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BRECKENRIDGE - From poker face to endurance race, this weekend is a busy one for mountain bikers.
It starts with the 16th annual Summit Fat Tire Society (SFTS) Poker Ride, which begins Saturday morning at 8 at Great Adventure Sports.
This year two pairs of round-trip airline tickets to anywhere in the continental 48 states are on the line.
As always, the popular ride entails spending the morning on your mountain bike picking up playing cards to create a five-card poker hand.
The best five-card hand wins round-trip tickets from American Airlines, but if your second card gives you an unsuited 2/7 combo, not to worry; the worst hand of the day wins round-trip tickets from Frontier Airlines.
According to SFTS treasurer Marc Carlisle, participants can begin anytime between 8 and 10 a.m. and can ride at any pace to collect the cards.
All riders simply need to be back at Great Adventure to pick up their last card by 1 p.m.
"A few years ago, I did the ride and won with four aces," said Carlisle, who helps organize the ride each year.
"So you have to have a pretty good hand."
The laid back atmosphere of the Poker Ride provides opportunities for every level of mountain biker.
"That ride is the ride that got me into mountain biking back in 1990," said Breckenridge endurance athlete Monique Merrill. "It's fun, it's at your own pace, you get to see some trails and you get to give back to the mountain biking community."
The event costs $25 with all proceeds benefiting the society. After the ride, Amazing Grace, which Merrill owns, and Mi Zuppa are providing soup and sandwiches.
Firecracker 50
The day after the SFTS casual ride, Merrill will be looking to improve on her second-place finish in last year's Firecracker 50, a 50-mile endurance race held on the trails and Forest Service roads just east of Breckenridge.
Now in its fourth year, the Firecracker has become a Breckenridge tradition.
The race begins with hundreds of mountain bikers leading the annual Fourth of July parade down historic Main Street before turning onto Boreas Pass Road for the first of two 25-mile loops.
"This is truly a community event," said Jeff Westcott, who co-founded the race with Mike McCormack.
"I can't say enough about the community - the BRC (Breckenridge Resort Chamber), the town of Breck, local private landowners - they all seem to see the vision of the event and embrace it, and without their backing, it would be much more difficult - if not impossible - to pull it off."
Kristen Pettit, a spokesperson for the BRC, said, "Breckenridge has a long history of mountain biking, and this event helps put that into focus. It all comes together in our quaint Main Street parade."
After a record-setting 525 racers participated last year, McCormack and Westcott set a field limit this year at 600.
"We don't want to overimpact the environment," Westcott said. "We'd rather keep the event smaller than it potentially can be. It's all about the riders and their experience."
As of Wednesday, 379 racers had preregistered, Westcott said.
The organizers are also trying to mitigate litter problems that plagued last year's event. Racers are strongly encouraged to deposit their refuse in, or at least near, receptacles placed at the end of each aid station.
Disposing of refuse onto the ground outside of the aid stations constitutes littering and is grounds for disqualification, Westcott said.
"Either dispose of it at the aid station you are presently at or hold onto it until the next aid station," he said.
Preregistration is still available at A Racer's Edge, Great Adventure Sports and Mountain Outfitters, all located in Breckenridge. Online registration is also available at www.active.com under a search for "Firecracker 50."
Richard Chittick can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 236 or at rchittick@summitdaily.com.
It starts with the 16th annual Summit Fat Tire Society (SFTS) Poker Ride, which begins Saturday morning at 8 at Great Adventure Sports.
This year two pairs of round-trip airline tickets to anywhere in the continental 48 states are on the line.
As always, the popular ride entails spending the morning on your mountain bike picking up playing cards to create a five-card poker hand.
The best five-card hand wins round-trip tickets from American Airlines, but if your second card gives you an unsuited 2/7 combo, not to worry; the worst hand of the day wins round-trip tickets from Frontier Airlines.
According to SFTS treasurer Marc Carlisle, participants can begin anytime between 8 and 10 a.m. and can ride at any pace to collect the cards.
All riders simply need to be back at Great Adventure to pick up their last card by 1 p.m.
"A few years ago, I did the ride and won with four aces," said Carlisle, who helps organize the ride each year.
"So you have to have a pretty good hand."
The laid back atmosphere of the Poker Ride provides opportunities for every level of mountain biker.
"That ride is the ride that got me into mountain biking back in 1990," said Breckenridge endurance athlete Monique Merrill. "It's fun, it's at your own pace, you get to see some trails and you get to give back to the mountain biking community."
The event costs $25 with all proceeds benefiting the society. After the ride, Amazing Grace, which Merrill owns, and Mi Zuppa are providing soup and sandwiches.
Firecracker 50
The day after the SFTS casual ride, Merrill will be looking to improve on her second-place finish in last year's Firecracker 50, a 50-mile endurance race held on the trails and Forest Service roads just east of Breckenridge.
Now in its fourth year, the Firecracker has become a Breckenridge tradition.
The race begins with hundreds of mountain bikers leading the annual Fourth of July parade down historic Main Street before turning onto Boreas Pass Road for the first of two 25-mile loops.
"This is truly a community event," said Jeff Westcott, who co-founded the race with Mike McCormack.
"I can't say enough about the community - the BRC (Breckenridge Resort Chamber), the town of Breck, local private landowners - they all seem to see the vision of the event and embrace it, and without their backing, it would be much more difficult - if not impossible - to pull it off."
Kristen Pettit, a spokesperson for the BRC, said, "Breckenridge has a long history of mountain biking, and this event helps put that into focus. It all comes together in our quaint Main Street parade."
After a record-setting 525 racers participated last year, McCormack and Westcott set a field limit this year at 600.
"We don't want to overimpact the environment," Westcott said. "We'd rather keep the event smaller than it potentially can be. It's all about the riders and their experience."
As of Wednesday, 379 racers had preregistered, Westcott said.
The organizers are also trying to mitigate litter problems that plagued last year's event. Racers are strongly encouraged to deposit their refuse in, or at least near, receptacles placed at the end of each aid station.
Disposing of refuse onto the ground outside of the aid stations constitutes littering and is grounds for disqualification, Westcott said.
"Either dispose of it at the aid station you are presently at or hold onto it until the next aid station," he said.
Preregistration is still available at A Racer's Edge, Great Adventure Sports and Mountain Outfitters, all located in Breckenridge. Online registration is also available at www.active.com under a search for "Firecracker 50."
Richard Chittick can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 236 or at rchittick@summitdaily.com.
