I’m racing the Tahoe Trail 100 this year in hopes of getting a spot and a decent corral position for Leadville next year. I’m trying to come up with a reasonable time goal for the Tahoe Trail. At my last ramp test, I was 4.25w/kg, but hopefully a little better than that at the time of the event. It looks like a 5:30 time gets you into the third corral at Leadville and a 4:45 gets you into the second. That’s a huge time gap. Would anybody who has done the race share their time and fitness level to give me some perspective? How easy is 5:30 or how hard is 4:45? Thanks.
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5:15 will get you into Red corral, 4:45 into silver.
If you are 4.25w/kg at sea level, 5:15 is achievable if you have a really good day and everything goes exactly to plan, but you should have no trouble finishing in less than 6 for green corral.
Realistically there is very little difference between silver, red, and green for starting position. Green lines up across the street at Leadville and if you get in the front of green, you can just squeeze up pretty far as soon as they remove the barriers.
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@stevemz as a pure roadie I’m noodling getting into XC/Leadville game. What should I read and learn prior to making any decisions?
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Well, there is XC and then there is Leadville.
For 90 minute XC, watch the Red Bull replays and see if that seems interesting. If it seems interesting, rent any mountain bike and do a local race in beginner or sport class to see if you like it.
For Leadville, you have to like eating, riding for a long time, and also would prefer to do it on a mountain bike.
For pure roadies, I’d say to start by renting a mountain bike and seeing if it sparks your interest.
I mean… that’s my jam. I should try jam on the bike.
So much more to it than w/kg. I was over 4 w/kg when I did it and have been racing XC for over ten years. I thought I would be 5:15 ish but best I could do was 5:37. The course is pretty benign, its probably 75% fire road but that last climb back up to Northstar from the Sawtooth area is exposed and you hit it at around 52 miles at high noon, it breaks you.
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Agreed. The last two climbs suck.
What gearing are you running? I have a 30 in the front and 42 in the back. I’m about 3 w/kg though so I’m wondering if I should run a 28 in the front. My goal is simply to finish at this point (new dad so not much training).
Run a 28t if you can fit it and you are 3w/kg.
You’ll be glad to have it on the first half of the last climb of each lap
Finishing is a great goal. First time I did the race was in 2015 and I came in absolutely dead last inside the time cutoff, but improved a lot over the subsequent years.