Breck Epic Stage 6 - Gold Dust

32 miles   3800 feet 

As my good friend John Switow has told me over the years when doing a race, as long as you can get to "25 to go," miles that is, you can finish the race/ride. Well, today was close enough to 25 that I knew I was gonna finish this thing.  The easy day, they say.  It was nothing but easy, but I would take this over another Wheeler Pass kind of day.  Weather was once again on our side.  And once again we started in waves.  Two big climbs, two big descents.

I felt weak, but the single track start brought what little bit of energy I had built up during my 9 hours of sleep the night before.  I even had to slow down a bit for Dave to catch back up.  We started off by going up Aspen Alley and Baker's Tank. When we hit Boreas Pass road dirt road climb, I imploded pretty quickly.  Turning the pedals over at 11,000+ feet had me struggling to breathe.  Not just the thin air but I could tell my lungs were struggling to process the oxygen.  Every inspiration hurt and I had to fight back a spastic cough.  Dave was again patient and I just focused on his wheel for those 3 miles.

At the top, I stopped just long enough at the aid station to grab a gel.  As we were leaving, a coed team arrived. They were currently sitting in 6th. Even though we had a good hour lead, seeing them fired me up!  The Tasmanian devil in me woke the hell up and I was ready to give'r.

A little descent on road and then we hit the Gold Dust Trail.  This was a descent littered with baby heads.  Fun, but you had to be on your toes so that your front wheel wouldn't be taken out by one of them.  Then the trail leveled out and we were pedaling through what looked like an old canal or flume back in the gold mining days.  It was smooth and flowy.

We popped back out onto Boreas Pass Road and began the 8 mile climb back up to the aid station. I don't know if I was riding like a scalded dog or suffering like a dog, but I went as hard as I possibly could. An hour later we hit the top.  Never once during that climb did I look back, but now I did and did not see them in sight.  Small victory!

The final 7 miles were all downhill, mostly on dirt road and pavement.  Their was a short section of trail called Broken Wheel that was a lot like middle Black in Pisgah, before all the improvements.  A deep rowdy rutted trail that had your brakes smoking by the time you finished it.  We finished back up at the ice rink on the Blue Heron and Southside trails, short but sweet single track to the finishing banner.

Our bike racing "marriage' survived over 6 brutal days

I ... was ... so ... happy ... to ... be ... done!  We secured our 5th place with a time of 3:39.  The night before Dave had emphatically said that he was NOT going to be out there for 4+ hours today.  And ... you're welcome!

Thank you Dave for suggesting this race over Leadville.  Despite my illness, which turned out to be Covid, I had a great time.  But for that virus, I know we would have given 3rd place a run for their money.

I give this stage race 5 stars.  Mike put on a great job, not only behind the scenes, but during the daily briefs, which had me laughing with his comedic flair.  But he was also super serious and concerned for our safety.  And it showed with all the medical people on staff.  The volunteers were friggin' amazing, from the aid station workers to those who manned the bike wash.  The final night banquet food was overflowing and never ending and delicious!  And the trails humbled me.  I went in assuming one thing and came away being a better mountain biker.  They were fucking technical and hard, but so much fun!  

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.

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.

Breck Epic Stage 1 - Pennsylvania Creek

I arrived in Breckenridge on a Friday afternoon (race started Sunday).  Melissa was also racing and had decided to drive out with me.  For the past 8 days, we had an adventure that started out with us riding at Devil's Den State Park, where I got well over 100 chigger bites, followed up by me losing my wallet at a gas station on Day 2 of our bike-cation.  Don't judge those standing in the Western Union line at Wal-Mart, as it could be YOU one day 😂😂😂.

Trail 401 - Crested Butte

Trail 401 - Crested Butte

The next 6 days we spent in Salida and Crested Butte, stimulating our bone marrow.  My total ride time for the week prior to Breck Epic was 18 hours; probably not the best idea right before a 6 day stage race, but could ... not ... help ... myself.  On Day 7 of our bike-cation, Melissa initially thought she had altitude sickness, but by the next day, it became pretty apparent that she had a full blown upper respiratory infection.  I then spent the next 2 days distancing myself from the nasal spew-fest, but near impossible when sharing a hostel room and vehicle.

Upon arriving in Breckenridge, I dropped off Melissa at Naomi's AirBNB, where she would be rooming with her during the race.  Sorry Naomi, for dropping off my Wuhan friend to you 😷.  I then made my way over to where Dave and I would be staying at Beaver Run, the host resort.  At this point, I was an nervous as hell about contracting Melissa's illness, but hoping that if I got past the 3rd stage of Breck Epic, I would be in the clear.

We spent Saturday getting our bikes and nutrition ready and in the evening headed over to the venue for packet pick up and the racer's meeting.  Mike, the race director, gave us an overview of Stage 1.  He was also super stoked that 60 pro women had signed up, by far one of the largest women's field ever, in the mountain biking discipline.  To muster up that number, he had comped every one of them, who had a pro license and whose application was accepted.

That night, rain had passed through, and as we were getting ready at 6 am on Saturday, it was raining hard and blowing side ways.  I felt like I was getting ready for a Pisgah Productions race.  Putting all the rain gear on, Dave and I pedaled the 1/2 mile to the start at the Ice Rink.  Upon arriving, we found out that the race had been delayed from 8:30 to 9:00.  Since there was no warm, dry area to wait, we pedaled back to our room.  A half hour later we then drove back to the start, only to find out that the it had been delayed again to 9:30.  At least we had somewhere warm and dry to wait. By now the rain had let up, but there was still a chill in the air.

Only after we were in the start corral, with a few minutes before the gun went off, did we also discover that the distance had been shortened from 35 miles to 16 miles.  So here I was stuck with a full 50 ounce bladder and a bottle on the bike.  And I was NOT going to dump any of that expensive Skratch super hi-carb fuel on the ground.

The race started on pavement.  It was blistering fast!  I thought we would have longer before hitting the single track, but the hole shot came at 1 mile.  Now think of 300+ racers funneling into tight single track.  It was a clusterfuck!  Dave and I waited at least a minute until we started moving again.  It was muddy and slick, but this is BRECK EPIC!  I was dialed and loving every slippery moment. 

The course was a mix of single track and double track.  The double track either went straight the F up ... or straight F'ing down, and was littered with jagged baby heads.  Dave wasn't quite feeling it the first few miles, so I let him lead.  We did end up having to HAB some ... the 2800 feet of elevation gain was mostly in the first 10 miles!

On a double track descent, Dave got ahead of me as he rode a secondary line around a couple of slower racers.  Me, I was not willing to risk a flat, so I patiently waited for a safer opportunity to pass.  The last single track descent was on Baker's Tank Trail and was oodles of greasy fun!  I felt at home in this element.  We finished up the descent on Baldy Road.

Our time of 2:09 was good enough for 5th and just 3 minutes out from 4th.  The top 3 teams were way ahead of us, and also way younger.  I was happy with how we did.  While Dave pedaled back to retrieve his truck, I pedaled on over to the bike wash at Beaver Run and gave Taz a thorough cleaning. Since the climbing out here is, on average 8%, with grades easily getting up to 15-18% and beyond, I decided to ride Blaze (Top Fuel with a 28T chain ring) the remainder of the stages.  Taz has a 30T chain ring.

Now I was off to the recovery race: shower, eat, stretch, leg squeezing with Elevation Legs, prep for tomorrow, eat again, sleep.