This year, 60 women have registered for the Breck Epic in the pro category. In the race’s 16-year history, there has never been such a large field of participants, male or female. In fact, the number 60 dwarfs the field of women in most non-professional cycling races of any discipline.

Like most grassroots cycling races, the Breck Epic has always struggled to attract female riders. Since its inception, female participation has always been lower than that of men, and the women’s pro field has typically only included about 10 riders. Race founder Mike McCormack was always very aware of this problem; he just wasn’t sure how to change it.

As the years went by, he started talking about it with the women who came to race – drivers like Sonya Looney, Katerina Nash and Evelyn Dong. He wanted to know: What are we doing wrong that this is so intimidating?

The drivers asked him to specifically approach women and make them feel welcome.

They told me to make people feel important and to pay attention to what they say. It wasn’t that complicated.—Michael McCormack

For the 2024 edition of the six-day stage race, McCormack decided to take that advice and up the ante to 100. This year, women would be the focus of the race, he said, and not just lip service. He covered the entry fees for all female pros and called the initiative the Breck Epic Women’s Tour. His only request was that each rider go through an application process in which they agree to do a little marketing for the event through social media.

The response was overwhelming, even though the Breck Epic has been held between two of the country’s most significant off-road races in recent years, the Leadville 100 and the SBT GRVL. Rather than blame the low number of women on the date, McCormack decided to simply see it as an opportunity.

We just saw this as a place where we could make a meaningful difference. As the yapping little puppies of cycling events, we have to pick our battles and choose the ones we can win. The motivation for the women’s tour was: how can we make a difference? And where does that matter? And what’s fun? You have to make noise before it becomes too loud.—Michael McCormack

The women racing this year’s Breck Epic made a lot of noise and definitely felt the reverberation. Everyone we spoke to, from racing veterans like Evelyn Dong and Kaysee Armstrong to newbies like Colorado’s KJ Gedde and Megan Percy, said the turnout made a big difference.

I don’t know how to describe it…anytime it’s a male dominated race, I feel like I don’t matter as much. It’s like, “What’s going on in the men’s race?” Here, I felt like the women were running the show. The lights were on us, all of us. It felt like we mattered a little bit more. So it was definitely more fun.—Kaysee Armstrong

Dong, who announced her retirement from racing midway through this year’s Breck Epic, said the large field of women not only makes the race more entertaining, but also more competitive. While the race’s lead group is usually so small that the leading women often don’t have to worry about more than one or two riders, this year’s field kept everyone on their toes.

Usually on a bad day you think, “Oh, there’s someone 10 minutes ahead of me and 10 minutes behind me.” When you’re battling through a stage this year, you think, “Oh, there are about 10 women behind you.” It’s actually pretty cool.—Evelyn Dong

Armstrong won this year’s Breck Epic, sharing the podium with Ellen Campbell and Stella Hobbs. Dong finished eighth. But the racing outside the top 10 is perhaps the greatest success of the Breck Women’s Tour. The field was full of women who, as McCormack says, “are really committed. Women who have bought a nice bike, have trained, want to ride hard and are wondering, ‘Where do I go from here?'”

KJ Gedde was one of those women. The Carbondale, Colorado-based rider has been on the podium at the Snowmass 50 and the High Cascades 100. Gedde didn’t necessarily enter the Breck Epic thinking she’d be up there with Armstrong, Hobbs and Campbell, but she was there to compete against other strong women. The field size in the pro women’s category this year guaranteed she was in the right place.

Depending on where you were in the pro circuit, the competition was always very intense. You could really push yourself no matter what pro level you were at. One of the most memorable experiences was climbing Vomit Hill, where I was passed by six really good women who were just giving it their all at the top of an insane climb. To have all these strong women pass me so solidly was super inspiring.—KJ Gedde

Although McCormack has barely had time to put away the banners and course markers from the 2024 event, he is already thinking about next year. And as he considers how to recreate the energy of this year’s event despite the financial cost, he is once again focusing on the opportunity, not the excuses.

We have the opportunity to have some of the great racing we see at Unbound or Leadville, but on the women’s side. And that’s what happened. We’ll do it again whether someone writes us a check or not. Will it be the same sprawling size? Maybe not, it could be more selective. But you have to start somewhere. The most important thing wasn’t to start perfectly, but to do it at all.—Michael McCormack