Breckinridge, Colorado

Woke up this morning at 5:30 and I felt like I had something to prove to myself. After not being able to ride day 4, Kirkwood, I was ready to accomplish a big ride, and the 105 miles into Breckenridge was the perfect opportunity. I was ready to push myself farther than I ever have, and today I did. I rode with Jack Johnson, my chapter brother at Tennessee, and Luke Millen from Purdue University. I was excited to ride with Jack again because the only time we have rode together was at the beginning of the trip, and it was a short ride of only about 30 miles. Within 5 miles of the trip we had to climb Rabbit Ear Pass, a 3000 feet climb that was over 10 miles long. The top of the summit also marked the Continental Divide, which was also pretty neat. Usually when we have a big climb we have a fun decent, but today I feel like all I did was climb. We ended up going up over 5000 feet today, which was much more than I have ever done.

Jack, Luke and I at the top of Rabbit Ears Pass

We got to lunch at about 65 miles in and I hit a wall. After eating the last thing I wanted to do was bike the final 40 miles but before I knew it there I was back in the saddle taking on some rolling hills. Luke is a very strong rider and he was definitely pushing me today. We kept a pretty steady pace all day, and other than a flat tire I got around mile 30, the day went pretty smoothly…. Until it started raining. As we were approaching the city we noticed the dark clouds coming in around us, and we tried to get to lodging as quickly as possible. We got to mile 90 and the wind starting picking up, and then the rain. We saw our crew chief and he had us take cover to let the storm pass. We hung out in a Holiday Inn lobby for about 25 minutes until the lightning went away and got back on the bike. Everyone was so stiff from sitting around so long that it was hard to get going again. The roads were also very wet and muddy, so by the time we finished the last 9 miles my whole pace line was covered in mud from head to toe. We finally arrived at the Rec Center of Breckinridge after a very rough day and got to enjoy a nice long shower!

Once everyone was showered up we loaded up in the vans and drove over to lodging. Within 10 minutes everyone’s luggage was in the door, and we had our team tux on so that we could head to dinner. We went to a restaurant to meet up with Bruce Rogers, his family, and some of the other KRG staff. I sat with a few of my teammates, and Dustin. Dustin is an employee of KRG and also a very avid cyclist. He is tagging along with the team for a few days, and we talked about his cycling history, as well as some tips on going down hills. After a delicious spaghetti dinner we came back to lodging and washed our bikes. The rain made my bike absolutely filthy, so after a quick wash, it is all ready for our 50 mile ride tomorrow!

I look forward to getting to Empire tomorrow, and then meeting up with the Trans America route in Denver in a few days!