2x finisher. I really liked having it on the long descents for aero as well as the rough downhill return trip through the rocky stream bed.
Last year while pre-riding the course, my dropper was stuck in the up position. I am 6’2 and like to aggressively descend… felt like I had no confidence without the dropper. With a working dropper post on race day I ended up going 5 minutes faster on just the final 7.35mi descent.
anyone who’s done both this and bailey hundo (km version) care to compare? I just did the hundo decently and wondering if I’m “there” (and can try to sustain) for silver rush 50 or should look to improve more in the next few weeks.
I realize the courses are vastly different (fire roads vs singletrack) but just curious about the fitness aspect.
I wouldn’t, and am not.
Any time you save on climbs could be made up by your lower aero tuck on the first long descent, and you’ll be faster on the final descent, especially if you’re cooked.
Have done the Silver Rush 4x, and used a dropper each time.
If I was riding again this year (I’m not; I was too late in registering, and the event filled up), I’d keep the dropper post on. There are enough steep descents where it’s nice to get the seat post out of the way. Plus, on the smooth gravel descent into Printer Boy, it’s allows you to get more aero and coast.
How important the dropper post is probably depends on how tall you are, and how aggressively you want to ride the descents - I.e. if you’re tall, and want to go fast on the downs, the dropper is more of a benefit.
I rode the LT100 one year without a dropper (the dropper was malfunctioning and lowering on its own, so I swapped it out for a rigid post), and another year with a dropper. If I was to ride the LT100 again, I’d keep the dropper on. The weight penalty just isn’t that much, and similar to Silver Rush, there are a number of long descents where it’s lice to just sit low and coast, or have more room to move the bike underneath you - e.g. going over any water bars at speed (e.g. Kevins) on a descent is kinda dangerous without a dropper.
Silver Rush typically correlates for me to your Hundo time minus 1 to 1.5 hours.
Silver Rush is a pure climbing fitness test. You just ride your bike up long ass climbs then down some long but overwhelmingly straight line descents. There’s chunk at Silver Rush but effectively no cornering.
Hundo is much punchier profile in comparison and way more importance on cornering ability in the kitty litter.
For a heavier, punchier rider then Silver Rush might actually be the harder race, but for a climber it’s “easier”.
I am interested in hearing everyone’s fueling, hydration, crew, and pacing plan.
Last year I carb loaded 7-800g the two days leading up and felt great. (So starting today!)
Per hour I need 2 L fluids, ~100g Carb, and 1800mg Na. I sweat a stupid amount, and without high sodium will begin cramping.
I’ll have family at Printer Boy out/in, and Stumptown to swap hydration pack/bottles. Last year my stoppage time was about 5 minutes for crew and crash/slight mechanical. Hoping to get that down to under 1 minute.
My pacing worked well last year and I hope to replicate it. Went a bit too hard on first big climb NP=255w, and then settled in at lower power (~220-30w NP) until I got back to Printer Boy, where I had enough in me to empty the tank on the final climb back up to Iowa Gulch NP=233. The long descent back brought my legs back to sprint up the small rollers and single track at the very end. My fitness is a little better this year, so I’m hoping to keep similar power on first climb, and slightly higher NP on the rest.
In other news I saw there’s a small forest fire south of Leadville that may impact air quality this weekend 
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Last year I wore a neck gaiter and covered my mouth for the dust clouds at the start. The very first year I couldn’t believe how much dust got in my lungs in the high traffic start. Planning on using the gaiter again.
Nice! Sounds like you have a well thought out plan based on experience. I too have learned, especially at 10k elevation, 1.5 of fluid per hour is necessary. I bonked hard 2 years in a row on the final climb thinking my typical 1L of fluids was enough. Definitely not.
My plan is to have 1.5L per hour with 1200mg sodium per hour. Shooting for 90-120 g of carbs per hour split between bottle mix and gels.
I don’t have crew at aid stations this year, so might start with a full hydration pack and empty bottles with carb mix and just using the aid station. I figure I’ll get maybe 3 minutes stop time total with this strategy. Going to have salt tabs and extra gels in my pockets since I won’t get to choose my bottle mix later in the race.
How did the day go for everyone? This was my first time racing it or even riding in Leadville for that matter. There was definitely more hike a bike than I expected. It was a hard day but went about as hoped. Only regrets are not checking bottle cage bolts for tightness in advance 
and not filling my jersey bottle up at Stumptown which meant I had to stop at the last aid station too. Ended up 5 hrs 16 min… Right in the middle of my target window but I faded quite a bit the second half.
Blue loctite is even better than bolt check, pretty much eliminates the possibility of the bolts working loose. Nice job, sounds like a great day if those are your only regrets.
Yep, that’s exactly where my mind went! Also realized that my new multitool doesn’t have the 2.5mm (I think) size needed for the cage bolts so going to sacrifice a half gram and replace the titanium bolts with standard ones that came on the bike just in case.
Aside from the objective of improving my 100 corral, the other primary goal was to see how much elevation impacted my performance with no acclimation since I flew in the day before. Unfortunately, I found that strategy didn’t seem to work well so I’m now planning to spend close to 2 weeks acclimating and hope that helps.
I had a pretty good day finishing in 4:55. Improved by a little over 2 minutes from last year. Moving time was only 20 seconds faster lol. No crashes this year, faster stops, and 1 additional stop at Printer Boy out.
Early on I was discouraged as my normalized power was routinely 20 W lower on the climbs from last year— may need to get my power meter recalibrated—I was shocked that I was right on track for my planned 4:50 pace until the final climb after Printer Boy…. I had no legs or lungs for it compared to last year.
After the descent, I surprisingly finished with more in the tank than last year and overall feel better/fitter… just can’t get too discouraged about on the power number on my Garmin.
I was on a per hour 100g carbs, 1800mg Na, 2L from 3 bladders with Skratch High Carb, 1 Clif Blok, and 1 Maurten 320. Crew didn’t make it to Printer Boy In, so I refilled a bottle and kept going. Missed out on some nutrition and fluid at the end but I was on track leading up to that. Will bump up my carb intake for the LT100. The 7 scoops of Skratch + sodium citrate in my pack tasted like water.
NP 213w (last year 234w)
AP 173W (last year 192)
Avg HR 151 (same)
weight=203lbs (+2lbs from last year)
Finished 5:06:01.
2 years ago someone hit me on the first descent and I had to go get stitches and concussion check. So i was a bit cautious the 1st half. After the turn around i turned it on on the road climbs. I am a better climber than down hill baby head bomber on the little bike so i was a bit cautious on that S-bend descent.
I knew i was close to 5 hours so i had to try and not use the break on the long last descent. Really need to get faster downhill. Could have broke 5hrs
Time 5:06.01 | 118th overall 26th age.
NP 205w
AP 160w
Avg HR 155
Weight 181lbs with gear on race day
Fun reading everyone’s race reports. Seems like you all had good days out there!
I decided last minute to ride geared. I started the race for the first hour feeling awful and thought it was going to be a race of survival for me. Luckily, I burned through the cobwebs and by the second big climb was feeling good. For the first time ever in this race I finished strong and had a blast on the final decent! I think that is due to nailing my hydration, nutrition, and carb loading before the race.
Finished in 4:42
Raced without a power meter and I think this helped me race on feel
100+g carbs/hour
1000mg sodium per hour
1.2ish L water per hour