100% this.
I canāt speak for Leadville but I can share that at other races Iāve done, beforehand you provide your drop bags to event staff and they transport all bags to the aid station. Then when you show up at the aid station they get your bag for you or they have them organized for you to easily find. At the end of the race they transport them back to the finish for you to pickup.
Iām not saying itās never happened to people but stealing or throwing away my bags has never been a concern for me
2 Likes
You wonāt get much from power data with walking/hiking mixed in. I doubt his is inaccurate. He had a top level bike and gear
Doesnāt make sense to me either.
My NP for the day was 196W on a quarq spider (all in with walking and descending) per TP, I weighed sub 180. Strava was 190W weighted avg. power. I came in at 9:02
1 Like
I guess forum users all have their own perspective on what qualifies as āimpressiveā. My understanding is Leadville is a pretty challenging race so to me being in top 20% in your age group is impressive. Doesnāt mean youāre elite or amazing or a world beater but it likely means youāre no slouch.
2 Likes
There are drop bag areas at some of the aid stations. I left an extra full USWE, an extra full bladder, full bottles, and bags of gels for pickup at the aid stations so I could have my own fuel. Volunteers see your number and bring out your bag fast, and then bag everything up again as you leave.
I spent ~4 minutes over two stops to replace bladders and stuff gels in my pocket and clear out trash.
Everything gets dropped off and returned back in Leadville after the race. Hundreds of people do this for the race.
4 Likes
Certainly no slouch.
But if your professional job description is essentially, ābe in the best shape possible,ā the bar is raised IMO.
Thatās awesome they do that, I didnāt know that was an option for Leadville.
Iām doing BWR Arizona in less than a couple weeks. I wonder if they do the same, Iāll have to ask.
Not like I do a ton of racing, but drop bag areas have been available at literally every race Iāve done in the last 2-3 years.
1 Like
Many possible reasons. First, itās not a time trial and itās not on tarmac. He may have gotten into better groups to ride the draft, and/or took many less pulls (or none at all). He could have picked better lines, on average, using less power to go faster while riding uphill or downhill. He could have pedaled less or not at all while descending. Etc etc.
Looking at the power and time for a Mtb race is akin to having the highest power in the crit race and wondering why you lost
1 Like
Iām well aware of the factors, I was in the race and been on that course a handful of times, but IMO thereās more to it than that when it averages out over a ~9 hour race for the power difference youāre seeing. Especially when I can look at my specific power for the race.
If it was smaller, Iād tend to agree.
Just want to jump in on this one and say how thoroughly impressed I am at Richās performance. Sub-9 is really, really hard to do, and for Rich to do that with relatively little training and with his build, just thoroughly impressive.
15 Likes
Try getting the dude on the podcast. Would be something different and interesting.
8 Likes
I watched the documentary. I think crossfit is a goofy āsportā but found it mildly entertaining and was impressed by his time for someone without a cycling background and only training at low altitude 3-4 days a week. All of the shots of riding without a jersey were pretty cringe
1 Like
My legs quit mid way through his race!
That looks very difficult
No, thats a great timeā¦ regardless of who he isā¦
3 Likes
Hmm, it made me think that I might consider doing more of it this summer! I donāt have quite the muscles to show off but it probably feels amazing with the wind on your skin instead of a shirt or jersey. Especially considering the heat and humidity he was probably riding through in a Tennessee summer.
lol, thatās a CrossFit thing and always has been from the beginning. Most CrossFit gyms (boxes) didnāt have AC and it would be quite hot and humid, so shirtless is the norm. It does look odd now that Iām a cyclist but many CrossFitters in the early days would even compete without a shirt. Itās not how it looks and is likely just because he was hot.
1 Like
Agree with all of that, but I specifically looked at a few of the climbs (including road climbs) and his climbing wattage was almost identical to mine. Those climbs are basically simple math problems without a lot of variables (especially on the same course and same conditions). I suspect he was a good bit under 190 on race day, he looked much bigger in some of those training videos vs. his race day video. Or maybe just a favorable power meter (one-sided or whatever). You could explain a small difference on climbs based on tire setup, bike weight, some drafting, etc., but there is no way someone is going to climb at the same watts if they weighed 20+lbs more than another rider on a similar bike. You can also look at the strava weight splits for some of these segments. Rich was in the 180-199lb segment and most of the people in the same weight segment (with power meters) were pushing 30-40 more watts up the segments with the same time. For me, that indicates heās likely on the lower end of that weight bracket (or even under it) and/or his power meter wasnāt accurate.
1 Like
Would love that!
3 Likes
Maybe his had a secret motor like Fabian Cancellara back in 2010 (disclaimer: I do not believe Cancellara had a motor)?