Breck Epic Packing

Every item has a specific purpose and has been thought about as I've packed up for Breck Epic, which starts tomorrow morning.

Aid station bags will have almost identical spare parts, including shoes, a tube, a tire, sunglasses, and clothing. Nutritional items (not pictured) will vary, with more food in the first aid station bag.

I've toiled between a saddle bag and backpack. It was not until I purchased the Ergon BX-2 pack that I've enjoyed riding/racing with a pack but due to the nature of the Breck Epic, I'm carrying a few extra items I wouldn't normally carry for a race like a rain jacket and a first aid kit so I've opted for the pack. At least today, I'm thinking when it gets to hiking up some of the passed and steep climbs I'd Thayer have a bit more weight on my back than have to be pushing stuff strapped to my bike.

Jerseys- not enough for a fresh one everyday, which means I'll be doing some laundry, but one is Boulder Cycle Sport's current year kit and then I have a slew of older jerseys as backup.

these are my more sport specific personal care items like chamois cream and SportLegs. I do have a tube of diaper rash cream as I had a few saddle sores earlier this season and it's worked well with healing. It also subs in for chamois cream well (just a very thick one).

These are my recovery tools. I've been using a foam roller since my knee surgery in 2003 left me with IT band issues and the TP Therapy Grid has taken rolling to a new level. It is much more firm than a standard foam roller and the pattern does affect how it works my muscles.

Friday, Aug. 6th

2010 Sponsors Update

I made an earlier reference to my 2010 teams and sponsors in my January 14 video post but hadn't updated the rest of the blog to reflect new sponsors and all. The list this year is a good one and I am looking forward to putting it all together.

For the mountain bike season, I'll be racing with the guys from ALL MTN Racing and we've picked up Bicycle Outfitters up in Evergreen as our shop sponsor. Most of us will be riding Gary Fishers and a few will be on Niners. I'm excited to give 29'ers a go since I've been running a 69'er setup on my singlespeed for three years now and spent a season on Trek's 69'er Top Fuel. We have kept WTB for our tires, wheels, saddles and grips and added Honey Stinger for energy gels, bars, chews and other food needs and also added Rudy Project to the list as well.

For the cyclocross season, I'm planning on riding with the Boulder Cycle Sport crowd again.

Saturday Ride

I found this video as part of MTBR's Virtual Interbike coverage for WTB.

I'm looking forward to getting set up with some new WTB tires for next season with the Tubeless Compatible System (TCS). It takes the strong wire bead of a true UST tubeless tire and matches it with a standard casing to work with a sealant system to drop the overall weight of a tubeless set up by dropping the UST casing weight. I have been running the WTB Mutano's all year on my Bionicon and just recently put on as my rear tire on my Surly 1x1 for Single Speed World Championships. The high volume, light weight of that tire makes it a great choice for racing on the mixed conditions at Winter Park.