As is typical for all Leadville write-ups, there's just no short way to do it, unless of course you want to skip everything that happened and just know that, yes, I finished and my time was 10:51:15. You can stop reading now if that's all you needed to know, but as the saying goes: It's not about the destination, but the journey and that is the story I'm going to tell.
As I summarized before: only two short weeks ago I got into the Leadville 100 mtb race, via the Crested Butte Qualifier Race. My excitement soon turned into nervous anticipation as finishing this race is not optional: I want the belt buckle and I'm going to "Dig Deep" to get it. "Dig Deep" is one of the race's motto's which has double meaning as Leadville is a mining town and miners have to dig deep to find gold and silver (not an easy task), for this race dig deep means pushing yourself through all conditions, pain, and mental doubt to make it to the finish line. For me this means, there is two ways to end the race:
I'm crossing the finish line or I'm getting hauled off in a ambulance!
That might sound a bit dramatic and perhaps it's too much pressure to put on myself, but this kind of vision is due to several things: I'm properly trained, my nutrition is well planned, and I've done everything possible to ensure my bike doesn't break.
Although nervous, I am super excited about this race! A couple good friends drove out with me to help crew and cheer me on. We left Grand Island Thursday after work, and after staying at a friend's house in Louisville, CO that night, we arrived in Leadville around 7:30am to beat the rush for the mandatory medical check-in and packet pick-up. After walking around town awhile it was time for the racer's meeting, and then after that we finally were done with the mandatory meetings and got the bikes out for an easy ride to loosen up the legs. If you're ever in Leadville, I recommend riding the Mineral Trail, it's paved and about 14 miles around town. It has awesome views and many info stops to learn about the left over structures from mining in the early 1900's. After checking into our cabin, we were back in town at 5:00 pm to drop off my aid station bags and to eat at the free spaghetti dinner. After some final bike checks and getting the race numbers put on I was ready to go for the race the next morning.
5:30 AM is early to show up at the starting line, and requires getting out of bed around 4:30AM. At 10,000 ft in the mountains it's cold this early. It was 42 degrees when I loaded the bike onto the car. At the staging area of the race, it was crowded. 1600 riders and there were a few details that didn't work out quite right, according to the race manual I was supposed to have a corral to line up in as I had previously finished the race and that was to put me ahead of all the first timer's and non-finisher's. It turned out there was no corral as stated in the instructions and I was on my own to battle all the first timers that believed they were all 9 hr finisher's. I'm going to call my next move neutral Karma. With a fellow conspirator we picked our bikes up above our head and walked straight out to the center of the road and right to the front (of the nubee corral). Quite a few people were not happy about this move, but hey the rules state you have to be with your bike, laying your bike down in the street doesn't reserve your spot. Where we walked to there was nobody standing there. Legal move in my book, but maybe not very courteous… Now I was in good position and not really concerned about not getting the corral.
When the gun goes off, nothing happens, sure the leaders take off, but the rest of us stand around while everyone in front funnels out of the gates and eventually we take off. Like the previous years, we all have an electronic chip on our ankle so our exact time is tracked, so technically, the time for each rider doesn't start until he or she crosses the start line.
Having one year under my belt was very helpful at the start, I knew to get moving forward through the crowds during the neutral start and then when the first climbs hit, I knew to stay calm and just take them easy. There is nowhere to go, it takes way too much energy to pass and there is plenty of race left to make up time. With this strategy, I felt good, was riding easy and the first couple climbs were a breeze and best of all I was ahead of my previous time split, by around 15 minutes. Wow I was feeling good and looking forward to a fun day on the bike!
Powerline descent - It was dusty.
Well, it's a given it was going to be a fun day on the bike, but around hour 4 things started going bad. Somehow, I missed the Twin Peaks aid station, maybe I was partly delirious already or just plain unobservant, but I missed this critical refueling stop and now I was headed up Columbine with minimal water and food. I barely had enough water for the next 2 hours and I only had one option for getting more food, and that was to rely on the goodwill of my fellow riders. This turned out to no problem, the few people I asked, gladly handed over a few spare GU shots and/or bars and I was refueled and on my way. Wow, super nice of them, (not that I wouldn't have done the same thing), but I was definitely thinking about neutral Karma move at the start and wondering how that played into the big picture.
At the top of Columbine, my time split was 5:30, which is 30 minutes ahead of previous time. I now had a change to fully refuel, fill up with electrolytes and I was well stocked and on my way back down the mountain. I ended up restocking so well that there was no need to stop at Twin Lakes on the way back, so I just cruised on through. This was around 7 hours, and this is when I started thinking that I was really going downhill.
I didn't doubt my ability to finish the race, but I was going to have to start "Digging Deep" and it really seemed too early to have to do such a thing.
The Return Ascent Up Powerline
The next hour wasn't so bad, but finishing the rest of the race was a battle. On the final paved climb, I was down to my small chain ring in front, which was uncharacteristic of most everyone riding by me that would finish with a similar time. I was just shelled out and this is all the gear I could turn. It was enough however to keep me moving and eventually I crested the final climb and still was on track to break the 11 hour mark! The last point I'll note about this part of the race is that the descents were just as painful as the climbs, my feet hurt, my arms were tired and it took all my concentration to navigate the rocky terrain.
Finally, as I rounded the last switchback coming down St Kevin's it was all dirt roads and pavement left to the finish line. I realized at this point that not only was I going to break the 11 hour mark, I also had a chance to do so by a fair amount of time. Like 2009, this is when the adrenaline kicks in, it's also nice because the home stretch is similar to riding in Nebraska, which means it's relatively flat, so adrenaline + terrain I'm used to riding = a fast ride to the finish, I passed a lot of rider's on the way in, maybe I didn't work hard enough earlier for having this kind of energy left, but no one was interested in drafting off me and in no time at all the red carpet to the finish line was in sight and buckle number 2 earned!
Got the Buckle!
So the race was tough and I was glad to be finished, but the next day after the award ceremony, I had my buckle and we were on our way home when it hit me:
It can't be over, I want more and next year seems a long ways away!
