Breck Epic Stage 4 - Aquaduct

Another great day to try and not die

I woke up this morning feeling like I had been KO'd in an MMA match and now had all the full blown symptoms of an upper respiratory infection:  sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, and coughing. My breakfast was caffeine and Aleve.  I decided to take my phone with me today because at the speed I was gonna go, I would have plenty of time to take pictures.

The first 3 climbs were not as long, but to me, felt like they went on forever.  The breathing became labored whenever I tried to push.  And I got a friggin' side stitch, something I have never had riding a bike!  Dave was so patient, but I knew he had several gears left and was just in cruising mode.

Despite feeling like shit, I did enjoy the short climb on the Colorado Trail.  For whatever reason, I just feel bliss when on the CT.  And with the spectacular views, it helped me to focus on the beauty instead of the misery.  The descent on the CT was very narrow trail and super exposed, meaning that if you went off the trail, you were gonna fall for a very very long time.  The thrill to hit this at speed was crazy good.  The switchbacks were tight and steep; you needed to have nose wheelie skills to clean them.

Colorado Trail

The fun stopped with a hard right and straight the fuck up the Vomit Hill trail.  And so began a long HAB ... 800 feet in 1.4 miles.  I probably pushed 1 mile of it.  

Vomit Hill

There was a reward with a 2 mile descent down into the Soda Creek valley, which was absolutely stunning.

Soda Creek Valley descent

The little climb up the Soda Ridge Trail was a bugger, but then it flattened out on the Keystone Aquaduct Trail and I motored better.  I almost tried riding that first little bridge across the aquaduct, a large pipe that ran parallel within the trail.  But the cost for falling was gonna be a broken body and/or bike, so I hopped off and walked across.  The remaining bridges had less dire consequences so I rode those.

Dave stopped at the next aid station to grab some more fuel.  I had plenty, as today I was just not feeling the urge to eat or drink much.  I told him I would slow pedal, well, because, that was all I could do anyway 😂.

Keystone Gulch Road climb

The longest climb of the day was 2300 feet in a little over 7 miles.  I mistakenly thought that it would be a dirt road climb.  It started out that way at a nice 5-7% grade.  After the third mile, I saw where we were turning onto a lesser developed rode at a much steeper grade, the West Ridge Trail. Oh, God, no! I think I had a little pity party as I slogged my way up the multiple switchbacks.

The 4 mile descent down the Colorado Trail was the most fun I had all day.  We had ridden up this during Stage 2;  I liked it much better this way 😊.  A very rooty descent, so super glad it was dry.  I just let my bike do all the work and hung on all smiles!

Rock Island Gulch was the last climb, double track.  I wondered every time I had to get off and push a little if the state of Colorado just didn't know how to make switchbacks.  Apparently they need to talk to the trail builders.

I suffered pretty miserably on the Mineral Hill Trail climb, as I was absolutely running on fumes.  Fortunately we finished with a descent down the Back Door and the B&B Trails.

We finished with a time of 6:02, another 5th on the day and a solid 5th in the GC.