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From earlier in the month, pre-riding lap 2 of the course. |
Crossing the finish line 9 miles later in first was a pretty epic feeling of relief. These races are hard, but they are even harder when you know your competition is faster in the second half of every race, which means I am constantly being challenged to push myself right when everything screams 'give up!' the loudest. How cool/brutal is that?!
Breck 100 is one of my favorite races, with stupid pretty views, an epic amount of high elevation climbing, and a pretty good percentage of single track, it's hard enough to break you down, but fun/pretty enough to keep you going. This year we were treated to beautiful clear skies, perfect temperatures and endless fields of wildflowers that I wish I had taken pictures of (the hardest part of racing for me right now is not getting to stop and smell the flowers).
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Not from the race, but this was the view of the Nine Mile Range as we wrapped up the second lap. The drama of the clouds exaggerating the majestic beauty of the mountains is breathtaking to me. |
Much like Tatanka two weeks ago, this race got pretty mentally tough about halfway through, but this time I focused on telling myself lies about feeling ok, and because of the elevation I let myself stop a few times to catch my breath and get a little mental reset going. Considering I've only been at altitude for a week, I choose to be kind to my body and mind, and accepted that it was hard, but didn't let that discourage me. Overall it was a pretty beautiful day of suffering and remembering how to race at altitude.
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And then Thane Gave me the raddest coffee cup!!! |
This recap is short and sweet because I am not a good enough wordsmith to accurately describe the beauty/raddness of the course. I just keep seeing the narrow strip of rocky dirt etched into the side of the nine mile range that lead us up and over Wheeler Pass. Fluffy grass crowded with wildflowers of every color flanking either side of the trail, and in front of me a few of the men dotting the climb, indicating the suffering I still have to endure to reach the top. And that's the image which will pass through my mind as I fall asleep every night, along with the regret that I have no pictures to prove the out of this world beauty was real. Maybe I was hallucinating, after all, much of what I've seen this summer has seemed to good to be true...
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And of course my favorite part of the weekend was breakfast, coffee and recovery rides with these two fools. Yep, I'm a pretty happy kid right now :) |
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