| The Breck Epic w/ Sarah Uhl -Stage Four |
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Okay guys. Time to come clean with all of you about a few things: The Breck Epic is only my third mountain bike race. So, after completing the 4th stage today, I have tripled the number of times I've raced a mountain bike. Kinda cool. But, I won't lie to you... I've have plenty of experience with the whole two-wheeled eye of the tiger bike racing thing. It was just on skinny tired bicycles. Once, about 10 years ago, I even won me some rainbows in the jr. worlds for match sprinting. That was cool too. This Breck Epic thing seemed like a great way to dust off the cobwebs from a 3 year hiatus from any sort of racing at all. What really stood out to me today is that the competitor inside of you never dies. I did come to the Breck Epic with my own personal agenda (you know, the whole "make bike love" thing) but I didn't really know which way my competitive spirits would take me. Would it be a dull distant calling or a fierce vengeful whip, screaming at me for not training enough. It turns out the voice is still pretty loud, clamoring around in my head. I wasn't okay with my performance yesterday, 3rd mountain bike race ever or not. It was time to make a comeback and assert myself. So today, I dug in deep. I oozed the love of competition. I decided at the start that nothing today's course threw at me could phase me. I was so personally offended by every inch of elevation gain yesterday it made me so angry and disconnected to the task at hand: get to the finish as fast as possible. I rode strong, and hard. I got to each aid station so invigorated by my renewed spirits I announced to everyone there "I feel STRONG today!!" Somehow, that reinforced the positive attitude and helped me ride into a 5th place finish. Right back to where I want to be. The promotor called this stage a "queen" stage and suggested it reminded him of a rabid dog that just kept coming at you. It was hard, no doubt, but it was also my favorite course thus far. With long, low gradient sections to power along I actually felt fast for once... Views were killer and the tree canopied singletrack sections were yeehaw worthy.
I have been meaning to spend a little blog-time to painting a picture of our sweet accommodations at race central, so here is a brief photo essay for you:
 tent city, where about 20 of us brave kids are living it up all week.
 race central, adjacent to tent city, where meetings and meals are held daily.
  Tim and Todd, the organic mechanics making bike love to my Waltworks and refueling with finest New Belgium Brews.
 The view from tent city this morning: a moonset.
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