Breck Epic Stage 5: Wheeler

Wow.  What a stage!



Today's stage was up and over Wheeler Pass, then onto the Colorado Trail.  I felt so much better than yesterday and was really excited for the Wave/TT style start where groups of 10 were sent off every minute.  After my lackluster performance on the high climb yesterday I refocused and got a really good warmup since we started straight out of the gate with an 8 mile climb, ascending 3000'!  My legs felt quite good and I was able to get my heartrate up.  Chip and I were paired together and we started in the 8:10 wave (10 minutes behind the pros), about 100 riders deep.  Chip took off and started to pick riders off from the waves ahead of us.  I dropped my chain about a mile into the course and had to stop to fix it.  It worked out as I paced off several slower riders as I made my way back up to Chip en route to the first Aid Station around 4 miles in.

We turned onto a gravel road and began the 9% average grade climb.  I was feeling really good and settled into a rhythm, but it didn't take long until we reached the last few miles of hike-a-bike up to the summit of Wheeler Pass.

 

Our reward was bacon, Skittles, and Cokes!  And of course the magnificent views!

As we hit the descent, Chip let me lead and this lasted all of about 5 minutes when I slid over a rock and off the trail, gashing my left shin and pretzling myself up with my bike.  I recovered and made my way to the bottom of the 30 minute descent before cleaning myself up and refueling at the next Aid Station.  Chip powered on and crushed the last 10 miles of the course!  I limped in, but still posted a solid time.  Two mistakes in two days, cost me about 10 minutes, but I still finished 17th and moved into 19th overall.  The terrain and descents were well worth it today.  Simply amazing!