About one week ago marked the one month anniversary of my first Leadville 100 experience and I have finally had enough time to write up a complete race report and recap my experience. Not only was it my first Leadville 100 attempt but it was also the first time I’ve ever had to change a tire mid race and found time to take a small hike while completing the 103 mile adventure in 8 hours and 16 minutes.
Before the race (months before) I was able to catch up with some riders are various venues that lent me some solid advice. It was pointless to talk nutrition, hydration, and equipment because what works for one person may not work for another. For instance take my breakfast every day, well every day that time allows me to cook breakfast I typically consume 2-3 eggs and 4-6 strips of bacon sometimes with toast and a large amount of peanut butter, most people feel ill when I tell them how much I eat but it works, it works for me and Matt Waite too. The best advice previous participants armed me with was going to Goodwill or Wal-Mart to purchase warm clothes to wear at the start line and abandon just moments before race rolls down the road out of town. The oversized hoodie sweatshirt I picked up at Wal-Mart and the hot pink sweatpants my dad bought for himself worked well as the starting temperature of the race was roughly 40 degrees. As the race rolled further down the road we began to wish we had left those garments on or at least packed them in our jersey pockets as the temperature plunged to 31 degrees as we dropped in elevation still in the shadows of the mountains.
The road start to the Leadville was like any other paved mountain bike lead out, very fast and very nerve racking as tandems nearly side swiped riders and riders surged to be the first one to the base of the climb only to be in some cases the last man up the hill from our front group. Leadville’s 3 mile road lead out quickly turns into a crushed lime stone gravel road with dust so fine that black arm and knee warmers turned various shades of light gray, I can only imagine what our lungs must have looked like. After a bit on the gravel road it gradually turns into a hard packed dirt fire road as the first assent begins, the climb itself was not challenging but avoiding some of the larger rocks and riders mishitting forced you to keep your head up. I did manage to overtake a few big names on the first climb like Tinker Juarez, although he was fixing a flat at the time I will still consider this a win in my books. A few miles up the course he did overtake my position on the following climb.
The initial climb is quickly followed by a quick jaunt down and then a sharp right onto a paved road decent where the mountain bikers struggled and roadies advanced. Just as riders do down hill they must then go up hill, the climb starts out paved and after a few minutes transitions to a washboard gravel road up to the top of power line decent. At the first time racers Q & A session, veterans warned about the ruts and run off paths while descending power line the two biggest things they failed to mention were just how long the decent was and the near 30% grade, which really only posed an issue on the return trip trying to climb it home. On the trip out while at the top of power line I managed to put a nice little speed hole in my front tire that stans failed to fully seal, racing against the clock and knowing I had just added two ounces of new fluid to the tire I chanced just putting more air in the tire and calling it fixed. My “fix” last about half a mile before the front was down to about 10 psi but holding so I crossed my finger and bit the bullet descending power line like a semi without brakes as the front end wiggled about. Descending power line is a downhiller’s ultimate dream as the whole run is banked, straight down hill, hard packed and very similar to perhaps the American Eagle at six flags after you cruised of rollers often getting airborne just enough to land and adjust your trajectory.
Once I reached the first support station I quickly tore off my front tire to slap on a new Kenda Small Block Eight to roll on for the remaining 74 miles of the race. The change was quick and easy but over the course of the day this would not be my only inconvenience. The route from support station 1 to 2 is very quick and very short, about 14 miles in under 45 minutes, just a few rollers and some fun sections of open bushy single track. One the way out to support 2 there is this little dip most overlook on the way out called the Cobra or little something due to its incredibly short length but extreme slope.
I cruised through support 2 after grabbing new bottle to tackle to climb ahead to the top of Columbine Mine, which for a Leadville first timer this move seemed okay but provided to be the beginning of my demise. When I pre-rode this portion of the course earlier in the week its was a bit windy and cool at the top, approx. 49 degrees but on race day the temperature at Columbine Mine was north of 70 and not a breathe of wind to save my sorry ass. The climb up on race day went well but little did I realize that I was cooking on the way up since I did not take off my long sleeve jersey before the climb at support 2. Biggest lesson learned from this, at Leadville trust in the power and adjustability of layers. The climb to Columbine Mine doesn’t get tough till you hit the Goat Trail which is roughly the last 2.5 miles of the climb to the peak when the trail narrows and kicks up to almost 22% at points with lots of loose rock.
Going down is much sweeter than going up, unless you have an elevator…… descending from 12300 to almost 9300 seemed to take much less than time than anticipated. On the way down I was able to spot a few fellow riders from the MidWest, while hitting the breaks hard descending Goat Trail and through my chattering teeth tried to provide words of encouragement to Maria Chase and Brian Koeneman of Wisconsin and Minnesota respectively. On the way down the only I had going for me was the self-generated breeze thanks to gravity while I fought to keep food and water from coming up. During my charge for the peak I caught myself a good little case of heat stroke.
Upon reaching support 2 at the base of Columbine Mine, I was starting to become a bit delirious and changed the game plan from finish under 9 hours to not dying out on the trails. Before setting off for support 1 and the finish, I performed an entire kit change (bibs, base layer, jersey and arm warmers) to get myself in a better mind set and into something still black but minus the body odor. With new clothes on my back I set off towards home with pockets full of pizza and snickers. Rolling back toward support 1 was good hooking up with various groups, drafting when possible and eating through the food in my pockets which unfortunately failed to help my nausea one bit.
Every once in a while a second, third, and fourth wind would emerge allowing me to take advantage of my small size of some of the climbs. I managed ride up the Cobra on the return trip home and managed to make it up about 90% of power line climb also, I had to throw in the towel on power line climb once I hit the 27% section or suffer throwing up, in hind sight the latter may have been a good thing. The stretch from power line to the end may have been the most challenging, during the slow ascent to the top of power line I consumed all of my water still 20 miles out from the finish. Rolling back with no water is the not the best scenario to be in when the next and final water stop of the race is still 10 miles ahead of you. While rolling down the paved road from power line I recalled seeing a river off the trail and determined to make my Leadville that much more epic by going for a hike. After the hike I just rolled home slow and steady letting all those young bucks from Colorado pass me by as I waved thinking I was only a few miles from the end when one informed me the race is 103 miles and change, SOB. Eventually after 8 hours and 12 minutes I could see the finish and had no one behind me to sprint with, despite the lack of urgency to finish I tried to put a little pep in my step and found out that my pep ran out a long time ago.
All in all I think my first Leadville 100 went well, and even though at the finish I swore I would never do it again, I may be out there in 2012 again. Best thing if you decide to take on Leadville is to keep it simple, wear layers, don’t try new things and have extra tires and CO2’s handy at the support stations and grab a camelback for the last 27 miles.
If I find photos I’ll be sure to post them here first! Or Facebook.
