Leadville Part 2: Go Time!

Race day was finally here, and the nerves were gone. I slept ok, no worrying or racing thoughts. We sure did have to get up early though.

So, for the first time, the race organizers decided to corral riders based on  previous finish times. Since I had never done the race before, I would be in the last corral.......the white corral......the Leadville virgins! Since there were more first timers than ever before, it seemed smart to get there early to get at the front of the corral. Apparently I wasn't early enough, because when I got downtown there were hundred of virgins already lined up. Argggg!

No, I didn't race in a down jacket!

It was a little chilly at the start (40 degrees maybe). I was only planning to start with arm warmers, but there were people around me in full winter gear. I became a little concerned. One guy told me that I was going to freeze. I remember reading some comments from a few pros, and they usually always start in just arm warmers. I stuffed a plastic bag in the front of my jersey just to be safe. We had been riding here for 2 weeks and I had rarely needed more than arm warmers. I did have my raincoat in my camelbak, you can count on an afternoon thunderstorm.

One thing that I was still nervous about was the number of people. There were thousands of people, some of whom may not have great pack skills. These were mtbikers, they don't know how to ride in big groups.....right?;)

Ok, now I'm nervous.

I decided to be cautious, and try and leave some space between me and others. That was my theme for the day, no aggressive passing or crazy descending (ok, maybe a little crazy descending). The funny thing was, this seemed to be everyone's theme. It was mellow at the strart, and suprisingly spaced out. Maybe it was because I was at the back, and we all had the same mission: finish in under 12 hours and avoid an ambulance (or helicopter) ride out.

An encouraging message on the way out of town.

We headed out on a flat to downhill paved road, and I tried to pass as many people as possible before we got to the dirt road. I saw a lady wearing running shoes and riding plastic flat pedals (and her seat was about 4 inches too low)......I wondered if she would even finish. There were people who looked fit and fast, and people that looked like it was their first mountain bike ride ever. I know I shouldn't judge, but working in the bike industry for so long, I know the advantages of having the correct gear. I couldn't help myself! Before I knew it, we were at the dirt road. I looked ahead and saw a road wide traffic jam. The entire group had come to a complete stop. I tried to pass in the grass, but it wasn't happening. After a few minutes of standing, we started moving again. It had rained all night and there was a giant puddle that had been formed into a road wide mud pit by the thousands of tires that had gone before us. After we got through the mud everything spaced out again. We were heading for St. Kevin's! I hadn't thought about pacing up this climb, I was just waiting to see how I felt. It didn't really matter how I was feeling because, as we started the climb, it was obvious the pace we would all go......slow! The rain had created ruts, and there were only 1 or 2 good lines up the climb. There was a line of riders as far as the eye could see. I got in line and went the same speed as everyone else. Passing was difficult, but every once in a while there was an opportunity. The strange thing was, everyone was content with going this pace. I was listening to conversations, and one guy said "Well, my coach told me not to go out too hard." We all laughed, and I didn't worry about the pace. We would spread out soon enough. I was pretty patient for the most part, but one time I tried to move into a faster line by drifting back and pushing my way into line. The dude I was trying to get in front of wasn't having it. He kept putting his hand on my ass, and pushing me away (Rude)! I pretty much went off on him, but after I cooled down I realized he was right. I kept looking for him so I could apologize.

The arrival at the road signaled the end of St. Kevin's. We took a right on pavement, and it was a long, fast road downhill for a while. This was where I could make up time. My first goal of the day was to make it to the Twin Lakes aid station (40miles) in under 4 hrs. Arrive there any later, and your day is done. Jon and his brother Joey would be waiting there. After a little more road, we took a right on a dirt road toward Hagerman Pass to the Sugarloaf climb. Early on this climb I was passed by my buddy from St. Kevin's, and I chased him down so I could apologize. He was a young hispanic guy, with a deep accent. He was cool with the situation, and said it was just the adrenalin. I laughed and agreed. We would see each other many more times throughout the day, and everytime we exchanged a fist bump:)

Sugarloaf was over pretty quickly, the views of the clouds down in the valley made it a very pleasant climb. The Powerline descent was up next, and the nerves were returning.I was a little worried about descending at break neck speeds with all of these people. We started off pretty spaced out, but I began catching people pretty quickly. People would all stay in single file down the 1 smooth line, and not pass. Screw this traffic jam, I called out "on your right," and cautiously passed on a less desirable line. Everyone was mellow, no aggressive passing or people not holding lines. These were skilled mountain bikers!

The start of the steep rutted downhill section on Powerline.

The downhill ended at a road, and we took a right. I was in virgin territory (ok I will stop using that word). I hadn't seen the next 30 miles of this course. The profile showed rolling terrain with one longer flat section. I looked around and tried to find a group to ride with. It wasn't long until I was in a paceline with a group of guys and a lady I named "The East German." She was a big burley gal, that enjoyed frequent long pulls at the front. We were hauling ass across these flatter sections, and I felt pretty good about making it before the cut off.

The race is fairly flat all the way to the Pipeline aid station. I stayed in my group until we got there. No need to stop here, we had been riding a little more than 2 hrs. There were a few steep short climbs mixed in here, and the only section of singletrack on the entire course. A little piece of advice, don't stick out your tounge at random camera men, because you may somehow end up with that picture. Oh, and that's "The East German" directly in front of me.

Dork!

I was feeling good, but still concerned about making it to Twin Lakes in time. We approached a section that looked like it could be a dam (Twin Lakes aid station is on the Twin Lakes dam). I asked The East German if that was it, and she stared at me for a long time without speaking. I thought maybe she really was German, and couldn't understand me. When she finally spoke, there was no accent. She told me we had another 45 minutes. We would make it with time to spare! Why was I so worried?

Twin Lakes was a welcome sight!

I got to Twin Lakes with 30 minutes to spare. That doesn't sound like a lot, but I was pretty happy about it. It was the only cut off I was concerned about. Jon was set up at the opposite end of the dam. We had discussed the details before, so he would be easy to find. There were thousands of support crew members and spectators on the damn, so finding one person sounded difficult. I got a little freaked out when I got to the last few tents and hadn't spotted him. Just when I was about to go to plan B (steal food from another nearby tent....jk), I saw his tent. I tossed my camelbak and bottle to he and Joey and headed to the woods for bathroom break #1. When I came back, I was ready to go with 3 hrs worth of liquids. I felt great and headed out in good spirits. My niece, Anna, waved and wished me luck. She informed me later that night that she wants to do Leadville, but she's doing the run!

Pre riding all of the climbs had come in handy thus far, but thinking about climbing Columbine was getting me down. On the flat approach to the climb I was deep in thought about the suffering to come. I was so deep in thought that I wasn't thinking about the possibility of 2 way traffic, and almost took out the 3 leaders. My bad! And then it (Columbine) began.......riding in a slow single file line again, except this time everyone was ok with the slow pace. It wasn't very long before I was in the pain cave. I wasn't going that hard, but I was suffering. What was wrong with me? Oh yeah, the altitude. I will admit, lots of people were passing me. I don't do long sustained climbing so well. At this point, the fast people were coming back down from the top. Staying far right was very important, because they were MOVING! When we finally got to the steep part at treeline, I was toast. I saw everyone up ahead walking. The race founder, Ken Chlouber, was standing on a four wheeler beside the road. I heard him shout, "You can ride it, you've ridden harder stuff than this." Everyone was still walking. I decided I wasn't walking. I stayed on my bike and rode in the line of walkers. I was going the same speed, but they were working harder than me. The guy behind me was encouraging me to stay on. I rode the entire first steep gravel section!!! When I got to the next steep section, you could see people walking in a mile long line. I cramped immediately. I guess I'm walking.

Almost to the top!

After a little walking, I got back on and rode the last short section to the turn around. It was cool and windy, and very crowded. I only needed a waterbottle refill and bathroom stop # 2. There were no trees, so we all just went out in the middle of the field. Nice! 10 guys peeing and 1 girl squatting. I went back and searched for my bike in the sea of bikes (that took a few minutes), and headed down. Just under 6 hrs, and I'm halfway.

To be continued........

Leadville Part 1:

So it all comes down to this.....2 weeks in Leadville and then it's go time. An entire year of training dedicated to this one goal: Finish the Leadville 100. We arrived in Leadville and set up camp right outside of town.

The plan was to spend the next 2 weeks riding the major climbs of the race, and doing some easy fun rides in between. We were joined by Tad Nielsen (Jon's co-worker from Sunrift) and his friend Sonya Loftis. They were in Colorado on a mtb vacation, and decided to spend a few days with us.

After they headed home, it was time to focus. First up, we would ride the first climb of the race: St. Kevin's. It seemed like the climb started very near where we were camping, but the race map was tough to read. Thankfully, Tad had bought a trail guide book while he was in town and it detailed every major climb of the race (including directions to the start). This little book came in very handy for the next few weeks......Thanks Tad!!! We rode from the camp ground to the start of the climb (only a few miles away).  It started out fairly flat on a hard packed dirt road, but quickly kicked up and became rutted and rocky. After 1 mile of steepness, a sharp switchback to the left and the climbing gets easier. A few hundred yards later and the sight of old mine tailings tells you the climbing is almost over. A few rolling miles later, and you end up back on County Road 9 (the same road that our campground is on). We turned around and did the entire thing in reverse. Since the LT100 is out and back, I would be riding this last part at about 90 miles in. Not so bad, and the descent was scary fast!!!

A few days later, we rode Sugarloaf and Powerline. This would be the next climb after St Kevin's, and the Powerline climb would be on the return trip (about 80 miles in). The Powerline climb is said to be the hardest in the race, and the sight of many a DNF. We drove to the start of the climb, and started down a long flat gravel road. A sharp left took us to the start of the climbing, and it was very rocky but not all that steep. As we were winding around to the summit, there were gunshots nearby. Jon and I both started yelling, hoping that they weren't shooting in our direction. We rounded a corner, and a young girl was holding a handgun. It looked like a family was doing some target practice.....no big deal, but they seemed surprised to see us. Thankfully, they waited until we were a little ways off before they started shooting again. The adrenalin made the rest of the climb seem easy. After a little route finding, we were on the Powerline descent. 

If you have ever seen the movie "Race Across the Sky", you may think that this descent is gnarly and dangerous. If you have ever ridden or even attempted to ride Farlow Gap in Pisgah, then you could probably ride the Powerline descent on a cross bike. I may be exaggerating a little, but it really isn't that bad. It has some ruts and  big rocks, but it also has some pretty clean lines. Before riding this, Jon was sure that I would die on this section during the race. Good thing he pre rode with me, now he should have no worries.

The ride back up was a different story, the very end of the descent is super steep. It flattens out after that and ends at a road. We turned around here and went back up the super steep part. You can see this steep section winding off in the distance, and you can even see the top (which was a blessing and a curse). I was determined to ride this. I had a triple on my bike and a 36 tooth cassette, and I was not getting off. Also, we had spectators for this pre ride. A photographer and a couple of pro riders were standing in the middle of the steepest part. I put it in my easiest gear, and started spinning. It was slow, but I wasn't walking. I rode right past them and up the first of the steep sections. There was a not so steep section separating the 2 crazy steep parts, and when I got to it I tried to recover. The next part was so steep that I was starting to spin out from all the torque it took just to keep moving. My rear wheel was spinning out most of the way, but I made it! Jon rode most of it, but had to walk the second steep pitch. The remainder of the climb was still hard. It was rocky and there were more short steep sections. This would be tough after riding most of the day, and no way could I ride the steeps if I weren't fresh. 

We took a few days to do some fun and easy rides:

Turquoise Lake Trail, near our campground

Mine Tailings on the Mineral Belt Trail

We saved the best for last.....Columbine. 7.5 miles and 3,126 ft of climbing topping out at around 12,400ft in elevation. Sounds like fun, right? We started a few miles away with a gradual uphill gravel road approach. I wasn't feeling very good at all. I really wanted to quit and go back to the car, but this was the last good day to ride this, so I sucked it up. I felt better when we actually got to the climb and out of the brutal crosswinds on the open road. Columbine isn't terribly steep at the bottom, but it gets steeper as you go. As you near the treeline it gets steep and rocky.

It then flattens out a little, and then it gets ungodly steep......and I am pretty sure there is no oxygen. Walking even sucks (I didn't ride this second steep part, and I almost passed out when I started walking). After this section of hell, we actually got a short section of downhill (which was evil, because we were gonna have to turn around and go right back up that) and we arrived at Columbine Mine. The view was spectacular!

Columbine Mine.....Brrrr!

I laid my bike on the ground, and the wind was blowing so hard that the bike started rolling across the ground by itself. Crazy! I put on my rain jacket to keep warm on the descent. The descent was very rocky, and the lines were sketchy in some sections. During the race, there will be 2 way traffic on this section....giving you even fewer line choices. I tried to stay on the right side of the road, but every once in a while I would end up on the left. Hope that doesn't happen on race day, because speeds can easily reach 40 mph on this descent. :-(

Bike racing wasn't the only type of racing going on in Leadville. I am pretty sure I want to start a mini donkey racing series in SC (are you in Jackie?).

We did some mellow rides on the Mineral Belt Trail (Leadvilles version of the Swamp Rabbit), and rested up for the big day.........