Mountain Biking

Overcoming Fear While Mountain Biking

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Sheri Boltz

by Sheri Boltz, Tough Girl Cycling

We've all experienced fear at one point in time or another; whether it be fear after a crash or fear riding obstacles such as drop offs, narrow trails along a ridge, down a steep descent, across loose gravel, or through rocky sections. Fear can come and go at any level, it is not just for beginners....and it can happen to both men and women.

Last August, I fractured one of the vertebrae in my neck riding an obstacle I had ridden many times. Several months later, I got back on the bike and when I did, there were a lot of scary obstacles out there. Because of being tentative and hesitant, I struggled with obstacles and trails that I routinely rode, and worked my way into a continuous pattern of crashing. Finally after a few weeks of crashing and being on the verge of changing sports, I realized I needed to acknowledge this new found fear because it wasn't going anywhere until I faced it head on. I went back to the basics by returning to the simplest of trails. After several successful rides (with no crashing), I started to work my way back into my usual network of trails. While this seemed like a huge setback to me at the time, I was able to quickly return to where I left off, get back into the racing scene, and have FUN.

What can you do to overcome your fears and move forward? When I am feeling the fear, I acknowledge it and then develop a game plan for conquering it. Fear should not be perceived as a negative, or something to beat yourself up about. It should be used as a building block in your quest to be a zen master of mountain biking. As for game plans, I like to keep mine simple. I will typically start off by asking myself a few questions like, do I need to find something smaller and less scary to work my way up or can I watch someone ride it or follow someone off/thru the obstacle?

Breck Epic - Stage #2

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Stage Two – The Colorado Trail - Powered by Panache CycleWear

Pictures

For other stage information, photos, results and other media outlets check out our 2011 Breck Epic page

08.15.2011 – (Breckenridge, CO) A bit of overnight cloud cover again brought warm temps to the start. The precipitation that rolled through in the evening was just enough to compact the soil a bit with the result being luscious dirt that was super-grippy. In local parlance, “hero dirt”. The kind that lets you rail your bike through a corner, trusting that the rules that govern the physical universe that we all occupy have been temporarily and somehow benevolently altered for your personal benefit.


Photo Credit: Devon Balet Photo

As luck would have it, the weather conditions coincided with one of the most fun stages in the event, “The Colorado Trail”. Summit County is home to several sections, the most popular being the North, Middle and South Forks of the Swan, “Swan” in this case referring to the Swan Drainage, home to a massive 2000-acre open space purchase painstakingly negotiated between local city, county and federal land managers and the B&B Mining Company.

The CT is simply a thing of beauty, and for the most part, at least in Summit County, it seems to be purpose-built for mountain biking. Long rhythmic climbs lead riders to endless narrow descents, ones that make your face hurt from smiling so much. And did we mention that the soil was also tacky? Brothers and sisters, Stage Two of the 2011 Breck Epic was MTB Valhalla, and each rider was a golden, thundering omnipotent god, if only for a day.

Bringing this long rambling preamble (that almost never happens around here!) to a merciful close, we saw a bit of a shakeup in the mens’ single stage standings. Out front for most of the stage, local billy goat Josh Tostado (Bach Builders/Santa Cruz) led La Ruta champion Lico Ramirez for nearly three-quarters of the stage, getting reeled in on the second-to-last climb of the day. Tostado said that Lico seemed to pull him in effortlessly and “then just sort of dropped a gear and steadily walked away.” Cameron Chambers rode put in a strong effort, crossing the finish line a bit more than 2 minutes in arrears of Tostado.

On the women’s side in the 6-day event Sonya Looney (Ergon-Topeak) continued to put her CTR prep to good use, punching out the stage in 4:11, nine minutes ahead of Bicycling Magazine’s “The Fit Chick”, Selene Yeager, who’s definitely wrestling with altitude issues, but seems to be getting it under control. In third was Steamboat Springs rider Katie Lindquist, riding an incredibly strong race and keeping both Sonya and Selene on their toes.

The Breck Epic - Stage #1

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Stage One – Pennsylvania Gulch - Powered by Panache CycleWear

For other stage information, photos, results and other media outlets check out our 2011 Breck Epic page

08.14.2011 – (Breckenridge, CO) Moderate temperatures greeted the field for the first stage of the third annual Breck Epic MTB Stage Race. On tap for the day was a classic Summit County route noted for both its proximity to town and for its rugged nature.

At roughly 40 miles, stage one didn’t look like much on paper, but as the day played out it proved itself a likely player in the final standings as race favorite after race favorite fell by the wayside, their tire sidewalls victim to the route’s unforgiving character.


Photo Credit: Devon Balet Photo

Race favorites Josh Tostado (Bach Builders/Santa Cruz) and Travis Brown (Trek) fell victim to stage one’s rocky underbelly, Tostado relinquishing the lead just seconds after its gain to eventual stage winner multiple-time La Ruta de los Conquistadores champion, Lico Ramirez. Brown’s misfortune came just 5 miles from the finish and saw him drop five spots in the overall. Local neo-pro Kevin Kane (Rocky Mountain) held on for second, finishing just 8 minutes off the pace set by Ramirez.

On the women’s side, Sonya Looney (Ergon) showed up fresh from her CTR attempt with fitness to spare, putting 14 minutes into second-place finisher Katie Lindquist (Ericksen). Jen Tilley (Honey Stinger/Trek) rounded out the podium in the women’s open category.

2011 Breck Epic coverage

Submitted by Ben Welnak on

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Stage Coverage

The Breck Epic, as the website describes, is a “6-day ultra-endurance mountain bike stage race held in the sprawling backcountry surrounding the Victorian mining town of Breckenridge, Colorado.” It challenges riders by offering up relentless climbing (totaling around 37,000 feet in the 240 miles), technical singletrack, and rocky descents. New to the Epic in 2011 is also a 3- day version that is August 15-17. It will follow the same course as the 6-day on Stages 2, 3, and 4. Both versions are hard, rugged, and showcase Colorado mountain biking at its finest. The best overall riders will certainly prevail.

Greg Krause tells how he got Lanced at Crested Butte

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Greg Krause holding on to second
Photo Credit: Trent Bona Photography

Finishing 2nd for some is not what they would call finishing a great race but when your victor is a 7 time Tour de France champion then it can take a little bit of the sting out of the loss. This past weekend Greg Krause missed 1st place in the Crested Butte Alpine Odyssey by about 3 seconds to Lance Armstrong. I asked Greg how the race went down.

"On the first lap I noticed that Lance and the other rider could climb the steeper sections much better than myself so on lap 2 I made my break on one of the more gradual climbs and got a big gap". But before that attack Greg had mentioned that Lance was all business in the race, "there was no pack chat going on with a few exceptions of where Lance was feeling us out to see how we were, he even joked a little pointing out that I was the only 1 of the 3 of them with shaved legs"

Lance takes victory at Alpine Odyssey

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Photo Credit: Trent Bona Photography

Winners Roll Out: The would be Men’s and Women’s overall winners, Rebecca Rusch
and Lance Armstrong discuss gearing, goos, and controlled starts as the peloton is
escorted out of Mt. Crested Butte and through downtown to start the race.

Results Posted and SingleTrack Coverage

More amazing photos at Trent Bona Photography

Cool Video below!

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