I DID IT!!!!

Breckenridge 100 COMPLETED!!!


Well ya'll I completed the race after a 13.5 hour roller coaster of a ride on the bike! The day started at 6am as the race took off on a neutral rolling start through the town of Breckenridge to the base Peak 9 at Breckenridge Ski Resort. From there the race was on. All of the true maniac racers were gone within a few minutes flying up the fire road which would take the race up to Wheeler Trail and Wheeler Pass which would take us over the resort and down by Copper Mountain Resort. The climb went flawlessly and the views were amazing on a perfect July morning. It was amazing riding my bike where I had snowboarded this winter flying off of rock drops with Breckenridge down in the distance. As the race approached the pass we were above Imperial Chair Lift which is the highest ski lift in North America. On route I passed over a couple of snow fields as I made it to the pass and then the decent was on! I looked at my watch and it had taken about 1.5 hours to do the climb and I thought I was in good shape. I thought I would be able to make up some time descending but this proved to be otherwise. The decent down Wheeler Trail was muddy, wet, and narrow. I got thrown all over the place trying to stay in the rut and with people in your way it made it even more crazy. A couple of guys let me by and I turned it loose a bit more. Then I took my first spill of the day. I was able to get one foot out of the pedals and then the other but my momentum sent me summer saulting. The ground was very forgiving however and I immediately got to my feet and got right back on the bike.

Waiting for the 6am start... 29 miles 3,500ft of climbing...


After the first spill I decided I better tone it down a notch. As I did I was still making up time catching up to people. One dude (a Texan) fell into a creek right in front of me but I think he was more upset that he may of scratched his bike than that he fell. Everyone asked if he was alright and he said yeah so we all pushed on. I made it into an area where I was on my own and was content just focusing as the wet muddy obstacles came my way. I started to notice that my rear brake was acting funny and I thought oh here we go a mechanical is going to take me out of the race. I stopped and checked on it and everything seemed to be fine so I just kept at it. As I made it to the end of the decent (which was awesome even with the challenging conditions) I turned up the pace once we hit the Frisco bike path. It was cold as hell since we were riding along the creek and the sun hadn't made it over the mountains yet and that is always a bit of a shock to the muscles.

Then it was onto the Peaks Trail which would take the race back to Breckenridge. As the race started up another climb I began to wonder if my first loop was going to have me on pace to make the cut off time at Boreas Pass at 4:30pm. I knew I would have to keep my times between 3.5-4 hours per loop to do so. I started to catch up to another group of 3 riders and we all went along several miles together until we came out of the trail and hit the road to head back to the park where each of the loops ended. We all looked at each other and tried to figure out if we were going the right way and I said the directions said to go past the construction which there was a lot of so we took off and indeed it was the right way. As I came into the park at the end of the first loop I had made it just under 4 hours. My mom was waiting for me to help me out in anyway she could. She got me to calm down a bit and get some food in my body (which was not easy all day long) and then I took off for the second lap after about a 10 minute break.

Out for Loop 2, 32 miles 4,300ft of climbing...


I had been hearing all day long and even prior to the race that the second lap had some wicked climbing on it. And this it did. There were a couple of sections that were so loose everyone was walking them. I actually chatted a bit with a guy that would continually be with me for the rest of the race here and there and we both were doubting our chances at making the cut off time. As the loop progressed it turned out to be much different than the first lap because the terrain was drier and you could absolutely fly down the roads and single track descents to make up time you had lost on the climbs. Loop 2 was extremely fun with well taken care of single track on the Colorado Trail. We ran into lots of people who weren't in the race and they were kind enough to left everyone by and cheer us on as then did so.

At this point I was taking on fluids just fine but I was beginning to struggle with eating which always seems to be my down fall. I finished the Colorado Trail section and hit the road to climb back towards the park. This climb led us on a dirt road back to the switchbacks we had climbed out of the park. I raced back into the park completing the second lap in just over 4 hours. My down fall was that I had gone through the aid station at the end of the Colorado trail thinking I had enough water to make it back. Turned out I didn't. I had climbed for about 25 minutes with no water in the sunshine. However I did have some electrolyte drink to get me through though I was really wanting some water.

Final Loop 3, 37 miles 4,200ft of climbing


As I tried to take on more food talking with my Mom I was still wondering whether or not I would make the time cut off. I did know that if I didn't try and eat first there was no way I was going to make it through the whole final loop. So I relaxed ate what I could and then took off with 2-2.5 hours to climb Boreas Pass and make the cut off. I had no clue how long it was going to take me so I decided to put quite a bit of effort in to make sure I did. On the climb I ended up catching up to a guy that lives in my apartment complex that I had met only a week before. He told me that the climb was pretty easy on the road and that it was 9 miles to the summit. At that point it looked like I WAS GOING TO MAKE THE CUTOFF! That I did with an hour to spare. The only problem was I had used quite a bit of energy and my lungs were starting to hurt and go into coughing fits.

After I made it through the Pass and down through the single track decent to Como I started to slow down as the terrain became super hard. It was like a rock garden that you had to walk through and it completely broke my rhythm. Matt the guy from my apartment complex caught up to me and I let him go by. I told him I was reaching my limit and was going to be taking it slow so go ahead and pass me (he had only signed up for the 68 mile ride so he was still pretty fresh). As I made it out of the single track and into Como I knew it was going to be a long 10 mile climb back to the summit of Boreas Pass on the road. I just put it into survival mode and climbed at about 5.2 mph as that is all my lungs could handle. The legs were actually doing alright and didn't have any pain in them but my lungs just couldn't handle a faster pace. I stuck with it though as people passed offering encouragement and as I fought off the mental battle of my body wanting to quit and my mind wanting to finish all 100 miles. On the final single track after I had made it over the pass I caught Matt yet again. He got a flat for the third time. The first time he put a tube in his tire and the second time he patched and but it wasn't holding. I gave him the two tubes I had since he would then be behind me and if anything happened to me he would then be able to help me out. Turns out though no need as I flew down the final sketchy loose single track and raced down to the park 13.5 hours after starting and completing the whole Breckenridge 100.

I was lucky enough to not have a single mechanical issue (probably thanks to all of the issues I have had earlier this summer and getting the parts replaced before the race). The only problem I had was with 25 miles left I bonked and just went into survival mode to make it home! This was an awesome experience with a great group of people out on the trail. After the race you wonder if you would do it again... at first... not so much... as you reflect on it... yup I would and I would like to go under 12 hours for the ride! I think that is totally reasonable as I learn how to keep myself fed on the bike.

I have to send out thanks to my Mom first and foremost for coming out and being a part of this with me and to the rest of my family for making sure everything went well and believing in me. Also all of the friends that knew I could do it I thank you!

P.S. Now that I finished the race the Stash is coming off! I know how much all of you loved it! HAHA!

Two days to go...

and the suffering will begin. Saturday morning at 6am I will be starting the Breckenridge 100 with my Mom on looking. She flies in tomorrow and Friday we will head up to Breckenridge to go to the pre-race meeting and check into our Condo.

I took yesterday off and tonight I headed out on the same climb that I did when the seat post broke on the road bike on Monday except this time I was on the mountain bike. The climb was freakin hard as usual and the legs were screaming. But then I hit the down hill and ragged time trial style all the way down to Heil Ranch where I then climbed the rocky single track the best I have in quite a while. It was about 8pm so I turned it around and flew back down the singletrack to head home just before dark. I then once again ragged all the way back to the house and had another big dinner loading up on the calories.

Tomorrow night I will head out on a little ride to spin the legs out and then out to dinner with the Mom. Friday I might get a little ride in up in Breckenridge but tonight was the last night of hard work.

My head and my heart tell me I can do this whole race but altitude, 100 miles, and 14,000 ft of climbing could say otherwise. We'll see how it goes and hopefully get the results to all of you this weekend!

The Boat

I had a great time in Steamboat this weekend and had a great host. Keith took off out of town to go to a Festival so I ended up staying with his old roommate and now a good friend of mine as well Rob's. Rob actually lives right next door now since he moved out and went off to a NOLS course for 3 months and then came back. Rob is super into biking much like myself and it was fun to ride and hang out with him even though we didn't get to ride to much since he had to work most of the weekend.

Friday I got up and went to breakfast at The Shack and chowed down on a stack of pancakes and drank a few cups of Jo to get me going. I went and did a couple of laps up on Emerald where the singletrack is fast, tight and windy. SO MUCH FUN! It is about an hour climb or so up the 6 miles to the top then about 20-25 minutes of fun freakin downhill. I did a couple laps up there and then decided it was hot as hell and I had lost enough fluids for the day. That night I met up with my old roommate Dave and he, Rob and I went out for a few drinks and Julianne met up with us later.

Saturday I once again went to The Shack for another delicious breakfast and some Jo and then I went and rode this little ridden trail that Rob pointed me in the direction of off the back of Emerald. I then waited for Rob to get off work and we went and rode the Spring Creek trail where not two weeks ago Rob's fork broke on his bike and set him flying into the woods ripping up his elbow and even worse cracked two ribs. He is on the mend and it didn't seem to bother him to much as we both ripped the downhill after the climb to the top. Spring Creek is an awesome trail where you ride deep in the ferns and cross the creek something like 10 times. That night Rob and I got some Salmon, rice, and veggies and made a terrific dinner. I had been talking with the Fam in Florida how I wanted to give Salmon another shot since it is loaded with all kinds of good nutrition and well it turned out to be AWESOME! Rob grilled it up right and we had a great dinner. We took it easy that night just hanging out on the deck at his place.

Sunday I finally got Julianne to ride with us on her kick ass bike the Santa Cruz Julianna. She and I met up and had breakfast at Creekside which was awesome. We sat outside right along the creek and hung out for a bit over breakfast. Then it was up Emerald again. Rob rode with us on his lunch break and we had a good lap up there. Julianne was hesitant to ride with us but she did awesome and I can't wait to get up there and ride with those two again.

Here's some photos of the weekend.

MGM through the Meadows over looking Steamboat


The Ridge Trail with the Flat Tops in the background


Looking back on some downhill (30 mph down it!!)


Julianne crossing the planks! So proud!


Today I went out for a ride as I wanted to get a few more days of decent climbing in before the big weekend. I took off up Lee Hill in north Boulder which is a short climb but pretty freakin steep. I ended up some what cracking turning over the big road bike gears compared to the mountain bike. But after a quick stop to shake the legs out and adjust the seat height the legs came back a bit. It's always hard to climb after sitting in the office all day and starting a climb so quick is always rough on the legs anyway. Usually takes me about 30 minutes of pain to get going. I could feel some fatigue in the legs as well from the weekend but that is good. I crossed the top and went down the backside of Lee Hill. Once at the bottom I had to make another seat adjustment because I moved it a bit to high and my freakin seat post clamp broke. That meant 10 miles home with out sitting down aka not fun! So I climbed back up Lee Hill standing the whole time which was a good work out on the legs. The only sketchy part is going 40 mph downhill on the road without a seat to control the back of your bike is not fun and pretty nerve wrecking. I made it back safely though and everything worked out.

P.S. Christian Vande Velde aka VdV from Chicago of Garmin Chipotle Pro Cycling based out of Boulder had an amazing day in the Tour de France. He climbed with the 10 best riders in the world today and solidified his #3 position in the overall on the hardest stage thus far! Hopefully he can hold strong over the next 9 stages or move up even more!

Pic of VdV from Velonews.com

Sorry Ya'll

So I apologize for not having any posts lately. I have been kind of frustrated with things including not being able to get my biking legs back to where they were before vacation so I haven't been up to writing any posts. I mean I am doing alright for small periods of time but I can't seem to keep them for very long. I had a horrific but fun ride last Friday up in Nederland and actually ran into Tyler Hamilton. For those of you who don't know who he is, he is a professional cyclist who now rides for Rock Racing. He lives out here in the hills west of Boulder. Anywho most people know him because he was supposed to be the next Lance Armstrong. He won an Olympic Gold in Athens but was then served a 2 year suspension for blood doping. He has always denied it but who knows still pretty cool to run into him though. Anyway back to the ride. I rode for about 4.5 hours in all but it didn't seem like I was riding that hard or even could ride that hard. I ended up with a bad headache a little while after I got home and a sick stomach so I was in bed by 9pm. I still didn't feel that great on Saturday so I decided not to push my luck. Then Sunday I went for a ride up Left Hand Canyon on the mountain bike and ran into a co-worker and rode with her for a little bit before she turned off to head up a climb back into Boulder and I continued on to a road called Lickskillet which is a mile long steep ass dirt road that climbs about 800ft vertically up to Gold Hill. I grabbed some water in Gold Hill and was going to continue onto the Switzerland Trail but the clouds were rolling in and I didn't think I had the legs to rush it as I had just pretty much climbed for 20 miles.

Then Monday rolled around and I ended up being at work until 9pm and had rode the bus in so I didn't get home till about 10pm. I thought I gave up those auditing hours haha... Q2 reporting to our parent company kept us there late. Nothing seems to be going right with our close due to accounting software errors and our customer services folks are being worthless at getting us the fixes we need.

Today I was able to ride home from work with a wicked tail wind to aid me but I still throttled it the whole way. Tomorrow I am going to try and ride in if I can get my ass out of bed.

I plan to head out to Steamboat this weekend to get some good riding in out there. I might take Friday off to give myself one last hard weekend of riding before the big race a week from Saturday. I am getting nervous because I don't know how the legs are going to hold up at 12,000ft. Oh well I guess I can only push myself till I can't go anymore.

Here are some pics of the mountain bike ride in Nederland on Friday.

Deserted School Bus


Deserted Shack next to the School Bus


Fun hard packed single track through the Aspens


Last single track before headin onto the road out of the mountains and back down into Boulder


P.S. I have my apartment to myself till mid August when Tim gets back. That makes me happy!

Florida Bound

I'm checking out for the week to go hang out with the Family in Florida. Back next week with some pics, perhaps funny stories, and hopefully not a horrible sunburn.

Worked...

It seems to be a requiring theme that I consistently don't get out on the bike until the hottest part of the day. It's not that I sleep in super late or anything but once I am up I eat a good breakfast then I let it digest and watch some tube and then what do you know it is 11am and the sun is blazin. Anywho I deal with it and head out anyway.

Today I ran some errands before I got on the bike which included going to the bike shop to get the rear mountain bike tire set up tubeless again. Joey the guy who always works on my bike for the most part was struggling with getting the tire to bead and once he did it turns out when I got the flat in the race last weekend I actually put a hole in the sidewall. The tire started to shoot the sealant out the side and guess what.... time for a new tire. I am realizing what happens when you really start to ride a lot. Good thing I have a new car and don't drive much cause my mountain bike is requiring more maintenance than a car haha! The good part though is I have worked my way into getting discounts everytime I buy something and get some free maintenance. They are good at taking care of there customers and I give them my loyal business. Win Win if you ask me and they understand that as well as I.

Anyway once I got back it was time to head out on the road bike for a few hours. I decided it was time to start climbing the canyons again. So I did non other than head to one of the steepest climbs around. Magnolia Road is stupid steep up off of Boulder Canyon. It is a calm uphill all the way to the start of the road and then it just goes up and up with gnarly switchbacks and steep straight aways for a couple miles. Then it chills out for a minute before it decides it wants to kick your ass again. So after I worked my way to "where the sidewalk ends" aka the road goes to dirt I turned and headed down. Did I stop with just that climb... no that's to easy even though I put some serious energy into the pedals. I got to the bottom of the road took a left heading west up the road about 500 yards and made a right to head up to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain.

Sugar Loaf starts out pretty mild but then towards the top completely works you. I made it to the summit dropped over the other side and was going to head down to "where the sidewalk ends" however, when I made it around a corner I remembered there was a steep downhill which I would have to come back up and decided better of it because I was almost out of water and would have probably been pushing the outer limits to make it back without completely working myself. So I turned her around and headed back to the apt. It was a killer hot day on the bike but the workout was great.

I was using the phrase "where the sidewalk ends" because that is the name of one of the rides around here that the pros do. It inlcudes riding Magnolia Road until the road turns to dirt... Sugar Loaf till the road turns to dirt, and lastly Super Flagstaff until the road turns to dirt. I forget the total mileage but the climbing adds up to about 8000ft. I was pretty happy that I virtually completed 2/3 of the ride. However, there was a lot left in reality because Super Flagstaff is a brutal final climb. I have done all of them seperately but just starting to piece all of them together.

Alright time to relax hydrate more and probably have a tasty beverage in the sun to reverse the hydration haha!

Happy Father Day again Dad since I talked to you earlier! Only a week till the Fam is together in Florida!

Gunnison Original Growler

Alright so I spose it is time I write about the race I rode on Sunday down in Gunnison Colorado. I took off Saturday afternoon and made the 4.5 hour drive down past the Collegiate Peaks, over Monarch Pass, and into Gunnison. I got into town signed up for the race and headed out to Hartman Rocks where the race was to camp on BLM land. It was quite windy but I got the tent set up and braced down with rocks and settled in.

I had to be up at 5 and get things around so I could get warmed up and ready for the race which started at 7am sharp. I awoke to cloudy skies and some wind. It was pretty cold in the low 40s and the threat of rain that came out of no where. As I was getting the bike ready it started to sprinkle and I thought oh hell what did I get myself into now. However, as we started the sprinkles subsided and the sun burned through about 30 minutes to a hour into the race.

The course stared with a steep uphill on one of the dirt roads for about 2-3 miles then we hit some awesome single track. After that it was back onto a ridiculous climb called Top of the World. More downhill single track after that and then more climbing. This repeated itself quite a bit and I was just concentrating on pacing myself and not getting carried away. The big dawgs were long gone and I was settling in nicely. I let quite a few people by and ended up catching most of them later in the race and most of them were actually only signed up for 1 lap. As I reached the half way point on the first lap I was feeling a bit tight but the legs were starting to loosin up. The later part of the first lap took a toll on me as there were some steep loose sections where you had to push the bike up, though I am sure there were some people who were able to make it up without a problem.

After coming down the last downhill and back to the parking lot I was pretty wasted. However, I was set on going out for my second lap no matter what because I signed up for it and I was going to finish it if I had to crawl back. I talked to a kid from Telluride who was kind enough to ask me if I needed anything and we chatted a bit. He said he thought about taking another lap but thought better of it. Tons of people were talking about how hard the first lap was and they couldn't imagine doing another. I didn't let that discourage me though and the kind fellow from Telluride wished me luck and I was off.

The first climb killed me but I maintained a steady pace and got it done. The first part of the second lap was going pretty well as I was riding with another guy and we were working together quite well until about 14 miles in when I got a flat tire and lost pace. This is where the bad news set in. I was getting the tire changed without to many problems and a guy by the name of Brad stopped and asked me if everything was good and I said yup no worries. He continued on and I was left there to change my tire. Turns out my CO2 pump broke and I had no way to get enough air in my tire so that I could ride it. This led me to start the 3 mile trek to the half way point aide station where I hoped I could get some help with air for my tire. About 2 miles into the walk completely exhausted Dave the event coordinator caught up to me as he was sweeping the course and asked what was up since he saw my foot prints and new I had been walking for a while. I told him what had gone on and he hooked me up with some air and asked me if I wanted to finish. I said "Hell yes" but if I get another flat I am screwed. He said no problem cause I will be behind you a ways picking up markers so keep on trucking. I gladly did cause quiting just isn't in my blood.

I ended up catching up to Brad about another 5 miles down trail as he got a flat as well. We rode the last 14 miles together completely exhausted. By the time we got to the line between 9 and 9.5 hours after the start Brad's two friends were there to cheer us to the finish. I was completely happy even in last position that I had finished the race. I would have finished in about 8 hours if I didn't have the mechanical issues but that's alright. I saw quite a few people out there who didn't get to finish because of things like broken derailleurs and even broke swingarms on frames. One of Brad's friends was one of the unlucky ones who broke their rear derailleur.

Even though I was trashed I made the drive home. After a shower my head hit the pillow and I was out for the night. I woke up yesterday with not much soreness but quite a bit of fatigue. It's a good sign to not have any soreness so I just need to keep riding. After two days of and getting all my stuff down around here I will be back on the bike tomorrow.

Off to Florida in a week and half so I need to get some good riding in and then take some good recovery during the vacation with the family and maybe a few runs just to maintain muscle strength.

We are going to have two reasons to celebrate in Florida. It is my parent's 30th Anniversary and I got news that my sister Leslie is getting married to her boyfriend now fiance Ryan. Congratulations to them and can't wait to see everyone in Florida!

Cheers!

B