No race captures the spirit of Breckenridge quite like the Breck Epic. Spanning six stages, the breathtaking mountain bike race pushes even the most seasoned riders to their limits each summer.

Last year, Breck Epic founder and director Mike McCormack devised a way to make the Tour de France-style mountain bike race even more daunting by introducing the “Mega Epic” race category. 

Unlike the traditional six-day format, cyclists tackling the Mega Epic must complete the nearly 220-mile course in just a couple of days — and with minimal rest. The race is so demanding that in its inaugural year, only a handful of athletes dared to take it on.

While the standard Breck Epic is no small feat, McCormack recognized there is an appetite for an even more grueling ultra-endurance race.

“We know that the Breck Epic taken by itself in its conventional format is really hard,” McCormack said. “It’s not that any of the individual stages are that hard. It’s that doing it six days in a row is pretty demanding.”

One of the male athletes that will be taking part in the Mega Epic this year is Breckenridge mountain endurance athlete Chris Fisher. Best known for his daring runs across mountain ranges and up Colorado 14ers, Fisher has recently shifted his focus to mountain biking.

“So as if the Epic wasn’t hard enough, there’s people like Chris, who constantly prove that there is an appetite for even more ridiculous,” McCormack said. “And there are not a lot of people like Chris out there, but it is an amazing opportunity to focus on these unicorns that live among us.”

Unlike last year where competitors completed the Mega Epic mostly self-supported, this year’s race will allow competitors to receive support from crew members, book lodging and use aid stations. The change is a departure from typical solo race efforts and is a step toward a fastest-known-time (FKT) format. 

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“We don’t want to go sideways with the solo self-supported community,” McCormack said. “We have a lot of respect for those people. This just seems like the best fit for us, because 230 miles is too short to take a sleeping pad.”

After seeing friends and family complete the Breck Epic throughout the years, Fisher felt inspired to trade out his trail running shoes for a cycling bib.

“My uncle has raced it maybe seven times or something like that, and I was like, ‘Oh I want to do that,'” Fisher said. “For whatever reason I fell down the path of running more and doing all that kind of stuff. So now seeing that the Epic is offering a FKT-style format, is very intriguing to me. It’s definitely like a very rad way for me to push my limits in a space I haven’t done a whole lot in.”

Over the last week or so, Fisher has steadily reacquainted himself with the bike, logging miles on the trails that cut across Breckenridge.

“I have done two of the stages over the past five or so days,” Fisher said. “I have been trying to balance both running and biking.”

During these recon rides, Fisher has realized just how challenging the Mega Epic is going to be. From minimizing mechanical problems to navigating perilous sections of the course in the middle of the night, Fisher knows the race will test him both physically and mentally. 

“I think for me one of the bigger challenges is switching over and having to relearn all the bike mechanic stuff,” Fisher said. “How to fix my bike on the go, stuff like that. Mechanicals can be a big issue, especially if you’re on the backside of Guyot and there is no one around and it is the middle of the night.”

One of Fisher’s biggest challenges will also be trying to figure out when and how to get sleep. Wanting to complete the course as fast as possible, Fisher will be tasked with finding the proper balance between riding fast and also staying safe.

“At the end of the day, going as fast as possible, you’re going to risk something,” Fisher said. “And I think no matter what the effort is, whether it is climbing Everest or doing the Breck Epic in two in a half or three days, you have to risk something. … Learning how to ride that line of risk is going to be new for me on the bike.”

One thing Fisher hopes to sharpen prior to taking on his first Mega Epic is his descending skills. While most of the trails in the Summit County area are smooth and fast, there are several points on the Breck Epic course that feature rocky, bone-jarring descents.

“It was more of a wakeup call for like descending,” Fisher said. “… Some of the descents like the Colorado Trail going down off of Georgia Pass are super rocky. I think for me, it’s just trying to learn how to let go a little more of the brakes and just go with the flow. Not let my fingers fall off because I am trying to be a little too cautious.”

Fisher will look to chase after the current supported course record of 30 hours and 34 minutes which was set by Chase Caughey at last year’s event.

With the 2025 Breck Epic set for August 10-15, Fisher hasn’t finalized a specific race plan — but he knows that whatever strategy he brings to the start line will likely go out the window once the race begins.

“The approachability of it is really fascinating too, because you can go into it with five different game plans and maybe one of them works or even half of them works,” Fisher said.

“It will punch you in the face — absolutely if you don’t respect it,” McCormack said. “A healthy amount of respect bordering on fear is probably the right approach.”

Beyond chasing after a new record, Fisher and McCormack are excited to be part of a race atmosphere that is thrilling as it is unique.

“The entire event is a labor of love,” McCormack said. “You can’t do something this hard, for this long without being pretty passionate about it. … I feel pretty good about saying that there is nothing like this in terms of just the bigness, the huge landscapes and how it all connects and that Breckenridge is at the center of that.”

The Mega Epic will begin on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 8:25 a.m. As of this publication, three men and six women had signed up for the race. To find out more information about this year’s Breck Epic, visit BreckEpic.com.