After a full week of being tortured by my friends for going to race and not doing a big epic ride along the ridge-line of Vail, I stood my ground and kept true to my plan of racing. I am so glad that I didn't buckle as their ride was mostly in 4 foot snow drifts and I actually found my racing legs for the first time this year during this past weekend's race!
The Breck 32 is one of 3 races held during the day in the heart of Breckenridge, Colorado. There is a 100 mile race that does 3 loops, a 68 mile race that does 2 loops and a 32 mile race that does the most fun and technical loop. Since my endurance is almost non-existent these days, I opted for the shorter distance since I knew it was already going to take longer than 3hrs to complete!
I had been told about how fun this loop was so I was actually REALLY excited to get on the race course and see what it was all about. We began on a road section that went uphill for a short bit then quickly ducked into some epic singletrack that went straight up through the trees and around several steep switchbacks. I had managed to pull away from the women's field on the paved road and never looked back. The 100 miler and 68 miler had started before us so it was a bit tricky trying to get past the racers that were pacing themselves for a much longer distance race. However, most people were really nice and just let me go by. As you can see from above, there was A LOT of climbing...and a lot of descending. It was by no means an easy day, but I can assure you that there were more smiles than there were suffer grimaces :)
I knew that we were doing a huge moto ride the next day and assumed I had a large enough lead, so I decided to cruise the final section to the finish. I definitely did not fuel nearly enough and was on the early stages of bonking so I wanted to be sure I didn't go too much in the hole. I can get away with not fueling properly during a 90min race but I need to learn how to get it together for these 2hr and 3+hr races. I'm having a hard time consuming when my heartrate is so high then before I know it, I'm on the verge of bonking and totally unable to consume. My goal for the next race is to nail my nutrition regardless of the outcome of the race...gotta learn somehow!
Not only did I have a great race, but so did Bryce. I call him my little mutant...he works his butt off all week, doesn't touch his bike but once a weekend to race with me, then just absolutely crushes it. He not only beat the next guy in his class by 40min, he was in the top 10 in an very competitive race! I'm sure you can only imagine how nuts it makes me :)
As with most weekends, we cannot get away without a fun dirt bike ride in the high country! It was in the 90s in Boulder so we grabbed our good friend Tony and rode up to the treeline and played on the most amazing singletrack for over 4 hrs!
Life honestly doesn't get much better than this!
The Breck 32 is one of 3 races held during the day in the heart of Breckenridge, Colorado. There is a 100 mile race that does 3 loops, a 68 mile race that does 2 loops and a 32 mile race that does the most fun and technical loop. Since my endurance is almost non-existent these days, I opted for the shorter distance since I knew it was already going to take longer than 3hrs to complete!
I had been told about how fun this loop was so I was actually REALLY excited to get on the race course and see what it was all about. We began on a road section that went uphill for a short bit then quickly ducked into some epic singletrack that went straight up through the trees and around several steep switchbacks. I had managed to pull away from the women's field on the paved road and never looked back. The 100 miler and 68 miler had started before us so it was a bit tricky trying to get past the racers that were pacing themselves for a much longer distance race. However, most people were really nice and just let me go by. As you can see from above, there was A LOT of climbing...and a lot of descending. It was by no means an easy day, but I can assure you that there were more smiles than there were suffer grimaces :)
I knew that we were doing a huge moto ride the next day and assumed I had a large enough lead, so I decided to cruise the final section to the finish. I definitely did not fuel nearly enough and was on the early stages of bonking so I wanted to be sure I didn't go too much in the hole. I can get away with not fueling properly during a 90min race but I need to learn how to get it together for these 2hr and 3+hr races. I'm having a hard time consuming when my heartrate is so high then before I know it, I'm on the verge of bonking and totally unable to consume. My goal for the next race is to nail my nutrition regardless of the outcome of the race...gotta learn somehow!
Not only did I have a great race, but so did Bryce. I call him my little mutant...he works his butt off all week, doesn't touch his bike but once a weekend to race with me, then just absolutely crushes it. He not only beat the next guy in his class by 40min, he was in the top 10 in an very competitive race! I'm sure you can only imagine how nuts it makes me :)
As with most weekends, we cannot get away without a fun dirt bike ride in the high country! It was in the 90s in Boulder so we grabbed our good friend Tony and rode up to the treeline and played on the most amazing singletrack for over 4 hrs!
Life honestly doesn't get much better than this!
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