Last Day to Register for 2013 Leadville 100 Lottery

January 31st, 2013

Powerline Leadville 100

Powerline Climb

Today, January 31st, is the last day to register for the 2013 Leadville 100 lottery for your chance to dig deep going up Powerline and on the rest of the course on August 10th. You have until midnight MST but if you plan on registering and haven’t, I’d suggest you do it as soon as possible just in case you have issues with registering. Head over to this page to register.

As has been the case for the last several years, there’s a $15 charge plus fees just to sign up for the lottery. This fee gets donated to charity though. Also the entry fee if you get picked in the lottery has gone up yet again. It’s now up to $345.

Although the Leadville 100 lottery used to be the only the only way to get into the Leadville 100, now there are the qualifiers to get a slot. There are also various charity slots that can be used to gain a Leadville 100 entry.

Good luck to everybody that is in the lottery! I’ve entered the lottery again in hopes of making my 10th start. Since I had a streak of 3 DNFs, I’ll be going for finish number 7.

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Leadville 100 Video 2012

August 19th, 2012

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Last weekend I lined up for my 9th Leadville 100. It was my slowest of 6 finishes with a time of 11:32.

2 of the last 3 years I started the race sick and dropped out part way through. The other year I had an asthma attack and also didn’t finish so I was happy to get a finish even if it was slow.

Race Day does a cool thing of creating a video from clips at the various check points. We have a timing chip on our bikes so they know when we went past. The video of me is above. Search for other riders here.

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Last Minute Leadville 100 Advice

August 10th, 2012

Leadville 100 Start

It’s hard to believe it’s nearly time for another Leadville 100 mountain bike race. A couple years ago someone emailed me off list for tips on making the 12 hour time cut-off for a heavier rider. He was 195 lbs. Most of the tips apply no matter your weight so I thought I’d re-post them here in case they’ll help someone. They’re really just
random tidbits.

I’ve dropped some weight this year but I’m currently over 40 pounds heavier than the year I rode 8:18. I’ll be much slower than that but I hope to break my streak of not finishing the last 3 years. I think I’m in about 11 hour finishing shape. Hopefully I don’t get food poisoning, have asthma issues or get a cold this year. Those are the things that derailed me that last 3 years.

—————————————————————————–

Random Leadville 100 Race Day Advice

One year I was 190 and finished in 9:02 after a couple mechanicals cost me close to 10 minutes. Weight is big factor on the Leadville 100 course but if you have a good engine and ride smart, you can still do well.

Make sure you don’t go out too hard but still keep moving and a good pace. You’ll most likely get caught in a traffic jam on St. Kevins. Don’t panic. I see way too many guys try passing and wasting a huge amount of energy. In a mile or less you’ll be able to easily pass.

Don’t waste time at aid stations. If you have somebody crewing for you, you should be stopped 5 minutes or less over the whole race. Even without a crew, I think stopped time should be 10 minutes or less. Somebody missed the time cut-off by a few minutes last year but said they didn’t know how they could have done it faster. They went on to say they only spent a total of 30 minutes at the aid stations.

Most of the time if you’re hurting you’ll actually recover better if you keep moving but go to a couple easier gears. That way the blood keeps moving and flushing the muscles. If you’re on a climb when that happens and you don’t have any more gears, get off and walk. If you really feel you need a break, don’t stop more than 30 seconds.

If you can’t keep turning the pedals smoothly on a climb, you’ll probably be almost as fast walking and will use slightly different muscles. If you have the descending skills, you can make up a bunch of time on the descents. For us that are heavier, that’s a time to recover some of the hard work on the climbs.

Try getting in a group on the pavement section near the fish hatchery and even on the Pipeline. As a bigger rider, you probably have more power than the skinny guys so you’ll tend to want to ride faster. It’s alright to take a little more than your share of pulls but also take advantage of the group and drop to the back and do some recovering.

Stick to what you’re used to eating during training rides. There’s lots of yummy looking junk at the aid stations but hold off and treat yourself to something yummy after finishing. For a race of this length, you’re best off sticking to all liquids for fuel. If you didn’t train that way, don’t go totally liquid during the race but try to do more liquid than solids. The solids slow your digestion and altitude also tends to slow digestion. I have raced 24 hour solo events on liquids only and it’s worked better than when
I ate some solids.

The race is long and you’ll probably need more electrolytes than are in your drinks. Even if it isn’t super hot, the dryness and the intense sunlight at altitude make me need more endurolytes than I normally do. I like the Endurolytes from Hammer Nutrition but NUUN seems to work well too.

Good luck and if you see me say Hi!

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Training in Leadville July 14 & 15

July 13th, 2012

Top of Columbing During Leadville 100 Training

I’m going to be training on the Leadville 100 course this weekend. Here’s my training plans for this weekend.

On Saturday I’ll watch the Silver Rush 50 start and then drive down to the Twin Lakes aid station. If the Silver Rush starts on time, that should have me leaving from Twin Lakes soon after 9:30. I’ll ride up to the top of Columbine and back. Back at the vehicle at Twin Lakes, I’ll refill bottles and then ride to Fish Hatchery and back to Twin Lakes.

Sunday I’ll ride from Lifetime Fitness at 9:00 as that’s when Art normally leads a ride. He may be helping out with the Silver Rush run. If there isn’t a group doing something else, I’ll ride the first part of the course to Fish Hatchery. If I’m feeling good, I’ll ride back to the finish on the course but if not I’ll just short cut back into town on the pavement.

I’m still 45 lbs heavy so I don’t go up hill fast but still can go down fast. I have decent fitness so think I should be about 11 hours on race day. In any case, I’m still a long ways from my 8:18 in 2003.

If you’re up in Leadville this weekend or want to catch dinner Saturday evening, contact me.

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Leadville 100 Training Camps Including Race Entry

February 13th, 2012

Leadville 100 Start

Today the Leadville Race Series opened registration to the 2012 Camp of Champions! The Camp of Champions will feature Six-time LT 100 Champion Dave Wiens, Two-time LT100 Champion Bryson Perry and the 2007 Ladies Champion Gretchen Reeves. Camp participants will ride, dine, and socialize with three of Leadville’s finest champions in addition to a host of experienced Leadville Trail 100 Buckle wearing guides.

The camp will be July 5-8, 2012 and all of the Leadville 100 course will be ridden. There are 50 spots available that include race entry and the cost is $2,000. There are an additional 25 spots available for $1,000 without race entry. You must call to register. Get all the information on the Leadville Race Series site.

I’m a bit surprised that they opened camp registration today since the race entry lottery winners won’t be notified until later this week. I have my fingers crossed that I’ll get picked in the lottery again. After DNFing that last 3 years, I’m even more motivated now to get back and get my 6th finish.

Carmichael Training Systems also opened registration for their training camps today that include race entry. The CTS camp spots though are given out through a lottery. The deadline for the CTS camp lottery is February 29, 2012 so those that entered the Leadville 100 lottery can wait until they get notified whether they’re in or not.

CTS will have 3 camps that are 2 days each and cost $1500 including race entry. It’s $1225 for those that get an entry through the lottery and those spots will be first come first serve instead of by lottery. If money isn’t a factor, you can get top notch coaching and a private camp for $12,424 (elevation at the summit of the Columbine Climb).

Get all the details on the CTS camps here.

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Leadville 100 Lottery Deadline Looming

January 30th, 2012

Leadville 100 Start

The deadline to enter the Leadville 100 mountain bike lottery is tomorrow (January 31st). There’s a $15 fee to enter the lottery and then if you get picked, it’s $275 for the race entry. The $15 lottery fee goes to IMBA, Leadville Trail 100 Legacy Foundation, and to other 501C3 charities locally.

If you haven’t entered yet but are planning an entering, I suggest you do it now in case you have problems with registering. Registration is online and went smoothly for me but you never know. In addition to the long time question about how many Leadville 100 mountain bike races you’ve finished, now there are questions about which bike you ride, which shoes you like, etc.

If you have the guts to sign up for the Leadman/Leadwoman, you can get into the bike race without going through the lottery and into the already full 100 mile run. You have to finish the Trail Marathon and at least one of the Silver Rush events in order to race at the 100 mile bike so you can’t just use it as a way to avoid the lottery. The Leadman/Leadwoman requires you to finish five Leadville events — Leadville Marathon, Silver Rush 50 bike or run, Leadville Trail 100 bike and run and the 10K run. The entry deadline for Leadman/Leadwoman is also tomorrow at 8 PM.

It appears that the number of entrants will go up once again this year so the additional qualifiers shouldn’t take away from the lottery. Last year I believe there were a total of 1,700 spots for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. This year Cole Chlouber, social media person for Lifetime Fitness Athletic Events and son of the Leadville 100 founder, says the Forest Service has given them a cap of 2,000.

If 100 miles is too far for you or you don’t make it in the lottery or one of the Leadville 100 qualifiers, there are plenty of other races in the Leadville Race Series. Below are the other events.

2012 Leadville Race Series Dates

  • June 23-25 – Leadville Trail 100 Run Training Camp
  • June 30 – Leadville Trail Marathon
  • June 30 – Leadville Trail Heavy Half Marathon
  • July 5-8 – Leadville Trail 100 MTB Training Camp
  • July 14 -Leadville Silver Rush 50 MTB Race
  • July 15 – Leadville Silver Rush 50 Trail Run
  • July 14-15 – Silver King & Silver Queen
  • August 11 – Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race
  • August 12 – Leadville 10K Run
  • August 18-19 – Leadville Trail 100 Run
  • September 1-2 – Leadville MTB Relay
  • September 1-2 – Leadville Run Relay

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Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Qualifiers

January 29th, 2012

Silver Rush 50

Last year Lifetime Fitness added qualifiers as a way to get into the Leadville 100 mountain bike race in addition to the entry lottery. Last year there were 3 qualifiers. This year there will be 6 qualifiers although the last one is in September and will be for the 2013 Leadville 100.

Qualifying slots will be distributed at the Awards Ceremony. There will be 70-100 slots per qualifying event. Half the Leadville 100 entries will be awarded based on results and half will be awarded randomly to finishers under a time cut-off.

2012 Leadville 100 Qualifier Races

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2011 Leadville 100 Race Photos

August 17th, 2011

UltraRob Leadville 100 2011

David Kutcipal from 303Cycling got some great photos of the Leadville 100 mountain bike race on Saturday. Unfortunately he caught me during one of my on bike naps. The photo above of me hints at how very dusty it was.

The photos from the official photographers, zazoosh, are also now online. They’re searchable by last name or racer number.

My 8 year old daughter also had fun at the Pipeline aid station outbound taking photos with my camera. I’ve glanced through them and I’ll post some of them but haven’t gotten them edited yet.

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Leadville 100 News

August 4th, 2011

Ricky McDonald at the 2010 Leadville 100

Ricky McDonald at the 2010 Leadville 100

The 2011 Leadville 100 mountain bike is not much over a week away on August 13th.

For those that are doing the Leadville 100 mountain bike race this year, are thinking about doing it sometime or just curious about it, the Fat Cyclist has put together a live chat for today starting at 1 PM mountain time. In addition to the Fat Cyclist there will be Leadville 100 legends Dave Wiens, Ricky McDonald, Dean Cahow and Cole Chlouber. Go here to ask your questions.

Last year’s Leadville 100 winner and record holder will not be at the Leadville 100 this year due to it conflicting with the Tour of Utah. When asked if he’ll do Leadville again he said, “I don’t know. It might be best to do it once, have the record, and just leave it at that. It’s a very epic race, and I’m glad I did it, but at the same time it was pretty damn hard. I’m not sure I ever want to go and suffer like that again.” Read more here.

At this year’s final Leadville 100 qualifying race in Crested Butte last weekend, Lance Armstrong, 2009 Leadville 100 winner, showed up and won by 3 seconds. His answer to whether he’d be returning to Leadville was “No. That’s too much for me. I’m too old. I’m retired.” Leadville 100 women’s champion, Rebecca Rusch, won the women’s qualifier and was 5th overall. More on the Crested Butte qualifier here.

I spent last weekend riding on the Leadville 100 course and did about 75 miles of riding. There were lots of other riders out pre-riding the course. The course is in great shape with normally rough sections on the Columbine Climb and St Kevins graded relatively smooth.

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Leadville 100 Qualifying Races Announced

March 30th, 2011
Lance Armstrong at Leadville 100 Start

In January Life Time Fitness announced that in addition to the lottery to get into the Leadville 100 mountain bike race that they were going to have 3 qualifying races this year. By 2013 they plan to have 8 qualifying races. At the time, the race locations weren’t announced.

Now the race locations for this year have been announced. They are

  • June 19: Wilmington/Whiteface 100K, Wilmington, NY
  • July 10: Lake Tahoe Trail 100K, Lake Tahoe, NV
  • July 31: Crested Butte Alpine Odyssey, Mt Crested Butte, CO.

Registration for these qualifying races goes on sale Thursday, March 31. All races will be approximately 100 kilometers and have been vetted by Leadville Qualifying Series Technical Director Dave Wiens, a six-time LT 100 champion and member of the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame. The events are fully supported with aid stations and mechanical support, and are chip-timed.

I don’t find it surprising that the race entry fee at $125 is at the high end for that length of race. With the number of people that want to get in to Leadville, I expect they’ll get plenty of racers doing the qualifiers.

Each of the races will have 100 Leadville 100 race spots up for grabs. 50 spots will be weighted per age group for the top age group finishers. The other 50 spots will be a drawing at the race event for all other finishers under a designated cutoff time. The cutoffs will be determined per qualifying race and will be set so that those that make the time cut will have a good chance at finishing the Leadville 100 under 12 hours.

According to the Leadville Qualifying Series website riders qualifying or getting drawn will need to be present and sign up after the race.

Qualifying spots for the Leadville Trail 100 will be awarded on race day, approximately one hour after the time standard has been passed. Riders must be present to receive their Leadville spot. Racers cannot have spouses, friends, family members, colleagues or other stand-ins accept their spots. Riders must be prepared to pay in full the $275 LT100 entry fee on-site.

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