I am the opposite of what others have said as I don’t think it will hurt to do a 1hr or short track race on Monday. I just wouldn’t push the limits that could result in a crash and be sure to ride “safe”. Staying in the middle of the pack is probably a good idea.
I feel I may have tapered too much last year so am following my taper closely with some hard efforts built in but less volume. I actually have an interval effort scheduled for next Tuesday that has 4 x 90sec Vo2 max efforts followed by 4 x 2 minute threshold efforts with a 20 sec hard effort after each 2 minutes. I did the same workout this week and it is not a hard workout but will definitely add some intensity early next week for me. I will then do an easy ride Wednesday, rest Thursday and easy ride Friday with openers.
I find that when I come off of rest a few days that my first ride I don’t feel great and the second day I feel much better.
For me, it’s just about doing less in the ~2 weeks prior to a target race. That doesn’t mean I can’t ride/race hard, it just means it should be a downward trend for training stress. If a hard one-hour race is going to “leave a mark”, then either skip it or just dial it down. This coming Saturday will be my last long day and I’ll do at least 4 hours with much of that at race pace (so, similar wattage targets, but for only half the duration of race day). That’s still some training stress, but a significant drop from what I was doing in my last training block.
A friend and I will be TT’ing the Leadville course on Sunday for ‘fun’ self supported unless I decide to drop off a second pack and bottles at Twin Lakes.
This is my setup: Epic Evo 7, Fox 34 sc, Stans Valor carbon hoops, Ray 2.35, Ralph 2.35, fox factory sl dropper 100, Rotor InPower with 34t, 10-52 rear. Would have preferred a 30 but I didn’t decide on switching until too late for Rotor to send one before the weekend.
USWE Outlander Pro, two bottles, water filter, and enough Flow to re-fill, pop tarts, redbull, snickers etc. I’ve been training my longer rides at 120-140 carbs an hour.
I live at 10,000 so I’m not worried about altitude. Maybe I’ll see some of you around if you’re pre-riding on Sunday!
I just did Columbine and you are right…it was noticeably smoother than all 3 climbs I did last year. Same as you, I cleared it all for the first time without much effort. Chatted with Alexis Skarda at the top… she was on drop bars and said they were better than expected.
Alexis Skarda must be spending some time on Columbine. She came flying by me near the bottom last weekend and I even set a 5 minute pr! Fast people are fast.
I did some of my last higher intensity work today on St Kevin’s. Got hit with just about every weather imaginable. Hoping it’s not like that next Saturday morning.
Spending some time the next few days stalking past times of people in my corral at different sections of the course and plan to use that to figure out where I want to be in the pack going into St Kevin’s.
Did some intervals on trail yesterday. Bike feels dialed going up and going down.
Despite my efforts to strengthen my lower back muscles, they still get fatigued when descending out of saddle for prolonged periods. Probably too late to do anything to fix this, but has anyone had this issue and figured out a way to alleviate it?
Same position as you. Downloaded Dynamic Cycling app a week ago and my back already feels better. Stretching and mild strengthening will help, even at this point.
It’s worth the free 7 day trial. No new exercises but easy to press play and follow along. I’ll keep it for the year and do the daily 20 minute sessions.
I know it is last minute but I currently am running the SRAM transmission powermeter with a 32 tooth chain ring. However, I have a 28 tooth that I could run with the SRAM pedal sensor and Favero MX2. In 2023 I ran a 28 tooth and never really felt that I missed the high end.
Thanks! We had a day that’s for sure. Luckily a couple friends were going to be hanging out by Twin Lakes so we talked them into bringing some water for us to resupply and take a quick break outbound. I cracked pretty hard around mile 80.
What a course that is. Columbine wasn’t horrible to climb as it reminded me of the long high alpine resort climbs just across the way where I live in Summit County. Have to imagine it’s quite different on race day and you won’t have the perfect line going up once you get past tree line. Powerline inbound and whatever that last climb was, good lord.
Saw a few people out there on drop bar mtb setups and a good amount of people on Columbine.
Pleased with my setup. I think I would maybe swap to XC Rick Pros but the Ray/Ralph combo was pretty solid. I would have gladly swapped my 34 for a 30 (10-52 cassette). Columbine was OK with a 34, but I know on race day it would be much different once you get past the cabin.
I would have sold my soul for a 30 going back up Powerline and whatever the second part of the powerline climb is called (inbound)
Never done the actual race, so no idea on the flow of going back up Powerline would be. Conga line up people walking or if by that point it’s so spread out it wouldn’t matter.
I’m a former pro bobsledder and often contend for descent KoMs when I want to. BBS descent times are sometimes absurdly unrealistically fast off-road. Just two cents to consider as a very small part of your overall consideration.
I have ridden the course (not raced) on 34t, 32t, and 30t. The lower I go, the more I like it. That said, I’m not built (or trained) for Leadville racing, so I’m not sure I’d even make the 12-hour cutoff. If you’re on the slower side, smaller chainring is better for sure. And maybe even if you’re faster. My jury is still out, but it’s leaning.
Agreed. I am a decent descender and I am not really sure I can improve upon the descent times. Hitting 45 mph on any of them (bbs plan) seems optimistic!
I am in a similar predicament with xx sl PM with 32t. I do have an x0 transmission power meter crank on my trail bike that I could use. Currently has a 32 oval but I could pick up a 30. But part of me thinks it is too late to tamper?
What’s your FTP / Time Goal? I do think for most people a 28 or a 30 will be better. I’m on a 32 at a ~8:30 time goal.
But, you have to be able to 100% make the change quickly and get a little time on the bike to make sure everything’s working correctly. Sometimes a Gear Change requires a chain change or you impact shifting (I went from a 34 to 38 for training and shifting was a little off, but 34 down to 32 was no problem)
Any issues or worries this close though, you’re better off sticking with what you have.
My Silver Rush correlates with about a 9:20 finish time and I got stuck behind a lot of people walking because I was in 400th place up Dutch Henry Hill. Of course I am going to try for sub 9 but everything will need to go perfectly.