Save the weight in your bags. How is your wife getting from Outward Bound to Twin Lakes? I hear using the shuttle for timing is very questionable.
I always carry a jacket just in case. I pack it down really tight (compressed/wrapped with gaffer tape inside a baggie) and stick it in my downtube storage. Easy to rip open in emergency. I also have one of those hotel plastic shower caps and nitrile gloves with it. Never had to use any of it in the race, but they weigh almost nothing and can hold in a lot of heat if things go bad. The bad weather usually doesnāt last long, but you never know.
It will be in drop bags so neutral aid will be carrying it out there!
If youāre behind me or overtaking me, my bike will have the RAF roundel on the seat tube, just like my profile image. Say hello.
rode from the bottom of st kevins to powerline and back in the rain yesterday⦠it was soooo cold even with my rain jacket⦠the powerline descent with cold hands was not so fun. lol
You will be wearing a jacket while in the corral. I did that last year and dropped it by a garbage can before my wave was released. When I got back to town the pile was still there along with my jacket. Itās a matter of how much cold can you take before you get to St. Kevinās. That first climb will warm you up, but how cold are you willing to be on the way there? If you have a wind vest on thereās a good chance youāll want to take it off around the bottom of Powerline, but keep it handy for the Columbine descent.
Granted all of this is highly dependent on the weather of the day.
The last 3 years, I started with summer jersey/bibs and no arm warmers. I know Iāll be freezing my butt off even if wearing arm warmers and vest until I hit Kevins, so I just chose to suffer for those 15 minutes before the climbing starts. And honestly, itās just the initial downhill out of town that hurts really bad (~8 minutes). Once you get on the dirt road heading toward Kevins, there is enough effort required that itās only a little miserable. And once Iām on Kevins, itās totally comfortable. Itās so dry and sheltered from any wind on those climbs that itās very comfortable climbing with temps in the 40ās. When I pre-ride columbine, Iāll often head out at dawn and go with arm warmers and vest, but they come off in the first couple miles as Iām getting warm on that first drag out of twin lakes. Iāll keep arm warmers with me just in case on race day, but havenāt needed them the last few years. Never raced with a vest, but have the rain jacket if things go sideways. But agree that itās all weather dependent. It was a little misty/foggy at the start either last year or year before and I remember thinking how bad it would have sucked if it was full drizzle/rain.
Iāll try and remember if Iām not suffering too much ![]()
This is what I have used in the past for fueling. I just have an alert every 15 minutes to drink and every 30 minutes to down a gel or a bar (though I find it really hard to eat anything solid)
I start with C90 mix in the morning as it has less sodium and switch to C30 mix after at Lost Canyon inbound on the way back (mixed as C90 which adds another 300mg sodium per hour)
that BiCarb has crazy sodium!
Alerts are good, but can be tough to follow them exact based on challenging sections of the course. I find the first good opportunity to grab something after the start is after that first steep part of Kevins where it turns left and flattens out a little bit. And then once you get to carter aid, thereās that long stretch down the road and back up. And then grab something on Hagermans and then again on top of sugarloaf. I try to eat 3x an hour, but itās usually not evenly spaced and more dependent on chill spots on the course. Once you descend powerline, itās pretty easy to grab food on schedule until you reach upper columbine.
Agreeā¦I found it easier to take a drink from my USWE pack until Kevins flattens out then I took a gel. Sometimes it can be hard opening a gel in that first hour so I took your advice and bought two of the 250ml soft flasks for my gels as I think they will be easier to use.
Now family is starting to ask about tracking me during the race. When I log into Chronotrack I see āSpecify your mobile and social connections here. We will send your live race updates to these connections for enabled eventsā. I read that to mean I can add my Momās cell number and sheāll get a text when I ride over a timing mat. Am I correct?
Any site that people can look at (for people who wouldnāt want texts) to see how Iām doing? Iāve told them check out Velonews when they post I beat Kegan⦠but in case they want faster updates⦠![]()
Do you mean Athlinks?
I thought LT events use this??
They may be the same. The URL says chronotrack, but logos at the bottom show both.
I assume they are the same system, just 2 different ways to get the data. Put the text numbers in Chronotrack for the push updates. Once we are closer to race day, they will update the website with a URL to Athlinks where results can be viewed in real time. This is the main LT100 page, you have to scroll down a bit to expand to see results section/link. Itās linked to 2024 right now (and prior), but they usually update the link for the current year at least a week before the race.
Getting my heat training in lately. Actually hasnāt been crazy hot (low 90ās), but the humidity has been brutal. Iāve been trying to dial in my sodium intake and I totally imploded on my long weekend ride with cramps only 3.5 hours in. But I felt good today with about 10k feet of tempo climbing and zero cramps (but leaving a trail of sweat with every pedal stroke). I almost pulled out my phone at one point to take a video of the sweat trickling out of the bottom of my shoes, off my elbows, hands, chin, nose, ears. Iām so sick of riding with squishy shoes. I always track my fluid consumption and weigh myself before/after and I sweated ~11 liters (24 lbs of fluid) on my 6.5 hr ride today (and I was taking it pretty easy between the climbs). Iām about ready to lose my mind, but just one more week in the swamp and then itās off to the dry mountain air.
Heat here has been back and forth. 100 and humid, back to the 60ās low 70ās and rain. Back in the 90ās and humid today. Iāve been supplementing heat training with one of those Amazon Infrared Bag Saunas, will probably even throw it in the truck and bring it with me to stay ātopped offā while in Leadville.
I hit the road a week from Saturday, canāt wait.
for those who are doing hydration and carbs separately, are you using individual gels, flasks? I was thinking of those soft flasks to make it easy to āsipā on my gels as I ride vs powring down 50g at once. Iām using an USWE pack because I want to be cool, so how are people attacking their flasks? USWE has chest pockets which would work, but no stores around me have them so Iād have to order them and want to see if thatās the solution most people are doing.
I used flasks at Silver Rush for the first time. On one hand it is easier to take in the carbs quickly. On the other it is harder to dial in exact amounts and you have to carry the empties in your pocket. I carried them in my jersey pockets.
I will use them for Leadville.

