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.

Day 9 - Breck Epic Stage 5 - Wheeler Pass

Forget what I said the other day! This has been the hardest day I have ever experienced on or with a bike. The reason I state it that way is because the whole day seemed like all I did was push the frickin bike. This stage is called Wheeler Pass and that pass is at Peak 9 then followed by another climb even higher to Goldammit! Awful - totally fucking awful!!! This climb was truly soul crushing!!!

Now, the views on the top of both were amazing. You could see forever! You don't realize how far up you are until you look down and see how tiny everything looks.

Ashley finished the ride in 5:40. I on the otherhand got pulled again at the last aid station for running 13 minutes over the cutoff time. I was not able to ride the last 7 miles, but got charged an hour on my time.

Got back the condo and took a shower. Ashley drove us to the bike shop and we dropped off my bike for its nightly wash and check-up and then headed next door to Breckenridge Pub and Brewery for dinner. Topped it off with a Rainbow Peak cookies from Mountain Top Cookie Shop. Headed back to the place and basically called it a day.

I will be adding photos later in the week.

Day 8 - Breck Epic Stage 4 - Aqueduct

The pain was so extreme yesterday I was surprised I was even able to move this morning. Recovery has been a challenge during these stage races. First of all there is no such thing as normal sleep. Both of us have been waking up multiple times throughout the night and then wake up a the ass crack of dawn not able to get back to sleep. Secondly, there is no a possible way to get the caloric intake back overnight to make up and fuel the next day. Lastly, you consistently feel dehydrated - not really - but the amount of water and liquids just never feel like you are intaking enough.

Today's stage was 41 miles and 6900 feet of climbing. It was not as technical as some of the other days, but still one hell of a day. Views were spectacular! Several places were very scary.

Ashley crushed the ride in 5:16. I was pulled from the course upon arrival into aid station 3. I was apparently 18 minutes passed the cut off time. I was only 8 miles from the finish. I know it would have taken me another two hours to get there, but they only charged me an hour penalty. I arrived at the aid station in 6:48.

More pictures to come.... Too tired to upload

Day 7 - Breck Epic Stage 3 - Mount Guyot

Insane! Hardest day on the bike ever! Even though it was only 39 miles long and a little less than 7000 feet in elevation, it seemed like 30K feet!! The views were amazing! We crossed the continental divide on one of our climbs. It was the toughest climb I have ever done! I will update the text later - too tired to type our experience. Enjoy the pics!

Day 6 - BreckEpic Stage 2 - The ColoRADo Trail

Ashley and I woke up early this morning so we could pick up our bikes from Avalanche Sport before the ride. We walked to their and got our bikes a little after 7:30am. We checked our gear and rode off to the start line. The race started promptly at 8:30am.

The ride was a soul crusher. Ashley finished the race in 5:20 and I completed it in 8:07. The views along the way were down right beautiful. If you didn't pick up your head to look around you surely would have missed it. These trails are very technical so you have got to concentrate on your riding all the time. Lollygagging would definitely wreck you.

I wiped twice on the ride today. One of them I ended up cracking the Garmin mount. I hope I can find another one while we are here. I just do not have the energy to do it right now. The ride was 42.5 miles, with 6800ft of elevation. I managed to drink 8 liters of water during the ride - CRAZY!!!

By the end of the ride I was mentally and physically fried!!!! Not sure I have the physical stamina to handle the upcoming days! This BreckEpic is kicking my CLT ass!

Day 5 - Breck Epic Stage 1 - Pennsylvania Creek

Wow!!! Not much to say about today except it rained the entire time and had an average temperature of 41 degrees! Can you say cold!!! It was an amazing day! The trails were very technical!

Ashley crushed the stage with a time of 4:37. I'm hoping they will post mine tonight.

At the riders meeting this evening at 5pm, they stated that this race today was either the hardest or second hardest stage ever in Breck history. Weather and terrain conditions extended the times the normal pros would complete it in. Also, to give an idea on difficulty to the standard ride, close to 100 of the rider received a DNF. Many were pulled due to health condition. That is close to 20% of participants, which is a crazy percentage.

I did not take all the pictures that I should have as it was so frickin cold. I did record some videos which I'm hoping to add later.

We dropped the bikes off at the bike shops to do mechanicals and bike washes. We will pick them up in the am around 7:30am.

Grabbed some burgers at FlipSide in downtown and came back to the condo. It will be an early evening. Did some laundry, prepped the drop bags and backpacks. On to sleepy time.

Day 5 - And so it begins

Eyes opened wide a little before 4am this morning. Ashley and I have been twitching to get this stage race started. This morning we start at 8:30am and it doesn't look too good weather wise. It is calling for rain starting around 9am. I anticipate I will be out on the trail for 4.5 hours. It would be nice if I finished sooner, but I have a feeling it will take me longer than I have imagined.

Ashley just got up as well here a little before 6:30am. Made some breakfast and starting to get all our shit together. This is a UCI official race so it is slam packed with pros. Excited to see the field and the talent that will be here today. I'm going to attempt and GoPro some of the downhills, views and hopefully if the battery lasts, will even capture the finish.

Stage 1 - Pennsylvania Creek

Let the games begin!!!