Beaver Creek 100 mile Ultra

Yee ha!
As many of you know, this summer I participated in the hardest mountain bike race I've ever done as of yet. It took place in Beaver Creek, CO and was a 100 mile mountain bike race called the Beaver Creek 100. I had been training for this race all summer, riding 50+ miles about once/weekend and 10-25 mile rides a few days a week after work. The great thing about training as you get to do some beautiful rides where most people never venture to. With Matthew as my coach and also my support the day of the race along with my great friend Kristin, I had a positive outlook and felt ready the day of the race. It started at 6:00am (in the dark!) at the base of BC, which is a ski resort by the way. We headed up a dirt road, which eventually led to a combination of single track, double track and some paved road stretches. The course was 20 miles long and you ride that 5 times! Needless to say, knowing what was ahead of me each lap, it was very mentally taxing as well as physically. The temptation to stop biking every time we passed through the start/finish line was huge. Luckily I had Matt & Kristin to feed me, clean my bike, massage my tired legs, and encourage me to keep going even when I could have sworn I was hearing monkeys in the woods on one of my laps. Matt was keeping track of the other women doing the race so that I knew where I stood. It was a race after all! After my 4th lap while I was drinking a much needed mocha frappacino, Matt informed me that the 3rd place woman was about 15 minutes ahead of me (ouch!) and while he was telling me that, the 4th place woman just rode by, putting me in 5th (ouch!). Matt & Kristin pretty much kicked me out of the aid station at that point cheering "go get her!". What was a girl to do?? So rode on I did. About 1/3 of the way into the last lap (so I'm at about 80 miles at this point) I saw the 4th place woman going up a hill. I slowly reeled her in, commenting on how thankful we were that is was the last lap, with no reply, so I just kept riding past her. No sign of her for the rest of the race... sweet! I was just about ready to settle for 4th place, with 2 miles to go, and lo and behold I saw the 3rd place woman just about to approach the last 2 mile down-hill section to the finish. Ahhhh! She wasn't riding very smoothly down the downhill, so I knew I had a chance. I rode up on her back wheel and waited until there was a decent place to try to pass. Meanwhile, Kristin just so happened to walk up the course with her camera and saw me coming. She cheered me on and took a photo RIGHT when I passed the girl. With probably 1/4 mile to go, I used every ounce of energy and determination that i had and sprinted as fast as I could to the finish line. I got my 3rd place, a chance to stand on the podium with a 1st place pro and 2nd place expert rider, was handed flowers and a framed picture, sprayed with champagne, got my picture taken, and received a check for $250.00 as prize money! My first cash prize in my race "career" so to speak. I couldn't have done it without Matt's support the entire summer. He is such a blessing to me and the best partner I could ask for. My friend Kristin is a gem, along with all of my friends that I dragged along on long rides all summer with me, including Allison, Melanie, Dash, Sean and Matt Cheese-o. It was a terrific opportunity and one of the coolest experiences. Oh - and it was a stellar, gorgeous day, over 14,000 feet of climbing in the 100 miles, it took me 12 hours, and lots of fun singletrack riding. What more could you ask for? -Rose