Breck Epic Stage 5 - Wheeler Pass

24 miles, 5500 feet

Waking up this morning, I ... felt ... like ... death ... warmed ... over.  I mustered up the gumption to ensure I would finish this stage.  Buckle be damned, I was coming after you.  Despite how bad I felt, at least I was not nauseous and was able to down a decent amount of calories.

I tried to not allow Dave to know truly how awful I felt.  I surely did not want to spoil his day by being a whiny baby.  Thank goodness all the years of racing had my mental tenacity dialed like a cheetah in hot pursuit of an impala.

Burro Trail

The start was in waves of 10-12 racers due to the fact that we were immediately on single track.  Amazingly I felt better than expected, probably because I had to focus on the trail and the grade was merciful average of 8% for the first 4 miles.  I grabbed a gel at the aid station at mile 4 and then proceeded onto the Wheeler Trail.

And so the stairway to heaven begins

The pitch immediately doubled and the HAB shortly ensued for the next 2 miles. It was touch and go for me here, as the combination of illness, 12,000+ elevation, and the fatigue build up had me feeling so dizzy.  At times I would just rest my arms and head on the bars of my bike.  But the higher I climbed, the more amazingly beautiful the scenery became.  At one point, I could look up to the heavens, and off in the distance see the string of the leaders' pink jerseys.  I still had a helluva long way to go ... ooof!

It took a little over an hour for me to go 2 miles.  At the top of Wheeler Pass, I was giddy.  The hardest part was done ... or so I thought.  We got the Twizzler Fairy to take our photo.

12,500 feet

The 3 mile descent was fairly technical with either willows hiding the trail or littered with small baby heads.  The scenery was unbelievable.  Their was one small but hurtful push midway through.  Dave thought this little hump was the last climb before the BIG descent.  I think he cried a little when I broke it to him that we still had to deal with Mount GawDamnit.

After another difficult but shorter push up Mount GawDamnit, we were finally rewarded with an exhilarating descent down the Colorado Trail.  It was gnarly unforgiving chunk up top, but soon gave way to smoother buffed out trail before we hit the tree line and were gifted with greasy Pisgah-like soil, slimy roots, and slippery rocks.  

About half way down, I noticed a bike packer pushing up the trail.  As she raised her head, I instantly knew it was Audrey Tangye.  She was in the midst of the Colorado Trail Race and was having a hard go, what with shoes falling apart, despite duct tape and zip ties.  I tried to give her some words of encouragement.

One bad bike pack racing MF'r

Dave and I said farewell and good luck and continued on down the mountain.  As we were enjoying the slippery nature of the trail and gettin' in the greasy groove, a faster racer approached from behind.  Dave and I stopped to let him by.  The woman behind him told me to go (we had passed her earlier), so I went on by Dave and told him to go, go, go.  I continued down for about another half mile and found a spot where it would be a good place to video him coming down.  I waited and waited and waited ... did he crash, have a mechanical?  Soon after those thoughts, another racer approached and told me that HE was looking for ME and was going BACK UP the mountain.  WTF?!?

I started running (more like a fast walk) back up the trail screaming his name.  Mind you, my throat was super sore from the infection and my voice was scratchy, so it did not carry far.  FINALLY I found him.  This was the closest I came to "divorcing" him during this race 😡😣😖😆.  We ended up losing about 12 minutes during this fiasco.

Knowing that there was no need to dwell on what just happened, we got back into the groove and finished the Miner's Creek descent.  Just before the aid station, we encountered a creek crossing that was alot deeper than what I anticipated.  Poor BB and wheel bearings! 

The last 7 miles were on the Peaks Trail.  I swore Mike had said the night before at the briefing that this trail was baller:  just a little climb at first, but then fast, smooth, and flowy right to the finish.  It was anything but!  The climbs were steep and riddled with roots and the body finally imploded.  Those last 7 miles I am sure would have looked a lot more fun, had I been at 100%.  I did crack a smile, however, when a couple of riders stopped to cheer us on up a climb.

We crossed the finish line in 5:42, good enough for 4th on the day and still a strong 5th in the GC.  I was utterly exhausted after this one.  And we still had a good 2+ mile pedal back, including a 100 foot climb, back to our room.

I was so glad there was ice cream awaiting me, as my throat was on fire, making speaking difficult, especially after the earlier yelling session, trying to reconnect with Dave. Holy Hellfire Day!  It was definitely a beauty and beast kind of day.  This was my second favorite stage and probably would have been my first, had I been feeling better.