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Written by Steve Thompson

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Stage 2 is in the Books and it was a good day for me and not so great for Chris

As with everyday the start gun went off at 8:10 am, today we started the stage smack dab in the heart of downtown Breckenridge with a 2 mile nuetral start police escort into the Wellington area where the climbing and jockeying for position began.  A late day storm rolled through on Monday which dropped some much needed moisture into the area and made for some great traction for the entire day. 

Chris had the misfortune of a early flat rear tire that actually sliced a good size gash into his sidewall, after a patch job and new tube he limped the bike to aid station one at the 15 mile mark where he mounted a brand new skin and went on with his day.  He is however in good spirits, is in bed early with a belly full of food and will wake up to fight another day!

For myself I started strong & had a solid day on the bike, we faced three pretty good sized climbs today so I loaded up the jersey pockets with extra Honey Stinger products and also made some extra strength Acli-Mate Endurance for the water bottles. after the climbs we were rewarded with some fairly long and fast descents & The word of the day for me was VELCRO - the dirt was so tacky & my all mountain Supermatic 120 felt like it was on a rail the whole time as I made up a good amount of time on the downhill sections.  At one point I managed to take a less than optimal line and passed four bikes at one time with one of the riders shouting out "that just isnt fair"  I have so much confidence in that bike & never second guess taking a rougher line at any time to gain an advantage, following some riders at a slower pace than you are used to puts you at the mercy of them making a mistake with zero time to avoid going down with them.   At the finish after it was all said and done I lost 6 seconds and dropped back to 10th overall in the standings but with four days to go there is a very small time gap between 4th and 14th so nothing is set in stone yet!

Stage 3 looks like this - 44 miles, 9,400 feet of climbing - We cross the Continental divide twice and were told that there is still a snow field to cross on the top of French Pass (elevation over 12,000) The promoter was quoted saying "you might look like circus clowns on rollerskates in the snow" Insert Huge Smile! That being said the strategy for stage 3 is to stay in the lead pack early, avoid the sharp mining rock on the Little French descent and be in contact with the leaders going into a section of the Colorado Trail which has a long rocky, tree rooted & very techincal descent where I know my downhill skills and bike set up will enable me to put a time gap on anyone thats close.

Stay tuned for more Breck Epic Adventures and thanks for reading, Everyone's comments, emails and text messages keep us fighting!