Stage 1 done! But let me start from the beginning.
Yesterday, we headed to registration and the pre-race meeting/dinner around 6 PM. It was fun to be back in the endurance racing scene in Colorado. I haven’t done an endurance race in Colorado since July 4 (after CreamPuff in Oregon and Marathon Worlds in Germany) and what a great way to end the month of August with a week long stage race.
Registration. After picking up the race numbers and generous swag bag, we grabbed a table.
Your fearless and hilarious race promoter, Mike McCormack
Studying the Stage 1 map. Poor Yuki came down with a bad cold after Leadville and ended up not being able to race today. Huge thanks to him and Junko for the support this week.
…and then we enjoyed lasagna
FREE DINNER!! DING DING!
After an efficient meeting, we headed back to the condo to prep for the next day and hit the sack. At 5:45 AM, my eyes opened. I didn’t pop right awake today. It took a little while to get going, but once I got to the start I was alert. It was only 40F outside at the start today, but in no time, I was sweating.
Drop bags. These bags are brought to the aide stations with whatever you want in them. It’s nice because you can have your own supplies/clothing/spare parts.
8:10 AM Start. Brahhhhppp
Game faces?
The start was pretty fast, but my legs felt good so I zoomed up to the lead group with Jeff in tow. I found myself riding with Garth Prosser, Dejay Birch, and Mark Thompson which caught me by surprise because these guys are FAST. I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic on the first DH singletrack of the race, so I had motivation. After that, I settled into a swift pace.
Coming through Aide 1 feeling good!
Between the Firecracker 50, Breck 100, fun riding in Breck, and riding a couple of the Breck Epic stages last year for fun, I’ve covered quite a bit of trail in Breck. Today, there was only a small piece of trail I had never laid rubber to before. Today’s course used a big portion of the Firecracker 50, and I’m happy to say by the time to Little French, I was still riding strong!
Jeff and I worked really well as a team today. My goal was to take the lead from the start and hopefully build a gap. We charged forward and only looked back once. I was definitely a little nervous knowing that Kent and Katie Lyndquist Ericksen were behind us…coming for us. I chose to ride my hardtail today which is lighter than my full suspension, but I definitely took a beating on all the technical, rocky trails. Tomorrow and the next few days, I’ll be on my fullie to save energy.
Thanks to Liam Doran for the photo!!!! Putting out some wattage. I had to race stage 1 with my favorite socks.
I am happy to report on the last climb, I was still riding strong even though my legs were getting tired. We crossed the line in 4:01 giving us the win by 16 minutes over the 2nd place, and putting us 4th overall out of all men’s duo teams.
A glance into my hurt locker today. I laid down a pretty solid effort, but not so bad to dig a hole. I rode at my 100 mile pace today, or maybe just a hair harder.
Thank you Junko, Yuki, and Kei for the bday cupcakes!! :) YUMMMY!!! I even got serenaded at the awards ceremony. Age 26 was an amazing year. Each year, I say that was my favorite year. That means life is good and keeps getting better. I’ll toast to that. Here is to another great year, and one more year of old lady power in my legs! (yes, I got frosting alllll over my face)
Tomorrow, Jeff and I get to wear the leader’s jersey for Coed Duo. I hope we can hang onto it!
2010 Breck Epic Stage Race: Stage 1 from ergon on Vimeo.
Here is a kick ass video Jeff made starring yours truly!
Tomorrow is another big day. 41 miles, 7300′ of elevation gain, and some of my favorite singletrack on the Colorado Trail. Weeeeee! Thanks to all the amazing Breck Epic crew and volunteers! Everything was smoothly run and well-marked.
