I don’t know much about that race, but my understanding is that those qualifier races are required just to have the right to enter the WESR lottery (it’s not like the leadville qualifiers where a bunch of people can lock in spots). But it still sounds like a good way to reduce the lottery pool size and vet a racer’s abilities and desire to do the race.
But yeah, I can’t see Lifetime doing that. Creating some gatekeeping in front of the MTB100 lottery to restrict numbers would have plusses and minuses, but you could definitely see it backfiring on them. And doing it by adding non-lifetime qualifiers would certainly hurt demand for all the other Lifetime races (which don’t have a big demand surplus).
That model makes a lot more sense for WSER because they have a very low risk of demand issues (it’s a bucket list race capped at under 500 racers a year) and I don’t believe WSER put’s on any other races that would hurt by introducing 3rd party qualifiers.
Ha! The new backdoor method now the online Lifetime membership loophole has been closed.
The SR is $150. So about the third the cost of the 100. But maybe less than a third as epic?
My main race this year is Moab Rocks. $500 entry. But I’m hoping/expecting that to be a great experience and epic also - but in a different way than the LT100.
LOL, I literally was just looking at the stage race registration site today. My current plan is Stage Race NEXT year when I’m 59, and LT100 when I’m 60. (fork, I’m going to be 60 soon…I hope)
isn’t there a calculator somewhere for what wattage to ride at a particular altitude? I think it’s been mentioned on the podcast. Asking for a friend who just got her entry (first timer)
I can’t remember the details - but I had a pretty bad experience with BBS for another Marathon length event. Elevations were WAY off. They tried to explain it as part of their algorithm, but still didn’t makes sense to me and wasn’t close.
For Leadville - it’s generally multiply FTP by .8, and then NP for the day .7-.8 of altitude adjusted FTP depending on how fit you are and how fatigue resistant you are riding at higher percentages of FTP. Generally climbing NP of .75 - .85 excepting some of the really steep sections if you elect to ride them.
Edit - there’s also a LOT of personal experience and experiential data from people who’ve ridden it before in terms of power pacing plans that I think would probably be better than BBS.
One thing to keep in mind for leadville pacing is being aware of power differences based on elevation. Particularly Columbine where you are basically starting at the low point of the course and climbing to the high point. Every additional 1k causes an increasing (non-linear) drop in power. The power drop between 11k and 12k is more dramatic than going from 9k to 10k. You can still pace the climb with steady power, but that means you are pushing harder and harder as you approach the top (not a terrible strategy if you don’t start the climb too hot).
I’ve found BBS to be reasonably close, but there are so many variables at Leadville that I’d only use BBS as a rough starting point. There are enough drafting opportunities in the race that you can gain/lose 10+ minutes on the day by ending up in the right/wrong groups (the worst group being a group of 1). Wind and surface conditions can also cause big time swings.
For pacing at leadville, I’ve found Strava stalking to be the most useful tool. Find a data set of riders of similar weight (with real power data) who rode clean races and look at their times vs. power on different segments. The climbs are often predictable down to a handful of seconds. The flatter sections can vary more due to drafting and wind. The descents are what they are, your pace will depend on your skills and traffic but you can still get an idea by looking at segment times.
I am in this year. Pretty excited about it since this if my first Leadville 100. I have qualified before but have never been able to attend due to life, work, pandemic, family, etc. Based on the newer corral system/wave starts I am wondering if doing a qualifier to attempt to move up in the corral que is worth it? I assume I am starting from the Brown corral. Any opinions or advice is appreciated.
I’m just wondering where the backups on the course are starting in the back corral. I assume we’re in a conga line walking up a lot of of Columbine. Anywhere else?
Saint Kevin’s as that’s the first choke point. Everyone’s still riding at that point and it gets a little loose and only a few lines in a couple of places.
I rode the whole thing with no traffic, but race day was different.
Okay, as a Leadville rookie, looking for some clarification on corrals:
I am a sea level 4.6-4.8 W/kg
My goals, in ascending loftiness, are: make it to the starting line → make it to the finishing line → sub 9 → sub 8
I live in New England with a nearly prohibitive work schedule for traveling to qualifiers with the complication of all qualifiers requiring a flight (as discussed above)
If I don’t do a qualifier, am I resigned to the brown corral?
I’m local to you, so exact same coming from Sea level. I was maybe 4.25-4.3 last year and came in at 8:43 so I think with your fitness you can certainly go sub 8:30, and probably sub 8 on a good day.
You could try reaching out with some results or trying to see if you know anyone, but otherwise you’d be starting on the back. Shouldn’t be a blocker to sub 8:30 I’d think for you if your day goes decent, but makes sub 8 harder. (Better chance of getting in bigger, faster groups of your fitness in green, red, silver/gold)
Good goals. And the finishing time goals are very realistic if you execute reasonably well.
Yes, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It might cost you a little time in traffic on the first pitch of St. Kevins, but you should be fine once you make the turn. After that, traffic is more dependent on the pace you are going rather than the corral. You’ll run into a few more walkers on Columbine vs. starting in an earlier corral, but at that w/kg your pace should have you well ahead of the mess.
Listening to the Leadville podcast with Dave Schell:
His comments mirrored others I’ve heard on the cost of entry to Leadville being 3w/kg.
But he had another comment that I found interesting. That he targets are around ~400 TSS for athletes he’s pacing.
Is that your experience? I’m usually around 600 TSS for a 10-hour 100-mile MTB race, (but not at elevation.) If you’ve raced Leadville with power, what was your TSS? How about your Watts/Kg for the whole race overall?
Congrats on getting in and you definitely have the power to go sub 9 and possibly sub 8! Unfortunately you will have to start from the back but still very doable. Couple pointers to hopefully help out.
If you can come out 2 weeks prior would be a big help. You can then pre-ride most of the course the first week and would allow you to acclimate to the altitude. Even a week prior would be good but likely would not ride all of the course to taper.
I wouldn’t plan on being able to work with others on the flat sections with starting from the back and your power numbers. I was able to start from silver last year but flatted at mile 20 on Powerline and had over 400 people pass me before I got going again. I ended up leap frogging groups from Powerline to Columbine since I was with slower riders…making it more of a “time trial” steady effort. I watched power numbers and tried to keep my HR in high endurance / low tempo zone which worked well. This may end up being the same case for you.
Sea Level FTP Multiplied by ~.8 depending on how well you deal with altitude to get your altitude adjusted FTP multiplied by .7 to .8 depending on how fit you are to get your target NP for the day.
I think TSS is a tough one for this race because of the altitude and the changing altitude during the race (FTP different in town than it is at the hard part of Columbine). But, My TSS have been 320 (8:43) and 366 (9:02) the last two years, but that’s based on my sea level FTP so would need to be adjusted up to account for altitude (edit: 480TSS 2024, 520 TSS 2023) The numbers have me wondering if I was understating my 2023 FTP a little or maybe overstating my 2024 FTP a little because the efforts were similar RPE and both races went well. But, 2024 was also hotter and a slower course than 2023 which was cool and all time fast.
W/Kg at Sea Level have been ~4.25-4.3 last year and ~4 the year before.
Edit: IF in 2023 was 76% (altitude adjusted) - 196NP and 74% - 205NP in 2024.
