Last weekend I rode the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge. As a friend put it: had they pre-ridden the course before they registered, they never would have registered. The site even says that there is a strict time-limit and the DNF rate is in the 25% range.
Even more, people that I ride with that are way stronger and faster than me said it was over-the-top hard (and fun). Below is the course profile, which pretty much tells you why he gave the sage advice..
Best advice I got was from Beeker (aka Greg Keller): ride the first lap and then, if you feel good, race the second lap.
My first lap, I took his advice and just settled in. Warm-up was the climb out of town and up Boreas Pass road. Result: I had a freekin’ blast! Riding it like a fast, fun ride was clearly the way to go. Never pushing the limit avoided a potential blow up. Moreover – no mechanicals, no flats, just steady riding. The only major near-miss, was a crazy sliding “almost” crash I somehow made it through on a long and steep descent. Still not exactly sure how I stayed upright, but thankfully I pulled it off at 30+ mph! Too bad no one was around to see it. I must’ve looked pretty funny flailing at that speed and somehow keeping the rubber side down.
Riding within myself on the first lap was definitely the key to a fun rest of the day. My first lap time was 2:39. Slightly slower than I wanted, but a decent time for a rookie.
Next lap I tried to turn up the pace, but also kept within myself. I finished strong with a total time on my computer of 5:30 – a full 30 mins faster than my goal going into the race. I’m certainly not claiming that it was a blistering pace (I came in 23rd in my category and I think the winning pro time was just under 4 hours) but fast enough to finish feeling good and whooped at the same time.
Next year? Absolutely!
