Click Here for the GPS/HR Data at Garmin ConnectJuly 4 in Breckenridge, CO doesn't get much better than that, unless your one of the lucky 750 registered mountain bikers for the sold out Firecracker 50 mtb race! As most everyone knows that is following my blog, this year has been a roller coaster ride of a training comeback. Although last weeks CTS Leadville Training Camp went really well, so far this year results have been very sketchy and not at all how I thought they should have been. Going into this race I really had one goal and that was to just finish it. Normally this would be the least of my concerns and pathetic goal, but as said its been a long haul getting back into shape and worse than the physical pain has been the rebuilding of my mental game.
The starting of the race was a lot of fun, I was racing in the Sport 35-39 division, our category (#13) was also staged with the Clydesdale riders, so there was well over 60 of us in this stage waiting our turn to start the race. Each division was started in a neutral rollout that went right up main street as part of the 4th of July Parade in Breckenridge. We were treated like celebrities by the local kids as everyone was lined up along the sides to get their turn at giving high 5's to all the racers. This was a lot of fun, but after about a mile or so the crowd disappeared an it was time to get to the task of racing.
I didn't do a warmup on purpose as I suspected it was going to be challenging enough to just finish, let alone have extra energy to warm up...! The first climb out of Breck, hurt the worst as it always takes a good 30 min for the legs to loosen up and find a race pace rhythem. It also took my heartrate quite awhile to calm down too. Due to the altitude and adrenaline of the race my HR was 105 bpm just standing at the starting line. On this first climb my HR was in the upper 170's, which was much higher than I would have liked it to be at this particular time.
Despite the high HR I quickly found a pace that I felt I would be good for the race. Unlike the local races in Nebraska, I had never been on this course, so everything was new to me, only thing I had done was study the altitude profile to understand how many big climbs there were. This didn't really help knowing when they were coming and when they were going to end though, so the first lap always had a new surprise around the corner! One that that was super nice about this race was the Aid stations that were well stocked with gatorade, water, and Clif bar products. There was an aid station every 6 miles and with kind of support I didn't even bother with using a camelbak. There was just no need for one.
Lap 1 went by rather quickly, if you call 3 hours quick, but hey when your having fun time passes by fast! Some of the highlights were the side by side traffic on the second steep climb, (barely room for two wide), the single track was amazing, but always went too fast, and then there were the descents, usually descents are a time to rest, but not so much in this course, some of them were so steep and rocky that I was glad to be safely at the bottom. OK thats probably over-exageration, especially if you're aware that I have some pretty good bike handling skills, but none the less they weren't a section of the course that I could rest on.
Lap 2 started out really well, I felt good, and I was just hammering up the first climb, I was actually going faster than I thought I should be but my perceived exertion was right on track so I just kept on riding at that pace. Next the second climb went really well, I'll admit my lower back was starting to feel some fatigue and my knees were getting a bit sore, but probably due more to the rain/colder weather (typical afternoon at altitude) than dehydration or fatigue. It was the final climb when I finally started running out of energy. I never completely ran out of energy and had to go to survival mode, but I was getting close. Once past the last climb it was all downhill to the finish line.
Finishing this race was great and then to do it in 5:58:39 was better than I expected! This finish placed me 30th out of the 49 riders that finished the race in our division. As an overall this finish is probably just average, but for the journey I've had this summer, it was a phenominal landmark to getting back in shape and making my comeback!
Lastly there was free food and beer waiting at the finish line. Didn't take much to convince me to grab a glass of Porter and enjoy some BBQ chicken!
