Always had this race on my list. I did Leadville in 2019. Finished in 10:40. Anyone do both and have times to compare? Faster, slower, one noticeably more difficult? Obviously I’m not in for this year, but next year…
If anyone sees me at the start line Saturday, come say hello! I’ll be in a blueish Assos jersey with a white Kask helmet on an s-works Epic 8.
What are everyone’s thoughts on hydration packs? I’d really like to avoid wearing one if possible but always have a hard time determining amount of time between aid stations. I’ll have bottles in my drop bags at 2 & 4 and my family will be at aid station 3. I could drop off or pick up a pack at any of those locations. At aid stations 1 & 5 I may just refill one of my bottles with pure water (unsure if I’m going to stop at Aid 1 @ 20 miles vs pressing to Aid 2 @ 30 miles)
Looking at the course profile, aid stations 2>3 are 15 miles and a 2000’ climb. That will probably be the longest stretch on the bike, time wise? That could push to 2.5-3 hrs possibly, so that may be the segment to have a third bottle, or pack with 1L of water.
My bike holds two 750’s, and I’ll probably shoot for one of those/hr for the first half, and aim for about 1L/hr the second half.
I did 10:38 in Leadville. Better shape now, but it’s going to be HOT. I’m shooting for 10 hours. I’ll let you know.
I’m having the same thoughts. I’m going to run a pack, go a bit hard early when it’s cool and see how it goes. I hate packs but it’s much easier for me to drink what one. If I can stay current on calories and hydration for the first half all should be well.
A friend did both last year and went 8:30ish at HC100 and 9:30ish at Leadville. Last year’s HC100 was a faster course than this year likely will be due to a higher percentage of forest roads and much cooler than typical temps. I did about 8:45 last year and despite being fitter I’d be stoked to match that this year.
Much appreciated!
I’ve got a pretty solid pace chart from riding/racing most of the segments living in Bend. I’d say its a toss up between the section between 2>3 and 3>4 on which will be longer. I’m looking at 8:45-9 hours total and both of those segments are probably 1:45 or so for me. I’m doing pure water in the bottles and tailwind in the pack. Going to have at least one hydration reservoir to swap in at the aid 2/4 drop bag (small cooler). I’m going to have ice socks in that cooler. Ice on the back really makes a difference later in the day.
Bike setup I settled on the Barzo/Mezcal race 2.4s. I’ll be on a Guerrilla Gravity Trail Pistol in a grey and black skinsuit with a bright orange POC helmet. Course setup this year has no major downhills early in the day into the sun which is a benefit because it can be really hard to pick lines with the hanging dust and the sun in your eyes. Tyler’s last year was harder than normal due to weird lighting.
Very helpful. Sounds like HC is generally a bit fast than Leadville, with an emphasis on the weather.
I’m looking around the same, so this is helpful! I’m 69kg and targeting around 180-195 NP average for the race, so really, whatever time that ends up being lol. Not being familiar with the route, if I target a time, that could be a recipe for disaster.
What are your thoughts on the amount of time from start to Aid 2? I’m wondering if I even need to stop at Aid 1.
At this point, as much as I want to optimize, I think I may just carry a pack throughout the whole race with around 1L of water, refilling as needed, or just picking up at Aid 2. I have a history of cramping and I’m already sacrificing a bit of hydration since my bottles are 750’s and not 1L’s, and I usually target 1L per hour once it warms up a bit.
Fueling I’ll be largely targeting 400 calories/hr. I’ll have 350 cals of drink mix in each 750mL, then at 30 minutes past each hour I’ll either have cliff blocks or a gel.
I love the convenience of drink mix in my pack, but I never have a good gauge at how much I’m drinking. It’s hard drinking from the bottles but figure if I can chug half a bottle every 30 mins or so, I’ll be in good shape.
Likely too late at this point but posting for posterity.
I did it last year on Schwalbe 2.4 Ricks front and rear with an insert in the rear. I’m 145# on a Yeti ASR. They were fine. My friend did barzo/mezcal and was also fine.
Watching Mikes videos the course is slightly different this year but generally central Oregon Cascades has either rock or sand so you need some traction and some durability. Plenty of recommendations in this thread in addition to my two.
Some other notes-it’s been dry, so be sure to stay in the middle of the trails. Middle = safe. If you drift off line in the sandy corners chances are high you’ll wash out. Regarding a hydration pack - while the elevation isn’t that high it is high and likely to be warm. I think it’s a good idea personally it encourages me to drink on the MTB because I can do it virtually hands free vs a bottle.
Well. That was not. Fun, albeit slow, race for me. I need much more heat training and experience on the moon dust trails of Bend. Crashed 3 times but no ill effects.
For those who’ve done Leadville & HC100, I’m curious your thoughts on which is harder? Today’s ride made me recognize how little bike handling skill is required for Leadville.
Having done both, I would say they require very different bike handling skills. Leadville rewards those who can descend on rough jeep tracks and open dirt FS roads at speed, but HC100 requires a wider variety of traditional mtb skills, and penalizes those who can’t corner efficiently on sandy, loose singletrack. The trails today were really challenging, and of the four HC100’s I have raced, had by far the highest percentage of singletrack vs FS roads. I bet it was 75%, and that is exhausting! I almost lost my front wheel too many times to count. That made it the hardest route of the four I have done- punchy, loose, some steeps, and more technical- especially sharp lava rock gardens. There seemed to be more DNF’s today than in the past as well. Most of Leadville’s climbing lets you settle into a rhythm and is much easier to keep power output consistent. There is also a lot more miles where you can let it rip down relatively straight, high speed descents. There is almost none of that at HC100- the ups and downs are all super twisty and super flowy tight trails. I am curious to see if the top finishing times were slower than previous years. I
I drafted behind Jonathan Lee, held his wheel pretty well…..,in the packet pickup line on Friday 
. He was hours ahead of me in the race!
This is a good take. Overall I thought the course was pretty fair. The sand, dust and shadow all seemed to conspire to make things consistently challenging. I won’t use the word “relentless” because the course kept changing, but there were few “mental breaks” to relax your brain.
One thing I’ll say is that the race itself is extremely well run. The course markings were fantastic, and the regular email updates (I got the wrap up mail while writing this) kept people updated.
Highly recommended!
Agreed, the vibe at the finish line is super friendly and welcoming, the aid station volunteers are amazingly efficient and helpful, and the whole event is really geared towards helping riders of all abilities find success. It has the best qualities of both a local race and a big national one. I will be back next year.
Definitely a harder course than last year. Winning times were about 20 minutes slower than last year which is expected with ~1000 ft more climbing and a higher percentage of singletrack (maybe 65% though. As a local the advice that middle of the trail is safe is very good and applies every year. Dealing with the moon dust is a skill by itself and being efficient in cornering saves a ton of energy. I’d like to second shouting out the volunteers. The Aid 2/4 team was super efficient and kept thing moving along.
My race went about as well as I could have predicted, was always a little bit up on my pace chart with the exception of the funner climb which is a slog at that point in the race. Came in 2 minutes faster overall than last year which I’m proud of considering I think the course was slower overall than last year. Jumped about 50 places in the overall placing, but I think that is a mix between fewer strong riders turning up this year and my improvement relative to the field.
If you enjoyed this race, Ring of Fire in September is a distilled version with almost all singletrack that starts out of Wanoga. Puts you into the fun right away.
What a day the race was yesterday. I woke up wired at 12:50 a.m but one thing I remembered from my first 100 mile gravel race where that happened a couple years ago, it’s moreso the days leading up to the event that counts and it had no impact over the day.
I had minimal expectations other than stay safe, pace well, and finish strong. Equal pace does not mean equal effort. By the time I hit aid 3 with my wife, parents, and 4 & 1 year old there, I was feeling fantastic. My “loose” goal was around 180 NP & came in at a season low 153 lbs
I’m new and a pretty inexperienced mountain bike rider. I moved to Washington last fall and have probably had around 6-8 real mtb rides since moving. I did have a chance to pre ride about 45 miles of the course.
At around mile 55 I did go over the bars down a steep jagged rocky section. Was going slow and I thought I had just cut up my knee, but an hour later I realized I got my ribs pretty dang good as that started to set in. Didn’t impact the race too much.
With not being familiar with much of the course, and struggling to keep up descending, the biggest help I found was to try and hang on to the riders in front of me and watch their lines. I’d typically get dropped a bit on the descents but catch up during the climbs. I passed a lot at aid stations and the gravel/pavement mixed in.
Speaking of climbs, several people used the term “death by a thousand cuts.” This was fitting, but didn’t really affect me until miles 70-80 where I was pretty over single track. I was yearning for some road/gravel as my legs still felt strong but everything else was pretty beat down. Where I live, our gravel/mtb riding is primarily like 500-1200’ steady climbs, then descend, then do that over and over. Because of that, the climbs on this really had little impact compared to what I’m used to.
The last pavement section I absolutely crushed it. About 4.5 miles in length, and I chased down a guy who was probably a mile ahead. 9 hrs, 30 mins in, and I was really proud of the 220-230 watts I was putting down.
I finished just a hair under 10 hrs and a NP of 179. Im historically a very bad cramper despite awesome fueling/sodium, but despite a terrible lat clamp and fighting off a small leg one at the end, I did well there. It was wild to have a cramp in my left lat. for a cyclist, my upper body is crazy strong (I can do 15-20 wide grip pull ups), but it eventually went away.
I was amazed to see @Jonathan time compared to my own. He finished nearly 2.5 hrs ahead, although we’re within about 3-5lbs of body weight (I’m heavier) and nearly identical AI FTP. I’d credit that largely to bike handling skills and probably overall durability (I’ve been cycling about 2.5 years). I’d be very curious to see his race breakdown and see where they differ.
Overall an amazingly run race. Support, communication, trail markings, racers, atmosphere, were all some of the best I’ve ever seen. This was my first MTB race, but I’m signed up for Ring of Fire in September. I normally do gravel races and I think if I can improve my mtb skills enough, I can be a reasonably strong racer with my climbing abilities.
I am a couple pounds heavier than you, i did an NP of 188, finished in 8:30. I agree, the downhills is where i bleed a lot of time compared to the guys around me. About 5-7 guys caught me from mile 75 to the road section, mainly b/c i was just over the single track, and do not know the trails at all, i rode cautiously.
First time doing the race and had a great time! The course was so well marked you really didn’t need to think about it and the volunteers were not only super nice but were super efficient. I only stopped at #3 to pick up my hydration pack and swap bottles and by the time I came to a stop they had my pack held out to me and were already pulling my spent bottles. So cool!
My goal was 7:45 but had some GI issues around mile 50 → 75 or so and had to way back off the effort and could only sip my mixture and not take any more carbs. Then spent a few minutes helping SS racer with a spare tube and C02 but I was fumbling trying to get my saddlebag back on 
Came back to real life around mile 80 and caught a lot of folks on the descents who all looked like they were hurting. Tiddlywinks sure hits different when your 80+ miles into a race! Overall. Burned it down on the road with a guy I’d caught and made it to the last singletrack first so that made for an exciting finish in 8:22 and NP of 220 at 163lbs (74kg)
Think will a little better gut training and trail knowledge sub 8 is realistic for next year. Great job to everyone out there, that race is definitely a burly one!
I did the high cascade 100 race this last weekend as a Bend local so I had an advantage of knowing the trails really well. I’m doing Leadville in a month and would like a big buckle. I know the rerouted course is unknown still but I’d like to estimate my finishing time. I finished HC100 in 8:45. If you have any input on this I would really appreciate it!