Breck Epic: Stage 1 - Penn Gulch

In Colorado - climbing is KING and descending is QUEEN and the BE contains plenty of both.  The thing I really liked about the BE is it has some serious descending - the kind where you actually need some skills to ride everything.   Oh and there is also a fair bit of hike-a-bike - usually above 11k elevation.  Yeah - there is some dirt/jeep road but it's mostly singletrack and with the exception of the last day of all the dirt road was demanding to say the least.

Race goal - my #1 goal was to ride and finish all 6 stages of the Breck Epic.  In the past years - I have witnessed riders WAY better & faster than me not complete all the stages.  Knowing the caliber of the riders that race the BE - I knew I'd be toward the pack of the pack. My *secret* goal was to not be last but I would GLADLY be last if it meant that I rode 6 days and rode every friggin' mile of each day.

Pacing plan - Since my goal was just to finish  - I had planned to ride in mostly zone 2 & 3.  When the trail went straight up and dictated a anaerobic effort I would pedal as slowly as possible and hike-a-bike when needed in order to not stay in the red-zone.  For the descents I would dial it back and descend conservatively.  I hadn't slept well the previous 2 nights and as a result I didn't feel spunky.  I was hoping to feel fresh and spunky at least for day 1 but I just felt kinda blah at the start...but I had a plan and I was going to try to stick too it.


I knew there were 3 of us signed up for the 50+ age group but I wasn't going to worry about anyone else but me and what I could do.  Eat smart and ride conservatively and don't blow myself up.

Today I rode the Blacksheep ti hardtail. I like the gearing on the hardtail better than the gearing on the Era and I figured the descending wouldn't be too bumpy - i'd save the Era for the more techy stages.

Stage one starts with an easy climb to Aspen Alley - a short descent that's fun and techy.

ahh...aspen alley - how i love you!

I started at the back of the pack and rode at a hard but not to too uncomfortable pace - I hit Aspen Alley in ~20minutes.  There are 3 guys stopped at the entrance looking uncertainly at it so I called out to pass them.  It starts off moderately, then gets steep, loose, rocky and sketchy and here i would call out to pass people that were either riding slowly or walking.

rubbly, steep & loose (pic doesn't do it justice) - a little rock surfing is required

Then I got to the mine tailings where it's a short super steep loose kitty litter drop-in.  4 people were walking this section and I called out to pass.  The steepness is enough to where the my back of my seat in is my belly button and since it's so loose it requires a light feathering of the brakes - gosh it's so scary fun!  

from the top - looks worse than it is

another view

the crux - from the bottom...a little sketch but not too bad

sadly this section is only 1.5 miles and i counted the total of 12 people I passed in that section...i was smiling as I exited Aspen Alley.

The singletrack turns into a false flat for the next 3 miles before the climbing starts in earnest. The next 6 miles of climbing consists of some steep rubbly sections w/up to a 15% grade along with more mellow sections at 5-6% - the jeep road descents were rubbly too due to a massive summer storm and that required some navigation the hardtail and more steep climbing.  Here is where I met Molly Breslin - she could climb like no tomorrow but I was a better descender so we would leap-frog each other for the rest of the week.

After more than 2 hours of riding - I made it to aid 1 where Dave was waiting for me - I was happy to see him.  

exiting aid 1

The rest of Stage 1 mostly follows the Firecracker 50 course.Molly passed me on the way to Nightmare on Baldy and I passed her back on Nightmare descent only to rip a hole in my rear tire on the Sally Berger descent.  CRAP!  I messed around with the wheel throwing some c02 in and spinning the tire in hopes my freshly Stan's-ed wheel would seal up the tire.  No luck. At this point Molly passed me and asked if I needed help - but i'm a pretty good tube changer.   I threw a tube in - blew the tire up really hard and hoped it would hold until Aid 2 so could replenish my tubes/c02.  Looks like I lost ~13minutes messing with my flat. 

Little French Gulch  had been pretty destroyed with the recent massive storm. I walked more of LFG than normal due to the condition of the trail.  I hammered the flume trail and was conservative on the descent not wanting to flat.  Made it to Aid 2 and grabbed an extra tube & more c02.  Caught up to Molly @ Aid 2 but it was a climb so off she went - caught back up to her on the descent and we rode into Aid 3 together.  She easily rode away from me on the Sally Berger climb - i stayed conservative on the descent and caught up to her on Moonstone and finally finished Stage 1...WAY slower than I would have liked (6:37) but finished never-the-less.  Day 1 done - 5 to go!

Stage 1 - descending to finish

My sister was waiting for me at the end.  Recovery drink, shower, ice bath, more food and then off to the mandatory racer meeting at 5pm.

I looked at the results and there were only 2 people listed in my category - me and Alison Jones with me ahead of Alison by about an hour.  huh??  What happened to Kim Bear - based on last years results she would have been a good hour ahead of me! I guess she didn't show.  So when Mike announced me as the Stage winner I was surprised and embarrassed.  I didn't feel like a stage winner - tho I did manage to make my *secret* goal of not being last.  Aren't stage winners supposed to be FAST?  Honestly, I felt like a fraud as I stepped on the top step of the podium and was awarded a very cool minty green leader's jersey.

Stage 1 - 1st place on the podium

I texted Lynda with the news she definitely made me feel better about my win and reminded of the fact I was racing my peers - 50+ers not the 20, 30 or 40 year olds.  She told me to wear the jersey with pride and a smile.  So I went to bed with a wry smile on my face.