like I was flying up the passes! The first pass was Juniper, and like other rides this week, was a pretty steady quite manageable grade, which was rewarded with some great scenery. There were some stunning views of the mountains too! ;-) I promised Sascha I'd meet her at the top of each of the passes, so I went back down to find her, and then came back up but didn't see her again on the way back up. Next up was Loveland Pass, the biggest climb of the day. On the way we had to ride along I-70 for a while which sucked, but could have sucked worse.
The climb up Loveland was very scenic as well in all ways. The full-size photo shows I-70 and the pass road waaaaaaaaay down below! It was a clear, gorgeous day, perfect for the ride. I've heard that last year was miserable, cold and wet, so we were fortunate today. Suspecting that Sascha wasn't ahead of me by this point, I went back down to the rest stop before the main part of the climb. We finally met up, and she'd been having trouble with her bike. I got her fixed up, and got to repeat the scenic part of the pass climb. Some of her tri-blogger friends and family were there on the climb to cheer us on, and they shuttled us to the start and took us home as well, which was awesome! The descent from Loveland was long and fun, with some switchbacks and curves which made things even more fun! The organizers did an awesome job of having volunteers before potentially dangerous parts of the descent to slow people down, as well as excellent execution of every other part of the ride. Team Evergreen really did a great job with this ride! Before the last climb of the day, Vail Pass, Sascha and I met up again the Starbucks on the way for a bit of poofter fortification. This was a good thing, because the last climb of the day was the hardest. Not because it was the highest or the steepest, but because it came after over 80 miles and two passes. Plus it was along a bike path, which was discouraging because it didn't look like anything epic yet was still arduous! I was even bonking a bit, and was glad for the rest stop at the top. The first part of the looooooong descent was cold, but after losing a few thousand feet and letting some calories kick in, I was able to take off the jacket and warmers.
__This last part of the descent, maybe 20 miles through Vail and into Avon, was the awesomest ride ever! It wasn't quite steep enough that I didn't have to pedal, and combined with a bit of a headwind required a little bit of work to maintain a clip of 25-30 mph. But that little bit of work was well rewarded, because it made me feel like I was flying along in an epic breakaway in a Tour de France stage! Screaming along frontage roads and through roundabouts, with another rider tight on my wheel, I was totally imaging Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin announcing my stage victory into Avon! So much fun!! I arrived in Avon with a huge smile on my face - an awesome way to end this epic ride!
__We were greeted with a nice spread of food at the end, and although the burgers were very well done, it still tasted good after that long ride. Afterward we went with the tri-bloggers for beer at a local brewery, got shuttled back home (thanks again!) and crashed hard. Today is just watching the Tour, a massage and lazing around before the drive back home tomorrow.