“Why did I do this?” I found myself wondering during the SkiMo race, searching the skies above Aspen Mountain for answers while my partner silently looked at his watch, wondering if I was going to survive the final 1,000 vertical feet of climbing still to come. “When does this become fun?”
Less than an hour later, in a full tuck down Little Nell to the finish line, it did become fun. And a few months after that, as my mountain bike came to a stop in Gondola Plaza, it felt simply glorious. But it was absolute ecstasy as I sprinted down from Snowmass’ Ullrhof to Sam’s Knob to the finish line at The Treehouse, beating my previous run time by twenty minutes. That’s when it all made sense. That’s when the Power of Four became sheer bliss in motion.
That’s why I signed up for the Triple Crown.
One thing is certain, however: It’s not about the speed. With stellar Aspen athletes like Max Taam, Steve Denny, Caroline Tory and Madeline Fones in the mix, I had no hope of finishing near the top of the finisher list. I just wanted to finish all three races, which, as I would find out, is a pretty big accomplishment, even if I was hours behind the next person.
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