Leadville Race Report:
I thought I would type up a detailed report of the race from my perspective. It turned out to be a super long post, but it details my Leadville journey. If you don’t want all the detail, I put some stats in separately.
I had one major issue with Eagle AXS detailed below and would love to hear from @jonathan what his thoughts are. I do need to reach out to SRAM about this as well. I hope this report will help future racers.
Rider:
47 years old - second major race after Wilmington Whiteface earlier this year
FTP – about 255 at 800 feet (but didn’t have a good assessment within 8 weeks of Leadville)
3.65 watt/kg
Set Up:
Niner Air 9 RDO Hard Tail
Eagle AXS with 32T front ring and integrated Quarq PM
Enve M525 with Racing Ray 2.25 Speed Grip Front and Thunder Burt 2.25 Speed Rear; 21/19 PSI; Stan’s Raceday Sealant
Fox SC 100 mm Fork - 81 psi
Shimano XTR pedals
Water bottle cages: Silca carbon main cage, Arundel Mandible second cage (more on these later)
Bike weight: 20.5 lbs including OneUp multitool and tire plugs in top cap; additional weight from two large CO2 cartridges, Tubolito spare tube, small SES top tube bag for gels/chews/Endurolyte Extreme caps, bottles (except for Columbine where I wore a USWE Airborne 2);
Garmin 830 with Whoop 3.0 on bicep strap for HR
Rider weight: About 154lb (wasn’t able to weigh myself the last 2 weeks before the race); Wore Rapha speedsuit, Rapha aero socks, Rapha merino arm warmers, POC Ventral Air helmet, Sidi shoes, Specialized Grail gloves; carried pair of rubber surgical gloves, hotel shower cap, and ultralight Gore-tex shell in back pocket in case of bad weather
Race:
I started in the Green Corral based on qualifying time at Wilmington/Whiteface. Based on my time at Wilmington, 5 hour 27 min, (which was the first long endurance mountain bike race I’ve done) I was predicted to be about 10hr 30min at Leadville using a 1.93 multiplier. I thought the wave start would be helpful, but the wave start plan was pulled a week before so I was ready for the mass start. My strategy was to try and ride with those around me and not fall back, but not necessarily try and push through either. I had a warm jacket and Icebreaker pants on while standing in the corral but tossed to my crew about 10 min before the gun. After the gun went off, we were rolling within less than a minute. The start went smooth, stayed focused and used the tip to keep elbows out a bit for room. The pace was quick but felt manageable. We hit St. Kevins and started the first big climb. Here there are two lanes of riders and this works really well. However some riders, “pass-holes”, try and force themselves through and it definitely can cause problems. I agree with everything @Nate_Pearson said on the podcast, settle in, do your climb, and the race will sort itself out later. I had ridden St. Kevins twice before, in June during the Leadville Training Camp, and then in a pre-ride the week before. On raceday I was 2.5 minutes faster than when I pre-road the week before, so the pace was good.
After St. Kevins there is a fast road descent. I don’t remember getting passed here and I picked off a number of people. I PR’d by about 38 seconds (4:37) – and this is likely the only downhill segment I beat Jonathan on – he did it in 4:41. For me, the only difference from the previous times was that I was wearing the speedsuit and aerosocks, so likely some benefit thre. I might have braked less on a few of the sweeping 180 degree turns.
We then hit the Hagerman road climb, followed by the rocky sections that take you to the top of Sugarloaf. As a whole, I was about 1.5 minutes faster on this section than in my pre-ride the week before. I was feeling good and felt I was not over-exerting.
The next section was the big powerline descent. I had my first bit of adversity here. I was running a Silca carbon cage as my primary cage on the downtube and then an Arundel Mandible as the second cage. The Mandible can be tough to quickly drop a bottle into but does hang on to things tightly. The Silca is much easier to drop a bottle into. In training, I had lost one water bottle out of the Silca cage on the Sugarloaf descent previously. It was a big 24oz Camelbak Podium that was full, and they are top heavy in the cage. During the race, I had switched to my secondary bottle shortly before the descent and this was a mistake. I should have left the bottle with less fluid in the cage until after the descent. I did briefly reach down a couple of times to shove the bottle back down into the cage as it started to meander upwards from the vibrations, but it was tough to do this during the race with riders in front of me and not wanting to get distracted. Unfortunately the bottle popped out halfway down the Powerline descent. I recognized it immediately but was not going to stop. I knew it wasn’t that far to the Pipeline aid station where I could refill my other bottle. The descent otherwise went well. I went with the flow and didn’t try and pass too aggressively, mostly riding with those around me. I ended up PR’ing with a 12:19. For comparison sake, Jonathan hit this in 9:20 and Nate in 14:26 last year.
From here it was some roads and mostly flatter sections Pipeline Aid. I was able to get my bottle refilled at neutral aid at Pipeline and then started the stretch between Pipeline Aid and Twin Lakes dam. I was able to work with some great people in groups and the pace remained nice and quick. There is one steep downhill, nicknamed “Clavicle Hill”. My front tire slid into a deep rut as I descended, the Fox SC compressed pretty deep and I could feel the bike buck. However I was able to control it and let the bike roll out. The person behind me yelled “Nice save!” and I yelled back “Thanks!”. I rolled into Twin Lakes feeling strong and again PR’d this segment. From Pipeline to Twin Lakes it took me 44:20, Jonathan hit this in 44:11 and Nate in 42:52 last year. I did stop to empty my bladder on one of the uphill sections where riding with a group wasn’t a factor. Urine was still pretty clear here so felt I was staying hydrated despite the loss of the one bottle earlier.
I didn’t have support at Twin Lakes, so rolled through, grouped back up and headed to Twin Lakes alternate where I had my amazing crew waiting for me. No issues on this segment and I did put in a few efforts to bridge up to groups. The 32T helped here. I rolled up to my crew at Twin Lakes alternate feeling good. I knew exactly where they were going to be as we had scoped the area out the day before. This was really helpful. At this stop I ditched my water bottle, put on the USWE Airborne 2 with 2 liters of Roctane Summit Tea, grabbed so extra gels and Cliff Bloks, and headed out.
Columbine started out fairly well and I knew this was the longest climb of the day so needed to pace carefully. With my USWE on I was trying to keep a steady flow of fluids in. However what happened next was a major stressor and something I would love to hear @Jonathan’s thoughts on. The lower two thirds of the Columbine climb are gravel roads where the pitch is almost always upwards but ranges in grade so that I’m shifting a fair bit between my 3 or 4 lowest gears to maintain a steady cadence and power. However here all of a sudden I could not shift. I hit the trigger and nothing happened. No noise, nothing. I was riding Eagle AXS and assumed for whatever reason the battery was dead (event though I had fully charged it the day before). I was in my big 50T cog in the rear, so I started losing ground to others in the less steep sections and they climbed past and I was stuck spinning. I periodically hit the shift button, but nothing. I knew I had an extra battery for the derailleur with my crew at Twin Lakes alternate, so I figured I would make the best of it on the climb and that at the top I’d walk anyway. I also wondered if the shifter battery died. I had never changed this battery but was pretty sure it needed a CR2032, which I also had with my crew. However the plot thickens here even more. At some point after the shifting went out, I realized that my Garmin 830 was no longer reading my heart rate. I was using a Whoop 3.0 strap on my bicep and broadcasting via ANT+, but the reading was now blank at the same time the shifting went out. My Quarq was still reading fine though, but I think this was sync’d over BT. I carried on up the climb and eventually hit some of the steep rocky sections where people were walking. Here I saw @Jonathan coming back down (there were two riders both in Yeti kits pretty close together here). Earlier I had seen the leading pro’s coming down led out by the moto’s, which was also super cool. During these sections up top where I was on and off my bike a little I hit the shifter buttons periodically and all of a sudden it worked again!! What the heck??? I looked at my Garmin, and sure enough heart rate was reading again too. So crazy. Reviewing the data later I lost HR and shifting for just under half an hour but it felt like much longer. I carried on to the top of Columbine. I had managed to finished my entire 2 liters of fluid on the way up, so I grabbed a cup of Roctane from a volunteer, down it and a gel and headed for the descent. My pace had slowed on this climb. I did it in 1:38, 10 minutes slower than the weak before when I did it on completely fresh legs. Jonathan hit in 1:19 and Nate in 1:29 last year. Losing my shifting cost me a little time, but not likely 10 min. I walked way more than in my pre-ride, but that is also that you have to because of how things are backed up.
The descent went well. The top is rough and rocky, but for the most part your speed is limited by the riders in front of me. Once I got past there rocky sections onto the gravel road, there were some opportunities to pass other riders but you had to be careful with many riders still coming up. I know there remains a lot of debate between hardtail and full suspension for this race, but I felt really comfortable on my Air 9 RDO. The frame, like a lot of modern HT’s, has a fair bit of compliance built in. I also did not use a dropper, but rather Niner’s “Unstiff layup” carbon 27.2 seat post that has a fair bit of flex. I descend standing, out of the saddle, and just left the bike roll. With this long descent I did feel it in my quads somewhat. I ended up hitting the descent in 19:10, almost the same time as my pre-ride the week before where I did 19:02. Again for comparison, Jonathan hit this in 16:08 and Nate 20:49.
I got back to my crew at Twin Lakes alternate. I ditched my USWE and went back to bottles. I took a third bottle here because I was worried about the chance of losing one later on the Sugarloaf descent and knew I needed at least two bottles to be able to make it back between aid stations. I didn’t want to run into the issue Nate had last year blowing up with no water after Powerline, so I stuffed one into one of my back pockets. I was feeling some of the fatigue now but continued to work with others on the flats and this helped a lot. I rolled through Twin Lakes aid again and felt boosted by all the cheering people but hitting the road climb after Twin Lakes I could feel the fatigue mounting some. I road with some great people though. I was riding with a group including a strong female rider (red hair and braids if my race brain remembers correctly), when all of a sudden her foot slipped. I was right behind her and saw that here pedal was still attached to her shoe but the pedal had separated from the crank. Brutal! I never saw here again after this. I hope for her sake it simple had unscrewed, but if it was stripped I suspect her day was over. We were not too far from Pipeline aid at this time so hopefully she got some help. I was not carrying any tools that could have fixed this.
I was not counting on crew members at Pipeline but two of them made it and called out to me as I rolled past. I didn’t need to stop for them here and I had planned to refill a bottle at neutral aid. Twin Lakes to Pipeline took me 1:04, about a minute slower than my PR in June during the Leadville camp. However I remember Nate talking about how he felt really strong on this section last year and his time was 54:25, way faster than I was. Jonathan hit it in 57:48 this year. I reloaded with more Roctane Summit tea and headed out.
There are a lot of flats between Pipeline Aid and Powerline. As I got off the gravel road onto pavement I was alone. I knew not to ride this alone but there was no one to bridge up to. I looked back and saw a group coming up the gravel road, so I slowed and let them catch me. Here I met a really awesome rider, Etienne from Belgium. He yelled to me to join up and was doing a phenomenal job organizing the group getting everyone to take a turn pulling. He was funny too. He said coming from Belgium he knows all about the wind but nothing about this altitude! A couple of guys road out ahead of the group and Etienne looked at me and said we will catch them soon. Sure enough, about a minute later they were back in the group. As we got close to Powerline I pulled over do empty my bladder again. This time my urine was a lot darker even though I had been drinking a lot. I wasn’t feeling sick but could tell my belly was feeling a little bloated. I did down a gel though. I made a mental note to get some plain water once I hit Carter Aid later in the race. I had eaten some Clif Bars in the first 40 miles but stuck with liquids (mostly Roctane Summit Tea, a little Skratch), gels (mainly SIS but a few GU from aid stations) and Clif Bloks after that. I had anticipated I would be able to eat Clif Bars in the second half and was correct. I carried some ginger chews as well and ended up taking about three of them over the course of the race.
Next up was Powerline. Last week in pre-ride I was able to clean it. No way I was going to try that today. Todd Wells told me in the training camp that getting off and walking can actually be helpful because you shift the load to different muscles for a while. He was right, because whenever I pushed through a section I always felt a little better when I jumped back onto the bike. Powerline is simply a grind, from the initial pushing up the steep early section, to the rocky climbing that follows. There were lots of cheering folks and few poured cold water from wet towels down my back which felt great. I thanked everyone as I worked my way up. I noticed one rider on a fat bike that had a friend help them push the bike the whole way up the steep part of the climb, which seemed a bit of a stretch in terms of assistance, but if a podium isn’t at stake it isn’t a big deal. The steep part of Powerline took me 14:40, about 4 minutes slower than when I cleaned it on fresh legs the week before. Jonathan made it up in 11:17 and for some reason I don’t see Nate’s time in Strava for this segment.
After the steep pushing lower section you hit the rideable, but very rocky, uphill segments for another 3.5 miles. I was really feeling these and the small surges in power riding over them were taking a bit of a toll, but I ground on. The new climbing feature on the Garmin 530/830 is so helpful here. You see what climb number you are on, you see the distance remaining, and you see the grade. I customized so Power and HR show on the bottom of this screen as well. No getting fooled by false summits. The full Powerline climb, which stretches about 4 miles, took me 50:04, about 10 minutes off my pre-ride time of 39:54. Jonathan hit it in 43:36 on race day and Nate took 48:04. Looking at these times I think it just shows how tough this section is placed this late in the race.
It felt great getting to the Sugarloaf descent. This is the roughest descent on the course. Of my three water bottles, I had two 24oz and one 21oz Camelbak Podiums. I put the 21oz in the Silca cage and it didn’t budge. In pre-ride I lost a 24oz though was pretty full on this stretch. Lesson learned – 21oz or emptying bottle works much better in the Silca. I PR’d Sugarloaf descent in 14:12, a full minute and half ahead of prior PR, Jonathan hit it in 12:55 and Nate 14:49. The Niner hard tail held up fine here.
Next up is a long paved road climb. I just kept pedaling and doing what I could. I wasn’t feeling terrible, but definitely didn’t have the pop in my legs that I had earlier in the day. I was picking off quite a few riders here though, so many were feeling it. A couple of strong folks surged by. The full Turqoise lake to Carter Summit climb took me 24:15, a full five minutes of my pre-ride time the week before. Jonathan hit it in 20:19 and Nate in 22:12. Looking at Nate’s times on both Powerline and this climb, I think it shows he was riding stronger than how it sounded on the podcast when he gave his race report last year. I think it is just that this is the heart of the race and this is where a lot of the suffering happens. For the pro’s the race was decided on these segments this year, as it is many years.
St. Kevins rolls a little at the top with a few nasty little climbs but then becomes another long descent. I was looking forward to this and it went smooth. There are a couple of tricky corners but I was ready for them after pre-riding. Apparently there were some crashes here during the race and also during the Stage Race a few weeks back. Time for St. Kevins descent was 3:12, just off pre-ride time the week before of 3:00. Jonathan had what appears to be the fastest time of the day at 2:14 (Big GRATZ to @Jonathan for that one) and I can’t see Nate’s time.
The last segment back to town is definitely a grind. Much of it is uphill, there is one fairly steep rocky section, and little pedaling relief. Knowing the end was near though is a huge motivator. I briefly grouped with a couple of riders who were going strong and took a couple of short pulls. However they were just a little too fast for me with a few miles to go so I fell back from them. However there were many others around that were suffering badly. One rider, about 1.5 miles from the finish was laying down, seemingly passed out on the side of the road with his buddy calling for a medic. Yikes! Once I got to 6th Street, I felt a burst of energy and went hard to the finish with everything I had left. I raised an arm as I crossed the line in celebration and then almost crashed as I hit the big rubber covering over the powerlines on the ground shortly after the finish. Luckily I caught my balance and was fine. I put my feet down and caught my breath. I saw my wife and crew and felt so happy. Merilee put a finisher medal around my neck and I gave her a huge hug! I walked out of the finisher box and met up with my wife and crew for celebratory hugs. Such a good feeling!
I ended up finishing in 9:24:47, more than hour faster than my predicted time from Wilmington Whiteface using the 1.93 conversion factor. I felt going into Leadville that 10 hours was a realistic goal, feeling that I had gained some training benefit between Whiteface and Leadville races, so 9:24 felt like a really solid result.
My Strava “moving time” was 9:10, so that means about 15 minutes of stopping; so room for improvement here but I honestly didn’t think I lingered at any one stop and my crew stops were super fast. It goes to show how stopping times add up. One rider I know who finished in 8:20 had a total of 2 minutes of non-moving time – that is impressive.
The loss of shifting up Columbine was a pain. Ultimately it likely didn’t cost me that much overall, perhaps a few minutes, but this is something I am going to reach out to SRAM with. Curious to hear if anyone else has seen this type of “disconnection” with AXS and why my heart rate went out at the same time and came back at the same time??
My nutrition was good but not perfect. I was somewhat bloated feeling in the second half of the race. I had opted to use a lot of Roctane Summit Tea since the aid stations had it and I trained with this in the month before Leadville. I think I should have mixed in a few more bottles of plain water in between. I supplemented with 5 or 6 Hammer Endurolyte Extreme capsules and two bottles of Pickle Juice. I am a salty sweater and near the end of the race another rider yelled at me from behind “That’s an impressive amount of salt on your back! It looks amazing on your black suit!” I had some minor cramps in quads, hamstrings and adductors in the second half but nothing I couldn’t ride through and they all passed quickly.
I drank some recovery mix from GU at the finish and was able to walk back to the car with my crew. I got changed and actually felt well enough to drive an hour back to Avon where I was staying. I had little appetite that night though and just snacked a little. I did not sleep great that night and had some stomach cramps. Resting HR was up and HRV done that night but these already improved by night two. My bowels moved a few times in the evening after the race, but no diarrhea. The morning after I had some boiled eggs and toast and pretty much felt fine after that. Some minor muscle soreness but overall things felt pretty darn good. We went back to Leadville for the prize ceremony the next morning at 7:30am, I picked up my medal and custom finisher sweatshirt. What a weekend!
I followed mid-volume SSB, Sustained Powerbuild, and Century specialty plan, mixing in some long outdoor weekend road rides (80 – 100 miles of flat roads, usually riding solo) and some weekend mountain bike rides about 2 – 4 hours in duration in rolling Mid-West terrain like Mohican (we had a wet spring in the Mid-west and it limited my outdoor mountain bike riding). I did reach out to @brendanhousler (who Nate mentioned on last weeks podcast) from EVOQ Coaching after Wilmington Whiteface. I wanted to make sure I was doing everything I needed to do leading up to the race. We agreed to stick with my TR plan, but we tweaked a few things. I stopped doing VO2 max and suprathreshold workouts in ERG mode and switched to Resistance mode. If couldn’t hold the prescribed power I could still work through the intervals. Initially I couldn’t hold the prescribed suprathreshold power, but then I started to both hold and exceed them. It was like a switch was flipped and I think I got some real benefit during the last month of training while in specialty plan. The other change I made was changing up some the prescribed Sweet Spot workouts with ones that had longer intervals (mostly 30 and 45 min). Brendan also worked with me on some other important issues like mind set going into the race, strategy, etc. This was really only me second big competitive event (at the age of 47!!) so this was all extremely helpful and helped with confidence going into the event.
I felt my gear choices, tire choices, etc, were all spot on, except for the annoying AXS glitch.
Now the goal is to break 9 hours next year. I think it is feasible with the right prep.
I really want to thank @Nate_Pearson , @Jonathan , @chad and the rest of the TR team. Trainer Road has truly changed my life and allowed me to pursue things I never thought possible. Nate inspired me to take on Leadville a year ago after I listened to his journey. I remember listening to one of the Leadville podcasts last summer and looking across to my wife in the car and saying to her I need to do this next year. @brendanhousler , from EVOQ coaching, was also key when he came on board during the final months of my prep. Fatty and Hottie’s Leadville Podcast was an invaluable source of information and @SonyaLooney is a never ending source of inspiration. Of course all the other TR users and forum members who gave helpful advice along the way helped a ton.
Final time:
Leadville Trail 100MIKM
TIME (CHIP) FULL COURSE
9:24:47
NP = 164
Avg Pw: 126
Max Power: 704
PACE MPH
10.62
Ranking
OVERALL
419/ 1440
MALE
406/ 1293
M40-49
144/ 485
