Grueling and Heinous

Breckenridge

Hard to believe we were just the arrival of warmer weather and NOW, we are writing about celebrating the 4th of July! YES, these events were in such close succession!

This year we decided to road trip it for the 4th and head to Breckenridge, CO. Additionally, we were persuaded by our crazy alter egos to participate in a 50 mile mountain bike race called the "Firecraker 50". Once we arrived in 'Breck', we took a small pre-ride and LOVED the trails. We were feeling pretty good about things, until race day. We obviously pre-rode the best parts of the course. Don't get me wrong, it was some superb single track...mixed in with some truly wicked (as in HARD) terrain. In the course description it specifically states:

"Come see what the local mountain goats ride every day. Each 25 mile lap has 5400' of climbing. Fortunately for you a bunch of that is on the climb out of Breckenridge on the old narrow gauge Railroad grade. The race starts the 4th of July Parade in a neutral start format by start wave. From there the odyssey sends you into the Backcountry. There are a couple of grunty little climbs , a couple of long lungbusters , some absolutely rippin' descents and plenty of contouring flume and singletrack for you to mash on your big ring (or your only ring if your sick enough to go singlespeed, right Jamie Pogue? (ok I added that part)).Take my word for it, the course is a full-on MTB course. It has it all and it's no gimme!"

Funny!!?? No where in there did I see the words 'grueling or heinous'! Trust me, it matches the description, minus these two adjectives!! OK, maybe I exaggerate a little bit, (very little) but it was tough and dirty! It's always bad when you finish a race and undress to find dirt INSIDE of your clothes. (Much less, if your children don't recognize you by anything but the color of your bike.) Our faces were so dirty (i love how the dust cakes on your teeth)! SADLY, NO ONE took any pictures! Toni Pilling was an amazing support crew/babysitting service but not one of us thought to take pictures until we had all showered off and were ready to sleep!

It shouldn't go without mention that Jamie and BP both finished way ahead of me, although equally dirty.

BP- 4:48 and some change

Jamie- 5:01 (that's my honey!)

It was a great day in the saddle and a tremendous challenge to my legs and lungs and my MIND! Somewhere in the middle of my second lap I simply checked out.....I didn't know if my legs would allow me to finish! As I came through the turn, I remembered Toni saying to me "Brad and Jamie said "Don't let Whit Quit".. so I pressed on. 5 Hours and 46 minutes later..........I finished! only problem..no photo proof (try these links to photos taken by the local photogs, we really did take part in this race!)

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?PhotoCard?id=07D800030009000200070016MBZLLETE

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?PhotoCard?id=07D80003000900010010001BMBZLLETE

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?PhotoCard?id=07D8000300090001000C0018MBZLLETE

My favorite part was crossing the line with my fan club all right there! All the kids, BP and Jamie and Toni all cheering me on as I checked this off my life list.!! (no picture of that either!)

I told Jamie that it is sort of like having a baby. Once the suffering is over, you'd do it all over again........I think I'd love to do it next year so I can take some pictures!!

(OK...I have one picture of my jersey when we got home. After 3 days in a laundry bag, still smelled quite ripe and still filthy! check it out!) Oh, if blogging had smell!!

We did get some great shots of the kids geocaching and messing around! What a beautiful place!

the kids geocaching! Behind them is a big cave/mine shaft. They sent the daddy's in looking everywhere for the treasure when all along, it was right beneath these big sticks right at the front of this picture! ha!