July 4th - Firecracker 50 Mountain Bike Race

On the 4th of July, Rob and I participated in the Firecracker 50, a 50 mile mountain bike race in Breckenridge, Colorado.

The race was composed of two 25 mile laps, with 10,800 ft of climbing. Since I really enjoy enduro events, this seemed like the perfect way to end our Colorado vacation. Additionally, it would be great training for the highlight of my race season, the Off-road Assault on Mt. Mitchell (ORAMM) which was three weeks away.

The race began in a unique way. We were part of the annual 4th of July parade down Main Street in Breckenridge. My age group was lead through the parade by a woman on a cruiser bicycle with her two little girls in a kiddie trailer on the back. As we made our way down Main Street, the crowds cheered as if we were professional cyclists. Kids begged you to high-five them from the sidelines. I slapped as many hands as I could. One little guy high-fived me with such gusto, I nearly fell off the bike.

The course began with a 9 mile climb on mainly forest service roads. A sweet singletrack descent followed, but shortly after, the next climb up “Little French” began. It was steep, rocky and arduous. This was my least favorite part of the course. A sweet downhill with amazing views followed. One downhill was so tricky (Nightmare on Baldy) that they placed a first aid station at the bottom. Glad I didn’t need any assistance from them. There were aid stations set up every 6 miles, which was very nice. No hydration pack needed! Volunteers simply handed you a full bottle of either Gatorade or water. You threw your empty bottle on the ground and they picked it up for you. They were also handing out Clif Shots at all the stations, so it wasn’t necessary to carry much food along. Excellent idea! There was some more climbing up until we reached mile 21. Four fun miles of downhill followed, complete with tight slots through trees, steep switchbacks and boulder gardens that rattled my teeth. I rolled into the transition area with a lap time of 3 hours, 13 minutes. After my first lap, I was completely unenthused about going out for another. However, I turned on my MP3 player and that seemed to do the trick. Aside from uttering some obscenities on Little French again, I was smiling through lap number two. I came through the finish line and was so excited to see Rob, who greeted me with a hug, lots of praise, and an offer to go anywhere I wanted for dinner. Rob had a strong race. He completed one lap, but had some mechanical issues (including a ripped tire) which precluded him from finishing. Grrr!

After the race we hung out at the post-race bbq for awhile and watched the other racers trickle into the finish line. In the end, I ended up placing 11th out of 15 women with a time of 6 hours, 34 minutes, but I was still very pleased with my result. I didn't taper or pre-ride the course since this was not an "A" race for me. Additionally the Colorado girls I competed against were amazingly strong - billygoat climbers and kamikaze downhillers! I was very happy. I’m still smiling!

-Aimee