Breck Epic designated SSSRWC (Single Speed Stage Race World Championships)

Props to Jason Mahokey from XXCMag for the sweet header graphic – that wasn’t our doing at all.

The pink argyle world championship jersey though? That’s all ours.

Thanks BikeRumor. We’ll be saving a spot for you. Hopefully not the last spot tho’ – that’d be horrible. FWIW, if you’re the last place rider for $50 you can opt-out of the facial pubing and the next guy up the line gets it. At which point he can opt out. And so on. That continues until the stack of money becomes too tempting and someone leans in and takes on for the team, or until we move on up to the line to the actual winner on GC, who can skip the pubing AND keep the money.

http://xxcmag.com/

Loser in this case means last place rider.

There will be a SSSRWC jersey commemorating the exploits of the winner, cleverly conceived in brilliant pastel hues with TBD bad-ass doses of black by the Europhile (in today’s missive, a compliment) super-geniuses at Panache Cyclewear.

Ladies prizes TBD. Jersey, bike, yadda-yadda-yadda, but possibly without the Brazilian.

Seriously. Screw the UCI. Soul-leeching, pleated-chino wearing, ass-licking, sycophant OCD stumblebunnies.

Acronyming on –

MM
Breck MF Epic
http://www.breckepic.com

FYI, aspiring personal groomers: SS category is SOLO Men and SOLO Women only.

For as much flack as we dish to Leadville, we’ve never disputed that it’s an incredible event. All ultra-endurance events owe a debt of gratitude to it along with Granny Gear for establishing what has now become a much broader format. You’ll get no argument from us that taken as an event experience, it’s simply magnificent and should be on every rider’s bucket list.

With that said, there are other factors at play. Among them that above 8000 feet there are really only 6 or 7 viable weeks available to us in the summer. Prior to the 2nd week of July the high passes are inaccessible. After the end of August the threat of snow is very real. In between there’s a 3-4 week period best described as “afternoon monsoon cycle”. And when it rains here people can die. Literally. Add to that the desires of the USFS and the local community, plus existing traffic patterns on the local trail network (insane in July and early August) and you can begin to get an idea of how difficult scheduling truly is. The one year we did go in late August we lost an estimated 30-40 entries due to the school year beginning.

Leadville will always fill. And that’s as it should be. Sometimes there really is no perfect answer and riders have to pick one or the other. And perhaps that’s as it should be as well. LIke you, we wish that that weren’t the case, but it is. At worst, riders have two great events to select from. If you win the Leadville lottery, you should go. At least once. If you don’t, please consider us a kick-ass alternative.

Your comment is a good one, Whatever. Thanks for taking the time to put it out there and thanks in advance for thinking about our position.

See you out there. Wherever “there” might be in 2012.

MikeMac

Yo Whatever – I was stuck with the same decision last year and opted to finish out my 10 Leadville’s and skip the BE. Year before I did both and I was not rested enough for the BE even after the week off.
Now that the 10 are out the way you can bet I will be shooting for 10 BE’s. Be glad you have more than one event to choose from it how I look at it.

$50 guarantees that I would be wearing anyone else’s boys on my upper lip.