Yeah, I dialed down all the descents and gave up over 2 minutes on Columbine and over 1 minute on sugarloaf, but my time for powerline was normal race day pace despite taking it easy. Powerline was loose, but I thought it had good lines all the way down and I never had to slow to the point where I’d picking through stuff.
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I was tracking him and a local coach from here in San Diego (you guys both beat him), and remembered that you two finished close last year so I looked, and yeah, like you said, you guys were back and forth for a while and appeared right around each other. At one point, he “lost” time relative to last year on a descent so I thought maybe he was riding with you or something happened and you guys were hanging out, that’s how close it looked around that halfway point.
Was fun for me.
Between Leadville live tracking and USAT nationals live tracking athletes today, I was living vicariously through you all. (Though tri nationals were basically over by the time I woke up, lol).
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For me high AQI days always impacted RPE. Maybe not a real physiological difference, but it hurts and is uncomfortable which is always going to make things suck more. And then when you start the coughing, yeah, that can affect things for sure.
Around here if we get the Santa Anas and I do any hard work on the bike, I’m coughing for 3 weeks. Another factor in my “retirement” from racing was being tired of coughing for months on end. AQI can definitely play a role.
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Wow, that says a lot. And in 23, they ran out of big buckles because more people got them than they were prepared for.
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A 9:02 for me this year. Usually, I’d be bummed but I’m still happy with the prep I put in and the effort on the day. Feel much better about that versus the 9:50 implosion last year.
Looking back, I think I lost the most ‘easily’ achievable time on Powerline. I found myself getting a little complacent behind a few riders going slower. My Strava segment was 47, too slow.
With that said, who knows though! I hit Carter aid at 8:07:30 and thought I was moving well enough even though the legs were tired but it took me just under 55 minutes to get to the finish.
Grats to everyone that finished today! My lungs are still clearing out because of all the dust.
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Nice work man, definitely a tougher day from what I am seeing and hearing.
Congratulations on an outstanding race. Congratulations to everyone who finished. Anyone who qualified for Leadville has phenomenal fitness. This isn’t an event that I will ever have a realistic chance of finishing. If you made it to the start line you are in great shape.
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Ended up being the best race I have ever had despite the challenging conditions. Hit my power numbers on all climbs and heart rate stayed in upper zone 2 or low tempo. Only had 8 minutes where HR went into threshold which was steep part of Powerline. I had a tough year last year with over 40 minutes stoppage time fixing flats and only 1:10 stoppage time this year. I really nailed my nutrition and bike setup which helped. My goal was sub 8 and came in at 7:35. I wasn’t shooting for a podium but the icing on the cake is I ended up 2nd in 50-59!
It was a very challenging day and big kudos to everyone that finished! There were a number of riders with face mask they were pulling up when in groups because the dust was so bad. I likely will be coughing for the next month.
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Nice video recap by Kegan, Alexey, and Johnathan Lee. Kegan says it was the hardest of his 5 due to conditions.
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8:29 finish. Had to stop for 10 mins to help a concussed elite rider. Agonal breathing.. scary stuff. I was first to respond. Called 911 and another person went down to get help. When i saw help running up Carter (close to the bottom) I rode down to explain what was going on. EMS was right behind them. The rider is ok. I saw that they posted their ride to Strava with a photo.
The wind was brutal. The dirt was a bit looser than i liked on columbine. This race had a ton of set backs for me in the last 2 weeks and the those 10 mins. I have to say the high volume cross country plan did beat me up a TON this season. I do think it pushed me mentally and challenged me to find ways to recover faster (sleep, diet, water, stress). It definitely prepared me for the race this year. I know i could have done better. A race of this length, and at this altitude will always have setbacks. It was pretty rough tho with the air, wind, dirt.
Karma is real. If I was concussed and agonal breathing, I hope the very next rider would stop and help me survive. Put out what you want to get out!
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9:26 but blew up after the goat trail and gutted it home. Was pacing for sub 9 from the blue corral after an illness gave me a terrible finish at silver rush last year. I paced fairly aggressively on the way out because I didn’t want to be walking for forever on the goat trail. Passed 237 people from Carter Summit to top of Columbine and I don’t know how many more people on Kevins, at least 75. Was ahead of pace at Twin Lakes but behind by 2 minutes top of Columbine. I couldn’t hold onto any decent pace line on the way back and got destroyed by the wind solo.
Everyone was sprinting out of the gate, and I wasn’t going to push out of my zone to the bottom of Kevins, But it was a lot harder than I expected to pass there. I was on my NP targets to halfway but probably had too many little surges getting by people. Also lost some time descending being behind people unfortunately.
Went too agressive on breakfast carbs I think on top of my food plan, and I felt horrible taking in nutrition 2nd half of the race. Too day. I went to a very dark place on the return, pushing myself on a bike like I can’t remember, (not walking up powerline while cracked). Shattered at the finish.
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Your start experience sounds similar to mine. I was set on not starting too hard so let my entire corral pass me by the time Kevin’s started but then regretted that as I was stuck behind slower riders and had a hard time making passes. If I do it again, I’d probably start a bit harder but I don’t know, maybe it worked out in the long run.
Yikes.
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Man that sucks. Glad he wasn’t hurt worse. So crazy to see people nonchalantly walking across the course… It is a race!
Like what are those people doing??
Happened right in front of my crew. Apparently he stepped out without looking and pros are cooking through there….
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Wow… wonder if this was deliberate or just a misinformed accident. Based on her 2024? SBT tactics, my confidence of an accident isn’t very confident..
ETA - in her post race interview I recall them mentioning that she missed a feed(s). She seemed awfully lackadaisical about it not being a big issue..
That’s interesting, but I would assume no malice there. The aid stations were crazy, as evidenced by Gaston being taken out by people not paying attention and walking into the road. If she missed a feed and then just on the fly her crew met her up the road or something, I get it. If they have rules against it, then the DQ is warranted, but I don’t see it as someone doing something terrible.
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Raced yesterday at about 2.7 w/kg. Went pretty deep (well deep for elevation) up the Kevin’s and Sugarloaf climbs just to make sure I made the first cutoff. Had 10 min to spare. Backed off the intensity after that and did my best to keep my heart rate about 80% of max. Let power be what it was, but walked if I was gonna push above threshold (basically anything over 15%.) Finished in 12:25. Honestly so stoked. I’ll be back a bit lighter for that sub 12.
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Yesterday was my first Leadville race and I had a pretty good experience. It has always been a dream race and I was finally able to race it after many years of not being drawn via lottery. I had issues with my bike (found a crack in the frame) and found myself on a completely new bike a week ago. So new bike, but not a lot of time on it. I wanted to be ultra conservative to make the race an enjoyable one and I did just that. The low points were walking columbine, powerline, and there was an open field with sandy single track and what felt like a 100 mph headwind. Support was awesome, my family and crew were amazing. Finally checking this off the bucket list was something I thought would never happen. Finished sub 12. Hopefully I get drawn next year. On a side note there, was apparently a very bad crash that happened coming down columbine. Really hope he was ok.
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