Breck 100

So I let myself talk into doing the Breck 100 this past weekend. I've never really ridden a bike for more than 5 hours, either mountain or road, so I really didn't know what to expect.

The race started at 6 am, WAY too early to even ride a bike, let alone start a 3000ft climb up to almost 13000 feet. I felt like breathing through a straw and the 50 hiki a bike sections really didn't improve my mood. Then after just 1 hour into the race I hit my derailleur on a rock and it ended up in my spokes. I somehow got it out and bent it back enough to continue riding. I lost my 4 easiest gears in the back and ended up riding like that for almost 7 hours. I was ready to give up, because the hard gears really took its toll on my on the steep climbs.

When I got back to the checkpoint, though, I saw I was only seconds behind 3rd. So
Grayson and Matt were working on my bike, changed my derailleur and cables etc and off I went for lap nr. 3. BIG thanks for their help, without them, I couldn't have finished the race. I lost a lot of time and ended up in 6th position after leaving the checkpoint. I really felt good, though, especially after the 8th hour and was able to pick up one guy ahead of me. Then, with just 3 miles to go I jammed my derailleur into the spokes again, this time so hard that I couldn't even get the wheel to move. So I started walking - pissed. After 10 min or so I figured I really had it with walking and was able to rip the derailleur right off and was able to get the wheel moving again. That way I could at least coast on the down hills. I ended up walking across the finish line, happy to finish.

I took me just over 10 1/2 hours, some serious chamois time. It was a great adventure and I think I 'll do the 100 miler in Park City, too. It was a whole new way of suffering and if it drained me physically it only made me stronger mentally. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.