Anyone doing the Xterra Beaver Creek / Avon?

I might be.  I'm doing Crested Butte this weekend.  Definitlely hurts the budget with lodging and all.  Beaver Creek is a possibility, but it depends on the lodging situation.    Most of the local lodging is $110 at a minimum with a 2 night minimum stay. 

The course looks pretty good.  A bit harder than Buffalo Creek, but a bit more tame than CB.

I have another buddy of mine who is doing all 4 the next 4 weeks(CB, Indian Peaks, BC and Ogden)  I'm not sure if it will completely fill this year, but looks really promising.

I'm signed up.  I should be pretty funny as a flatlander trying to conquer 4500 feet of climbing.

 Tell us more about the bike.  How long did it take?  How technical was the initial climb?

On a related note, anyone have recommendations on a place to rent a decent cross-country bike for the race?  I won't have mine with me.

 Cheers,

DJ

RIDE and RUN SUMMARY

 Hey All.  We went to check out the Trasition areas for logisitics and to do some preriding.  Let me start with, if you are a climber, you will love this course.  Unfortunatelly  for me, their really isn't anything "technical" on the bike.  There is one potential hike a bike, but not due to rocks, but the fact that it is almost a 20% grade with loose dirt.  I'll explain in a sec.

The water smelled off  yesterday.  I talked to a friend who did Bec tri the day before.  He indicated that it was cold and the waer taseted funny too.  Not sure what's up with that, but we will see.

The bike starts out cool.  Kinda of a roadie course from the lake.  The climb starts as soon as you cross over 6th ave.  Up to the guard shack and then a quick left to pick up Elk Horn Trail.  For the most part, it's straight up from here.  Much of the climb stays on this trail.  That I remember counting, every .3-.5 miles is a steep kick up.  Not that they are overly technical, but they are steep, and the ground is soft.  The first one is from the dirt road, onto Elkhorn itself.  A real short kick up and then the long climb on the atv trail begins. Only the second one felt problematic.  (About .5 from the first kick up)It's pretty long, steep, and the ground was soft.  The good news is, after every steep kick up, is a relatively good recovery.   The last kick up to the loop or towards Allie's way was also kind of tough.  Again, not technical, just kinda up the grass and hillside of the ski run.  There is not a trail per say, just a nasty soft ground climb before the fun begins.  Of course after the loop, you have to do this climb again to get to the downhill stuff.  We did not do the loop itself.  From my understanding, a bit of a climb, some fun singletrack, a steep decent back to Village to Village bfore the climb back to the loop point.  After that, it turns into a pretty fast/flat trail before getting to Allie's way.  Allie's Way and Corkscrew are fun singeltracks.  Nothing too tech, just fast.

We also prerode some of the run.  The start is nicke and gradual.  Once you get into the Aspen Glade, it is on.  It's beautiful back here, but it's essentially a mile of climbing.  Nice graudal sof tdirt, but I'm going to suffer in there.  From the Glade, it's a nice decent onto Cinch and Lower Aspen.  This takes you back near transition, and the second nasty climb in 5 Senses and Stacker is on.  Again, nothing too technical, just a long suffer fest.  After Stacker, it's a nice decent back to the finish.

All in all, kinda cool.  I'm not a pure climber, and do better when it is technical.  But, this is XTERRA, and it will be a fun TOUGH day.

As I mentioned before, I did the bike course 10 days ago and have to agree that it is not a technical course but the climb (before the loop) is tough (loose and at some points steep). It took me almost an hour (I am not a climber). The first singletrack (Arrowhead) is fast and the Village to Village road is first a double track and then it becomes a fast single.

After Odanelli´s post I am worried about the swim. What is the problem with the water? 

From what I hear, the Bec Tri folks were glad to be wearing theirs.

Here is the USAT Rule:

Hey all,

 Thanks to an angry wasp and a crash at about 22mph on the trail, I'll be missing out on the fun tomorrow.

Good luck and have a blast!

-Ocky