double triple, or the hexa

let me tell you about the double triple.  we could call it the hexa, but for some reason double-triple sounds more fun, and is actually the official name, anyway.  hexa would just be my own little nickname, and it just isn't as cute or as fun to say.
if you're confused, I apologize, and I'll stop now and get to the point.

there's a well-known and popular ride in colorado called the triple bypass.  it's been around for 25 years now, and draws approximately 3500 riders.
the ride begins in evergreen (elevation approx 7800') and goes up and over 3 mountain passes---juniper (11,140'), loveland (11,990'), and vail (10,560'), with nice big valleys between the 3.  the ride ends in avon, colorado, with a total elevation gain for the ride of about 11,000 feet.

and then because that isn't enough, some people turn around the next day and ride back to the start in evergreen, up and over those same 3 passes, another 11,000 feet of elevation gain.

one way is a triple bypass; both ways is the double triple bypass.

at a party last january a group of my biking friends decided it would be fun to register for the double-triple bypass, and john went along with the flow and signed us up . . . I've spent the past 5 months knowing that come july 13-14 I was going to be riding the toughest thing I'd ever done.
finally, about a month ago, I started visualizing myself at the end  (woo hoo!!), congratulating myself for having completed the hardest back-to-back rides of my life.  and somehow, this got me through, and last sunday at 3:35 pm I was DONE!

let me tell you more about the double triple.
it's hard.
it's very hard.
I've never ridden so much at those kind of altitudes, and I think this makes a significant difference.  in utah, the highest peaks I hit are around 9,000 feet, which means the bulk of my riding is well below that.  in colorado, we were never lower than 7500 feet, and spent about 70 miles (each day) above 9000 feet.
muscles just don't work the same way at those higher elevations.
nor do brains.

in addition, most of the people who ride this ride are quite fit, and I was humbled time and again.  I have never been passed by so many people.

oh, but it's beautiful.  beautiful.

and I'm done.  I'm not fully recovered yet, but I am done.  I've completed the toughest thing I've ever done on a bicycle, and I am so very, very thrilled that it is now behind me.

woo hoo!!

maybe next january you'll want to sign up for the double triple bypass.  hey, it's beautiful.

I need some new sunglasses

today I think I'll go to REI.
I lost my good riding glasses in nepal last december and I need new ones. I'm thinking about the conversation I'll have with the salesperson; it might go something like this:

"excuse me, I'm looking for some sunglasses, could you help me?
I ride a bike; I ride a lot.
I really like the photochromic lenses, the ones that change as the daylight changes, because sometimes I start riding early in the morning when it's still kind of dark, then keep going all day.
it's really nice to have the lenses adjust.
I've had the kind that come with exchangeable lenses, but I'm not going to carry extra lenses with me while I ride--changing them out while I'm on the road--so I'd really prefer the photochromic ones, if you have any.
other than that, I really don't care too much what they look like.
oh, and I almost forgot, what's most important, they need to make me look really good.
beautiful, really.
and thinner.
oh, and taller.
do you think you can help me?
oh, they're right over there?
and they'll do all those things for me?
perfect,
I'll take two.
make that three.
or, actually, I'll take them all, no need for anyone else to have sunglasses like these."