Firecracker 50

Here's a little write up Rox sent from the firecracker. Had to butcher it a little bit to make it fit on the blog. For the "rest of the story". Give Rox a shout.

"This was the hardest race I've ever done, the altitude can be a biatch! The race started with a neutral roll-out through the town of Breckinridge. The street was lined with people and little kids giving us high fives.

The race began with a 7 mile climb out of town. We pre-rode this portion the day before so I knew what I needed to do so that wouldn't blow up. Finally, I made it to the first "aid" station. Luckily I didn't need to stop and the excitement in the faces of the volunteers handing up Goo and water was so inspiring. One woman was really championing my cause yelling "Go, girl, go!" The second time up people sat on the side of the road in their lawn chairs. One group was yelling "Let's see a 10-second sprint! How 'bout a brat? Are you hungry?" The same group was offering PBR to other racers. Pure mountain bike racing!

The first few miles of single track were golden. It eventually went down hill slightly which was a welcome break from an hour of grinding. But back up we went on rocky double track. The next section of climbing wasn't long or steep before we hit the first of a few long, rocky and pretty steep down hills. There were woman just chewing up the down hills, passing me and others along the way. I was in awe. So, what could I do but jump on the gravity train. I was living large! But living large has it's price. Like the mile climb that was made of loose shale and baby-head rocks.

I caught the blurry glimpse of a couple pro men like Liam Killeen. Uh, he finished with a new record time of 3:39:29. I was only 3 hours back. C'mon! My split time was 2:55 and then finished with 6:23 so I lost most of my time on the second lap on the nasty climb in the middle.

After the race, we were treated to BBQ. The beer was gone by the time I rolled in, so that'll tell you how far down I was! But I had my fill later. But I've always said the best part of racing is finishing. It was a great experience that we will definitely do again! If anyone wants to go next year, let us know.
Roxz