Agreed with this and that’s what I’m planning to do also to try move up. Also gives me a great chance to test everything and see how I feel at elevation after a week of acclimation.
I went sub 9 and my IF was .61, but that was with my FTP set at the home value. If I adjust that down 17% for the altitude, my IF would have been .75.
I don’t ride with hard power targets because I just don’t have the mental bandwidth to deal with that all day. The climbs are what matter most to your time so I have rough targets for those. Like Kevin’s I want to do X which is more than I’ll be doing on Powerline coming back, but not enough to blow me up later. Columbine is mostly on feel, but I try to start at a number and let that slowly decrease as I get closer to the top. All of the in between bits I just ride comfortably with constant pressure on the pedals. There should be no chasing wheels or responding to moves. Unless you’re in the pro race, we are not racing anyone except ourselves and the clock. It’s a time trial where if you are lucky you will get to work with others here and there.
Agree with everything @wik04 said, but I do have general power targets. It’s not that I’m constantly watching the computer, but I have numbers I like to hold in various situations and I’ll do sanity checks against that pretty often. Sometimes that’s to keep me in check early, sometimes it’s a carrot to keep me going late in the race.
As far as surging, there aren’t really any “moves” that I would respond to. But there are places on the course where it’s pretty valuable to be in a group. Not so valuable that you go in the red, but I’ll definitely push a bit at times. Even the flat sections have bumps where people tend to surge. I wish they didn’t, but I’ll surge with them (within reason) if it means staying in the group on one of these sections. The “pipeline” leg between bottom of powerline and twin lakes is the main section where groups can be helpful (in both directions).
And my IF has been .61-.62 (based on sea level FTP) the last couple years (sub 9, but not by much).
As far as feeling out your power target and/or adjusting FTP, it’s super individual. If you don’t have experience at altitude, try to get a little time testing on course if you are there early enough. Doesn’t have to be a long effort, just enough to feel where things get uncomfortable. And if everything feels uncomfortable, don’t freak out. Even after adjusting for altitude, everything feels much harder for me at altitude because I’m breathing so hard all the time. But I find it sustainable.
True, while I don’t chase people going too hard, I will raise/lower my effort within reason to stay in groups. Honestly, I need to have more of a plan regarding both power and nutrition. With carbs, I usually figure out how much I need total and basically just tell myself to consume it all. This may be the year that I actually put the reminder alarm on the garmin and try to have a better plan to make sure intake is more consistent. I love using a flask instead of individual gels, but the downside is knowing how much I’m actually getting each time I take a hit off the flask. Anyone have good ideas on that?
I think I’ve seen a high IF of .77, a low of .71? But, the .77 was also my slowest. (All based on an altitude adjusted FTP estimation). Honestly - that’s an after the race look-back number. Don’t think about that target one bit during the race or in your planning.
I do have general climbing targets early in the race - for example, targeting .85-.9 of altitude adjusted FTP for Kevin’s and Sugarloaf. But as the day goes on I go more towards RPE and Heart Rate, while looking down at my power as a “governor” to make sure I’m not going too hard. I also have targets for the flats to make sure I’m not burning myself out in those transitions if I’m on the front or I get caught alone
Flight Attendant - I just reset my zones when I got to Leadville, because I was there for two weeks beforehand and had enough hard efforts and riding for them to reset.
Setting my Leadville FTP - I don’t FTP Test at home. I can go ride at threshold and basically get within 5W fairly easily when I’m used to doing Threshold work. I know how RPE and Heart Rate Responds. When I get to Leadville, I basically give myself 4-5 days to acclimate, and then I do a threshold effort at the bottom of Columbine. Basically, start around 82-83% of sea level, and feel it out for 20 minutes seeing how I react, then shut it down and use that number.
For me last year - I did a whole crap ton of heat training and heat acclimation, and had spent a week at Elevation, and ended up using 84-85%. But, If you don’t know how you react, I’d pick closer 80% of sea level.
Carbs - I do my best to take 30-40g every 20 minutes all damn day. Obviously timing adjusts up/down a little, but basically it’s just part of the deal, you eat consistently all day. Hydrapak gel flasks for me, but I may use some light liquid fuel this year to cut down the number of gels I carry.
I don’t have a winning tip that gets it consistent every time with the flasks - but what I try to do is take a single gel on a normal ride and see how many mouth fulls that is so when I dump them all into the flask I have a rough idea of how much I should take.
So this year I’ll likely go mostly mostly solids based on a lot of the feedback I’re read from the last couple of years forums and top it off with some in my pack and then some salt sticks or similar to get to to my sodium targets.
That’s pretty much what I was looking for. I want to make sure I don’t go out too hard so need to figure out that % on the first couple of climbs and then just ride by feel and hopefully have the legs after Powerline to push on a bit.
I can see myself pushing a bit to try catch a group especially on the flats but I think I know enough to not get entangled with a group that’s just going to blow me up once I catch them anyway.
When I first got FA, I let the system detect and set my zones. And then I played with them a bit manually to get them set to my preferences. And they are locked in now. My logic was that those zones shouldn’t really need to be changed over time. And I had concerns about certain types of training/riding giving the system false impressions about my power curve. For example, going to leadville and pre-riding for a couple weeks might skew those power zones down. I want the suspension to behave based on the watts I’m putting out, not based on what zone I’m in. At 230w, I want the suspension to behave the same whether I’m climbing at endurance (sea level) or tempo/sweet spot (altitude). I just think suspension settings are a function of power and rider weight (and maybe some tweaking based on course conditions), but shouldn’t vary much just because a rider is weaker/stronger.
I’d seen some of your comments from last year and honestly I hadn’t thought about adjusting for elevation. I’ll be there far enough in advance where I can get a feel for it and will be pre-riding most of the course also. I’m on the lighter side so it probably doesn’t impact me as much but was just curious how the changes felt.
I just use a clear flask and eye ball it. I’ll have a flask at the start that I aim to finish before the first aid station. I don’t think it’s that critical that it gets consumed in a linear fashion, so I’ll catch up near the aid station if I’m not eating enough at the start. And for me, Leadville is not a race where a timer dictates my eating. There are some places on the course that are easy to eat and some stretches where it’s nearly impossible. There are some natural spots on the course where I’ve learned to eat/drink based on opportunity. A few that come to mind in the first half of the race -
Making the left turn after the steep part of St. Kevins, it flattens out briefly, catch breath and eat/drink
Start of the the road descent after Carter’s aid
Haggermans after the road climb
Top of sugarloaf where it levels out before the powerline descent
Pipeline out to twin lakes/alternate - Lots of places to eat/drink, this is the time to make sure I’m on track
Lower columbine - there are 2 spots where the road levels (and even goes down briefly). This is the most critical section of the course to stay on top of fueling IMO. Really easy to get behind with the long climb and breathing hard. Once you hit goat trail, it’s basically the death zone and you won’t want to eat/drink anything.
At top of columbine - quick shot and drink, tough to drink on the way down.
Totally agree about not paying attention to too many numbers on the day. I will probably have 3-4 things on my screen and that’s about it on race day. It’s more a sanity check for training as it ramps up and I start to look at longer rides and what the general range will be. More important for me will be to put that internal limit on early in the day so I’m not burning my already short matches too early.
I think being there 7-10 days and then testing is my plan - I’ll also be partially acclimated as I’ll be in Fort Collins for a month beforehand so hoping that helps.
I use them in training too, especially as I’m in the specialty phase getting close to the race.
Some good benchmark workouts for me that I usually do in July will be a 4 hour day around .8 - .82 (Mixed Intervals Fartlek Ride, but with plenty of long Tempo and Sweet Spot) and then Turn around the very next day and do 6+ at .72IF. These also come in the middle or even towards the end of a block - so fatigued and not race-day tapered, and in the heat fueling like it was race day.
When I feel like I can execute those rides strong, and still have Z2 pace left in the tank, that’s when I know I’m ready for race day.
I raced it for the first time last year and just managed to go sub 9. IF for the day was .58; adjusted for altitude, that’s .74. Those numbers aren’t precise as I’m not sure exactly what my FTP was (won’t open that can of worms here 
).
I used bestbikesplit to determine power targets and did keep an eye on my power, especially during climbs. Towards the top of Columbine and especially the Powerline climb was all RPE though… basically had to give it all I had to keep spinning (walked a couple minutes on the goat trail and longer at the bottom of Powerline).
I used silicone flasks with homemade gel for almost all of my fueling. I used 2 sizes - small for 1 hr amnt of carbs, large for 2 hrs; I just eyeball/feel the amnt in the flask to gauge rate of intake but don’t worry about being perfectly consistent with rate.
I use Gu soft sided flasks which are transparent, and have markings on them. They fit 6 gels, with a bit of water to dilute and make the gel flow easier.
Each flask is 600 cals, which is what I consume over 2 hours. I have my head unit set up to alert me to eat every 20 mins. With the markings on the side of the flask, it’s pretty easy to estimate 1/6th of the flask to consume every 20 mins. And very easy to see if I’m on target at 1 hr and 2 hrs - even if any given 20 min period was too much or too little.
I do find it harder to eatimate how much I’m drinking from my pack. But I generally finish my pack first, then bottle. That way I know when I’ve got at least 1 bottle remaining, and can drink faster/slower depending on situation.
They’re 2 great days to nail right there - I feel like I’d be ready after those so may try similar structure.
Out of interest, do you take a look at decoupling afterwards and see how it went? I’ve been struggling a bit deeper into rides, I suspect I need to be more disciplined in nutrition even when I can’t think about having another gel - but not uncommon for me to have 15/-16% on longer hot days.
Thanks for the reminder about bestbikesplit, I need to do the same.
With your adjusted FTP did you spend anytime in Leadville acclimating beforehand or just show up? I hoping a couple of weeks in advance get me closer to adapting but I know even then I’ll still be down 10-15%
I did Silver Rush to improve my LT100 start corral and for that I flew in the night before. I’d been sick the week leading up to it which definitely played some part but I I struggled more than expected. Largely based on that experience, I decided to drive my campervan up for the LT 100. I spent about 10 days between Denver and Leadville with maybe the last 5 in Leadville. I do think that time at elevation helped.
No, usually not. Doesn’t really tell me anything I don’t know and it happens at some point whether it’s hydration, fuel, heat, or straight up fatigue. The trick is, knowing how you perform in those scenarios and the paces you can keep pushing.
For Leadville - you need to get yourself to the point where you force yourself to take in fuel the whole way through (And, stay hydrated too.) There’s an element of stop dwelling on it, HTFU and fuel every 20 minutes. Repeat, repeat, repeat…
If you’re from sea level, it’ll be more like 15-20% for most people, even with 2 weeks acclimation.
I played with Best Bike Split. My only hope for a sub-9 is to lose about 5-10 lbs without losing power, ride at a .70-.73 intensity factor at my current FTP/weight, or have the PERFECT day at my current fitness level. Fun tool to use, but sobering.
I’ve decided to get up there Thursday and hope to beat altitude sickness, or the lack of acclimating by not giving myself enough time not to adapt. We’ll see how that goes next week at camp.