Buena Vista is nice, but I think you’ll spend more time driving from there vs. some of the options in the other direction. Sure, columbine is gonna be closer to BV, but most of the interesting parts of the course are close to leadville. When I’m up there for a couple weeks, I might hit columbine one day, but pretty much all of my pre-rides happen between the bottom of Kevins and the bottom of Powerline.
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You beat me to it, basically saying the same thing.
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Once, but that’s a long ass time in the car for a 1.5h ride.
Again, I appreciate that it may seem like nothing in America, I was just completely overwhelmed by how much driving I had to do on this trip. I found it exhausting tbh.
But yeah, I guess it’s that or suck up paying over the odds for accommodation.
Biggest problem was definitely having no food / supermarkets nearby, which obviously Leadville, Frisco or Copper Mountain would fix.
It’s definitely not “nothing” and definitely not a regular occurrence. But Leadville is in a remote, rugged area. The infrastructure of convenience is just not there, nor would it be sustainable for the other 50 weeks of the year if it did exist.
You can ride out your door daily in Breck and just make one long trip to Columbine and maximize the convenience of stores, food and lodging with a minimum of inconvenience.
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I camped in my van for a few days near Twin Lakes, then moved to a motel 2 nights before the race. It was perfect for letting me pre-ride some parts of the course. Prior to camping I stayed in Breckenridge which is 45min away with my family (great for kids and wives who don’t want to be eating/drinking/sleeping bikes).
@Textuality I have a Starlink satellite internet system and it’s great. Sounds like that’s something you might benefit from. $150/mo
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Copper Mountain to Twin Lakes Dam is about 45 - 50 min. It’s an easy relaxing drive.
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I stayed in a Frisco Airbnb this summer and it worked out really well. However, I did drive A LOT for all of the preriding. I like to get each climb and descent in multiple times. I was also a little stressed morning of and set the alarm for 3:30 to be fully awake before leaving the house at 5:00.
So on the drive across the country on Sunday I booked an Airbnb in Leadville for 2 weeks next year (can cancel if I don’t get in). Was roughly $250 a night and three blocks from the start line. Looking forward to all the st Kevin’s and Powerline rides from the door next year as well as setting my alarm for 4:45 on race day.
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Funny, I got so annoyed with it whilst I was out there that I actually looked that up. Definitely worth consideration.
Yeah, I definitely didn’t like having to get up so early. Spent the entire week trying to go to bed earlier and earlier so I could do about 03:45 on race day.
At home I don’t get up until 09:30!
I had a place booked in Leadville but switched it to Copper (stage race) and Frisco (LT100) since I sleep really bad at altitude. I personally like Frisco the best as it is not much further and there are more restaurants/grocery stores.
Another option to cut down on the drive to Columbine is park at Fish Hatchery and ride out to Columbine on the course (less Outward Bound). This is what I did when I pre-road and worked out really well. Fish Hatchery is close to Leadville plus there is a bunch of parking and a porta potty.
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I have no idea what it costs to rent a nice camper van (or full sized camper) these days, but they have a lot of advantages and I bet it’s not much different than renting a decent place. We’ve stayed in our sprinter van for 2+ weeks each of the last 3 years for Leadville and find it way better than a house or hotel. A van gets tight with more than 2, but there are campers that can easily handle bigger groups. It basically becomes a mobile base camp for all your activities and you never have to pack/unpack anything since it’s all with you. Depending on the camper and it’s amenities, you may need to stay at an RV park for power/water/showers/toilets/etc., but there is an RV park called “Sugarloafin” conveniently located between the bottom of powerline and the road to Kevins. Our van doesn’t need hookups and we just stay on public lands the entire time (including spots on the race course). There are a bunch of racers who do this and there is so much BLM land around Leadville that it’s easy to find a spot even in the days leading up to the race. Internet can be a challenge, especially for streaming (we watched a bunch of the olympics this year). We get by OK with a cell booster but will probably bite the bullet on starlink at some point. After the big spike in RV/camper sales during covid, I’d bet it’s a buyers/renter’s market these days, but I haven’t really looked recently.
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You know, given what I paid to rent the car whilst I was there, I bet an RV would come in cheaper after accommodation is considered.
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If you go that route, check out Outdoorsy (https://www.outdoorsy.com/?cam=g772079689&subcam=42156283353_kwd-299058442686&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_ZC2BhAQEiwAXSgClgqusXdkYwJq1co0dAkRPuWPs8AG1yqN4bRLnWNw__c_6cffS5Ug3hoCv5gQAvD_BwE). A lot of people in Denver/Summit rent out their camper vans.
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@grwoolf I have both a WeBoost and Starlink. I think the Starlink is well worth the money. The WeBoost is kind of a toy whereas Starlink is for business. I also have a Sprinter, it’s been a game changer.
Yeah, we’re retired these days, so our connectivity requirements aren’t nearly as critical as they used to be. And retirement also makes me a cheap SOB (expect cycling stuff) so trying to avoid another monthly fee. The weboost doesn’t work miracles in complete dead zones, but it’s definitely been worth the price of admission. In many of the places we camp, it’s enough to turn a single bar (no connectivity) into enough to stream video. But I’ve got a buddy with starlink and have used it whenever we camp together. It’s solid and it’s only a matter of time before I cave. Waiting for a sale on the new mini version.
Another vote for staying in Breck. Boreas Pass is great for traffic free Columbine-like climbs. The trails are amazing as well if you want to sneak in some single track to keep spirits high. Agree with an earlier poster–not sure how many looks you need at the actual course. I did a one day recon of Powerline up and down and then drove over to do St Kevins knowing it would be a crucial chokepoint on race day (white corral here!). No regrets on missing the rest of the course until race day.
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By the way, when we stayed in Breckenridge the week before Leadville, we enrolled our kids in MTB Camp from Monday-Friday 1-5pm. Pretty awesome!
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Plus if you stay in Breck, you get to treat yourself to some proper singletrack!
Boreas pass is a good road. There are two great/steep climbs off of Boreas when you get bored of going up and down to Section House (top of the pass): Indiana Creek and Penn Gulch. They’re only about 20’ish minute climbs but are steep and loose 4x4/dirt roads. We used to have weekly races that utilized those climbs/descents. Though Indiana has been graded due to the clear cutting. Good practice for descending that type of stuff too. American Gulch would also be a good climb/descent to test your Columbine legs
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I am sad to report I did not hit the single track in Breck. Next year😃
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Didn’t want to start a new thread, but this is somewhat related to Leadville and all the recent talk of Breck.
For those who don’t know, Howard Grotts is a 3x winner of Leadville, a Lifetime Grand Prix competitor, Olympian, and winner of many other epic mountain bike events. Howard was 1 mile away from the finish line at Breck Epic last week when he crashed and sustained serious injuries. He was found unconscious and airlifted to Denver.
His injuries no longer appear to be life threatening, but he faces a long road to recovery. The organizers of Breck Epic, an event I can’t recommend enough, have organized a Gofundme to help him and his family on this long journey. I’m not going to guilt trip anyone, but I’ll include links below if you’d like to support him.
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That’s awful.
Before I read that I was about to post that I generally wont ride singletrack in the week before an event that’s important to me… because yeah, this sort of thing can happen.
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