Breck Epic Stage 6 - Gold Dust

The Breck Epic 2015 is in the books. Today's stage started on the edge of town and groups of categories started together. This was the first time i got to see the singlespeed field in it's entirety and that was all good. Got to do some fist bumps at the start...the last day!! The first half mile was a climb up a road and into some singletrack. There the climbing continued which was accompanied by a need of oxygen. Being in a train of singlespeed studs, I kept up for as long as i could but after a while i felt the need to step aside as some speedsters approached from then next wave of categories. I stepped aside and let them by. This happened a few times over the first 4 miles where some faster folks who started with other categories whipped by. That was more of a blessing than a curse but the climbing continued. Eventually we left the singletrack and made it to a gravel road where a moderate climb took us to the Boreas Pass Summit at the 9.5 mile mark. This pass would be hit on the way out and back.

An aid station was up at the pass and I got some food on and got going. The descent started down the road and before long, hit singletrack. The trail was pretty sweet. It was at a subtle decline and was kind of like a track for running trees off the mountain in the winter...like from back in the day. It was fun and ended in a valley. We then made our way onto a gravel road that we took all the way up to the Boreas Pass Summit again. That was like a 6+ mile climb. At that point it was a down hill gravel road into down hill singletrack and eventually to the finish where folks were so stoked to survive the last 6 days. I was lucky enough to have the wife and youngest see me come out of the woods and cross the finish line. Stoked!!

The last stage was just under 30 miles and around 3300 ft of climbing. So looking forward to just get up tomorrow, have a cup of coffee and chill. To ensure that this intense race, every finisher of the 6 days gets a sick belt buckle. Gonna rock this fo sho!!!

I ended up in 13th place in the singlespeed category. Word!! The sickest number...out of 14. Total time was a bit under 27 hours of riding. Riding the 32x21 worked for me and i used it the whole time. There was many a time where I was climbing behind folks in their easiest gear...slowly and hence momentum was not there for me to push a bigger gear. I brought a 20 with figuring that i may switch it out depending on the stage and how i felt. A 32x20 may have been ok but with all the altitude, i figured going easier at the start and never switched. The long climbs and heavy breathing kept me at the easier choice. When riding the flats, i was spinning and fell back from other folks where a 20 would have helped get a quicker time but give and take. I talked other singles and some rode the first two stages with a 32x19 and then switched to 32x20 in the third stage. Talking to them again today, they decided to stick with the 20 for the last day.

I gotta thank all the friends on the social media for the shout outs, Coach Lockhart for getting me in shape to finish, and my family for all the patience they have had during all the time taken for training. Much Love Y'all!