Not sure if anyone is planning to pre-ride any of the course in the next few days but I’m planning to head up for the middle section (columbine up and down) on thursday if anyone is interested?
Starting to put my bike into LV mode. Swapped my stem from a 60 to a 100 and put it as low as I could. Started doing my usual mixed surface 40 mile loop on the mtb so I will be able to hopefully see if the changes help avg speed a little bit or not. Next is cutting the bars down from 740 to 700 and then putting the burts on. I know those will make me faster for sure. Oh, and swapping from a 34t to a 32t chainring at some point too. Hope training is going well for all.
I rode 700mm in 2024 on a 110 stem. That said I am of an age where we were running 500s on 120mm stems so 700 still feels wide to me. I run 660s on my hardtail without issue and that’s with some gnarly SFBay descents. Even so it’s not a switch one should just make if you’ve been running 740s
I don’t know - that wasn’t my experience. The instant I changed from 740/760 down to 700 I liked it a lot better across the board, and that’s with a lot of technical east coast riding day to day. No issues on any terrain. Just made me feel like - “Why the hell have I been riding bars so damn wide?”
I agree on the stem though - need to take it out for a good 6 hour ride and see if you can put out power for the long haul without your back complaining or see if you can put out the same power in that longer/lower position.
We’ve got a fire near Leadville around Turquoise Lake and Fish Hatchery. Stay safe if you’re out there.
Ugh. One of several new fires in the last few days in Colorado. And it’s not even July. This is shaping up to be a bad summer unless the monsoon season comes soon.
That fire could burn over the Sugarloaf and Powerline trails.
I recently cut my 720s down to 680, and I can’t find any downsides.
I use a MTB for 99% of my riding, and I always hated the normal hand position, but going narrower has helped quite a bit.
Trail riding feels just as good as always, and riding technical hand-built trails is easier now with the extra clearance.
I’d actually be curious to see how narrow I could go before I start to see some downsides.
People are riding 35cm drop bars on some pretty rough terrain nowadays, so 660/680 is still pretty generous. 
Yeah, it’s been rough so far. Between the smoke from the Cottonwood fire, CO/Utah fire, and now this one; I’ve setup my indoor training again. Saturday night we had an AQI over 200 in Breckenridge.
Well, everyone keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers for rain. This is the type of fire that has potential to really impact the town, and even if it doesn’t - get the race cancelled or re-routed (if even possible.)
What is today, won’t be in 4 (stage race) or six weeks (LT100) but having the whole St. Kevins & Sugar Loaf/Power Line part of the course in Level 3 evac isn’t a good thing. Even if everything chills out, parts of that section could be a moonscape. 
Everyone gets to race safely.
Stage race is actually in 3 weeks and the LT100 is in 6 (3 weeks between them this year). Even if things with the fire start going in the right direction, it’s going to be tough being ready for the stage race. Not saying it can’t/won’t happen, fingers crossed for all the racers and locals currently living through it.
They just sent out an email this morning about Sugar Rush next weekend - seems like they’ll make a decision by Tuesday on whether it goes ahead or not. The issue right now is all of the activity around town and adding so many racers and support crew could be too much right now even though it’s technically the other side of town
By the look of the fire map on Watch Duty this morning it’s grown to 2200 acres and right up against Hagerman and has spread to Sugarloaf - still 0% contained but a chance of rain Mon-Wed next week.
Hope everyone in the area is safe and there’s no damage to the town and we can always race next year - or meet up somewhere else in August and ride 100 miles safely!
My guess is the Silver Rush is more likely to be cancelled than go ahead.
For the 100, if it does go ahead, they may have to reroute to avoid Hagerman/Sugar Loaf - which also may mean no Powerline.
On the brighter side, they seem to have a good containment plan in place to prevent the fire from spreading.
Not sure if this has been mentioned but Gabaruk has a 30 tooth threaded chainring for SRAM. This could be a good option particularly for those of you running Flight Attendant and wanting to run a smaller chainring.
Not Kevin’s unless something changed.
Powerline area, right?
The start line for the Silver Rush is under pre-evac notice. Almost for sure going to be cancelled.
Yeah, I took another look, and you’re right. I had taken a pic earlier that showed flames by powerline, and these were much further north. I got confused.
Thank you for the ping.