Breck Epic Stage 4 - Aqueduct

Yesterday was a rough stage...coming out of it, my legs were tight and weak feeling. I fed on some pasta, went to sleep and hoped for the best. Woke up with the legs pretty stiff and went thru the morning routine. During the warm up, the legs loosened up a bit but they were still not feeling the strongest. At the line, talking with other riders, they seemed to be doing well. I was a bit worried and at go time,

i just tried to ease into the climbing....ease into climbing...yeah, right. So we started in town and climbed into a rhythm and just kept pace with the people. My head was sick of climbing and the legs were not into it but they were responding. The first climb was crested into a bombing downhill only to begin climbing again. This climb is called Vomit Hill for a good reason. The beginning of it was not ride-able for me so it was a hike-a-bike section. Everyone was hiking that long section. It was not relenting either. After the impossible to ride section, it was more of a slow, deceptively crushing ascent that led to some more off bike time for me. I was hoping off the bike when the going got rough figuring that i was tired already and still had a couple more stages to go.

Eventually topped that beach and descended to another climb only to descent to another climb. Those did flow and had a few rough patches but logging miles felt good. Next up was the big climb of the day that starts within sight of Keystone. This one was 2000 ft of vertical in 5 miles. It started out primarily on a gravel road at a pitch where I could keep pedaling. Eventually it turned to Jeep trail where it angled up a bit but was still ride-able. I was able to grunt to the top in about 75 minutes of steady work. The trail wound around the top for a bit and then the descent...I gotta say, that has been the most exciting descent of the race. The trails had great flow and fast, no brake sections that put the life into me. After that, it was more climbing where i had to jump off the bike a few times. From the top, it was roughly the same descent that was done yesterday. Familiar sections are a bonus. All in all, it was around 40 miles with 7000 ft of climbing...or so

At the end, i was feeling better than i was in the morning. I definitely felt better than yesterday. My post race routine starts when i get back and get my recovery drink on...Some Vega stuff that tastes fine and does what it needs to do. I get my food on too and then it is a bit of a rest. After that, i make my way to the registration tent and stop by the Elevated Legs tent where i get my compression type massage going on. It is like getting your blood pressure taken on the legs on and off for 20 min or so. This is supposed to help the circulation and i believe it has helped. I have also stopped by the SRAM tent for some support. They hooked me up yesterday by installing some new brake pads, tightening up the headset and locking down the rear dropout so my chain would not fall off. Today they took care of a pin that was falling out of the Time pedal...hopefully that pedal allows me to clip in tomorrow. I will let you know tomorrow in that post...To Be Continued...