Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Five Peaks



When I first started riding road bikes, riding a century (100 miles) sounded unrealistic and insurmountable. I didn't ever think I'd ever do it. But then I entered the Horsetooth 100, did some training rides, and pushed through my first century. I've since had several more 100 mile days, and I'd hardly think twice about it.

In April I'll embark on another athletic endeavor that I'm not even sure I can do, and I'm totally pumped. I just registered for The Five Peaks ski race. The race starts in the town of Breckenridge and consists of hiking, skiing, and traversing Peaks 10, 9, 8 (from 2 sides), and 7. All told, it's 10,000 vertical feet. Yeah, 10,000. It's an intimidating number.

My partner in crime for this ludicrous idea is my friend Taylor. Taylor is one of those freakishly fit cyclists that would kick my ass in any race even if he came right off the couch. Fortunately for me, he's not going to be able to do much training this winter so I'm hoping my typical cycling training will have us closer to that same fitness level than usual.

Technically it's a race but I have no intention of "racing". My only goal right now is to make all the time cutoffs so we can do the entire race. If we don't get to the peak 8 or 7 climbs, we have to just ski down the mountain to the finish. It'd still be fun, but I really want to do the whole shootin' match.

The race is April 10. I'd love it if people came out to hang, ski Breck, and harass us each time we get back into the resort area. Haven't you always wanted to see me really suffer?

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