Breck Epic Day 2

Ok... Interesting. Today I was a quarter bike racer, a quarter benefactor of kindness, a quarter trail helper, and a quarter boyfriend.

Today was massively difficult - not terrain or course - but constant rain all day above 10,000 feet. Anyone who finished today put in some due effort toward the belt buckle... seriously hard out there. When Shawn and Thomas drove to finish to see us, car said 8C. That temp, wet, at elevation...

So, police car was late, so start was delayed 10 mins (right when it started raining). Cool thing was a fox ran right by the start - they're so elegant.

Long climb, I felt fine. Thomas was in sight at top. Rode all of heinous hill. It's fine, just tough with air... but not steep nor too technical. All the terrain here so far is pretty easy.

Big descent - rode behind some guy that had a baller full suspension Specialized single speeded with a singleator. Flatted. No notable impact, just felt rear mushy. Put on jacket first as I was chilled on long descent. Saw pinprick in tread with stans coming out. Let it seal and aired up. Started rolling.

Flat 2 - was soft not far after. Checked pin prick, but also saw a rip. So either both were there at flat one (don't think so as once pinprick sealed I didn't hear leaking). Rip was small, in tread. But rips don't seal well as the tire changes shape every rotation. Put in tire, aired up. Tube had a hole. Shoot. Now I'm down a CO2 and half a big air and my one tube. Raining too much to get a tire patch on. Bum a tube from rider 309 - thanks! 26er tube to stretch on. But... valve too short for my deep rim. But Tim and Mike (and a zillion others) had ridden by, and Tim told Steve (Julie's non-racing husband due to the retina detachment) to come back - Steve is trail ambassador by day now - easier riding. Steve has a 26er tube with a long stem, and some more CO2. Get rolling. That was a lot of stopping and fiddling. By now I'm shivering and hands don't work well.

Superthanks 1 and 2 - Tim for notification and Steve for help. Thanks so much. Thanks rider 309 for 26er tube and 349 for a CO2.

Cindy passes and I ride with her to aid 1. She's riding slow, not like she can ride - needed more hits from her inhaler.

Aid 1 we add layers, Tracie helped put stuff on for us with hands not working for me. Finds gear for us. Helps before we know we need help. I start rolling out with Cindy. Flat again. She heads out and I go back to Shimano help guy and he does up a tire for me really well. I depart, and am within the last 6 riders through aid 1. So the change from top of first climb to aid 1 is "magnificent". Usually I don't loose that much on the downs ; )

Superthanks 3 and 4 - Shimano neutral guy standing in the rain fixing anything and everything. Thanks Tracie for warmup jacket, pocket help, helping Cindy put on her shirt, and for the hugs. Worth a million bucks. Link for Tracie and Meegan's updates: http://breckepic2012.blogspot.com/

Started hammering up the big climb to try to catch Cindy. Did near the top. Got going pretty quick on the downhill. Had fun. But it wasn't me throwing lightening bolts and thunder today, it was Thor (there was no thunder and lightening factually, just rain).

Passed a lot of people on the next climb, rough descent, next set of switchbacks, and rolly flats to aid 2. Felt good. Got to aid 2 and witnessed a lady pretty hypothermic and messed up. She had long jerseys on, but no wind layer or rain layer. They were calling that you could bus back from aid 2 or shortcut back with no DNF, but perhaps a nominal time penalty. They were helpful there, and people were looking rough. I had no reason to care about time really, and it was tough out - I was frozen, yet reasonably well dressed and usually don't mind cold riding - so I felt motivated to go back on course to at least make sure Cindy was fine. I packed our two icebreaker shirts and a jacket and a handfull of gels and headed back. Told people along the way the time to next aid. It's rough in that part of the field. Gave out gels. One lady warned me of a hypothermic guy whom someone was feeding cause he couldn't do his hands. I started giving him a jacket, but when I said it was 5 minutes to aid, he continued on (when I returned to aid 2, he was in car, stripped down, being rushed back to town). Kept going back giving encouragement. Saw Cindy, turns out she was totally fine for most part. Shower cap really helped. Returned to aid 2, about a 45 minute round trip backtrack.

Cindy wanted to ride to finish rather than bail. We did. Made friends with another Calgary woman. Cindy and I rode in together. She had to have a couple more inhaler puffs at the end that got her engine going better. 6.5 hours roughly.

Superthanks 5 and 6 - Cindy thanks for being such a trooper - that's a hardcore ride. Shawn and Thomas - for coming to the finish, caring, and helping peel our wet clothes off when our hands wouldn't move.

Washed bikes, had a hot bath, feet and hands painful for 10 minutes.

That's a tough day. That goon in the picture is shivering. Cindy was already in the tub.