DAY 5
On what was the traditional GORC rest day – Wednesday – someone came up with the idea of attending the free Pinnacle Race Series held at Mount Crested Butte. Featuring both a cross-country and downhill event, costing no money, and get this, free beer and food at the finish, it was a no-brainer for the race kids….
Rest? Why? Let’s Race.
But first, some half-rest-day photos from around Marble, Colorado.
The geological formation known as the Dyke. This is where the Dyke Trail gets it name from. Trillions of years ago lava flowed up and out of a volcano here down the mountainside. The much harder minerals in the lava flow eroded much slower than the surrounding mountains and therefore is the lasting feature – a thin rocky outcropping that is immense once you get up close to it.
The town of Marble gets its name from the rock mined here. You can see the white marble cast-offs behind an original 1880’s miner’s cabin – that just so happens to be for sale. I’m sure it’s only a couple million.
Resting on the Rest Day… just before the RACE. We are all in the Sport category of the Cross-country event.
The 7.5 mile course climbed 1,100+ feet before briefly leveling off and then descending all the way back to the ski lodge. The massive berms were killer. The amount of little groms killing it was refreshing. There’s was a 12-14 year old holding his own in front of me most of the way up the climb. He wasn’t even breathing. He was kind enough to not show off and text at the same time.
The spectators were treated to a concert while the participants scraped lung juice off their bars and stems.
Damn, how you do so good, man? Proper eyewear, sukka. Meow nah
Photo finish – John D, Jason Z, Jens, Jon A, Matt H, and Bryan A.
The informative sign letting us all know why we couldn’t breathe very deeply