In 2023, Karel completed Breck Epic. He finished feeling accomplished and slightly unfulfilled as he felt like he could have done better.
Breck Epic is a challenging 6-day (Sun-Fri) mountain bike stage race held in Breckenridge Colorado. Breckenridge sits at 9700 feet so each stage of Breck Epic takes place between 10-12,000 feet. Within 6 days, riders will cover over 220 miles of backcountry trails. The race includes long climbs, fast descents and varied trail conditions. There are a lot of rocks! Even the best elite riders are known to "hike-a-bike" certain sections. Known as one of the hardest mountain bike events in the world, Breck Epic will test the riders in many ways. You need skills, fitness, endurance and a lot of mechanical luck.
We are back in Breckridge for round 2. Karel is ready for a second attempt at Breck Epic.
Our travel started on Thursday morning. We left for the airport at 4:50am and could not have asked for a smoother travel day.
5:20am - arrived at GSP (our local airport). I dropped off Karel with our bikes and luggage and I parked the car in the economy parking lot.
5:40am - through security (TSA pre-check)
5:40am-6:45am - enjoy some coffee and food in the centurion lounge
7:10am - board the plane.
7:30am - flight to ATL
8:15am - land in ATL
8:30-9:15 - enjoy some food (and more coffee for Karel) in the Delta lounge
9:45am - 3 hour flight to Denver.
10:45am - land in Denver.
12pm - pick up TURO rental car in the Pikes Peak parking lot (via airport shuttle)
12:15pm - pick up Karel w/ the bikes and luggage and start our 2:20 hr drive to Breckenridge.
En route to Breckenridge we stopped at Cuisine of the Himalayas. We went there two years ago for lunch as we were driving to Breckenridge as it's on the way and only 45 minutes outside of Denver in Evergreen, CO. The food was amazing (especially the Naan) and we couldn't wait to go back. Karel got the lunch Buffett, which he enjoyed so he could taste a little of everything. I got the Chana Masala w/ tofu. We also got a variety basket of Naan (SO good). We then made a stop across the street at the Bread Lounge to get some fresh sourdough bread (and a croissant for Karel). I drove 1/2 way to Evergreen and Karel drove the rest of the way. We rented an older minivan which wasn't stylish but did the job for transporting two bikes, two suitcases and our carryons.
When we made the turn off the highway into Frisco, we stopped at the Safeway to pick up groceries. We made a big shop since we will be staying in Breck for 10 days. We finished the 20 minute drive to Breckenridge and checked into our Airbnb at Pine Ridge around 4:15pm.
We are staying on the 4th floor of the building so we had to make several trips up and down with our stuff. Both Karel and I were a bit winded from walking up and down the stairs. The weather was warm in the 70's (although it feels much warmer with the sun being so strong). After we unloaded everything, Karel sat in the normatec boots for 20 minutes while I unpacked my stuff. Around 5:30pm we walked downtown Breckenridge to move some blood. The town was busy and just like last time, we felt good energy in the air.
We had a light dinner around 6:30pm and Karel went to bed around 8:00pm. I did a bit of work on the computer to catch up after the long travel day and went to bed around 9pm. Neither of us slept great but also not bad. We woke up around 6:20am looking forward to start our first official day in Breck.
Day 1 - 8/8
I was feeling a little tight from travel so I was looking forward to a morning swim at the local rec center. The last time we were here, the Breck rec center was being remodeled so I had to drive 30 min away to the rec center in Silverthorne in order to swim. I am so happy the local rec center is now open as it's only 1.5 miles from where we are staying. I payed for a 1-month pass ($69) as it was cheaper than a 6 visit pass of $100.
Swimming at altitude can be very challenging so for my first swim, I kept with mostly easy swimming. I did 1000 WU w/ buoy, 500 kick w/ fins, 1000 w/ snorkel, 500 kick w/ fins, 2 rounds of (3 x 100 w/ snorkel tempo and then 4 x 50's no toys strong), 200 kick EZ CD for a total of 4200 yards. After the swim I sat in the outside hot tub and stretched out. I changed clothes and went for a run. Whereas I didn't feel too bad swimming, the run was another story. Leaving Breck is a net downhill so the first 3 miles of my run weren't too bad but the way back into town were exhausting. I added stops every mile and anytime I felt like my heart rate was increasing too quickly. It was a challenge to run for 6 miles but the views made it worth it. I tried keeping the run as easy as possible to make sure that my body didn't overdo it on my first day of training at altitude. While I was out running, Karel went on the mountain bike and did a 2 hour ride up to 11,000 feet. He explored some routes outside of our Airbnb and ended up at the top of Peaks 8 and descended down.
Tomorrow I plan to ride my road bike to Leadville, CO in the morning (~2.5 hour bike one way) to check out the finishers at the Leadville 100 MTB event and Karel will do a short warm-up MTB ride before picking up his packet in the afternoon and then attending the pre-race meeting at 5pm.