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.

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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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Silver Rush 50 2012 Start Photos

July 19th, 2012

Silver Rush 2012 Sprint to Top of Ski Hill Winner

Although the Silver Rush 50 is a great race for preparing for Leadville 100, I skipped it this year. I was up in Leadville to pre-ride the Leadville 100 course so I stopped and watched the start of the Silver Rush 50. Here are a few of the photos I took and I have more Silver Rush 50 start photos here.

The photo above is of the first racer up the ski hill getting a gold coin from Ken Clouber. The gold coin that qualify for the Leadville 100. This guy gave it his all coming up the hill so he must really want to race the Leadville 100.

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.

Related Links

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Original Growler Registration Opens

February 1st, 2012

Original Growler Logo

Registration for popular Original Growler opens this evening at 9 PM MST. Since many people that wanted to race last year didn’t get in before it filled up, they’re making some changes this year.

Instead of having the Growler and the Half Growler on the same day, they’re having them different days. The 32 mile Half Growler will be on Saturday May 26th and the 64 mile full Growler will be on May 27th.

The first 100 entries for each race will be up for grabs tonight. The next 100 entries will open on Saturday, February 18th at 7 AM. The remainder of the entries will be available Sunday, March 4th at 9 PM.

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Leadville Winter Snow Bike Races 2012

January 12th, 2012

Leadville Snow Bike Race

Leadville’s winter snow bike race series kicks off this Saturday with a night race at Copper Mountain. There are 4 races in the series. Although fatbikes like the Salsa Mukluk are ideal for riding in the snow, regular mountain bikes can be used with as wide of tire as will fit your frame and running low tire pressure.

Schedule is

  • Jan. 14th – Copper en Fuego
  • Feb. 4th – Tennessee Pass Night Jam
  • March 3rd – Mineral Belt Mayhem
  • April 7th – East Side Epic

For more details, see the Cloud City Wheelers event page.

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Fall Back Cross 2011

November 8th, 2011

Danny Summerhill at Fall Back Cross

Sunday was the Fall Back Cross race put on by USA Cycling. It was a beautiful day with lots of sun and blue skies.

The course twisted all around some empty land behind the USA Cycling headquarters and gave many great places to watch. Turn out was small but there was still some great racing.

A few photos are below and there are many more Fall Back Cross photos in my photos section. As with most photos on this blog, they can be purchased including as a digital download.

Top 5 Men 1/2

  1. Daniel Summerhill
  2. Allen Krughoff
  3. Christopher Case
  4. Bryan Mickiewicz
  5. Brian Hludzinski

Top 5 Women 1/2

  1. Rebecca Gross
  2. Kristal Boni
  3. Kristin Weber
  4. Margell Abel
  5. Melanie Long

Complete results can be found on the USA Cycling site.

Wolf Creek Pass Wins Race to Open for 2011

October 9th, 2011

Wolf Creek Ski Opening

The Wolf Creek Ski area got dumped with over 40 inches of snow in an early season snow so they decided to open for skiing yesterday. That made them the first ski area in the US open for skiing and it’s the earliest they’ve opened. They’ll be open through tomorrow October 10th and then plan to be open again for next week.

Loveland and A-Basin, long time rivals for being the first ski area in the US to open, said they may not have been the first this year but when they open they’ll be staying open.

Check out the article on OutThereColorado and also their photos.

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USA Pro Cycling Challenge Bib Numbers

August 26th, 2011

USA Pro Cycling Challenge Prologue Start

It’s great that the USA Pro Cycling Challenge has been showing live streaming of the races with the ShackTracker. They don’t always show the start of the stage but they’ve been showing a good amount live. The ads can be annoying when they cover up the racing at key times but if you use full screen mode, the ads are hidden and you just hear the ad audio.

Sometimes I can’t tell who a rider is but can see their number. Here’s a list of USA Pro Cycling Challenge rider numbers sorted by number so it’s easy to find a rider.
Read the rest of this entry »

USA Pro Cycling Challenge Prologue Photos

August 25th, 2011

Monday was a fun day in Garden of the Gods watching the top men in cycling race in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge Prologue. It was great to see so many spectators out on the course.

Below are a few of the photos I took. I have more USA Pro Cycling Challenge Photos here.

Prologue Top 10

1. Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Cervélo in 8:29
2. Jens Voigt, Leopard-Trek at :05
3. George Hincapie, BMC Racing at :05
4. Levi Leipheimer, RadioShack at :06
5. Tejay Van Garderen, HTC-Highroad at :06
6. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing at :06
7. Rory Sutherland, UnitedHealthcare at :13
8. Stef Clement, Rabobank at :14
9. Tom Danielson, Garmin-Cervélo at :15
10. Robert Gesink, Rabobank at :16

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