Thru Endurance We Conquer!

One lap down, two to go. The middle lap, billed as the hardest and most technical section of the race and the lap every athlete would tackle - from the 32ers, the 68er and the 100ers. I knew Thane had sent out some politely, yet strongly worded emails telling the athletes in the shorter racers to be nice when passing. Hopefully they would all be nice, because I knew I would get passed. But I didn't know when. I knew the first section of trail well from the MSC hill climb. We climbed up the switchbacks out of Carter Park, briefly crossing the incoming racers. I stayed in an easy gear - eyes focused on the switchbacks and ears peeled for the next woman Larry announced. I didn't have a big gap between fourth and fifth - only a few minutes. But the focus had to stay on the trail and riding to finish. I turned over a steady, smooth cadence as we climbed higher away from the park. I had a train of guys on my wheel as we vanished into the trees. None of them seemed inclined to pass ...

The Cat 1/Pro women on the start - yes, we are there to race! Photo Tim Bergsten Another Wendesday night, and time for another race in the Ascent Cycling Series. Back to Palmer Park this race for some fun in the rocks. I have my race report posted on Pikes Peak Sports. It was a fun race and a great night for riding my bike. Can't Help Smiling Okay, now we're a little more serious! Race time! Photo - Tim Bergsten Dropping one of the rock gardens - good thing I took the easy line! Photo - Christian Murdock, CS Gazette Cleaning up the course in more ways then one.... Photo Tim Bergsten

Cameron Chambers and I - at least one of us is ready for the race! Photo - Sarah Musick Over 150 riders -some nervous, some eager, some terrified - assembled in the pre-sunrise gloom of Carter Park. Time to focus on riding and the next 100 miles of pedaling. Even though Nick's race didn't start until much later (10:45) he dragged himself out of bed to help with my drop bags and see me off into the wilds around Breckenridge. It was still cold at that hour and I was bundled up in knee warmers, arm warms, vest and a jacket to wait in. Five minutes before the start and I gave my jacket to Nick. I couldn't help but sneaking a glance up to the west. Wheeler Pass was waiting for us - the early rays of the sun just starting to illuminate the alpine terrain. Then the countdown began. It's cold at 5:40.... Racers gathering Photo - Nick Thelen We rolled out of Carter Park under neutral start, under the escort of the race officials and police. I know why I've bee...

It is nice to see bike shops supporting the community in general not just the riding community. Tracy and I race for Ascent Cycling. While they support us and a few other racers in town. They support a local race series. You see Ascent with numbers on their bikes racing, you see Patrick at the mechanics tent lending a last minute repair to anyone needing it, and some Ascent colors helping with set up and tear down of courses. I was poking around some lesser ridden trails near Palmer Park and saw the Ascent logo on a community garden. While it is a given that some of the items above occur from most shops it is cool to see something out of the ordinary that lends itself to everyone in a community. (Posted by Nick)

Okay, while I have posted prior condemning the "stravahole" mentality some riders display, I will admit to having a Strava acount. It's fun - uploading my rides and seeing if I got any fast times on local segments. And while I know not everyone who's fast uses it, the benchmarks among local riders is also nice. I have never headed out with goals of crushing segments - preferring to just ride my ride and see what pops up. I'm training for specific events, not chasing kudos. So it was with a little trepidation that I joined the latest challenge on Strava -climb some crazy amount of meters - the amount the boys in the Tour climbed in the last week in the tour. I knew I'd get a great start with the Breck 100. Bu I also knew I'd need some easy, non climbing rides after to recover! So would I meet the challenge or not? As of now, I'm thinking no - I'm gonna be at about 98% of the needed total. I could head out for a few mor miles, hitting all the local...

Nothing like some fast, local racing to wake up the legs after a long day in saddle! The third race in the Ascent Cycling Series was held at Bear Creek Terrace on July 18th. It was another fun course, racing in circles with all the local speed demons. My race report is over on Pikes Peak Sports, a long with some photos, interviews and other fun things. Dusting off the Cobwebs As usual, Tim Bergsten took some great photos from the race: Game face on! Or oh man, my legs are tired! Last lap - of course I'm having fun now!

Some how I managed to sound some what smart during this interview with Thom Parsons of Cycling Dirt. Trying to think of intelligent answers after riding for 12 hours was a challenge! Guess I'm committed for the 100 for a few more years too... Cycling Dirt Interview

Two alpine passes, 1000s of feet of climbing and 100 miles. Sounds like a perfect way to spend a Sunday in July! I had no clue what to expect when I signed up for the Breck 100 back in winter. I just knew I wanted a new challenge and this seemed like a great place for my first 100 mile mtb race. My primary goal was to finish, so once the flag dropped at the base of Peak 9, I settled into a steady tempo - and watched as Amanda Carey (1st) and Jari Kirkland (2nd) rode away into the distance. The climb up to Wheeler Pass was an hour plus gut check - I'm really out here, planning on riding my bike 100 miles! And since it's not a mtb race without some soil sampling, got the one crash of the day out of the way early on the descent down Wheeler. Kept the smooth tempo across the rolling up of Peaks trail, then back into transition to start lap 2. Still feeling good, eating and smiling on the switchbacks up to Sallie Barber mine. Then came Little French Gulch - and in the words of one o...

I have never made doughnuts in my life. I've never even made something that required frying before. So in my overly antsy pre-race taper mode, I some how decided that I would try to make some doughnuts for Nick today. He hasn't had a doughnut since he went gluten free and has at times talked about missing eating them. It's not like we had them that regularly, but when driving up the pass to points west, we'd always stop at the Doughnut Mill in Woodland Park and get some treats. Mmmm - those were tasty! So I took a recipe that I had and modified it a little for the gluten free. For a first attempt, they turned out pretty good - Nick really liked them so that goal was accomplished. I did notice a few things though while working on the recipe. I did mix and need the dough a little too much. While Nick likes his doughnuts dense and doughy, for most people I think it would be a little heavy. So when getting them ready to cut out, be gentle with the dough. That should maintai...

Less then three days - then it's time to toe the line, gaze up at the mountains, realizing that I will be riding my bike over two high alpine passes (one of them twice!), down some fun single track and across rocky flume trails. The usual doubts keep creeping into my mind - have I done enough, trained hard enough? Has my taper been good enough? Will the altitude take a toll on me? How will I handle the inevitable dark patches and mental drains that have as much effect on a distance race as a mechanical? All of these questions and more will be answered on the course. Three laps, 100 miles. Of course, I wouldn't a normal athlete if I didn't have the doubt in the back of my mind prior to this undertaking. That's what separates the field - how well you can handle the doubt. But looking at the Breck 100 as one big race - one 100 mile day in the saddle is the best way to fail from the start. It's supposedly one of the hardest 100 mile races because of the altitude, amou...

After getting back from 24 Hours in the Enchanted Forest and using the Exposure Lights to illuminate the forest, Nick and I were really excited to get a new toy for the lights. A remote switch that controls on-off and beam power. While the on/off switch on the Maxx-D and Toro lights is already easy to use, the remote switch is awesome. It's like having a hydraulic lockout for the fork instead of reaching down every time. It is as convenient as using your thumb to switch to a higher gear. Comes with a little Velcro loop and the aluminum housing is rubber backed to keep it form slipping around (you need to get the Velcro tight). This is going to be very nice come the next 24 hour race and or night ride. The remote switch Mounted on the handle bar Perfect placement for on the fly added lumens - don't have take hands off bars or look at the light

Something interesting and a little scary happened while we were riding down  (counter clockwise) Palmer Trail the other day. I know that most of the time the riders go up, looking for the fun pay off of Section 16 and the hikers like getting the steep hill over with and having a gentle downhill. Well, given the goal of that ride, we were going in the same direction as the hikers. Since we knew that there would be other users on the trails and it's harder to go the same direction, we were moving rather slowly down hill. I think at one point, I could have run down hill faster then we were riding! We met a few hikers, slowed to pass them and were really polite. Then a couple got annoyed when Nick said hello - they stepped to the side and let us pass, but glared at me when I said last one, thank you. They also hollered after me - "watch out for our dog!" So we were being very aware of the trail. Then the scary encounter. Nick, in the lead as usual, comes up to another hiker...

With yesterday's climbing fest, the last hard workout before the Breck 100 has been completed. All the work, all the suffering and all the strength gains now in the bank for withdrawing come the 15th. Hopefully, there will be enough - plus interest! - for me to have a successful first 100 mile MTB race. Sunday's ride was fun -we did everything in the opposite direction we normally ride! Up Section 16 instead of down, up Captain Jacks, kept climbing till we reached 666. Then back up and finally down Jacks. I wasn't looking forward to riding up Section 16 when we left, but I'm happy we did. It was steep as shit, loose in places and I did some hiking. Yet my confidence for some of the steep road climbs and for Little French Gulch has just jumped. Yes it's gonna be hard - but it's not as steep as Section 16! I was also able to clean riding up the top half of Jacks. The rain helped since the trail was in awesome condition, but it was a steady grind. I thought it was ...

At this point, it should be pretty clear that Nick and I went up to Breckenridge last weekend to scout out the course for the Breck 100. We had the maps and the cue sheets and were hoping not to spend too much time looking at either. Not being familer with the area, it was a little frustrating at times, but we got the courses down. I still don't have much of an idea of how long to expect to be on my bike because of all the detours, wrong turns and such. But I have a general idea of the terrain (up, more up, little bit of down, some rolling up, more up, loose up...) It was a useful trip, some fun time on the bike. Nick manned the camera and took a few shots during three rides.  Day 1 - Lap 1. Up and over Wheeler Pass, down to Copper, around to Frisco, then back to Breck on single track The view from the turn onto Wheeler Trail. That was a long, long climb! Riding on Wheeler Trail - my first experience of alpine mountain biking Happy now that the top of the pass is ...

This went a lot smoother today. Really only one map search, and one issue with the directions. This loop was a lot more fun the I had anticipated - sure there was a lot of road, but the trails we rode were lots of fun. A gradual single track exit from Carter Park, then a really fun trail paralleling some private land. Then came the kick in the pants jeep road climb up to Boreas Pass road. We met some locals we knew and rode up the pass with them. All the tourists on top of Boreas Pass just stared at the five of us as we rolled through. On to Gold Dust Trail, all the way to Como. And that was a really fun trail. Flowing at top half, then rolling after crossing the road. More technical then we'd anticipated, with some tricky rock gardens. But it was fun, fun, fun! Then the dreaded climb back up to Section House at the top of Boreas Pass. Sure, it's a gentle railroad fraud, but it was a long climb. And it's gonna feel a lot longer the next time I ride it! A quick drop on the...