Breck Epic: Stage 3-4

Tuesday Stage 3: 

The climb up French Pass

What an amazing day, by far one of the most fun days I have had on the bike. We climbed up over 12,000ft and crossed the Continental Divide twice! I felt a little bit better at altitude today, breathing is still an issue, but my legs felt like they had a little bit more power in them. The race started up a dirt road climb out of the town and then we ducked into a bench cut singletrack along the side of the mountain with a steep drop off on the right and sharp rocks to navigate across. After a fun descent, we started the climb up French Pass. It was a steep climb with a bit of hiking involved but the views were incredible. You traverse an alpine meadow surrounded on all sides by mountains and you can see a string of racers stretching out all the way in the distance, snaking up out of the bowl and descending down the other side. There were some guys at the top of the pass handing out skittles, and I ate a handful before starting a super fun descent down. Jeff already had a puncture and a sidewall gash in his rear tire by that point and took some extra time at the top to capture the views.

Jeff at the top of the pass

The next climb was up over Georgia Pass which was a grind, but the descent down the Colorado Trail from there was super fun with some tricky rocks at the bottom. Then there were some more punchy climbs that seemed longer than advertised on the elevation profile and some more traversing rocky bench cut singletrack until the finish. 39 miles, 6,600 ft of climbing.

A view from the trail. Photo by Jeff Brown

Libbey, Jordan, Jane and me after Stage 3. Photo by Chris M

Unfortunately, Amy Beisel, who was leading the pro women's field, crashed on stage 2 and broke her collarbone. (She also finished that stage with a broken collar bone, which is super bad ass). I really wish her all the best for a speedy recovery. It did mean that I was able to move into 1st place today. I have never gotten to wear a leaders jersey before and it was pretty cool to be on the top step. I never in a million years would have thought that was possible.

Women's Pro Podium

There was a fun east coast contingent at the race including Libby and Chris, Gordon, Jeremiah Bishop, Brian and his wife, Alicia, Jordan and Jane (although not an east coaster), and it has been really fun getting to hang out with all of them.

Jane and Jordan on the final podium for the 3 day race

Brian and Alicia finishing Stage 3

Wednesday Stage 4: 

At the stage start. Photo by Chris M

Today's stage was called The Aqueduct. It was a challenging stage: 41 miles, 6600 ft of climbing. The climbs today were steep. The singletrack was sandy. The descents were smooth, fun and fast (and sandy!). There were definitely fewer rocks on the trails today. There were several hike-a-bike sections at least for me. I heard Jeremiah rode everything, which is insane. I had a headache this morning and my legs definitely had some fatigue. I am finding it difficult to sleep at night. I can fall asleep easily but I wake up multiple times in the night, probably from the altitude. I tried to stay within my limits today, and was still able to get the stage win! It was super awesome to share the podium today with Libbey who finished 3rd! My legs definitely feel better this evening so I am hoping to push the pace again tomorrow. I also decided with the advice of some present and past racers to trade my 34 tooth front chain ring for a 30 tooth, so I am excited to feel more spinny on the climbs tomorrow. Jeff says the stage was awesome. He enjoyed himself.

Coming into the finish. Photo by Chris M

One of the volunteers handed me this Coke! Photo by Chris M

Stage 4 podium. Me and Libbey representing the east coast!

Breck Epic: Stage 1-2

Thanks Kathy!

I feel super lucky to be able to do this race and to share the entire experience with Jeff. The pictures that I saw from this race last year looked incredible, fun singletrack, big pine trees, huge mountains. Definitely a bucket list item. I owe an incredible thanks to Kathy, who gave me her entry for this race, and I wouldn't be here without her help.

The 2 things I was most nervous about was #1 the altitude and how it would affect me and #2 getting caught on a mountain pass when a storm rolls through and freezing to death. So far, #2 hasn't happened and #1, well, I am dealing with it!

The race vibe is pretty awesome. There seems to be a lot of local support for the race, which is cool to see. There are only 3 rules, which mainly boil down to be a good person and a good steward for the sport, and Mike, the race director, seems super friendly and is really excited to share the trails around Breckenridge with all of us racers.

Getting our race numbers

We are staying an Beaver Run, which is where the race headquarters are, and I would highly recommend. From the resort, it is a downhill ride into town for the race starts, you can walk to the morning bag drop and nightly race meeting, and there is a free shuttle into town as needed for dinners. Also hot tubs, and we have a full kitchen to keep up with healthy eating!

Sunday: Stage 1

Jeff, me and Libbey before the start

The race start was delayed due to storms rolling through in the morning. Instead of starting at 8:30, we started at 10:30 and instead of a mass start, we started in waves based on our category. The course was also shortened due to the weather conditions, so instead of 32 miles, it was only 17. I was a little bummed about not getting to ride the full race route, but I've also learned that in stage races you have to just roll with the punches, so I grabbed a couple hours of extra sleep and got psyched to finally start racing. I started in wave 2, which included pro women and 40+ cat 1 men, and Jeff started right behind me in wave 3. There was short road climb, and then we immediately ducked into the trails. There was some rolling singletrack, some forest roads that we climbed and descended and climbed again, and then a pretty fun singletrack descent down to the finish.

As expected, my lungs were absolutely burning the entire race. I had a cx cough by the end, but I kept pushing as much as my lungs would allow me to and ended up getting second in women's pro category, which was definitely unexpected. I waited at the finish for Jeff, who unfortunately frayed his shifter cable and got stuck in 34x10 and had to hike a bunch of the uphills. There was about a 5 mile descent back into town which we rode together and then started recovering, washing and fixing bikes, eating and getting prepped for stage 2.

A view from our ride back to town

Women's Pro Podium. Super excited to make it up here

Monday Stage 2: 

The real racing started today. 41 miles, 6500 ft of climbing, mass start in downtown Breck. We immediately started climbing up a paved road that turned to gravel and then hit a fun narrow singletrack that wound down the side of a mountain. After a short gravel road descent, we spent the next several miles traversing a narrow spine through the woods with little sharp rocks and roots littering the trail. Then we hit the Colorado trail, which was awesome. It took us through big pine trees and we climbed it up to 11,200 ft and then descended off of it down to ~9000 ft. The views on the descent were incredible, through alpine meadows with beautiful open vistas of the mountains in the distance. After the descent, we hit some sandy, dusty trails and had 3 more 2-3 mile climbs and fun bermy descents back to the finish.

Hanging out with Libbey after Stage 2 and sharing race stories

It was amazing singletrack today, I only wish I felt better riding it. My breathing was better probably because I was going slower, and I felt like I had absolutely no power in the legs. Ah altitude! I did the best with what my legs gave me, and very excited to still be in 2nd place! Jeff had no comments about his experience today (lets just say he suffered a lot out there) but he finished and is feeling better after a burger this evening!

Jeff and Chris. Chris unfortunately injured his arm and can't race this year. But it has been awesome to have him at the finish lines cheering for us and giving us jackets to keep warm 

ORAMM

With Chris before the race. Photo credit to Tarah

ORAMM was a great weekend. It's fun traveling across the country to races but nothing quite beats seeing so many friends at east coast ones. The highlight of this race for me was getting to catch up with friends and teammates. I drove down to Asheville with Chris and Tarah, who are riding friends from Roanoke. Tarah is a badass horse vet and has very entertaining stories about predicaments that horses end up in. We ate dinner on Sat night before the race at this great restaurant called Avenue M with JBSRT teammates Chris, Jen and Britt (highly recommend this restaurant, beat salads, tofu curries with fresh veggies, very yummy!). For years, everyone has been telling me how fun ORAMM is and how challenging the downhill trails are. ORAMM is always the same weekend as Wilderness Trail 101 in Penn. I have done Wilderness at least 3 times, so I decided to finally check out ORAMM instead. The course was shortened slightly this year due to a road washout, but Blue Ridge Adventures put on an amazing event nonetheless. 

The race start. Photo credit: Tarah

The race leaves from the small town of Old Fort, NC and after riding out of town, the course climbs up a road to the start of Kitsuma. I felt pretty good on the opening climb. There were 2 closed access gates and a large downed tree on the climb that created 3 bottleneck points, but I fought through and had a good position going into the 1st singletrack. The descent down Kitsuma was so fun. I have ridden that trail once before with some friends from Chapel Hill, but it was in the late fall when all the leaves were down and you couldn't really see what you were rolling over. The conditions on race day couldn't have been better. It had rained early in the week but the last 3 days had been dry and sunny, and the trails were perfectly dry without being too washed out or dusty. 

I finished the descent with a few other guys and pushed the pace through the flat roads back thru the town of Old Fort, and then we started the climb up Curtis Creek. I knew the climb would be a long one. I ended up with a rider named Z who had a good pace going. I just focused on staying on his wheel, listening to my music and keeping a smile on my face to make the time go by faster. I kept thinking how awesome it is living in Roanoke and having climbs just like this one to train on. Bring it on climb! The gravel road wound up eventually to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where we kept climbing on pavement for probably another 20 mins. 

Then there was a short hike-a-bike back into the woods followed by the descent down Heartbreak Ridge. It is a steep, narrow, rocky, rooty trail with a cliff drop off on the left and then tight switchbacks towards the bottom. I just focused on not dying. Definitely wish I had my FS bike for that trail but alas, it was still in Jeff's van somewhere in CO. I did go over my handlebars at one point but luckily did not break anything on my bike or my body except for some top tube paint scratches from the shifters. 

Almost at the finish line. Photo credit: Tarah

After Heartbreak, there was a gravel road climb back up the entrance of Kitsuma, which I was really looking forward to riding again. The descent down Kitsuma was so fun, I felt like I was flying on the pro cal. After finishing the descent, it was all power on the road back to the finishing line! I finished in 4:21, 1st overall for the women. It was really fun having Tarah at the finish line cheering and taking pictures.

The bridge was washed out in one of the recent floods so we finished going thru the river. It was fun cheering for finishing racers while soaking in the water

Chris coming into the finish. Photo credit: Tarah

I carried a camel pack and 2 bottles on my bike so I didn't have to stop at any of the aid stations and Huma gels kept me fueled. Afte the race, there was food, beers, a river to cool off in and then the 3 hour drive back to Roanoke. Everyone from Joe's had a great race: Chris Lane got 2nd in the SS, Jen got 1st for master women, and Britt got 3rd overall. Chris had a strong finish and will work on his nutrition plan for next race :-) Definitely will be back next year to tackle the full mileage of ORAMM!

Women's Open Podium

Singlespeed Podium

Master Women's Podium

High Cascades 100

I might have failed at my goal of trying all new races in 2018, but when the stars all align easily and I can take a trip to Bend, it's impossible to say no. Besides, since the High Cascades 100 course changes every year, technically I did race a new course, so maybe my 2018 MTB goal isn't completely kaput.

Sandy Ridge Trails

I just happened to have 5 days off of work around this race, and Jeff had already decided to take a summer road trip out west so it was relatively simple to book a flight and meet Jeff in Portland, who had my bike already fully assembled in the van. We drove immediately from PDX to the Sandy Ridge trails which are conveniently located just off the main road to Bend. We had a great time climbing up to the ridge and then snaking down a combination of trails through old growth Pacific northwest forest, past towering pines, huge ferns, and moss covered rocks. 

Jeff and I are really excited to be joining and racing for the Deschutes cyclocross team out of Roanoke this year. Rob, one of our teammates from Roanoke, also flew out for High Cascades, and we met Jodan, Matt, Craig, and Michelle (all from Bend who also race for Deschutes) for a ride up a trail called North Fork and then descended down a trail called Farewell. It was a really fun ride, we took lots of pictures, passed lots of waterfalls, and finished with beers in the parking lot and then more beers and dinner at the Deschutes Brewery. I am really excited for more team fun this coming fall. 

Meeting the west coast Deschutes team

Meeting the rock challenge

Parking lot beers

Deschutes Brewery beers

View of Mount Bachelor

The race was on Saturday, so I had a couple of free days to squeeze in some extra riding around Newberry Crater and some paddleboarding on Devils Lake and Elk Lake, which was scenic and fun!

A view from Newberry Crater rim trail

Paddleboarding on Devil's Lake

At the start line

The race started at 5:30 am on Saturday morning, which is quite early. And also quite cold. The temperature was reading 44 degrees on our way to the start line. Because Bend is in the desert, it gets really hot during the day and then pretty cold at night. I knew that Larissa Connors was registered for the race, so I figured that I would be racing for 2nd place since she is way faster than me, and so that is what I set out to do.

There is a fairly long neutral roll out at the start along the highway that leads to the trails. The first turn off of the main road takes you immediately onto a dirt road for the first of many climbs and the racing starts. The dirt road this year was not really dirt but deep sand and it took awhile maneuvering past squirrely bikes to get into a good position on the climb for the 1st singletrack section. 

I've been struggling the last couple of weeks with mid season physical fatigue and also just mental burnout from constantly trying to keep up with work and with training. There have been a lot of tears and questioning what exactly I am trying to accomplish on the bike. Since I still don't have those answers, I decided to simply focus inward for this race. I decided to be happy that I was feeling strong again after some rest days last week, that I was capable of riding 100 miles on my mountain bike and that I was lucky enough to be able to ride in an amazing place with incredible scenery. Not exactly race mode mentality, but I did have a smile on my face for the entire day!

After the 1st climb, there is a really fun descent on a trail called Tiddlywinks, which has fun rollers and tabletops and berms. With all the dust kicked up from racers in front and the morning sun squinting through the trees, it was nearly impossible to see the trail and I basically pointed my bike down and hoped for the best. 

I stopped at aid 3 at mile 50 to fill up on water and then started up this incredible climb that slowly wound us up a mountain away from the sandy desert trails and onto real soil, past alpine meadows, and we even passed pockets of snow that hadn't melted yet. It was definitely my favorite part of the course. 

I made friends with Eric on the way up the climb and followed his wheel on the descent back down to sandy fire roads and singletrack with some punchy steep climbs thrown in for good measure. I stopped again at mile 82 for more water. Dan Atkins, who I know from Baltimore, and I played leapfrog on the last part of the course, he would pass me on the descents and I would catch back up on the climbs. The last 18 miles had more descents then climbs, and I couldn't quite catch back up on the 5 mile road section back to the finishing line, and ended up finishing right behind him. It was a great day to be out on the bike, and I managed a 2nd place finish in the women's open field. 

Women's podium! Congrats to Larissa Connors in 1st and Courtney Boyd in 3rd

The race director, Mike, is one of the nicest people and puts on an incredible event. There are lots of pre-race emails that answer every possible question you could have, the course is super well marked and almost all singletrack, the aid stations are great, the volunteers are super nice, and there is Deschutes beer at the finish! It is a really quality race, and I would highly recommend this race to anyone thinking about going next year. 

Brian had a great race and took the overall win setting a new course record which was pretty amazing, Jeff improved on his time from last year, and Rob also finished and had a fun time too. We capped off the day with a float down the Deschutes River and a pizza picnic in the park with Heidi and Jeff. It was a great trip with awesome friends, new and old. Thanks so much to Deschutes Brewery, to Joe's Bike Shop, East Coasters Bike Shop, to Maxxis Tires, ESI grips, Huma gels, Rudy Project, and XX2i optics. Last year, I did not wear sunglasses and so much dust got into my eyes that I had blurry vision for the last 15-20 miles of the course and it took several hours and a bottle of eye drops before my vision was normal again. No vision issues with XX2i optics this year!

Post race float session down the Deschutes River with Brian and Jeff

Lumberjack 100

In the spirit of doing all new races this year, Jeff and I drove 12 hours north to race at Lumberjack 100, which takes place near Manistee, Michigan. The drive there was highlighted by a great dinner at Harvest Moon in Ohio (highly recommended), a night at the cheapest hotel in Toledo (highly unrecommended), a stop in Ann Arbour where I happened upon an outside lunch time concert by zz ward (highly recommended) and then we finally made it our airbnb on Harper Lake about 20 minutes from the race start at the Big M xc ski area. 

Vegetarian dinner at Harvest Moon

Weird jacuzzi tub and mirrors in the middle of the dirtiest hotel room

ZZ Ward playing in Ann Arbor

A view from our airbnb on Harper Lake

The sunset

On Friday, we slept in till almost noon, went paddleboarding and kayaking on Haper Lake, which had the clearest water, and we watched turtles go scooting across the lake bottom. We did a short pre-ride of the trails and then had pizza and ice cream and hung out with NUE friends in Manistee.

Kayaking on Harper Lake

Pre-riding the trails

It rained most of Friday afternoon which was actually a blessing because the trails were super dry with large piles of sand all the corners that chewed up your speed and threatened to wipe out your tires. We were hoping the rain would make the trails more tacky. 

Rainy day ice cream

Pre-race cigarettes

The race is a 3 lap race of a 33 mile course that is almost entirely carpet trail singletrack. It is fast, flowy, weaving trails through the trees. There are some short punchy climbs with the majority of the hills in the last 5 miles of the lap. There is no sustained climbing or descending and no time when you can turn off your brain and just chill on a gravel road. The second you stop concentrating, you will clip a handlebar on a tree or wipe out around a corner. I did that twice and have a huge bruise on my left leg from hitting the ground hard. There are no long descents for recovery. It is pedal pedal pedal until the end.  

Jeff and I woke up at 4:45 on race morning, drank some coffee, ate some cliff bars, drove over to the race start and set up our cooler with extra water and Gatorade under Brad's tent, which he let us share with him. 

Pre-race coffee motivation

Race start was at 7 down a straight road followed by a bottleneck into the 1st singletrack section. I had a good start, and I knew I was going to have to go out fast to stay ahead of Chase who won this race last year. The first 8-10 miles of the course was just a single file line of riders in front and behind me, and I worked hard to hold my position. 

I finished lap 1 and was definitely feeling the effort which was not a good sign given I had 2 more laps to go. I was using a camel pack and my plan was to only stop once to get more water so I rolled through the tent without stopping. I decided I would have to slow down the pace. I passed Anthony at the start of lap 2 who was suffering more than I was. I tried to focus on eating my Huma gels, drinking Gatorade, holding speed through the corners and spinning up the hills to let my legs recover. I was feeling a little nauseous and was also getting nervous about holding my lead. 

Miraculously, about halfway through the second lap, something flipped. I have no idea what but it was like my body kicked into endurance mode and remembered how to race 100 miles. I was happy, my legs felt good, I no longer felt sick, and I knew I would have no trouble finishing the race strong. 

I started attacking again and caught up to Peyton on his ss. I followed him into the start/finish at the end of lap 2, quickly switched camel packs and took off to catch back up to him and start lap 3. I was still feeling great and managed to catch up to Jeff Rupnow and followed his wheel through the trees towards the end of lap 2 and traded pulls on the fire road leading into the last 5 miles of singletrack. He pulled ahead and finished a few minutes ahead of me and I came in at 7:23 and won the race in the women's open. Jeff also had a strong finish in sub 8 hours and was really happy with his time. 

Finishing behind Jeff. Photo from Rob Meendering

We hung out at the race finish nursing sore legs and sore butts and then finished the day with some beer and mead and paddleboards back at the lake. It was a great race, really fun trails, great atmosphere, wonderful volunteers, and pretty cool area of the country I have never been to before. Definitely a race I would recommend doing!

Happy at the finish!

Post race lake relaxation