Not sure if anyone caught on the new TR podcast but Jonathan mentioned drop bars are going to be banned this year at Leadville.
That came up as a discussion point on the Facebook Group about a week ago, but at the time, nobody could confirm or deny.
I think it’s a good idea, mainly because the potential for accidents in the Amateur Field. There are already too many people who convince themselves it’s a Gravel Race and then mess themselves up. There were a bunch of serious accidents last year that required EMS, so I’m guessing they’re doing whatever they can to mitigate that and get people to take Leadville more seriously from a technical perspective.
The pros would just be getting caught up in it, more sending a message to the amateur field is my guess.
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I hate to get into a position where I’m being accused of gatekeeping or anything, but there are other things they could do in the interest of safety as well. Over the years, I’ve seen way too many posts that are something like, “Just got in to Leadville! I guess I have to buy a mtb now”. It should be a question on the entry, Do you own a mtb? Check yes or no. I cringe watching From the Ground Up for the same reason. To take people that do not mtb and throw them on the Powerline descent is near malpractice in my opinion. I get that it is a bucket list event so people jump in. All the “gravel race” talk is not doing those folks any favors.
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This year was nice because they found some people with a bit of training history and it was nice to see some finish.
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Agree. If I was in Denver I would take some day trips to Leadville to feel out how riding at 9-12k effects me. I’m a flatlander, and I have the luxury of being able to do much of my job remotely, so I stayed around Boulder and Denver for the first week, and Dillon the week of the race. Progressively felt better and stronger each day. Probably could have used a few more days to get to 100% honestly.
Haven’t heard this yet. Did he say it was definite?
From what I hear it is indeed decided that drop bars will no longer be allowed at Leadville. This is from multiple reliable sources.
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Thank you @Jonathan. This makes me less tempted to build one of these bikes.
Recently been tempted to try and go back to try and go sub 7, missed by only 6 minutes, but was pretty optimized for that time.
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That’s an awesome time! My goal is sub-7 this year. Going to be a lot of work to make it happen and will need a bit of luck, but lofty goals keep me locked in 
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That’s a big step, but you crushed last year with bad conditions, so it seems likes it’s possible with better ones. Good luck!
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It’s a tough one. Banning drop bars would not be in my top 10 things to change at Leadville in the interest of safety, but I’m just a monday morning race director and I’m sure they have their reasons. If I had to guess, Lifetime is speculating that drop bars might contribute to more crashes if/when a bunch of people start using them and it’s easier to just ban them now vs. trying to pull it back after a bunch of people invest in setting their bikes up this way. I know some people have already gone down the drop bar path and aren’t happy about the change. And ironically, Pinarello just released their drop bar MTB/gravel bike this week (and I think Scott already had one?). I’m personally not a fan of the ban because I love to see equipment pushing into new areas vs. sticking with traditional approaches. That’s how bikes get better.
As for the skill set of the riders at Leadville, I can see both sides of that. All of these non-sanctioned gravel and MTB events do a much better job pulling in newbie participants than your typical USAC events. Overall, I think that’s a really good thing. But yeah, it puts inexperienced people on the course. But as someone who has ridden as sweeper at the Leadville Stage Race a few times, I don’t think the true beginners (like the Ground up folks) are the biggest safety risk out there. Those people are typically picking their way down the descents with extreme caution (even walking some spots). And I think we absolutely want those people at these events. If I had to speculate on the biggest safety risks, it’s the folks who have marginal skills, but too much confidence and take too many chances. The stereotype would be the strong/competitive triathlete who dabbles in MTB and has no experience racing MTB or any mass start racing. I really don’t know how you solve that. Having a minimum finishing time at a qualifier might actually bring more dangerous people since faster<>safer. In my opinion, safety is not all about skills, it’s mostly about not being stupid (I speak from the experience of my own past stupidity).
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Come out and hang out at camp this year. Chance to ride the course and get some extra course practice in yourself, I’m certain they’d let you in as a guide / coach!
Plus - it’s a great time with the meals and the group they get together.
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I completely agree. This idea that there are too many amateurs running dropbars and they’re all losing control and crashing on descents is way overblown in my opinion. I really don’t think there is a terribly significant increase in risk based your handlebar type, especially in comparison to all of the other risk factors in that race.
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I can accept that a wider straight bar is more stable than a drop bar on the chunky stuff if everything else is equal. But that’s a very myopic view of the bigger issue. Riders will constantly strive to be more aero. They will do it with whatever equipment they are allowed to use. If people can’t use drop bars, they will just revert to compromised hand positions (puppy paws/IAB or hands on the fork crown). Same thing happened when the banned aero bars for the pros in gravel racing, they just switched to puppy paws. And it’s not just a pro thing. I see it all the time in gravel racing at the amateur level at races where they don’t allow aero bars. I don’t claim to have the data to prove the safety of one approach vs. the other, but I’ve seen some sketchy dudes rolling in the puppy paws position in gravel races (even in races that allow aero bars). If you are going to ban something, ban the position where people are just resting their arms unsecured on the top of their bars.
Basically, by banning drop bars on MTBs (and aero bars on MTB and gravel), someone is saying that it’s an overall improvement in safety even if many will opt for the funky alternate hand positions. And I’m not saying any of these are particularly dangerous. It’s like anything else, it’s a matter of the rider having the skill and not pushing it. But if you are trying to protect people from themselves, don’t let people sign up for bike races.
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Just to clarify, when I was talking about the FTGU type folks, I was only worried about their safety. Not them causing issues for the rest of us. You are absolutely right that there are dangerous people of all levels and speeds. I had a guy hit my bars with his during a sketchy pass down Powerline last year. Luckily we both stayed up and he apologized profusely, but there sure are a bunch of guys that think they are going to make a huge time savings by bombing a couple descents even though the climbs are what matter for your overall time the most.
As for drop bars, I don’t find them dangerous at all. Guessing they just want to get out in front of it now as some others have suggested.
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Completely agree, I’d say just faster in general (not just aero). People will always make compromises (often of safety) in the name of speed and that’s just part of the game. Tires, helmets, kits, brakes, etc all have tradeoffs of safety/security in the attempt to go faster. To your later point, drop bars are far from the sketchiest thing anyone will experience all day in the race and if we’re trying to endlessly protect from ourselves, we don’t need to be racing bikes
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Hi guys, not doing Leadville, but interested in knowing as to what you prescribed your TR training to be?
I think I have a very similar event down here in sunny South Africa, but want to make sure I get the best training for this. I simply currently loaded it as a Gravel Bike ride of 10:30, though I am hoping for way under that. Training looks right - a truckload of SS and threshold after some VO2’s in build phase. But just wanted to check in in this regard. What are you picking for Leadville training?
Interesting on the drop bars. I wonder if there will be more riders doing the “Kate Courtney” praying mantis setup with hands on the fork crowns. There was a group of 10 of us outbound to Twin Lakes and one of the guys was doing this on his pulls. He was a good rider but it did make me a little concerned and I did give a little more space when behind him.
Hmmmm… nobody in any racing cat? Since it has been outlawed - well, down here at least - since about two years ago from memory…(?)
No diffs for me - I only have one fork leg! 
But if chunky sections/fast downhills are where they see their biggest crashes and injuries, than mandating an inherently more stable bar may help. Does it solve all other problems? No, but maybe mitigates one of their biggest concerns. You have to remember, they have to take the best pro all the way down to the most inexperienced rider at the race into account when making rules. So there is always going to be some compromise.
At the end of the day, if everyone is on flat bars, which is the norm for the entire history of the race (other than a couple years and a relative handful of riders), this rule shouldn’t change anything.