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) IMG_4570

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