Going into the Breck68 I was feeling reasonably confident. My brain and body were becoming acclimated to the special requirements of racing mountain bike endures, as the previous two weekends I had competed in 50 and 40 mile events. I had raced this course in 2010, and knew that it suited me well.

Being in Breckenridge, there is, of course, a fair bit of climbing (9500’), but for the most part the grades and technical level of the climbing are reasonable, and there is enough flat between to get some recovery.

 

When the 30-39 age group launched off the starting line up Boreas Pass road, we wasted no time getting into it. A group of six immediately formed off the front. Needless to say, there were some chuckles from the crowd of 50 or so racers as people envisioned these guys blowing up a couple miles into a 70 mile day. Now, bike racing requires some experience and some luck, and I believe both of these were on my side this day. As the little group surged ahead a few dozen meters off the front, I realized that that was going to be the race leaders for the day, not just for a few minutes. I sorted my way thru the crowd and put in a big dig to get up to the group. We kept a smooth, constant tempo up the remaining 2 or 3 miles of pavement and by the time we turned abruptly into the single track the rest of the field was nowhere to be found.

 

The single track continued the 8 mile climb up the Sally Barber mine ruins, where we finally got a little respite and had a chance to assess the situation. I was sitting with one other racer at this point and we were 5^th and 6^th of the original 7 breakaways. I was feeling good – heart rate in control and what I like to call “big legs”, meaning plenty of power. So far the Ti Blacksheep 29er was checking out ok, other than a slightly annoying cross chain rubbing in the granny ring. I was rolling my usual combo of a Kenda ST8 in front (to keep things as light as possible), mated with a Kenda Karma in the rear (to provide a little extra toughness). My tire pressure of choice is about 34psi in front and 36psi in rear. A lot of people might feel this is a bit high for a tubeless set up, but I prefer the additional harshness over the increased chance of flatting.

 

The second climb of the day on the B68 course is the infamous French Gulch, a rock strewn beast that dishes out 800’ climbing in less than 2 miles. I had just climbed this bad boy twice in the F50 12 days earlier so I knew exactly what to expect. Coming over this bad boy, not only was I was able to ditch my breakaway companion, but I overtook another of the original gangstas, putting myself into fourth position!

 

Brimming with confidence, I railed the next long descent and made my way thru aid station 1 with a quick refill and off to tackle the West Ridge climb. As is usually the case in these deals, I end up riding with quite a few single speeders, and today was no exception. Normally I attempt to replicate their climbing style by using too large a gear and riding out of the saddle. It’s a much more powerful way to ride, but of course, is less efficient, which can really take its toll on a long day. Seeing as the Blacksheep is of single speed heritage, it really does climb well in that style and it sure was working for me!

 

After the 8 mile West Ridge climb the racer finally gets a chance to really get some recovery in as the remainder of the first loop consists of a 5 mile descent, a relatively easy 4 mile climb up Gold Run road (jeep trail), followed by a tight, twisty descent into Carter Park at Breckenridge at mile 36. By this point it is super important to take in some fuel and to leave out of the aid station with packed pockets. The second loop takes riders up a grueling jeep road, mixed with some single track and hard pack, enroute to the top of Boreas Pass. Some big Tstorms had begun to form by this time and I was a little concerned with going over the 11,500’ pass. I know in the past they have terminated the race early and given riders the finishing position of their first lap. But I was feeling good and kept getting better and maybe, just maybe I was going to catch those 3 guys up ahead. One thing about these long races is that you never really know how far up they are and when they may stop for a break or have a mechanical, etc.

 

The Boreas Pass climb hurt something fierce, but the single speed style of riding (up out of the saddle and hunched up over the front bar) got me over all of that climb without needing to come off the bike – something I was unable to do in 2010. The long descent down to the town of Coma on the other side of the pass includes what I would say is the toughest section of single track on the course. There are some rock gardens that I simply cannot ride and no one that I saw could either. Somewhere in this section I rolled up on a guy with the calf marking that I was keeping a sharp eye out for – “30-39” – the indicator that I had just moved from fourth position onto the podium! The poor guy was about cracked and congratulated me as I rode off, in hot pursuit of number 2 and 3.

 

Coming thru the Coma aid station, I stopped to top off the bottles and to stuff as much energy as I could down my throat without making myself sick – which wasn’t much. I was discouraged when a different guy with the “30-39” calf mark passed through and was now in front of me. I caught up to him on the long, gravel climb back up toward Boreas Pass and informed him that we were sitting 3^rd and 4^th on the road. He was not aware of this and was very happy. Unfortunately for him I was the stronger of the two and was able to put him in the ditch on the some of the steeper pitches.

 

Another few miles passed until I found the man that I was searching for – the second place rider was now in view. I had a good chat with him (remember, we had ridden mountain bikes hard for like 60 miles at this point, so sitting up for a brief chat is not quite like what it sounds – were still racing!). He was wearing a Mountain Flyer kit and I had a feeling he was going to be a faster descender than me – especically on the technical final miles. I knew it was imperative that I get over the top of Boreas Pass in front of this guy. Turns out that Scott was still feeling pretty good and two independent efforts on my part to ditch him were to no avail.

 

As we dove into the last bit of single track, starting with one very brief climb, I had a few moments thinking that I might get away from him. But he knew what he was doing and happily stuck on my wheel thru the tight twisty stuff, awaiting the right moment. With an impressive feat of bike handling he took a tight inside line on a hard, washed out right hander, and slipped in front of me with about 2 miles to go. Being on the conservative side, and being really tired, I decided that it was not worth chancing a crash at this point and contented myself with letting him go. Ultimately he finished a mere 27 second ahead of me. Turns out the fellow that one was only another 2 minutes up the road!

 

An hour later at the awards ceremony I was happy to shake the hands of both these guys and know that I put in a good effort and had a fun time racing. Total race time was 6 hours 40 minutes 48 second (more than half hour faster than my 2010 time!). Heart rate monitor indicated average 156bpm and max 178bpm with 5800k calories consumed.