L'epic avec JG: musings de la musette - Stage 1

By the time you read this I will likely be onto stage 2 of the epic as it is now quite late.

Well then, happy Monday to you. Where to start? What a day it has been indeed. Bar far, hands down and without any doubt the best part of this super sized Sunday was watching the Wimbeldon Championship match up starring Switzerland’s Roger Federer and our own Andy Roddick. I hope you got a chance to see it because it was truly an amazing game. I’ve never really been a real big fan of Andy, as I’m a huge sucker for Roger’s game, however today I definitely wanted to see the USA bring home the championship trophy. The 5 set doozy followed by a bit of the Tour coverage made me half forget that I was racing later! It was awesome and definitely inspirational and got me fired up to go out and do something athletically killer.

Then came the rain. From the deck of our sweet host house, the clouds looked slightly evil to the West, and not evil like the bad-ass Dale’s Pale Ale logo on the RV, but evil like evil demons evil. Then about 35 minutes before the start of the time trial the clouds opened up and unleashed a rain blast from hell. It was hard, and fast and wet rain that didn’t look to ever end. I think most of us thought maybe it might get canceled or pushed back…I myself, in rare form got kind of grumpy. It takes a lot to bum me out but I was bummed. It was not so much the rain that turned my smile upside down, it was that the organizers, who are all from the colorful hills of Colorado, chose to kick off the event at 3pm…but you know what they say about Colorado weather…if you don’t like the weather just wait 5 mintues & today was no different.

Anyways, the race started & I shot myself outta the gate aboard my Spot Brand in full winter get-up. The only thing missing were perhaps my Pearl Izumi Amfib gloves, puffy and wooly hat. So like an ambitious turtle I hit the gas after the beep, beep, beep ,beeeeep and lurched from the line. We headed straight up the switchbacks that the Firecracker 50 course finishes down. They’re all buff & burmed out and really awesome this year. They were fun to ride up, even though down would have been my preferred direction. So a few turns up I could see my teammate Christina Begy stomping along on her new super rad Spot belt drive. She is amazing and I hope that I will one day be as strong and smooth and able to finesse the bike like she does. I eventually did pass her though as the climb did turn for a bit to a fire road that was pretty flat. When you are faced with a flat road on a ss you can only spin as hard as your gears will allow. So we joked about the rain for a second and then I kept motoring on. By this time the torrential downpour let up, the Colorado sun poked out and I got HOT! I thought I was actually going to either be sick or pass out…the altitude certainly played a role in that and I’m from altitude. WTF? Ha. Yeah, so there I was grinding up this mountain in what all of a sudden felt like a NASA spacesuit , thinking to myself that I might not make it to the top. It’s the first day and under 10 miles! After the stage we headed back to the house for a hot shower & an initial round of bike maintenance. Today was a short day & logistically fairly simple but still the day was full. Staying organized & one top of food & rest is important as day 2 turns into day 4 & 5…if you don’t stay on it early you find yourself faded as the miles, weather & elevation really start to add up.

On that note, I will say goodnight because the clock on the wall reads 11 and I have to get up early tomorrow for about a 40 miler with 5000 plus feet of in your face, hell, ya, your gonna puke excitement.
That, that, that that’s all folks…for now!
“Have a wonderful day and remember to keep smiling” (that line is for you Sage)
Peace
JG
The Breck Epic view from www.photo-cycle.com
The Women take off under serious rain.
JG emerges outta the trees as the leading woman.
HEY JEN, what that rain cold?
Christina Beggy finishes.<
JG & Christina hug after a wild opening stage.
Christina Beggy's Spot Brand CDS after stage One.
Brian Riepe 1/2 of the Dale's Pale Ale/Mountain Flyer relay team after a fast stage one that started in an absolute down pour.
Jeff Carter eye's the finish on his Spot Brand CDS. 6 days, 1 Gear...check HIM OUT.

A nice view through a hut near the Iowa Mine

Stay Tuned as we bring you more from Stage 2 of The 2009 Breck Epic!