Huge thanks to the Trainerroad guys for my Leadville Performance as well!!
the prep for my race I had documented a bit here: How running fitness translates to cycling FTP and fitness. N=1 case study
cliffs notes, I was solely running until the end of February, where I finished a BQ marathon run, and switched over to MTB to qualify for Leadville Via Austin Rattler.
leaving off from that thread, after the rattler, I was able to do a lot more outdoor rides, and was down to indoors only when weather was bad or trails were closed (most of may). I did my commute to work 9 miles each way likely 3 times a week, and was averaging around 8-12hrs a week of riding to build for Leadville. I did another ramp test around June 17th and hit 325 watts, or above my goal race p/w of 4.25 at 4.3 W/kg. from there I drifted away from the prescribed TR plans because I like biking outside to much, so I stuck to trails when I could, long weekend rides, and maybe 1-2 indoor rides a week tops. I also went away from the vo2 max rides on the trainer because I got good workouts doing a Thursday night short track MTB series here (roughly 40 minute races, racing the A group, podiumed every time in fields of 20+ people. )
So onto Leadville race. I arrived Sunday night with my family, and Monday I did a 2 hour ride from the copper mountain village up the Colorado trail for around 1:45:00… I made it I think 3/4 of the way to the top of the that climb before needing to turn around and head back down. spectacular views everywhere on that trail. its a must for anyone in the area. Also saw that Rose Grant rode the same section that day according to strava, and I passed by her when I was coming back down. cool to see pros in the wild! spectacular views above the treelike!
Wednesday I joined the Leadville podcast ride up Columbine (at least 5/8th of the way up). my first view of any of the course… it was humbling how long the climb was… but thankfully it was technically really simple. I was fortunate to do most of that ride with Dave Zabriskie.
Thursday I did the Gu energy Labs pre-ride up st Kevins with several guys from my newly joined Mckinney Velo Club, and a slew of other Leadville racers. It was a good ride getting a feel for the start and finish (super important it turned out), showing me about how long the end is. This ride I saw Rose Again, and actually got to talk with her, and its really awesome hearing peoples stories in person. Turns out we were staying in the same condo complex in Copper!
Moving on to Race day, I started in the Red Corral. with a target time of 8:30 to 9:00. The plan was to carry a 1.5L camelback with 4 SIS gels in the pockets, along with two bottles (one big and one small), all with scratch in them to twin lakes alternate where my wife was at.
The start was uneventful, a slow climb up Kevins, fast decent, and a decent climb up and down power line. By then I had a great group to ride with (we were pace lining at 25+mph at one point), and we flew through the road/flats to pipeline aid station where some of the group pitted. I continued on with a few from the group, and kept pace through twin lakes aid station. by this point If I remember correct I was a bit ahead of my target time according to the sticker with split times I had on the top tube. I think was I showing around a 8:15 estimated time.
Between Twin Lakes and twin lakes alternate, Chris Opie from GMBN rode up on me. I noticed his GoPro chest mount so I grabbed his wheel until I had to pit at the alternate. Here I ditched the camelback, grabbed two fresh bottles, a PB&J sandwich, and some new SIS gels. the climb up Columbine wasn’t great for me. my pace was a little slow as I lost a ton of places. I’m pretty confident @Jonathan was one of the early people to pass me as I saw the TR kit… he was moving faster then I wanted to climb at. my slower pace I think helped me get through the rest of the race at a good clip. I reached the summit right on target for a 8:30 finish, zipped up my vest and headed back down.
At the alternate aid station again, I grabbed my refilled camelback again, and two more bottles and headed out, pretty much solo all the way to twin lakes aid. Here I grabbed Ty Halls wheel. we slowly accumulated more and more riders in our group as we rode to pipeline aid station. the group shifted people as some stopped and others didn’t… we had a few working together on the road leading up to power line where I knew I was going to walk the steep section because my back was bothering me and. I needed to give it and my legs some rest. Just as I planned, I walked it. lol. mid way through I remounted and pedaled up the rest of that section to another team mate dressed as a pizza who gave me some much needed straight water at the top of that section, and an ice pack for my neck. I also ditched my camelback and vest with him as it was getting to hot by this time of the day.
I cleaned the rest of power line climb if my memory serves me correct… but I was cursing at every false flat. lol. coming down the hill I thought something was wrong with my bike it was coasting so slowly… but it was just me sitting up so straight to stretch my back. The climb back up to the top of Kevins on that road was great for me. I was solo, but I cruised past a bunch of people picking back many of the places I had lost at Columbine. I also descended Kevins Solo, and right at the bottom, was rejoined by Ty Hall and 3 others. they had a good pace going, so I grabbed a wheel and hung on. they flew through the streets heading back to town. and when we got to the last dirt climb, and flat, the group kind of fell apart. they asked me to pull through and take a pull, which I obliged, but I think they had spent themselves on their pulls and I just pedaled away from most of them. Ty managed to hang and by the time we got to the last street, he walked away from me as well, likely to pass one final guy for his charity work before the finish! I finished a few seconds behind him, at 8:33:08.
Overall the experience was amazing! Hands down the best run bike race ive ever done. everyone was super nice, and there was so much energy the entire way through the course. I don’t think I would do the race again though (at least not for another few years(, as its just a really long time on the bike, and quite painful for someone not out there to win. Ive got several other races I would like to try such as BC bike race, Breck Epic, and the Glacier 360 Iceland stage race.
some of the details on my effort, the bike was a 2019 s-works epic FS. I changed the shifting out to grip shift, and added a second of the specialized ribcages. Also running a 34 tooth chainring as I have a relatively slow cadence. it also has a bell for passing on the left grip, and I was using a Garmin Fenix 5X watch on my bar for GPS. I had a wahoo speed and cadence sensor, and a Garmin HR chest strap. no power on the bike yet sadly, but I managed by just controlling my effort. I was also using a brand new set of the s-works fast track tires… had them mounted 1 week before the race. I was running 20.5/21psi. time carbon TI pedals (they were pissed off all race for some reason, with the carbon shells squeaking basically the entire time). The chain and cassette were also brand new, replaced under warranty 1 week before the race (it was having shifting problems that replacing it fixed).
My nutrition was just 3 SIS gels, around 2/3 of the 2L camelback with straight water, and 1.5 bottles before TLAlt of skratch, 3/4 of the PB&J and one more SIS gel, along with 1 more bottle of scratch. TLAlt return I got 1.5L in the camelback of SKratch, and two more bottles of scratch, as well as 4 SIS gels. I ditched the camelback likely half full, and had one gel left at the finish. I would have rather had the camelback all water only if I did it again. I was to heavy on scratch and not enough straight water. I didn’t bonk though, so whatever I did worked decent. I felt dehydrated after I finished, and not peeing the entire race likely showed that was the case.
Thanks to the Trainerroad team for helping me with training leading up to this race, and the podcast for the inspiration to do it! Also thanks to the Mckinney Velo Club for taking me under their wing and giving me tons of valuable information about doing the race, as well as support during it. Everyone on the team racing also did amazing with everyone beating the goal or PR times!
