Likewise, I timed the hail perfectly! 
1 Like
3 Likes
Lifetime’s video recapping the Pro race is up on YouTube.
6 Likes
Back home in TX and have spent a little time dorking out on numbers, etc. Overall, it was a solid race for me and a great way to wrap up a fun couple weeks in the mountains. Great to meet @BCM and ride with so many other awesome folks out there. It’s really cool that we had so many TR folks finishing close to each other. One of my teammates nailed a 10:18 on his first try after struggling at silver rush, so I was psyched for him. Another friend finished his first in about 10.5 hours, I doubt he could have done it in 15 hours a year ago. I know we all get caught up in what happens on race day with target times and cutoffs, but there is also a lot to celebrate on what everyone did to get to the starting line.
This was my 4th attempt and it was my best executed race, but my 8:44 was 3 minutes slower than last year. Good nutrition, good pacing, happy thoughts all day (even when I didn’t love the time splits as the race progressed). Conditions were good this year, but last year was pretty much perfect. My NP for 2024 was 5 watts higher than last year and I was about a minute faster at the turn around, but was almost 8 minutes slower getting back to powerline inbound (again, on higher power). I made up a little of that on the final home stretch and finished strong, but no PR for me.
Very happy to execute well and get in under 9, but I don’t think there is anything I could have done on race day to hit my 8:30 stretch goal. My plan was to ride within myself for the first half and then see what my fitness could do on the way back. I felt good at the top of columbine and PR’d the first half of the race by about a minute. I was riding well on the way back to powerline (based on the power numbers), but the time splits just weren’t coming down like I was hoping they would. I felt decent at the bottom of powerline, but I wasn’t any faster climbing than prior years (~45 minutes for PL climb all 3 years I’ve gone sub 9). I just suck at that climb with the surgy nature, it’s the only spot on the course I always see people passing me in significant numbers. I lost 4 spots (age group) in that stretch and I was mostly solo the rest of the way home and finished feeling strong. It’s the first time I’ve finished that race and wasn’t counting down the miles to get off the bike.
Lessons learned? I’m still trying to figure those out, but I’ll probably tweak my training approach if I do it again next year (which is likely). Leadville wasn’t my A race this year, so I took a bit of a flyer on the training approach and haven’t done any intervals above sweet spot since May. Part of that was being burnt out on intervals after my Unbound prep, but I also wanted to see if a focus on a big volume plan focused on sweet spot climbing could make a significant impact at Leadville (where pretty much all the extended climbing is around sweet spot). And I think that approach helped in some ways (+5 NP for the race, felt really good on all the steady climbs and flat sections), but I struggled to recover on the chunky/surgy stuff where maybe some v02max work could have helped me. And I do most of my training on the road, so I probably could use some prep on chunky/surgy surfaces and climbs (hard to find around here). My only cramp of the day was that first section of chunky boulevard ~15 minutes before the finish, but I was fine again pushing decent watts once it smoothed out a bit. My other negative (same as last year) is having to pee 4x during the race, including in the first 90 minutes. While I had less than 5 minutes of stop time this year, over 4 minutes of that is for peeing (watching 4-5 people ride by every time). Not sure if that’s just the reality of being 55, but it tends to happen in long races where I’ve done a massive carb load, so maybe some kidney weirdness from all the carbs/sugar being consumed. I’m not sure <8:30 is every going to be in the cards for me (even with great course conditions), but I know I need to get better on powerline and some of the other surgy sections to have a shot. Something to think about for next year.
Congrats again to everyone who lined up on Saturday and thanks for all the insight and support provided in this thread.
20 Likes
You know what LT100 and LTGP in general needs?
Qualifier races in Europe.
Pick a couple of marque races and hand out some entries to spice up the whole thing.
Yes, it is as popular as it gets and not much incentive in putting in the effort to pull even more punters but why not 
2 Likes
100% agreed. I’ve suggested it to them a number of times over the years but they’re clearly not interested.
This is what i use on the trainer(way cheaper than gels) and i carry a stash with me on races/bikes. They have saved me more than once. The sour sensation helps stop cramps using the same mechanism as pickle juice and they tempt my jaded palate when i am struggling.
we were apparently riding together and didn’t know it. (I had rainbow I9s)
Were you in the green Rapha kit?
1 Like
same. So inspiring! i cant imagine not having the option to just walk when i cant pedal anymore.
Yes…
I was in green but it was a local company. green/blue/white plaid jersey, green vest, arms, socks.
It’s not a LT100 qualifier, but Lifetime is sticking it’s toes into the EU waters next year with it’s first EU qualifier for Unbound. I’m not sure how deep their international aspirations go, but I could see them expanding to a leadville qualifier at some point if the Heathland race goes well. That said, the gravel event space is a lot more crowded with different events right now and everyone is trying to lock in market share, so starting with an EU Unbound qualifier makes a bit more sense compared to leadville (which is a pretty unique race and much more limited numbers). Said another way, I’d bet Leadville is still one of the toughest tickets in town, while Unbound has a lot more competition for entries and also has a lot more entries to sell. Makes perfect sense that they would start with Unbound.
1 Like
Thanks. I think you missed the link, could you please share? The cramp on Saturday was manageable and that was the last chunk section, but I’d love to keep something on the bike that didn’t weigh much but acted like pickle juice.
First off…congrats on a great race and your race report.
As for peeing…I am 51 and had the opposite from you only going once during the entire race…outside of the race that is opposite 
I also did the extended carbo loading from the Wednesday before the race, went with 600g carbs per day for the three days prior to race day.
Christian
1 Like
We chatted a bit on the return trip to Pipeline and up also up the Turquoise Lake road climb. I was on the blue Allied BC40 in the Velocio kit.
Most definetely and he had that thing on turbo mode! Haha not trying to shade him, still think it was super cool but he was absolutely flying up Columbine when he passed me. He definetly had the Bosch motor ripping at that point…
Here is the full write up on his bike:
2 Likes
Great write up and congrats on a great race!
I have had the same issue having to pee every 45-60 minutes when I hydrate really well. I have realized to be careful how much I drink before a long ride/race. I will hydrate really well with electrolytes for two days prior to a long race but will cut my water intake the evening before and only take sips of an electrolyte mix the morning of. I will also start drinking my mix bottle a little at the start line. I am still up all night peeing clear but this has worked well for me to prevent constantly stopping. I ended up not stopping once to pee during the LT100 and never felt dehydrated.
Now if I could have not waisted over 30 minutes stoppage time fixing flats and chains that would have helped but that is another story 
2 Likes
Was your Unbound prep more focused on VO2 than Leadville - presumably to be able to stick with the pack for the first part of the race and bank a bunch of time?
While I’m only going to be fun riding / base work through at least early to mid October - I’m in Unbound next year, so at least starting to think about how I want to structure training. Need to get the Gravel Bike built when I get home too - still traveling around CO this week before heading home this weekend.
I think that I had to stop to pee twice (maybe 3x?), and that was even with me focusing on trying not to over-hydrate. 3 Hours before the race I had a caffeine pull, half a liter of fluids with ~500-t600 mg of sodium, and a bunch of carbs, and then no more until the race started. There was a period during the race where I started to feel my stomach feeling just a hair off, so dropped from 120 g/hr to 80g/hr for 2 hours and focused on just getting in fluids. I think ultimately that led to me taking in a little much, but still better than stomach issues and I was good for the rest of the day.
It’s pretty rare for me that I don’t have to stop, especially in warmer / drier weather because I’m so conscious of how bad it can go.