We rolled it around 10-10.5 hours or so moving time. We took a moderate break at Twin Lakes to hang with some friends who were hanging out at the lake and brought us water. I def held us back and I think my friend could have solo’d it under 9.5 (moving).
Wind was brutal coming back from Columbine to Powerline. We both kept it in check most of the day and put in decent efforts on the climbs. Noodled a bit on the flats. My friend cleared Powerline all the way to the top before descending Hagerman(?). I cracked hard around mile 80 and limped it in. Told myself I’d never do it again, but now I want to; with a 32t and a bit more fit/less weight!
@ingluis29: We rolled it around 10-10.5 hours or so moving time. We took a moderate break at Twin Lakes to hang with some friends who were hanging out at the lake and brought us water. I def held us back and I think my friend could have solo’d it under 9.5 (moving).
Wind was brutal coming back from Columbine to Powerline. We both kept it in check most of the day and put in decent efforts on the climbs. Noodled a bit on the flats. My friend cleared Powerline all the way to the top before descending Hagerman(?). I cracked hard around mile 80 and limped it in. Told myself I’d never do it again, but now I want to; with a 32t and a bit more fit/less weight! Also did it at the end of my fourth straight week of over 800 tss.
I can’t vouch for it off road but I’ve been using the Wolftooth Anywhere mount all summer on my road bike mounted under the top tube (on a 56 Tarmac SL7 I can fit 2 1L bottles and then 1 750ml in the anywhere). I’m worried about it popping out so I use a Voile strap around the neck of it to keep it strapped to the top tube. But I haven’t had a single issue with it over a couple thousand miles. But might be different on a real gravel or MTB ride. But I think it’s kinda designed for bikepacking so I imagine it would work up to a point.
I did that as a teen. See an MD and make sure you’re not risking death by riding right now. I recall my cheek injury being one of a couple times in my life where a doc looked me in the eye and said “absolutely zero x y z because if you hit it again you could…[puncture something important, die, etc]”
Just my knee-jerk reaction having smashed my face before! Hope to see you out there racing.
It’s always the seemingly innocuous spots that seem to get us. Some of my worst falls both biking and skiing have been in spots like that. Hope you’re not too bad off and are able to line up and race on Saturday!
And yes, I think my implosion was mostly nutrition related. I had basically no sodium plan last year and definitely got behind on water and carbs. So triple whammy.
I have a much more dialed plan this year for bottles, carbs, and sodium. And if I get to twin lakes (outbound and inbound) and I find I’m behind then I spend the next 20-30 minutes working hard to course correct.
I’m not riding Leadville this year. But I’ll play devils advocate on this perspective. I’m not a fast climber. The descents in races are where I have the most fun. So I tend to ride them as fast as I can, even though I know I won’t make up a lot of time.
As long as you ride within your level of ability, I think that’s OK. I will acknowledge, however, that it’s very easy to inadvertently get going faster than you can safely ride in Leadville due to how steep the descents are, and the loose over hard surface making it hard to slow down. I think there are crashes every year on Powerline, Columbine and other descents - more than you’d expect given how “non technical” the descents are.
Yeah, but a “fast” descent might save you a minute or two. I can go out and feel like I’m taking it easy and be within 2 minutes of my PR on both Columbine and Powerline.
Pushing it means different things for different people, but not worth it unless you’re a competent descender and know the course.
Good luck everyone and stay positive during the full day tomorrow. There will be things that happen that will throw you off from plan and don’t let it mentally mess you up. This is a very cool race in that we are all coming in at different fitness levels with different goals. I personally really see it as race with myself and getting over the challenges we all will face and persevering through the day. I have a goal time but have tried to not laser focus on time splits. My real focus for me will be holding certain power numbers on climbs and flats that I know I can do without blowing up. Ride strong, stay positive and keep the rubber side down!
@grwoolf really sorry to hear about your crash the other day and hope you are ok and able to race. I know how much time you put into training and can be very frustrating.
Keegan running full suspension this year and aero fairings on the fork. I’ve always thought it was silly that the fork shape was totally ignored on MTB’s. Minor weight penalty and probably significantly more aero.
I still think it’s a long shot to beat his prior record if he ends of solo again at columbine. 2023 conditions were nearly ideal (particularly the return trip with the favorable winds when he was by himself). Wind forecast for tomorrow isn’t terrible, but not great. Also, minimal rain this week means the dirt is loose and slower compared to 2023 when it was basically hero for much of the course.
No idea how much time he spends, but there is a significant amount of time at speed at Leadviile. Some flat, some gentle grades, and some screaming down fire roads at 40+ mph. On MTB bars, many of the pros go with the IAB position, so they are getting low but can only using it on tame sections. They may use IAB even with the drop bars on those sections, I assume it would be faster than in drops or doing aero hoods.
Like many amateurs, I just run grips near the stem for a center hand position and it’s reasonably aero without being dangerous. I’ve got blips in that position too so I can shift. I’ve seen Kate Courtney out riding twice in the past week or so and she’s running flat bars but does the old school hands on fork crown aero position (I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason she was dropping me).
Had a chilled day today. Dropped the drop bags of in Leadville and went to the athlete meeting and then headed back to Copper and chilled in the pool and hot tub. Two bottles to mix up that go on the bike and then I’m ready to go.
I haven’t done Leadville, but for many (myself in particular) I think a big concern is the level of fatigue at hours 6/7/8/9 and doing those descents. Fresh I’d assume no issue for most, but fatigued, things can start to get away.
