Wheeler

Ok, almost done with the various reports from Breck. A week is a long time, so there are tons of stories...


Thursday was the "king" of the various "Queen Stages." Climb the Breckenridge ski area, then fly down the service road, then through a nice long wooded section up the Burro Trail, then a long stretch of rocky stuff, then the real climbing towards Wheeler Pass starts.


Following Kristi through the rocks after the Burro Trail...


It is relentless. It just keeps pitching up. Up and up. Then, just above tree line, they had the first Aid Station. (I think there is a backstory there about someone not knowing how to drive a stick and not being comfortable on rocky-bumpy 4-wheel drive roads being responsible for setting up the Aid Station. Almost makes you feel sorry for the poor sap. Almost.)


Leaving Aid Station #1 towards Wheeler Pass...



The trail is very narrow and between the pitch and the rocks (and your legs and the whole week up until this point) make it very hard to ride. Off to your left, across a valley, is a massive rock face, to your right, it just keeps going up.

Pat turning the "last" corner...


One last switch back before the top and you are facing south looking out over Breckridge towards Keystone. But they don't take you over the ridge. The top opens up and is surprisingly vast and flat.


Yet another false summit...


The altiplano...

After the grassy section above, the altiplano turns pretty rocky. This is where I flatted. Trying to be both quick and calm about changing the flat as I watched the folks I had just passed, pedal by me. Glad I had practiced with the CO2 before I left. And bummer that it is, I keep thinking "At least it's not raining. It's not 40 degrees." Definitely grateful. And not close to dead.

Still life with flat...

After you cross this altiplano, you come to the edge and then finally the actual Wheeler Pass comes into view. It is an impressive face. And you can instantly see that before you can cross it, you have to drop down a couple of hundred feet and then climb back up.

Looking backwards, almost from Wheeler Pass towards the final approach ...

Coming down the backside towards Copper, the front wheel got a little out of control. I went over the high side and took one long stride before tucking and rolling and landing on a large piece of low-growth scrub. My immediate reaction was "Hey, that's pretty soft." It could have been all pointy and stick-like, but it was, all in all, pretty soft. And given the other landing options, it wasn't bad at all. So that incident, plus the repaired back wheel made me take the descent a little slower than I might have otherwise. Remembering my new motto: Less Haste...More Speed. But it is a very long downhill stretch as you descent toward tree-line, then into the trees, and it just keeps going until your hands are numb just from holding on.

Eventually you come out onto the community bike path which is a little bizarre. In the middle of a backwoods bike race, you are dumped back into "civilization" and a smooth paved path. It's a little disconcerting, but (especially after a flat) you always want to make up time. So you point the bike down the path and crank in the highest gear you have. Passing the Sunday drivers (riders) and folks out for a little bit of excercise. Folks who have not a clue who you are, where you've been or what you are doing. Talk about suffering in invisible silence.

Eventually I leave the bike path and climb the Peaks trail back towards Breck. This is another section where the trail runs right next to what looks like an old flume. This one filled with water and running. It's not only beautiful to look at, but the gurgling, bubbling water also makes a wonderful sound.

I finally come out on the edge of the Breck ski area, though not so high up. Dropping down the trails, between the condos, I drop back to the start/finish line. Feeling pretty good, wishing I had the ten minutes it took to fix the flat back, but all in all pretty thankful for feeling as good as I do.

And this is the last of the hard stages. The Gold Dust loop tomorrow is just a 38 mile joy ride and doesn't have a killer death march like the Wheeler Stage. Never want to count your chickens before they're hatched, but it looks like I just might make it through the whole week.

The coveted Breck Epic belt buckle is within sight. One more day of effort. And luck.