They banned any extension from the bar that isn’t part of the bar.
If I just looked up TOGS right, they’d be a no go too.
Haven’t listened to the podcast, so not disagreeing with you or saying it’s not the case, but it just seems sort of excessive to me to ban TOGS, which are even more minimal than inner bar ends. They really don’t stick out that much past the grips (I have them on my bike).
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They didn’t want a grey area. They didn’t single out any brand and decided to prohibit all extensions of any sort. I have inner bar ends on that I have to remove, but I’m fine with the approach the way they did it.
They also said they’re not going around checking outside of the pro corral and aren’t looking to bust people. If you’re fine leaving something like TOGS on, doubtful anyone cares, it’s just going to be in your head.
No, I totally get it. I just personally think it’s excessive, but I get why they’re going with a no gray area approach. I’m not racing it this year (just the Stage Race) but hoping to next year. The TOGS are nice, but it wouldn’t be worth it to me to keep them on when they’re explicitly not allowed, even if they’re not really checking beyond the pros.
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I assume bar tape is still fine on center bar area near stem? Hands to center is a nice position on straight sections to change things up and it’s pretty aero. I remember a few years back someone did a wind tunnel test on different mtb positions (I think mini aero bars included) and hands center tested well.
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Are they banning positions too? Without the inner barends or TOGS, many people will just ride with palms on bar tops, with no hooked thumbs, which is sketchy when you hit any sort of bump. I’m rethinking a franken bike, full squish with a drop bar, that will give me plenty of hand positions. I just need tonfigure out SRAM axs with xtr calipers and SRAM shifter/brakes…mineral oil vs. DOT fluid challenges. Anybody ever done this?
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That was my first thought yesterday seeing this, but more so for the pros. I think I remember seeing last year that Keegan experimented with drop bars but versatility of flat bar plus mini extensions seems better overall.
Also there’s the perpetual question of when suspended gravel bikes are going to be more common. I think the barrier there is less about suspension and more the tire width / pressure / Crr optimal relationship for this course.
I sincerely hope not. I have mixed feelings but am generally supportive that MTB should be MTB and gravel should be gravel not time trials, but position banning feels like we’ve gone into UCI police-state territory.
They didn’t say anything about banning positions, and specifically said drop bars were still good to go. But he did say this is all safety driven. I’ll use my words, they don’t want idiots who have no business using aerobars or anything similar causing an accident and crashing people out of the race.
They didn’t address bar tape or an inner set of grips. Depends if you think they “extend” off the bar. My guess is everyone looks the other way on those, and bar tape wouldn’t extend anyways if you ask me.
The spirt of it though was they don’t want people doing stuff that isn’t safe.
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I got to thinking about the frankenbike thing after the last few posts. I wonder if the following would be good: Gravel bike that can take 2-2.1 tires (for example my SC stigmata can do it with 650 wheels) a 100mm XC fork (fox 32) and then gearing that is low enough. I think for a good bike handler this might be a great setup. The 100mm fork might make the geo a bit weird but I doubt it would slacken the HT more than an XC bike already is. Not racing this year but just spitballing
Thoughts?
It seems like it would work but given the focus on marginal gains at the top, if that setup were better then I’d think we’d see it on some pros. I know some of the pros have evaluated similar setups and the conclusion to date seems to be there’s nothing that type of bike could do that an ultra lightweight XC HT can’t do better.
You’d definitely lose time on some of the descents - in particular power line, goat trail, sugar loaf and Kevin’s. Would you be able to make up time on the flats? 
A drop bar MTB would be the way to go if you wanted to do this.
Here’s your ultimate Leadville bike now that they’ve banned aero bars:
I wouldn’t want to ride at speed on the rockier Leadville descents on that bike. Would be way too sketchy.
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Thinking 100mm full squish with super wide drop bars (600mm or so), or making my own aluminum bars with welded on inner grips, but i would need to develop a lot of trust!
You guys are making this way too complicated. Look at what the top 10 riders are on year in and year out - hardtails and light xc full squish. Pick the one you want and go train.
(From a guy who went sub 7:30 on a 100/100 2019 Scott Spark)
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You can ride a 53mm tire with that setup. That’s plenty of tire for Leadville.
I tell myself every year I’m going to put some drop bars on my Spark RC and see how it feels, but I never do it. If I had SRAM MTB brakes on my spark, I think I would have already done it, but I run Shimano brakes. I’ve got SRAM AXS hoods and all the other bits needed. My trail bike has SRAM brakes, but basically I’m just too lazy to mess with all that.
The other thing - I know lots of folks say it’s not a technical course and it could be ridden on a gravel bike, but there are some sections that you really want a MTB. The descents aren’t very technical, but they are long enough that I think you’d be highly temped to over cook things on a gravel bike. I’ve never ridden a FS bike with drop bars and I honestly don’t know how comfortable I’d be at high speed with drop bars.
You’d be able to get down the descents on that bike. But you’d need to baby them. It’s the combo of narrow tires and minimal suspension that makes it unsuitable IMO.
There’s a reason you don’t see lot of bikes like that at Leadville.
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This is the fire I needed. ty
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Working on getting ready for Leadville. I have steadily ramped up volumes and have been averaging 14 hours per week for the last month. Most of it is zone 2 by heart rate and power. I have done multiple 3-4 hour rides often on back to back days. The remainder is longer (10-15 minute) Supra threshold interval workouts. I have been doing almost all of this on the trainer because the weather is garbage and due to time constraints.
Unfortunately my absolute FTP is not very good (~3 watts/kg). I am hoping to improve on this but realistically I will be lucky to hit 3.5 watts/kg by race day. I have heard 4 watts/kg thrown out from several sources as the number necessary to go sub 9.
Interested in people’s views on this.