Burro Racing Movie

April 3rd, 2013

A couple years ago we were in Leadville for the Leadville Boom Days and the burro race. I believe the burro race is about 21 miles. Not only do you run most of a marathon through the mountains but you have to convince your burro to keep running.

For Boom Days they had a few burros that spectators could race a couple blocks on main street while waiting for the racers to finish. My daughter and I gave it a try. They told us to start and everyone else took off. Our burro just stood there and didn’t want to go. Somehow I managed to convince it to go and then managed to run fast enough to catch up and take the lead just before the finish.

Now there’s a movie about pack-burro racing. “Haulin’ Ass,” by New York filmmaker Trevor Velin, explores Colorado’s indigenous sport. It won the Mountain Film Award and the prestigious Golden Badger Award for Wisconsin Filmmaking. The film is a documentary about one of the most challenging, yet least recognized, sports in modern culture. It follows three men in their quests to take the triple crown while overcoming their own mental and physical obstacles.

The film captures the images and spirit of this remarkable and offbeat adventure sport, while also exploring the personal lives of three devoted competitors — Hal Walter of Westcliffe, Curtis Imrie of Buena Vista, and Roger Pedretti of La Crosse, Wisc.

“Haulin’ Ass” is showing here in Colorado Springs tomorrow evening, April 4th at Stargazers, 10 South Parkside Drive. Doors open at 6 PM and the show starts at 7 PM. There will be a special appearance of Hal Walter, 6 time World Champion burro racer.

Admission is $10 in advance amd $15 at the door. Advance tickets may be purchased online at www.imathlete.com/events/haulinass.

You can order the “Haulin’ Ass” DVD from the website.

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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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Ring the Peak Race 2012 Photos

October 7th, 2012

Ring the Peak Race 2012

Ring the Peak started and ended frosty with icy drizzle as we started. It was chilly but pretty nice in between with even some blue skies and sun. I had asthma issues the second half and had to keep stopping to warm my fingers from Elk Park down to Pipeline. I had frost on my eyelashes and my bottle froze on the decent. It wasn’t as cold from Pipeline down but still plenty cold. I was 1:25 faster than last year with 10:50. I was still slow but headed in the right direction.

Here’s a few photos until I get a chance to write up more on the race.

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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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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.

Gravel Grinding Across the Prairie

April 6th, 2012

Typical AntiEpic Gravel Grinder Scenery

Back in January it seemed like a good idea. Having a bike race goal would help me focus on training. April 7th was a long ways off and I’ve have time. Now April 7th is almost here and my fitness is lacking.

Sure I’m in week 6 of the Progressive Power class at Carmichael Training Systems. I can tell doing hard interval workouts has made me stronger. I did a 84 mile ride last week. I was slow but I could have ridden longer. I’m in the best shape I’ve been this time of year in a while but still not where I need to be.

In spite of not feeling ready, I plan to roll out on the AntiEpic Gravel Grinder. Fortunately it’s across rolling prairies instead of long, steep mountain climbs. The part that will be tough is it’s 150 miles of gravel. That used to be no big deal for me but I haven’t ridden that far since my RAAM attempt in 2006.

In any case it’ll be a day of bike riding on what’s forecast to be a decent spring day. I’m sure I’ll enjoy some of the day and other times I’ll be suffering.

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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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