Breck Epic Stage 6: Gold Dust

October 06, 2011

Breck Epic Stage 6: Gold Dust

Oh man - last day...yeeHAW!

I was stoked that Dave was going to be at the top of Boreas Pass to ride the last 7 mile descent with me.

Talk about party atmosphere at the start.

I took a picture with my new friend, Kelly. The guy that loaned me a water bottle on Day 3 and we paid him back with a $1000.00 bill. if you click on the picture you can see - it's really a $1000 bill. :)

He rode his Blacksheep singlespeed today.

me and my new buddy - Kelly and his $1000 bill :)

I got a picture with Alison. I was so happy she was able to rally and ride the last day. She also confirmed her 'badassedness' by telling me she has competed in and *completed* the Trans-Rockies, BC Bike Race, La Ruta and Test of Metal. From what I heard all really tough races. She said the Breck Epic is the toughest as it has the steepest climbing. She also told me she was a really good descender and technical rider. Yay for us old ladies!!

alsion and i on the last day

Today was the easiest day with only 32 miles and a measly 3500ft of climbing. Maybe I'd actually try to push the pace today...so funny now that I think about it. Yeah - like after 5 days I would all of a sudden be *fast*....hee-hee - I crack myself up.

So off we went. It was familiar territory as the first 4.5 miles are the same as the Breck 32. I felt decent and felt like I was riding well. When I was spit on out on my first trip of the day on Boreas Pass road I thought about burying myself on this climb but decided to save burying myself on the return 7 mile climb back up Boreas. So I went hard but not super hard. Made a quick stop at Aid 1.

Last stop at the aid station - Tracy from Canada holding my bike

The fun singletrack after the top was enjoyable - i passed 4 people on the descent and leap frogged with those 4 people back up the last climb to the top of Boreas Pass.

I was pushing it hard and kept thinking "dave! dave! dave is waiting for me at the top". 3hours and 17 minutes after I had started that morning - I made it to the top of Boreas and it was literally 'all down hill from here'.


so happy to be at the top and see Trisha and Dave

"come on Dave! you are holding me up!!"

let's roll!

I'm leaving without you Dave - get your ass in gear!


off we go!

It was so great having my honey with me on the descent. He noticed I was tense so i tried to loosen things up. We had a lot of fun riding together...35 minutes later I was at the finish. OMG - I can't believe it did it!

DONE!

Sonya getting a shot - fellow competitors celebrating in the background

me and dave

me and Sonya - i love her!

I saw Sonya at the bottom and she was so proud of me - that was really sweet. She of course crushed it and won the Pro Women's Class. So strong.

Yes - I did it!! It felt great to have worked so hard and successfully accomplish my goal. But I couldn't have done it without my coach, Lynda. She had me totally prepared. All those solo rides i did, those road bike intervals, the nutrition and recovery advice. I learned what my endurance pace was (slow) - i learned how to bonk and recover from a bonk while riding - i got to exercise my mental toughness. And I learned a ton about myself. I followed the plan and it paid off.

And of course I couldn't have done it with all my friends and family that supported me during this time. Megan's advice 'cramping or bonking doesn't kill you so just keep pedaling!' echoed in my head a few times. I carried an email that Jeny wrote to me the entire race. All my friends kept up and sent me encouragement on facebook. And my sweet Dave was so patient and supportive during my training. And of course my sister - giving up a week of her life to support me in this endeavor. Seriously - i can't even believe how lucky i am to have the bested friend in the world be my sister Trisha.


BFF - Trisha and i

Wow - I wasn't so used to being done so early. I went home and showered - and i DIDN'T take an ice bath. I was done with those puppies. (i regretted it later tho) Then we went straight to Lucha's where I had chips & queso and a margarita! yum. Ran into several fellow racers in town and everyone was giddy.

Then the final awards and banquet and then off to Stage 7 at the Gold Pan.