Crested Butte Leadville Qualifier

Not getting into the Leadville 100 Mtb race is pretty much the norm. Last January’s lottery was no different than any other year, I didn’t get in. Despite this depressing news, there was still hope: Lifetime Fitness bought the race series and announced that there would be 3 qualifier races, each race awarding 100 entries. 50 of the 100 entries would be earned by the top finishers, I knew I wasn’t in good enough shape (yet) to win an entry, so instead I decided I would sign up for the race and take my chances at getting one of the other 50 entries that were to be given out by lottery to all race finisher’s that met the predetermined cut-off time.


Even though the odds were small, I decided it would be a fun race to do anyway and gave me a goal event to train for. Crested Butte doesn’t look to be all that far away, but due to mountain roads it ends up being about an 11 hr drive from Grand Island. However, the drive is well worth it as it sits in a Valley and has an amazing view of the mountains around it, adding to the scenery all the wildflowers were in bloom, and all the trails were surrounded by fields of yellow. Besides the plentiful selection of singletrack, the town itself is very cool place, like most mountain towns it has tons of character and lots of cool shops and restaurants. I wish I had taken more vacation to stay and ride more trails and just enjoy hanging out there.
The race started at 6:30am on Sunday. It was 100k long = 62.1 miles. It was actually a bit longer than that with the neutral start. The course was designed to simulate the Leadville course so it was mostly fire roads and just a few short miles of singletrack. The climbs were brutal, one particular spot had 20% grades for about a half mile. I was glad I installed a 12-36 cassette for the race, it was slow but at least I was able to keep my cadence up. The rest of the course was a flatlander's dream, long straights with rolling hills, this was perfect for me, as I could really put some power down and the effort to crest the rolling hills didn’t tax my system too hard. The race was going well until I had a tubeless tire failure, actually it was the sealant, for some reason it wasn’t sealing to the rim, after refilling it once, it went flat again and I was forced to stop and put a tube in it. This whole ordeal cost me about 15 minutes, but I was still making good time and at least I was still in the race. (Note: I foolishly did not use Stan’s when I put new tires on the bike last week. I have never had a problem with Stan’s and from now on that’s all I’ll ever use again! )
The cut-off time was 8 hours and I came rolling in to the finish line right at 7 hours, better than I thought I might do and best of all I now had a chance at the lottery! It's always interesting listening to the announcers as you cross the finish line, besides mentioning that I ride for Joyride, I recall them noting I was the only racer representing Nebraska.

It seemed like forever waiting for the awards ceremony to get over, and it was forever again as they handed out the 50 spots to the top finisher’s, and then finally it came down to the remaining 50 spots for the lottery. Amazingly there really weren’t that many people left standing around, so the race promoter just asked everyone to come down to the stage that was waiting for a lottery spot, and if you can believe this there was only about 30 of us. The promoter took a head count and announced we were all in! Next we all registered for the race on the spot and now I have a new goal event for the year!
While I was at the race, I learned that Crested Butte will host the first 3 years of the Colorado Qualifier, and they have the right of refusal for the next 3 after that. So mark it on your calendar for next year, because this is going to be the key event for our area for most anyone that wants into Leadville. Next year the series expands to 5 qualifier races, which I assume means even fewer spots in the general lottery. I have no idea where the two additional races will be held, maybe one will be closer than Crested Butte, but in terms of an awesome destination, no way they will be comparable.
There was another couple things about this race worth mentioning, Dave Weins and Rebecca Rusch held a Q & A session on Saturday, where anyone could ask questions. That was really cool and very interesting. I learned a few good training tips there. Lastly, I should mention that Lance Armstrong showed up for the race also, this is the second time I have competed against the 7 time TDF champion, same race, same age group, just me and Lance a head to head battle. Well maybe that’s not exactly how it went, perhaps Lance was way up front and I never actually even saw him, but none the less it was a great weekend!