Day 10 - Breck Epic Stage 6 - The Gold Dust Trail

Last day!! Thank goodness! Yesterday was a mind blowing awfully hard day which tested our bodies to the max! Anything after Wheeler Pass and Goldammit just seems to be less painful!

They are grouping people in waves again this morning and we take off a little before 9am. Today's route is only 29 miles long and roughly 3700ft in elevation. They are starting us in waves because where we are starting is a single track that goes straight up a mountain and they need to spread out the field.

After taking stock of our injuries and pain, we licked our wounds and headed to Avalanche Sports to pick up our bikes a little before 7:30am. I can't tell you how nice it is that every morning we pick up our bikes are they are spick and span and in perfect working condition. I felt that every time I have dropped off the bike, the brakes have simply been trashed. Both Ashley and I have had not only our pads replaced several time, but have also replaced the brake rotors. Crazy to think that a ride like this would kill those parts that quickly, but amazing it does. And now I know why!!!

Got to the park and just tried to take it in this morning known it is the last day. We watched all the pros take off and soon it was our turn. Just like every other day, they started us going uphill. Damnit! I pretty much took it easy and walked a good portion of the beginning couple of miles, but rode the rest. Today was a much more relaxed day with less miles and less elevation. The first aid station was at mile 12 and then it was off to a long eight mile fire road climb. The climb was actually pretty good. Sure it was long, but you could grind it out. Well, as good as grinding can get or shall I say as good as my legs could grind. From there, it was a downhill for the rest of the way. At least more downhill than all the other days! Which when they said downhill, was EPIC for uphill!

It felt good to cross the line and know I had completed the BreckEpic. Ashley killed in 3:19 and I completed in 4:52. Ashley is such a rockstar!! After the race I was super glad to drop the bike off at Avalanche Sports and headed straight to Breckenridge Brewery and Pub to meet up with Ashley - who had already had several celebratory libations! And well deserved if I may add! We slammed back several rounds. After about 45 minutes there, Ashley's buddy Matt came by and said hello. We agreed to meet him and his friend Tom a little later in the evening.

Went back to the condo for a shower and headed to the banquet. Time to pickup our photos and belt buckles. Food was good and we hung around for most of the ceremonies, but a little after halfway through, we decided to head out to RMU - Rocky Mountain Underground - Stage 7. Cool bike shop/bar/hangout. It wasn't long and the place was poppin'. We met a young lady by the name of Keri Herman, ex-Olympian, Dew Tour and XGames skier. It was her birthday and Ashley bought her a round. She was a really sweet young lady who shared with us that she was coming out next month with her first ski design. She was so excited and we were priviledged enough to have her show the design.

We caught up with Matt and Tom and later also ended up hanging out with Mark and Sandy - from Charlotte. After several more drinks, we made our way back to the condo. Need I say we were out like a light within minutes.