From Vernal to Breckenridge

Vernal, UT riding and USA Cycling Marathon Nationals

We left town on Wednesday night with Scott and Susan Robinson in their monster Sportsmobile van for the road trip to Breckenridge for the Firecracker 50 miler, which is the USA Cycling Marathon National Championships.  We drove part way and made a stop in Vernal, UT for a bit of sweet single track riding.  I’d read about this place in the most recent Bike Mag as “the new Fruita” with 100 miles of buff single track, and a totally different environment than what we ride in Ketchum.

We found the local Specialized dealer, Altitude Cycle and got the lowdown from the shop owners on their trails.  They are the personal stewards of this place and were super excited to share their maps and recommendations.  We did a 2 hour ride to sample a few of their trails.  It was awesome desert riding with swooping fast trails, antelope running around, wide open views and even a bit of bike art at the trail intersections.  You could feel how special this place is and how much care and love had been taken to build and preserve these trails.  It was well worth the stop and a great break from the drive.  I will definitely go back there.

Today we are in Breckenridge and it has been raining and stormy since we arrived.  The Firecracker 50 is a huge race that sells out each year with about 800 people on the roster.  The course is a 25 mile super technical loop with about 5000 ft of climbing per lap.  I get to do the lap twice!  The course is great and always draws a really top level of competition.  The big kicker is that it starts at 10,000 ft and goes up from there. Yes, I live at altitude, but about 4000 ft below where the race starts.  I raced here last year and finished 4th and was definitely affected by the thin air.

The pro field is really stout this year with a mix of pro cross country women and pro endurance athletes.  The distance is just a bit too long for the XC specialist and just a bit too short for the endurance specialists like me.  It’s a unique distance that will be interesting to see how it shakes out.  There are also a couple of women entered here who will be my competition for 24 hour World Champs in 3 weeks, so we’ll get to size each other up a bit.  This is the last tune up race before Worlds and the last really hard effort before The Big One, and hopefully I will get one of those fancy stars and stripes jerseys of a national champion!

Here are a few pics from Vernal, UT!