Breck Epic Stage 6: Gold Dust. (Bruises, Belt Buckles, and Bourbon)

Day 6.  We all woke up stiff and sore from 5 hard days in the saddle, and were greeted with our shortest, fastest stage yet.  "Only" 30 miles, and 3500' of elevation gain.  The goal today was to finish safely, have fun, and move up in the overall placing.  Richard pointed out that I had the best chance to do so based on the fact that the rider in front of me only had about 2 minutes.

Chip and I set out early to get a good warmup, since the stage started with 10 miles of climbing.  We checked in, stayed warm in the sun and did laps up and down the starting climb to get our legs going.  It's amazing how your body continues to respond after days of abuse!  The start was in waves today based on category, and our wave was 3 minutes behind the pros.  The "gun" went off and we all climbed quickly up the start climb to the single track.  The course was on pavement, then turned onto a long singletrack climb, before a slight descent and then climbing up a dirt road, Boreas Pass.  Theoretically this is good terrain for me.  Unfortunately I went out a bit too hard and lost several places through the flowy singletrack climb.  I began to make up time on the dirt road and descent however.

Right as we finished the descent, Rob Batey, and the lead group from the 40+ men caught me and we flew through the Gold Dust trail through the valley on the back side of the course.  It was like being in a flume as I followed Rob and his friend Jeff who likes in Breckenridge and knows the trails.  This dumped into a wet and rooty descent before turning back onto itself and climbing back up to Boreas Pass.  I got into a groove, and while not fresh, I was able to roll in my "big" ring most of the way to the top.  I left everything I had on that climb, finished my second water bottle, and gel and sprinted over the top.  We were greeted by shots of Oscar Blues Dales Pale Ale (which I took of course!): Check out a video of Stage 6.

We flew down the descent on the road, and I tucked in behind a clydesdale sized rider.  We turned back onto a rocky singletrack descent and I checked my speed going into the rocks.  The lead rider flatted and I passed him and continued on to pass another 7 riders before the finish.  We ended on another flowy and fast singletrack descent to the finish.  In the end I placed 15th on the stage (my best placing yet) and made up 15 minutes to move from 19th overall to 16th.

Let's just say we earned these buckles, the bourbon we drank, and the bruises we're taking home!  It's been an amazing week.