In 2013 I have been reluctant to post any race reports,
mostly because of the lack of quality racing.
It’s not that I wouldn’t love to be racing and doing well,
it’s just that last winter I had a little “JRA” incident.
“Just Riding Along” incidents are the worst. Your guard is down and you’re not expecting
the smack down to come.
My “JRA” incident happened to be snowboarding on Christmas
Day. I clipped a small treetop that
sent me flying into the trees. Luckily
I was able to tuck and roll and avoid a head injury. I was not able to avoid the trees though and I ended up with a
fractured back in five places. That hurt!
Needless to say my fitness and mountain bike-racing season
has had a bit of a damper put on it. However, I consider myself quite lucky
that I have been able to ride for a couple months now and the fitness is coming
around. In fact I had a glimpse of the
old me the other night. I am looking forward to seeing some more glimpses in
the weeks and months to come.
Speaking of glimpses. I got a chance to step on the top of
the podium with a 1st place finish in the team competition at the
Breck 100. I have to say it wouldn’t
have been possible without the speed of my good buddies Dax Massey and Nate
Miller. Finally, a little something to
write about with a glimpse of what is to come.
In the Breck 100 there are three unique laps and I got the
honor to go first.
I can’t say my lap
started out all that great, but I managed to turn it around towards the top of
the first big climb. I found myself behind my friend Sonya Looney and I
followed her up the last ‘hike a bike” section. At the top of Wheeler Pass I quickly made myself around a large
group of riders and made my way down the treacherous Wheeler downhill. Racers
were littered off the trail everywhere and I found myself go from about 30th
to the top 15. Rains made this year even more treacherous the night before. A
little local knowledge on this trail goes a long way.
The Peaks Trail back to Breckenridge was next and it’s
always so fun, no matter which way you ride it. I soon found myself catching a
few more people on the way to meet my Honey Stinger/Light and Motion – AKA
“Team Fun” Teammates.
Looking at the clock, I knew my finish time for lap 1 from
the previous year. Last year I had raced the Breck 100 solo and there was no
way I was going to be close to last years lap one time. I just was hoping to be close to the other
teams. Luckily I was only 4 minutes behind the first place team.
Nate sped out for his first lap and promptly took the
lead. With a few carrots to chase, Nate
ended up in 4th overall at the end of his lap.
We had set a goal of winning the overall and Dax had some
fast dudes to catch. Nick Truitt, Josh Tostado and Ben Sonntag were out in
front of Dax and catching those guys would not be easy. Even after they had
been racing for seventy miles.
The third lap didn’t treat many people well with rain
setting in and making it pretty miserable out on course. Slippery conditions,
lightning, cold hands and soggy roads are just a few of the discomforts you
encounter on a day like this.
Dax managed to catch Nick, but ended up just a couple
minutes behind the Josh and Ben, who thrillingly finished nine seconds apart.
I am sure with a little more healing and fitness from myself
an overall would have been a possibility, but a win is a win and that’s
something to build on!
Just got to watch out for those “JRA” incidents.
Thanks to my sponsors- Honey Stinger/ Bontrager, Trek Bikes,
Light and Motion, Stan’s No Tubes, Infinit Nutrition, Kep’s Balls and
Wilderness Sports.
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