Awhile back there was a display of old bikes in a local art gallery. These bikes are indeed art.

The one that I took the most photos of was the 1888 Peugeot. Some things to take note of in the photos below include hard tires (completely solid rubber), a “spoon” brake, the handlebar grips were made of horn (it didn’t say what type of horn) and a candle lantern for night riding that they proudly note was made at the Luxor Factory in Paris.

I decided to sign up for the Breck 68 this year. I wasn’t originally planning on doing this one and had planned on doing the Front Range 40 in the Fort; but that one was postponed to the fall due to the fires we’ve had.

Since I’ve done the Leadville 100 multiple times, one of the first questions people ask is, “How does it (Breck 68) compare to Leadville?” If you want some measureable sort of stats, Breck 68 (really 70 miles) has an altitude gain of 8514 feet or 121.6 feet per mile of racing. Leadville 100 (really 103 miles) has an altitude gain of 11,142 feet or 103.2 feet per mile of racing. So, mile-for-mile, Breck has more climbing.

Know that elevation gains are based on barometric pressure readings, so others may have slightly different amounts of elevation gains for the events. The measures previously mentioned were for Leadville 2011 and Breck 68 in 2012.

Breck is held at elevations between 9,600 feet and roughly 11,437. Leadville begins at 10,200 and climbs to roughly 12,600. Leadville has some flat and rolling sections, Breck is either climbing or descending – no flats or rollers.

Leadville has nearly zero singletrack and is mostly fire, forest service or jeep roads. Breck is loaded with singletrack. While Leadville does require a certain minimum of mountain bike skills to safely navigate the course and not hold other riders up, those with limited mountain bike skills would be very unhappy at Breck. Breck has tree-lined singletrack; rough, rocky climbs and descents; stream crossings, narrow trails that are open and have exposed mountain slopes to one side; steep, loose climbs; steep and rocky descents; smooth singletrack that winds through the forest; riding in an old mining flume drainage and on top of another one - plus more.  Breck has the sort of stuff that makes mountain bike riders smile and giggle uncontrollably – that is when they aren’t suffering.

There are any number of websites that attempt to quantify difficulty of courses by heart rate, power, suffer scores, etc. What none of them can easily quantify is the beating a body takes from navigating rocky, technical courses. My triceps were screaming for mercy on the last technical downhill.

In the simplest of words, the Breckenridge 68 course is more difficult than the Leadville 100 course and most certainly the Breckenridge 100 course is more difficult than the Leadville 100 course.

As I told someone yesterday, mountain bike courses are a matter of taste and preference – not a matter of “good” and “bad.” It’s similar to differing tastes in food. I love hot Mexican food and my friend doesn’t like it at all. It doesn’t mean either of us are good or bad, heroic or wimpy – just different preferences.

I enjoy both races and would not hesitate to either of them again.

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Questions and discussion can be found on my Facebook page.

Cycling and mountain bike training plans can be found here.

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On a pre-ride adventure for Breck 68 I showed you bear claw marks in a previous post and below are a few more shots from the pre-ride. Exploring the mountains on a bike is such a joy ~

Sallie Barber mine shaft - or what's left of it.

I rang the bell and rode extra fast past the fireing range...

Mine shaft turned toilet at the Como general store.

Historic roundhouse at Como. From the informational board, "Hard-working D, SP&P locomotives could be serviced in either Denver or Como. Built in 1881 by Italian stonemasons, the Como Roundhouse originally housed six engine bays where engines could be locall be rebuilt and an iron turntable where engines could be turned around."

A view of Breckenridge ski area from Boreas Pass Road    

Are you connected all the time? Does your smart phone constantly feed you with other people’s thoughts, opinions and ideas?

If you want to find your own creative thoughts, solve problems and see the world through your own eyes rather than through the eyes of others – disconnect yourself from email, Facebook, Twitter and all other social media for a minimum of two days. Take a trip – even a short weekend trip– and be present.

I’ll type that again – be present.

When you are present, living in the moment and experiencing what the world has to offer – rather than burying your face in your phone – you may find new ideas popping into your head at a rate you never expected.

You may find that your recovery from tough workouts is improved because you’re not constantly stimulated – and often stressed – by your phone.

Carry your phone in case of an emergency – but turn it off.

I’m willing to bet that, sadly, at least 50 percent of you are incapable of choosing to be present, living in the moment for a full 48 hours.

Try finding your own brilliance for just 48 hours. I can nearly guarantee you’ll be successful at solving problems and recovering from training at an accelerated rate. Maybe you'll dream up the next million dollar idea?

In a blog last week, I gave you detailed data for the first three days of a bike tour. At the end of the blog I told you I’d show you data from one of my heart rate files in a rested state and let you know how the tour ended. Additionally, I want to let triathletes know that you don’t have to be riding your bike 6 days a week and endless miles to be fit enough to do a bike tour.

Day 4 of the tour I did a “no pressure on the pedals” day. I needed a recovery day. Though it was still a pretty big day riding – out 4:45 and ride time atabout 3:40, average heart rate was low at 109 and max heart rate was only 137.

Day 5 I didn’t ride at all and did an easy hike. On day 6, my intention was to hit the climb, Rabbit Ears Pass, at threshold. I had to modify my desire as I couldn’t manage threshold intensity. I find that on bike tours the more days I ride, the more warm-up I need. There wasn’t enough warm-up before the climb to push it at threshold (151-164). Secondly, the accumulated fatigue in my legs was just too much. The best I could manage was a fairly steady Zone 3 effort (144-150), dipping into high Zone 2 when I lost focus.

Day 7 was a nice way to end a tour – the last half of the ride was downhill and a good chunk of the day had tailwind. To average 21.3 miles per hour over 67 miles with anaverage heart rate of 117 is pretty darn nice. There was even a generous amount of toodling on that day. (i.e. We didn't push average speeds at all.) You’ll see that heart rate was above 140 for just a couple of pops.

In the first blog of this series, I gave you summary data. What I find over the course of a big week like this, is that the ability for me to push threshold heart rate (and above) degrades as the week progresses. Even recovery days and one day off won’t be enough recovery for most people. I’ve written about race recovery time in a past column. Though this wasn’t a race, I expect it will take me some 14 to 21 days to fully recover.

What I mean by "fully recover" is that I could drive high heart rates for extended periods like seen on this file. (Ignore the elapsed time as I forgot to turn off the Garmin. This was a race where I slit a tire at mile 18.5 and limped my way back to the start after a tire change that could have been timed with a sun dial – notice the temperature spike when I started rolling again.)

For the triathletes out there, know that I still train like a triathlete though my key races this season are mountain bike events. I was fully capable of completing the bike tour of near 460 miles and 29 hours of ride time in spite of the fact that in the 12 weeks prior to the bike tour, my weekly training hours were typically between six and 13. Those hours typically included two hours of swimming and two hours of running. Some weeks the hours included 30 to 60 minutes of strength training.

Key points: Cross training helps your fitness for a bike tour and you don’t have to give up the other sports to prepare for the tour. I do recommend cutting those crosstraining sports during the tour so you can fully focus on cycling.

In summary, if you:        

• Properly prepare for a bike tour
• Pick key days to ride fast
• Use some days as aerobic-only ride days
• Recover properly after the tour

…I guarantee your fitness will see a significant boost. Obviously your cycling will improve. Not as obvious, I’ve seen improvements in swimming and running (after full recovery) for triathletes and I believe this is due to the huge increase in aerobic training.

You can find bike tour preparation plans on ActiveTrainer and in my book “Training Plans for Cyclists." One of those plans may help you prepare for, enjoy and benefit from a bike tour.