I did a pre-ride of the Breck 100 loops one and two on June 27. Loop 1 went over Wheeler pass, which is a 1:20hr climb up the Breckenridge Peak 9 maintenance road. It’s a good 10-15% grade all the way to the top, from 9500ft, to 12,600ft. Most of the snow was melted, but still had to get off a couple of times to walk over the snow patches.
Once over the top of Wheeler Pass, there was a super steep descent where I crashed on the narrow, slippery single track. There was a lot of loose gravel above tree line, and my tires didn’t hold very well. It’s all single track down into Copper MTN before hitting the paved bike path into Frisco.
The Peaks trail is a fun, but technical path between Frisco and Breck. The other bikers on the trail said that going from Breck to Frisco is more fun, and less climbing. That’s OK, I still had a really good time on this section.
I ended back to Carter park at 3:20hr of time. That included some stops for pics, and a couple of wrong turns. I think I can do loop 1 at 3hr, at a mild steady pace.
I fueled up and left the park up the twisty singletrack east of carter park. A ton of climbing, up to the Sally Barber Mine, then up Little French Gulch, which I cleared! Finally, at 11,300ft, I got to descent a little, then made my way into a new section of trails I had never been on. A nice single track that topped out over looking the back side of Keystone, which treated me to one of the best downhill singletrack trails I’ve ever ridden. Of course it ended with a steep fireroad climb before getting back to the park.
I completed this loop at in 3:40, with more wrong turns and a couple of stops to chat with people. I think I can do this loop in 3:20.
Assuming there are no issues with the bike, wrong turns etc, loops one and two should be complete in 6:20-6:30hr. leaving me with 3:30 for loop three. Loop three will be the hardest and slowest. Hopefully I’ll have my nutrition dialed by then and save enough gas to lay down the last part of loop three.
[nggallery id=12]