BREK EPIC
I arrived in the beautiful town of Breckenridge again by bus
and this time not to ski but to bike race in the Break Epic with some friends from Baltimroe: Mark and John: a 6 day duo 100+ team
and Pat below (photo from another race) and Pat joined us from Colorado and Pat just smoked the course taking 7th overall in the 6 day solo 50+
and Kathy photo below (from Trans Andes as I left Brek Epic early)
Kathy above led our group and Kathy is a world class biker taking 2nd place in the 6 day solo women 60+. I stayed at the incredible Beaver Run Resort
where they had their own lift from the middle of the resort = awesome
and the resort offered fine dinning and Spencers Restaurant would exceed your expectations
and Spencers offered outside Dinning and the resort offered: inside and outside pools, hot tubs, bike and ski shops and great workout facility
THE BIKE RACE which I did not like due to the significant amount of time spent hiking/pushing ones bike up hill and the rocky trails so for me I dropped out the second day. To put things in perspective it took my friend 8.5 hours to ride 40 miles and the day before it took us 6 hours to ride 35 miles and I probably spent 1.5 hours hiking my bike both of the days I rode = that is crazy and I have done: La ruta, El Retro Quetzal, Trans Andes, Trans Portugal, Shenandoah 100 so many times and Wilderness 100 and again I did not like this event as it was so much climbing and rocky terrain. The race start always had a talk the night before to explain the ride which was great
and well prepared maps were there
and at the end of each day the winners took the stage
Now onto the race. In the morning we would all line up at about 8:30 Am for the days event of about 40 miles
then we would head out on a road to the trail head below
Once we left the road the anguish started and here of photos of the “hike a bikes”
It does not look that steep below but that is just near the top after hiking for 45 minutes
And very steep and long climbs
Here are shots below of the rocky terrain
We got hailed on and torrential rain and the rocks were slippery and the many exposed roots made it far worse and for me my fault I froze and had to seek shelter in the medical van with the heat turned on full force to avoid hypothermia
Nothing like being hailed/rained on as it made the trail very dangerous due to the rocks and roots
there were some nice trails below but for me the hiking and pushing your bike and the bad downhills made me quit
The fun trails were not enough for me to stay in the race and again it took a whopping 8.5 hours to go 42 miles “WHAT” and 6 hours to do 32 miles “WHAT”
I DROPPED OUT: So I left the second day after about 20 miles and rode on a great jeep road below
to the bike path about which was awesome
and I rode the Bike Path to Frisco and back, picking up the River Trail below so I probably got about 30 miles in that day: photos below of the river trail and bike path not the race
Going back to the first day, I rode bikes in the resort taking the gondola and chairlift up and biking down and up on some jeep trails = that was awesome and phots below
Gondola above goes to chairlift below and that takes you up to about 11,300 feet
then biking down and at times biking up
I would ride the jeep trails up, then hit the single track down
The top of the chairlift below after riding up to it at 11,200 wow
During the day’s exploration of the town, I rode past the railroad museum pretty cool
In closing; Beaver Run Resort is amazing, riding the lifts of Breckenridge is amazing and there are many great climbs one can do on jeep roads and the river trails and bike path are amazing but I can not recommend the Break Epic unless one loves to push their bike or is a world class MTB. various photos below
The “Beaver Run Resort” shots below as it deserves so much credit for being special
and “Spencer’s” restaurant will exceed your expectations
Photos below