Austin Rattler - Leadville Qualifier

After getting into the Leadville 100 race through last years Crested Butte Qualifier race, I figured I would start of this year with the same plan.  The first and relatively closest qualifier was the Austin Rattler.  Another 100k race, I figured this would be a great start to the year and hopefully get me into the 100 and have that objective out of the road for the summer, so I could focus on some local races... 

Plan A:  Win the qualifier entry.  Well, this was a stretch goal, but I plan was to ride full out and rock it like never before.  Well this sort of worked.  I was definately rockin it and riding way better than I ever have!  That is until near the end of lap 2 when my legs decided they hadn't been properly prepared for such a high level of performance... and the cramps began.  I've never cramped up like this before and really I had no idea how things were going to turn out.  At this point I went into survival mode and once the pain stopped I got back on the bike and pedaled the course in granny gear with as minimal acceleration and effort as possible.

Plan B:  Be a Finisher and get drawn in the lottery.  At this point I really had no idea at all if I would even be able to finish the race or ride fast enough to do so.  Fortuneatly, my first two laps were somewhat smoking fast and that gave me plenty of time to meander around the course with legs that were ready to cramp at the first thought of a hard effort.  Luckily, plan B worked out and I finished the race with plenty of time and was in the lottery.

Unfortunately, I didn't get drawn for one of the 35 lottery spots.  Pretty much a complete tragedy!  What am I going to do now?  Well I do plan to do the SilverRush50, but honestly the odds are going to even worse in that race.  So maybe I need to do another Leadville Qualifier...  Really not sure if that is even possible as traveling to races is expensive, but maybe...

Overall though, the Lifetime/Leadville crew put on a great race!  and it was a super fun day and a much different course than Crested Butte was last year.  with 50% single track this course was tough, I actually cant remember the last time I suffered like this.  This race was possibly the hardest race I've ever done.  My word of the day was "brutal"  Of course that's a variable statement as I'm sure later in the year when I'm in better shape I wouldn't have rated it as that hard.   

Here's my data from the race: