I personally think setting a “pace” goal is a bad idea unless you have experience on the course. Think about it, how do you translate that to how hard you go?
I think power, or RPE / Heart Rate is a better goal based on adjustments for altitude and prior experience. For example: 80-85% Climbing NP, 75% Flats NP, Goal Race NP of 70-75% based on your FTP in Leadville. And then, compare your time at certain checkpoints to your pace target, adjust up/down as needed. And, if you’re feeling good late in the race, you get to leave it all on the table on Powerline and Carter Inbound.
My first year I did 8:30 and I was probably 4-4.2 w/kg at sea level. 188 AP/224 NP/290-300 ftp @ seal level/72kg
Last year I was better prepared and went 7:48 at closer to 4.5-4.6 w/kg (209 AP/244 NP/~330ftp @ sea level/72kg
I lived at sea level throughout the year for them but did make occasional trips to CO throughout the year. I didn’t feel like HR was a good pacer for me at all because by the end of the day it didn’t matter how hard I was pushing, my HR was stalled out low. In both cases I rode all of Powerline and was giving it 110% of everything I had there, my HR would have suggested I was barely touching tempo.
295 FTP @ Sea Level is around 240 in Leadville (Plus or minus). Doing 224 NP on a 240 Basis is ~93% IF for 8:30???
I mean, you got the 8:30 and then a 7:48 (DAMN) but something doesn’t seem right in the NP vs. FTP to me. Most everyone else is saying a ballpark target of 75% IF for the day.
Any ideas what’s driving that? Part of me wants to say your FTP was higher than you thought.
Yes, maybe pace was the wrong term. I plan to try to use RPE/heart rate since I don’t have power on my bike (maybe checking average speed every hour), but wanted to have some framework for time to complete, assuming I have a reference point of a well “paced” rider with the same wkg as me. It would at least give me a ballpark idea of how I would do, when my crew would expect me. Then, like you said, if feeling good toward the end, give it hell and blow up on the finish line
While response does differ, That doesn’t change the fact that there’s a lot less available oxygen at 10,000’ than at sea level. “Not getting hit at all” would defy physics…
Why do you suppose those folks are walking? It’s hard. If you aren’t in silver or better, you probably won’t ride Columbine. People try, and generally folks get out of the way. But it a very hard climb, at 11,000’+, at mile 48-52 or so.
+1. I rode this climb today and also last Saturday. From the dam, it’s basically climbing 11 miles (~1:45 @ ~9 hour pace) with just a few downhill/flat sections early coming out of twin lakes. The rest is a constant slog and it gets harder/steeper/looser as you get closer to the top. The last 1.8 miles takes about 30 minutes with some stupidly steep sections and altitude of 12k feet. There are 2 spots I walked a little on both pre-rides. I might have cleaned them if I really wanted to push it, but I knew I’d be walking those sections on race day, so it’s good to get some “push/hike training” and also have a plan on where to dismount and remount. You are going so slow when it’s that steep that walking isn’t measurably slower than riding, you just don’t want to get off the bike if there isn’t a remount point coming soon.
The 2 spots I walked today are walked on race day for most folks going around 9 hours. There’s a 3rd spot that is really chunky and you’ll see people faltering there also. Some will ride all of it, but that’s the exception from what I’ve seen. As you get further back in the race, the walking starts earlier and that compounds because there is only a single clean line for much of that top section. I’d say any slower than ~9:45 pace is going to have you walking a good bit due to others walking. You’ll also see people walking on the road section with 5+ miles to the top, not because of traffic, but because it’s a brutal climb 40+ miles into the race.
Hey Everyone! I was looking around the Internet for a printable top tube sheet that had some info on it like the climb distances, aid stations, and cut off times. This is just the info I was wanting but thought I’d share it if anyone else wanted to use it.
Have you tried to read that while riding a MTB? My top tube sticker had just a list of target times for 10 milestones in big black font. Even that was hard to read when riding.
In any case, its more important to have a “real time” gauge of pacing - based on RPE, HR or power - than target split times, as the target split times tend to be too far apart to really use as a mechanism to inform when to adjust your pace.
Orange mud gave out top tube stickers in the past. I think they were in the race bag, but may also have just been something they were handing out at the expo.
No idea I’d they will be this year, but it was a nice touch.
Rode Columbine yesterday as easy as I could. Walked two sections of the goat trail because I will be on race day, and I was trying not to put too much stress into the legs. Top was chunky, but overall in decent shape. PSA: I did lose my rear brakes at the bottom of the goat trail on the way back down. I’m not good enough to not ride them through that section, too consistently steep and chunky. They did come back as I got lower and let them cool down, but a brake bleed and fresh pads is a good idea. I thought mine were decent but spent last night doing that.
Did Start Line through the Powerline Descent today, then motored over past the golf course to take the course back up the Boulevard. Kevin’s or Sugarloaf wasn’t appreciably different to me from camp at the end of June. I actually felt like the top of Powerline was in better shape, at least I was more comfortable on it. The section before the “Water Bar” did appear to be more sketchy and rutted up, and the straight bottom part did probably have some more rain ruts, but really wasn’t a big deal or much different.
These two rides were significantly slower than race pace, but toning it way down from here on out. Going to do an easy recovery / endurance ride from TL to the Hatchery and back tomorrow just to see that section of the course and spin the legs.
Rode from bottom of Kevins to bottom of Powerline and back today. No significant change in conditions since the big storm earlier this week. I was about 3 minutes off target race pace on the way out and about 7 minutes faster than race pace on the way back (yeah, skipping that 65 miles in the middle makes for an easier day). That’s my last significant effort until the race. I’ll do an hour or so on Tuesday with a couple hard efforts and then the easy shake out group ride on Thursday. Hopefully just resting, eating, and adding a few more red blood cells at this point.
I don’t want to discourage you from hitting that section, but if you are looking for an easier day consider parking where the course splits and ride that loop toward fish hatchery and back (includes the single track, clavicle hill, etc.). That last bit to/from twin lakes has some significant road climbing and there isn’t much to learn from pre-riding it. I’ve done it in the past when I wanted an easy pre-ride day and regretted it.
I know, I’ve been there. Should have said “See it again”. But I have the gearing that I can keep it easy though and it fits the distance / time I want. Funny, but I learned that about Columbine too, basically didn’t have to get out of my endurance zone until about 5.5 miles up when you’re right around treeline.
