Who’s doing it? How’s your training going?
I’m racing single speed… we’ll see what happens.
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I might do it. Will see how I’m doing closer to the event.
My spring so far has not been good for riding. March and April I rode very little due to travel (3 weeks no riding) and sickness (worst in 30 years - Flu or Covid). I rode Moab Rocks in early April when I was sick. I still enjoyed it, but probably not a smart move, as I’m sure it set me back on my recovery.
Will see how the next 4 weeks go. I need to be a lot fitter / stronger than I am now to ride SR50. That’s a hard race.
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I’m registered. Got into LT100 via lottery (first time applying) and figured SR50 would be a good opportunity to improve my corral position and see how the body responds to the elevation since I live at sea level. I’m a little concerned that SR50 is too close to LT100 so don’t plan to go all out as my body tends to take a while to recover from hard races.
As far as how training is going… After a rough off-season due to sickness and a plan to focus on running prior to getting in LT100, I got in a solid few months until my first race of the season late February and then platued through my second race late March. No more races planned until SR and fitness seems to have been improving again over the past few weeks. Have been getting in aroumd 12 hrs most weeks but bumping up closer to 15 this week and potentially next depending on how the body feels.
Single speed sounds insane btw!
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I’m in again! I love the race and am looking forward to it. Went 4:58 last year with a crash a small mechanical. I’ve upped my training this year and am still improving… I’m setting a goal of 4:45 this year.
What made you want to ride a single speed?
Nice, I have always found the SR50 to be a great final big training day at altitude before the LT100. 12-15 hours per week is great! How much time are you spending on the MTB vs. Trainer Road? I’ve found that at Silver Rush if I have spent too much time inside and not enough on the local climbs, I suffer big time in the second half.
4:45 is a great goal time! Seems feasible given your results last year. That’s actually my goal this year as well.
I’m riding single speed as a last-ditch effort to qualify for LT100 and to switch it up and have fun.
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Type 2 fun 
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I’m doing it this year as a prep race for Leadville. I DNF’ed last year due to really having a lack of fitness going into the race (and subsequently deferred my Leadville entry to this year), so obviously hoping to improve on that this time around. I’ve been way more consistent with my training so far despite currently being in the midst of a month and a half of lots of traveling, so I’m happy with that, and looking forward to getting in some high altitude climbing this summer before race day (I live in Denver, so weekend rides up in Breck are doable). I’m shooting for a finish somewhere between 6 and 6:30, so not nearly as fast as you folks are, but I think a finish time in that range will indicate I’m doing well towards preparing for a sub-12 Leadville finish.
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haha Exactly 
I think the multiplier for the SR50 course time to the LT100 course time is about 1.8x.
So 6 hrs Silver Rush is about 10:50 on the Lt100 course.
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Mostly TR inside during the week early in the morning. Try to get outside on weekends. Looks like I ended with 15.5hrs last week with 5hrs on the road. The prior week I did about 14hrs total with 7hrs between MTB and gravel.
Unfortunately, there’s no real climbing out here though. Over the next couple months, I plan to get in some weekend trips 4 hrs away to get in some sustained climbing but those opportunities are limited.
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That’s what I thought. Realistically, I’m expecting to be closer to 6:30 than 6, but that should still indicate I’m reasonably prepared for sub-12 at Leadville. Really using the Silver Rush to gauge where my fitness is at that altitude and maybe get out of the brown corral and into white.
Curious what tires people have run, recommend, or plan to run for this race.
I just bought some new tires and - Race Rapid Dubnitals and the new 2.4 Mezcal and Peyotes. On my bike currently, I have the prior version 2.35 Trail Mezcal/Barzo combo. Also have a shelf full of other options but leaning towards one of these. Have not mounted the new tires yet so will experiment with them first regardless. Would plan to run the same tires at LT100 if they work out well for SR50 unless the courses are different enough they warrant different tires.
I’ve run 2.2 race kings for the 100. But not for the SR50, where I’ve run bigger tires for better flat protection. The SR50 course is chunkier.
The 2.4 Dubnitals have the size, but the rapid race version may not give enough protection for the SR50. Would pre ride them on some chunky rock descents to see how they do before deciding on them for the SR50.
Yeah I also have 2.2 RKs that I’ve considered for LT100 but was worried they might be more flat prone. They’ve been great on the gravel bike but I haven’t run them much on the MTB.. don’t think I’ve ever run dual RKs on MTB actually.
Before buying the new Dubs and Vittorias, I was planning to run the Mezcal/Barzo combo which I had success with in the Shenandoah Mountain 100 which is extremely rocky at times. Maybe that’s the safest bet since I’m not going into SR50 with a goal of a strong time.
Yeah, I’ll probably test both the Dubs and Peyotes on some proper descents in Brevard in the coming weeks. The old Vittorias have been great there too.
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I’ve run them the last 2 years at leadville and hundreds of miles of pre-riding on the course. Zero issues. The biggest risk of flats at leadville is banging a rim on one of the chunky/fast descents. The rocks just aren’t that sharp, so risk of sidewall cuts is low (in my opinion). I’m kind of waiting on more reports on the 2.4 dub and will debate between those an the 2.2 race kings this year. I always said I wanted a bigger volume race king, but now that it’s essentially here, I’m still debating whether it will be faster. I’m already running the race kings at ~19/20 psi, so I wouldn’t go much lower with a 2.4. I might be a little more aggressive descending on a 2.4, but not sure if it’s enough to offset the aero penalty of the wider tire.
Good to know. I’ll add them back up to the top of the LT100 options list. I went ahead and bought another pair of RKs too a few weeks ago, just in case the the Dubs end up not as good and Conti stops making the old RKs so I’ll have a new set of them too.
I’ve recently ridden with the 2.2 race kings and 2.4 Aspen front and Aspen St rear. The race kings felt better overall but would run either again. This year I’ve got the new 2.4 conti dubs coming. They will likely be what I run this time around.
What compound and casing did you go with for the dubs?
I went with the race grip for no other reason than it’s what was available.
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