August 18-20, 2023 - Evergreen, Colorado to Eagle, Colorado "Double By-Pass"

This is a travel with Tobey and Tyler post because it is all about them! Last summer, this same week, they planned to do this bike ride, but were unsuccessful. They made some changes this year and .... success! Last year they left from Golden, Colorado and were carrying camping gear, as well as their bike gear - each of them with over 30 pounds of weight on their bikes. To make matters worse, it rained on them most of the day Saturday - then it turned to snow making it impossible to get over Loveland Pass. This year, they left from Evergreen, stayed in hotels, and were both only carrying about 15 pounds of gear. They shifted stopping places and were able to have "fresh legs" when starting their assents up the passes. The weather also cooperated with no rain or snow!

Friday they loaded their bikes and gear into our van and drove to Evergreen, Colorado where they began their three day, 120 mile bike ride. That doesn't necessarily sound like much until you consider they had to go over two mountain passes - Loveland and Vail. Tyler took a picture before they started ... do you know what is missing?
If you said Tobey's helmet, you are correct. Fortunately, Tobey is a very careful rider and he just didn't have it on yet! There he is!

Their route out of Evergreen begins with a pretty steep climb but they made the 22.7 mile ride into Georgetown in about 2-1/2 hours, despite having some good headwinds. Their elevation gain was 2,178 feet with a maximum grade was 10%! Time for lunch and relaxing before hitting the hot tub at their hotel.

Saturday morning they got an early start from Georgetown on their way to Frisco. It was a bit chilly - in the 40s as they started off!

They made it to the top of Loveland Pass - 11,990 feet above sea level and both of them shed most of their "cold weather" gear!

The ride down to Frisco was fast - they were flying at 35mph on their bikes! Today they had a 4,071 foot elevation gain, rode 38.9 miles in 4 hours, 19 minutes. Today's maximum grade was 11.7%.

They spent the night in Frisco and got an early start again on Sunday.
On Sunday's route they had a 2,268 foot elevation gain on their way up Vail Pass from Frisco. They were on a bike trail as they went over the pass and there isn't a sign showing they went over the top, so they stopped coming into Vail for their picture!
They rolled into Eagle right at noon after riding their 60.4 miles in 4-1/2 hours!They were still smiling when they arrived!

I drove to Evergreen, switched cars, and drove up to Eagle to meet them for lunch, visit with friends, Tom and Ann, and drove them back. They were happy with their ride and are looking forward to planning the next one!