2024 LEADVILLE 100 MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE - BUCKLE #17

A baby born the summer of my first Leadville 100 is now 18 years old and heading to college. I’ve been doing this a long time. This was my 17th Leadville 100 . . . 18th if you count the Covid year where the folks at Leadville had everyone do a 100,000 foot vertical challenge in lieu of the cancelled race. I still remember well the feeling I had when I crossed the finish line in 2007.  I wanted Lisa to throw my bike in the nearest lake and never look at it again. That feeling lasted 24 hours until I woke up and thought of all the ways I could improve. Now I don’t even question it. I know I’ll keep doing the race. It’s what I do. It’s part of me. It somewhat defines me. 

I didn’t train that hard this year, but I was by no means a slacker. I rode consistently starting in January with a Peloton program, skied my ass off and played ice hockey all winter, and hit the trails in May once the snow melted. I didn’t do excessive intervals or big volume, but felt pretty good coming into race-day. I figured if all things went perfectly, I might throw down a 9:30 time, but would definitely be somewhere in the 10-hour range. 

I started in the orange corral with my buddy and 1st-timer, Dan Gilbert. Was hoping to spend a good chunk of the day riding with him. Weather was perfect, mild and partly-cloudy and the forecast was for a nice cool day with a chance of showers. 

We lined up at 6:15 and our corral was off at 6:40. First 5 miles to the base of St Kevins were pretty uneventful. Kevins climb felt great and I was on pace to hit Carter Summit at 54 minutes, which would have been 3 minutes faster than last year. Then, on the descent to Carter, I heard the dreaded “hissssss.” Rear tire. Flat. Fuck. My tire luck had run out. It had been 12 years since my last Leadville flat. 

I ran the bike the last few hundred yards to the Carter Aid area and found a guy with a pump. I made several attempts to pump the tire and hope the sealant did its job, but there was a clear leak along the rim and I didn’t have the patience to try to solve the issue. So I pulled off the wheel, ripped off the tire, cleaned out all of the gooey sealant, made sure there were no holes or rocks or pine needles in the tire, inserted a tube, pumped it up, replaced the wheel, and hit the road. Unfortunately, the whole ordeal took about 10 minutes, during which time some 500 slower riders passed me. Oh well, so much for time goals. 

Repercussions. How much was a 10-minute fix early in the race going to cost me? Turns out a lot. On the final push up Sugarloaf, I was pretty locked in at a speed that was slower. On the Powerline descent, it was slower. On the Columbine climb, especially toward the top, it was WAY slower.  All in all, I figure I lost 30-40 minutes in those three spots simply because the pace of those around me was a lot slower than 500 riders farther up. Such is life. 

I hit Twin Lakes outbound at about 3:20. This was a really fun aid station this year as two of my daughters, Arlyn and Bailey, joined Lisa there for the first time (as they were always at camp in August). Also had several friends come out to watch and join the fun.

Great push from Captain Kevin!

As mentioned above, the Columbine climb was slow, particularly the hike-a-bike at the top. C'mon people, don't you want to get to the damn top?!  Started feeling my usual exhaustion about halfway up the climb, and got my usual leg cramps about a mile below the summit. Popped an S-Cap and massaged the cramp away. Reached the turnaround at 5:35 and chugged my first Coke of the day. Descent was fun, but I am definitely more conservative now than I used to be. Just not worth getting hurt to gain a few minutes. Kinda like why I refuse to play Pickleball. Too dangerous.

Top 'O Columbine

Rolled back into Twin Lakes at 6:25 and was happy to join the aid station party for a few minutes of rest. Joked that I wouldn’t mind a beer and a chair! Told Lisa to expect me at the finish right around 5:10pm as I was estimating a 10.5 hour finish.

As I hit the Pipeline section, dark clouds were amassing to the west and it looked like we were in for some wet weather. Fine with me. I’ll take cold and wet over hot and sunny any day. Sure enough, the heavens opened just past Pipeline and I quickly donned my rain jacket. Rolled into the new Outward Bound aid station at 7:40 and was happily surprised to be greeted by Lisa, Arlyn and Bailey. There was a new shuttle-bus system in place this year and they had taken the shuttle to their car at Outward Bound. When they arrived at their car, it occurred to them that I had probably not passed through yet. Serendipity. 

It stopped raining just before the Powerline climb. I was pretty spent at the start of the climb, but no more so than past years. Other than the obligatory hike-a-bike on the first steep face, I was able to ride the whole climb. Did a quick calculation when I reached the top and determined that I could come in under 10:30 as long as I didn’t fuck around. I don’t know why that was important to me at that moment, but I always like to have a goal when I hit the last 20 miles.

No issues getting down Sugarloaf and I passed a lot of riders going up pavement Kevins. Hit Carter Aid at 9:30, chugged some coke, lamented that there was no watermelon, and steadily continued on. Kevins descent was fun as usual and, when I hit Leadville Junction at 10:02, I knew I would arrive under 10:30 as it was only 25 minutes home on even my slowest day.

Sure enough, I hit the wire just as the clock struck 10:28.  It was especially fun hitting the final 100 yards before the finish with high-fives to Lisa, Arlyn, Bailey, Kevin Kane and Larry Brown. Unfortunately, the finish area was so packed with spectators this year that I didn't get my annual hug from Merilee. 

 I turn 57 in a few weeks. Every year I question whether I’m getting too old for this shit. Then I see a 73-year old finish the race and I tell myself to quit whining about my age.  I'm still shooting for 20 finishes, but I also say that every year could be my last. When the usual exhaustion that always hits me about halfway up Columbine starts hitting me much earlier, I'll know it's time to be done. For now, I will definitely be back next year for #18.

As an aside, Dan finished his first LT100 in 9:36.  Great effort on his part. My first-timer buddy Teddy Leonard also finished in 9:45. I take pride in both of their finishes as they are two more in a long line of suckers I have goaded into doing this race.  Another local friend, Ian Bruce, was given a spot in the race just two weeks before race-day and he finished in 10:45. Pretty crazy!

Aside #2 - as of the date of this writing, I have raised over $104,000 this year for First Descents and our Team of Leadville racers have raised a record $268,000. BooYah! 

2023 LEADVILLE TRAIL 100 MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE - BUCKLE 16

2023 Team First Descents Leadville

 This was my 16th Leadville 100.  My Leadville career is now old enough to earn a driver’s license. My buckles are all in a box in my closet. Time for another one.

Trained a little harder this year.  A little.  The memories of last year’s sufferfest were enough to kick me into gear back in January. So I followed a few Peloton powerzone programs through the winter and was in fairly decent riding shape when the snow finally melted in late April. Didn’t do many long training rides in the lead-up to Leadville . . . the longest being the Silver Rush 50 in mid-July. I also mainly stuck with endurance pace despite vowing to do intervals into the summer. Oh well. At least I’m playing great golf.

Team FD had 22 riders this year, but no good friends. So I kind of went through the motions the week of the race. The big bright spot again this year was the massive financial support of my friends and family. As of the date of this narrative, contributions on my fundraising page exceed $120,000 for the year and the team has raised over $250,000. Great stuff.

Race day.  Up at 4:30am, nuked some blueberry pancakes, and was out the door by 4:45am.  Arrived in Leadville at 5:35 and staged at the Delaney’s on 7th street. To the orange corral at 6:15 and off at 6:40 under cool cloudy skies. I threw down a finish time of 10:52 last year and figured that my fitness this year was about 30 minutes faster.

Smooth pace down the pavement to Leadville Junction. A week before the race, I switched my front cog from a 32-tooth to a 28-tooth as a surrender to age. This meant better spinning up the steep stuff, but less top-end speed on the descents. I noticed this immediately on the initial pavement descent as I had to spin ferociously to keep my speed up with the pace of traffic. 

Kept a smooth pace on the dirt and hit the St. Kevin’s climb with no stress. Loved my new 28 on the steeper sections and felt great all the way to Carter Summit . . . which I hit at about 57 minutes. 

Chugged half a bottle of fluids on the way down the Kevin’s pavement. Speaking of bottles, this was the first time I have chosen to forego a Camelbak and just go with two bottles. My plan was to simply carry some powders and refill the bottles with water at each of the aid stations. With no major time goals, I didn’t care if I spent a few extra minutes filling bottles. It was worth not having that weight on my back and shoulders.

Continued feeling great all the way up Sugarloaf and even passed a bunch of people on the Haggeman Road portion. Summited Sugarloaf at 1:45.  Fun descent down the Powerline. Kept it conservative while several guys blew by me.  

Found a paceline on the road around Fish Hatchery and hit Pipeline at 2:20. Refilled a bottle and continued on. Started feeling my first leg weariness in the Pipeline and scaled it back a bit to save myself for Columbine.

Hit the FD Aid Station at Twin Lakes at 3:10 and was in a great mood. I was 10 minutes ahead of 2022 pace, I felt neither strong, nor weak, and I was really enjoying the cool weather. Plus it was always great to see Lisa, Kevin Kane and the rest of the aid station gang for a few minutes. 

As I headed up the first climb out of the Twin Lakes aid station, I was thinking that sub-10 was a possibility at my current pace. Then the race leader, Keegan Swenson, passed me going the other way just 10 minutes out of Twin Lakes. That was a bit ego-crushing. I used to make it deep into the switchbacks on the Columbine climb before that happened.

Several more leaders passed me well before I even got out of the valley to the actual climb. Ouch. Then I hit the first steep part of the climb and my legs just weren’t there. They didn’t hurt, but there was just no juice to sustain anything more than a slow spin. So I just settled in as dozens of riders passed me and grinded my way up through the switchbacks. It took me 1:40 just to reach the Goat Trail. In my sub-9 years, I was at the top in 1:40. 

Reached the top in 2:15 after 35 minutes of riding and hiking. This was my slowest Columbine climb since my first year in 2007. Oh well.  I was still loving the weather and the fact that I didn’t cramp on the hike-a-bike for only the second time ever. 

45 minutes to the bottom and rolled back into the FD aid station at Twin Lakes still feeling relaxed and generally pretty pleased with how the day was going. A few high fives, a hug and kiss for Lisa, and it was off on the home-stretch. I knew I could try to still turn myself inside-out for a sub-10 finish, but that would require a sub-9 pace for the last 45 miles and I just wasn’t up for it. So I pretty much knew leaving Twin Lakes that it would take about 4 hours to get home, thus putting me in at around a 10:15 finish time.

Hit Pipeline Aid at 7:15 after very uneventful trip through the Pipeline. Had my tunes cranked on my speaker and was just happily pedaling and singing along.

On the road between Pipeline and Powerline, the winds kicked up and the clouds suddenly let loose with a torrent of rain. I threw on my raincoat and just kept pedaling along to the beat of my music. This beat sunny and 80+ degrees any day!

While quickly going to the bathroom at the base of Powerline, fellow FD rider Austin Mayeux passed me as I was getting back on my bike. This was the exact same spot where my buddy Mike Fitzgerald caught me in 2022. I rode Austin’s wheel to the base of the hike-a-bike and told him that we “were going to finish strong.” This was Austin’s 2nd LT100 and he was already a good hour ahead of his 2022 pace. Got a nice fist-bump from Matt Delaney on the hike.

Austin took my wheel at the top of the hike-a-bike and that gave me the incentive to show what an old man can still do as I led him to the top of the Powerline without putting a foot down again. This was the first time I had done that since 2016 and my Powerline climb time for 2023 actually matched my 2016 time.

We bombed down Sugarloaf and around the bottom of Turquoise Lake and then started up St. Kevin’s pavement. The effort up Powerline had taken a lot of my legs and I figured Austin would shoot up ahead of me. Sure enough, as happens every year, I found some reserves on the climb and Austin and I were able to keep a great pace, passing some dozen riders, reaching Carter Summit Aid at about 9:20.

I chugged a few cups of Coke, inhaled a few pieces of watermelon, and then we were off to see the finish. No issues through the approach to the St. Kevin’s summit, though I walked the last steep section while Austin rode it. Did a fairly controlled descent down St. Kevin’s dirt and smiled when it flattened out as I had survived yet another LT100 without injury or crash. 

Hit Leadville Junction at 9:50 and knew that 10:15 was going to be the number. Unfortunately, I derailed that target by a couple minutes as I had been holding my bladder for about 30 minutes and, upon reaching the bottom of the Boulevard, I simply couldn’t hold it any more.  I told Austin to continue ahead and I would try to catch him.  

After remounting my bike, I tried to close the gap to Austin, but with a 2-minute head start, that proved to be too tough a task as he crossed the line about 30 seconds ahead of me. My final time was 10:16. I felt the usual exhaustion, but significantly better than I felt in 2022. 

All in all it was a really fun day on the bike. I never turned myself inside out, I talked to fellow riders on the course, I enjoyed the hell out of the weather, and I felt my usual gratification when I got that big old hug and finisher’s medal from Merilee at the finish line. I told her that one day every year, she was my favorite woman in the world! 

That’s buckle number 16 on my way to 20.  There is a chance that two of my local buddies will do Leadville with me next year. If so, then maybe I will train a bit harder next year and try to return to the form of 5-6 years ago. Or maybe not. 

Note: my good buddy Jeff Hoffman’s son Kelly was racing for the second time this year. Even with a broken seat-post, the kid threw down an astonishing time of 7:15.  Youth . . . 

2022 Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race - BUCKLE #15

I am turning 55 in a few weeks. Everything is starting to feel 55.  My legs. My lungs. My desire. I am enjoying traveling. I am playing a lot of golf. I am sick of solo training for a mountain-bike race. 2019 was a shitty training year for me. I was coming off the 2018 Tour Divide and I barely rode a bike for the first 5 months of that year. However, I rode a ton over a 6-week stretch from mid-June to early August and managed to throw down a respectable sub-10 hour finish in Leadville. I trained pretty hard in 2020, but the race was cancelled thanks to Covid. I trained modestly in 2021 and decided to joy-ride the race, finishing in about 10:20. Had a good time that day. 

2022 has been a joke. I didn't touch my bike until April. I took a two-week trip in May without pedaling once. I took 10-day and 3-day trips in late June and early-July and didn't pedal. I got Covid in mid-July and didn't pedal for 7 days. By race day, my total mileage for the entire year was less than 1200 miles. The Leadville 100 would account for 1/13th of my total mileage for the year. Yikes. For the first time since 2007, I actually had some subconscious doubts about finishing. I certainly had thoughts about #15 being my last race, even though I had been saying for years that I wanted to get to 20. 

On the bright side, this was my most successful Leadville fundraiser for First Descents since 2008. As of race-day, I had raised over $110,000. I have amazing friends. And Team FD Leadville (pictured above) has had our best fundraising year since our 2007 inception with over $230,000 raised as of this post.

Race-day morning was fairly mild at 44 degrees. It seems that the days of 30 degree starts are now long gone. Thanks climate change.  As always, I was hoping for a day of cloud-cover and cool temps as heat is my kryptonite. I started in the purple corral, which was the projected 9-10 hour finish group based on past two years performances. As much as I hoped that I would step up on game-day and nail a sub-10, I knew that I lacked the power and endurance for that kind of finish. 

My lack of fitness became evident fairly quickly. It wasn't so much the slow grind up St. Kevins, as you can only really go the speed of traffic anyway. Same thing with the 3 mile rolling stretch to the pavement at Carter Aid (which I hit in under an hour), and with the paved downhill on the other side. Where I really started to notice it was when I hit the dirt on Hagemann Pass Road at mile 14. I just couldn't sustain any speed and I started getting passed by A LOT of riders. I crested Sugarloaf at 1 hour and 50 minutes and knew this was going to be a long day. 

The Powerline descent was pretty uneventful. I took it fairly conservatively as there was no point getting aggressive and getting hurt to gain a few minutes. On the road around to Pipeline, I was passed by a line of riders led by my buddy Dave Gonzales. Gonzo started the race two corrals behind me and had already caught me. Jeez. I tried to get on the wheel of the last rider in the paceline and I couldn't hold their speed. So I got dropped. Good times.

I rode through Pipeline aid at 2 hours and 25 minutes and proceeded to get passed by dozens more riders in the Pipeline section. I simply let them go. The old me would have taken each pass as a personal affront. Today I just smiled and continued at my leisurely pace.

 

I  hit the First Descents aid station at Twin Lakes at about 3:20. I can't remember it ever taking 55 minutes to get from Pipeline Aid to Twin Lakes.  As always, it was great to see my wife, my great buddy Kevin Kane, and the FD crew, and I put on my best face. I was on my slowest pace since my first LT100 in 2007 and there was nothing I could do about it. I simply had no legs.

Thankfully, I have a lot of experience with this race. Despite feeling no strength, I knew I'd be fine if I just kept pedaling all the sections that needed pedaling and only focused on one section at a time. So first things first was getting through the 10 switchbacks to the A-Frame turn on upper Columbine. It took longer than usual, but I kept a steady snail's-pace and got there at about 4:55. By then I was ready for a little hiking and the inevitable leg cramps that would hit when I next tried to pedal. Of course that happened exactly as anticipated. I chomped on some S-Caps, massaged the legs, and just kept hiking. I was surprised/not surprised by the difference in hiking speeds at an 11-hour pace versus even a 10-hour pace. Everyone was climbing the conga line in hypoxic slow motion. 

A dude descending on the left crashed hard in the rocks right next to me as I ascended the steep S turns. He pretended to be ok, but embarrassment, pride and adrenalin will often mask the injury and pain in the moments right after a crash. That one was going to leave a mark.

I finally reached the top at 5 hours and 40 minutes. By comparison, this was a good hour and ten minutes slower than my sub-9 years and even a few minutes slower than my first LT100 in 2007. Since I was in no hurry, I spent a few minutes at the aid station chugging some Coke and eating some salt-laced watermelon. After thanking the volunteers, I began the ride down.

A few minutes into the descent, I passed my buddy Mike "Fitz" Fitzgerald as he was finishing his ascent. Fitz is a fraternity brother of mine from Colgate who I had goaded into doing Leadville this year. He had never done anything like this before and he took the challenge seriously by religiously following all of my training advice since December . . . advice that I obviously didn't follow myself this year. I gave him a shout of encouragement and continued the descent.

After witnessing the crash on my hike up, I decided to play the descent safe and picked my way down the top section at a moderate speed. However, clouds were amassing above and I started to feel a few raindrops, so I put on the afterburners once I hit the smoother gravel as I wanted to get off this mountain before the heavens opened.

I arrived back at Twin Lakes at 6:25 and rolled into the First Descents aid station without much urgency. Ray Shedd was blasting some great tunes, Lisa and Kevin attended to my nutrition and hydration needs, and I enjoyed just hanging still for a few minutes before starting the arduous trek home. My legs were dead weights, but I had enough experience to know that I could just muddle through the last 45 miles at granny pace in about 4 and half hours (as long as I didn't stop). 

Nothing much to say about the return through Pipeline. Was glad to not have to do the singletrack and the hike up "Little Stinker" thanks to a 2021 course change. Was also glad that we had some cloud-cover instead of the usual baking heat that hits this section in the afternoon. 

I arrived at Pipeline Aid at about 7:40 and indulged in more Coke and watermelon. I don't usually stop at this aid station, but what the hell. 

By now the winds had picked up and we had the usual howling gale from Pipeline Aid to the base of Powerline. As an experiment, I actually put aero-bars on my bike for this year's race, primarily for this section of wind. I was pretty happy with this decision as it was nice to be able to put the forearms down to plow a bit more comfortably through the breeze. At this point I was spinning in my easiest gear at a laughably low speed without any thought or care as to finish time. Then . . .

About a mile before Fish Hatchery, a line of riders passed me and among the riders was Fitz. Wow. As slow as I was going, I was still a bit surprised that he had caught me. For the first time the entire day, my competitive juices and foolish pride were activated and I picked up the pace and caught him. Also for the first time all day, I made a finish calculation and determined that a sub-11 hour finish was doable. 

Fitz and I started up Powerline together and hiked up the Powerline Wall side by side. I was pretty excited to see my buddy Matt Delaney about halfway up the hike as he was acting as race cheerleader for all of the hurting racers. I give him a quick fist-bump and he escorted us up about 100 feet.

The rest of Powerline consisted of a combination of riding and hiking. Unfortunately, each steep incline triggered leg cramps . . . and I had to jump off the bike and push. Regardless, we never stopped moving and we crested the summit at 9 hours and 10 minutes. At this point, I turned to Fitz and said "I'm going to get you in with a 10 next to your name, so just stay with me." Fitz said "don't worry about me, go on ahead." I said "fuck that, STAY WITH ME!"

We bombed down Sugarloaf, Hagerman's and the pavement and started up the St Kevin's pavement climb at 9:25. We passed a handful of racers on the way up and were also met with a minor rain shower that felt great. I pushed ahead a few times, but Fitz stuck with me and we hit Carter Aid Station at 9:50.

More Cokes, more watermelon, a little bit of stalling, and then we were off for the homestretch. More cramps forced me off the bike on a couple of the last steep punchy climbs and then we enjoyed a last fast descent down St Kevins and a pleasant jaunt through the valley, arriving at Leadville Junction at 10:25.  From here, I knew it was 22-25 minutes to the finish and that we would comfortably come in under 11 hours.

The Boulevard seemed to go on forever, but we finally made the last right turn onto 6th street at 10:45, where Fitz moved ahead a bit up "Fuck You Hill," the final pitch. I caught him at the top and we rode the final mile side by side, crossing the finish line together at 10:49 (Fitz actually started 5 minutes behind me, so his chip time was 10:44). Got the big hug from Merilee, a finishing medal was dropped over my head, and my 15th buckle was handed to me in a little white box.

All in all, the race went exactly as I expected. I realistically pegged a 10:45 finish during the week leading up to the race as I knew I really wasn't in shape to go any faster. The one thing that occurred to me over the last 40 miles was that I ultimately made a pretty cagey trade. My normal training for the year would have required an additional 100+ hours in the saddle and the result would have been a Leadville time that was 45-60 minutes faster. So my only penalty for not riding those extra 100+ hours was an extra hour of cramp-filled suffering on race-day. Totally worth it. I now know that if 2023 comes along and I have the same lack of motivation to train as I had this year, I can pretty much mail it in and still get a buckle. Then again, maybe I'll rediscover the fire and get faster at 55. 

What is really hard to believe is that I have now done 15 of these things. I really thought I was one and done back in 2007.  What an addiction. I had many moments during the race when I thought about all those people that made an impact on this 15-year run. It obviously starts with Allan Goldberg. If he didn't challenge me to do this in 2006, I never would have contemplated it. Then there is my wife Lisa and my daughters, who have all been so supportive and encouraging through the years. I thought several times during the race about my friend and unofficial mentor, Art Fleming. During training rides for my first LT100 in 2007, it was Art who not only gave me endless advice, but also instilled me with confidence that I could succeed at this race. Finally, I thought of all my buddies who had taken the bait and joined me in this race over the years - Dean Gregory, John Wontrobski, Kevin Kane, Gary Morris, David Flyer, Neil Markus, Dave Gonzales, Ben Teller, Mike Fitzgerald, Brad Ludden, Ryan O'Donoghue, Matt Hayne and Kelly Hoffman. The march to 2000 miles continues.

2021 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race

 Got my 14th buckle.  Finished around 10:20 . . . which was my slowest finish since 2012.  Pretty uninspired effort. Not worth typing up a whole narrative. Had a lot of fun for most of the day though. Didn’t push very hard. Talked to a lot of fellow riders. Pretty hot day.  

2019 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race

This was my Leadville Bar Mitzvah. Number 13. At the finish line, maybe I would party like it was 1980 and I would be rewarded with a pencil-sharpener, a cheap bracelet, a set of acrylic bookends with my engraved initials, and a $25 gift-certificate to a Peaches record store. Or not. This past year on the bike was very different from my previous 12 years, mostly because I was not on the bike very much. Coming off the 2018 combo of the Tour Divide and Leadville, I had minimal motivation to train. I gained 20 pounds. I battled lingering injuries. I enjoyed more frequent adult beverages than usual. I lounged. I had fun. Fall turned to winter, winter turned to spring, spring approached summer and I barely rode a bike. A road crash in early May sidelined me for most of a month. On June 20, I reviewed Strava and was alarmed to see that I had ridden less than 500 miles since January 1st and 250 of those miles came on a slow bike-tour with Lisa in Israel in April. For the first time in my Leadville career, I was going to test the "there are no shortcuts" theory and cram for 6 weeks to get my ass in shape. It would be an interesting experiment. At 51 years old, how much could I rely on the endurance base I had built over 12 years to get me through 103.5 miles in Leadville without total suffering . . . or total breakdown?

So the cramming officially began with our arrival in Colorado at the end of June. I didn't have time to start slowly, so I began pounding out big road miles to start. I muddled through an 80-mile Copper Triangle loop the last week of June, I grinded out a big hilly loop near Boulder the first week of July, and slogged through the Triple Bypass on July 13. I continued with a bunch of 30-50 mile gravel rides on my mountain-bike and tossed in a few hour-long sessions of short hill-repeats.  I didn’t get to Leadville for a single training ride this summer. First time ever. The fitness came back quickly, but unfortunately all of my metrics were way off as I found myself doing local climbs 10%-15% slower than prior years. Extrapolating this 10%-15% decline to Leadville, I figured I’d be lucky to break 10 and a half hours.

On the bright side, as of race day, I had raised nearly $85,000 for First Descents. So no matter what happened in the race, it was another successful and impactful year and there would be zero shame from a slower than usual effort.

I started the race in the Purple corral consisting of those who finished 2018 in the 9-10 hour range. Joining me was my buddy Mike “Leadman” McHargue. Mike threw down a really fast time in the Silver Rush 50 in early July and I figured he would probably shoot out ahead and I wouldn’t see him again. My plan was to just stick with him as long as I could and if we happened to be riding at a similar pace, we could stay together for much of the day.

We had a really balmy start compared to prior years. The temperature at 6:30am when the gun went off was 46 degrees. This was actually the warmest start in 13 years. We also had heavy cloud cover that was predicted to stick around for most of the day, keeping things mild, but not hot. My kind of race weather.

I did not head out too fast from the gun. Mike passed me on the descent out of town, but I kept him in my vision all the way to the base of St. Kevins. The St. Kevins climb was a bit slow, but there were no big clogs and I kept a very moderate pace through the three miles of rollers to Carter Aid Station, hitting the timer at around 59 minutes. This was a good 7-9 minutes off my faster years.

I hit the pavement about 20 seconds in front of Mike and used the downhill to chug some fluids and stretch the shoulders. In past years, I would go pretty hard on the first part of the Sugarloaf climb, but I chose to lay back this year as I saw no point in burning matches this early when I still had doubts about my endurance later on. Mike passed me on the final rocky section of the Sugarloaf climb, but I stayed on his wheel as we summited and followed closely behind him the entire Powerline descent. We stayed together through Pipeline Aid Station, arriving at about 2 hours and 19 minutes.

The Pipeline section was fairly relaxed. Mike and I yo-yo'd the entire time, never separating by more than a few seconds, and we both arrived at the First Descents aid station area at Twin Lakes at a recreationally respectable 3 hours and 10 minutes. This was some 15-20 minutes slower than each of my last 5 years, but I didn’t care. I was really enjoying the ride and it was fun to have a buddy riding essentially the same speed. It was also fun to have Lisa back at the aid station this year after she missed 2018. There is nothing like cruising into Twin Lakes at Mile 40 and getting a big hug from your wife.

After 5 minutes at the aid station, we were off and pedaling again. We crossed the dam and entered the vortex of crowd madness and then began the climb up the ridge. I stopped to satisfy the call of nature and Mike continued on. I took it really easy up to the first switchback on the Columbine climb as that section actually contains some of the steepest pitches of the first 8 miles of the climb. In my 13 years, the number of racers who pass me on this stretch only to be passed by me a few miles later is in the hundreds. It is an easy and needless spot to kill the legs.

Rounding the first switchback, I could see the back of Mike's jersey several hundred yards in front of me, but I wasn’t sure that I would ever catch him again. However, I chose this time to test the legs a little and pick up the pace. I turned up the volume of the tunes on my JBL speaker and started passing other racers. By the 3rd switchback, Mike was only about 100 yards ahead. By the 5th switchback, his gap was down to 50 yards. I finally caught him between the 9th switchback and the start of the goat trail and actually put my own gap on him in the first quarter mile of the loose and rocky goat-trail as I was able to find a line to ride while he joined the other hike-a-bikers. My continued riding didn’t last long as it simply became too dangerous to try to pass people with inbound riders barreling down the left side of the trail. As I dismounted, I was suddenly felled by sharp leg-cramps and had to pull off to the side. I bit into two S-Caps (salt tabs) and massaged my thighs and calves. After about 30 seconds, the cramps dissipated and I continued on my way. Mike was now ahead of me again, but I slowly reeled him in before reaching the top.

We hit the Columbine turnaround at 5 hours and 15 minutes. Mike stopped for a quick drink. I continued. He passed me just after the bottom of the goat trail, but we rejoined on the final descent into Twin Lakes and rolled back into the First Descents aid station together at 5 hours and 58 minutes. Once again, we were happily greeted by each of our lovely wives. It was actually kind of nice to be in no hurry as compared to my sub-9 years where I crazily blew through the aid station in under 45 seconds. Lisa said she enjoyed the "relaxed me."

The funny thing about the race so far was that neither Mike, nor I ever discussed riding the race together and we had no implicit understanding that we would stay together. We were just truly riding our races at a nearly identical pace.

Brent and Mike Leaving Pipeline Aid Station

We covered the Pipeline in about an hour and were still together at the Pipeline Aid Station where I stopped quickly to chug a few cups of Coke. I was definitely feeling pretty sore and tired, but was way less miserable at this point than I expected. It helped that up until now, the weather had been perfect with temps in the 60s and enough clouds to keep the sun from heating up the course.

Usually the section from Pipeline Aid to the base of Powerline runs directly into a stiff breeze that makes the section a depressing suckfest . . . especially with Powerline looming on the horizon. For the first time in years, we actually had a slight tailwind on this section. As we approached Powerline, I looked at my watch, did some quick calculations and determined that a sub-10 hour finish was still in play. I explained the timing to Mike, but he seemed a bit ambivalent about the time. He also said that he was running low on fluids and would be meeting Laurel briefly at May Queen. I figured I would make a final evaluation at the top of Powerline and either hang back or go for it.

The Powerline climb was its usual hellish self, especially with the sun coming out early in the climb and slightly baking the air. I was definitely spent, but managed to keep pedaling nearly the entire climb after the initial wall of hike-a-bike. I reached the top at 8 hours and 22 minutes. I had not seen Mike since the hike-a-bike section, but figured that he couldn't be too far behind. I slow-pedaled along the top ridge for about 60 seconds and when he still didn't appear behind me, I made the decision to take off as I knew he would probably stop to see Laurel and was concerned that any stop would likely kill the prospects for a sub-10 finish.

From the top of Powerline, I needed to get to Carter Aid Station in about 40 minutes if I wanted a sub-10 finish. That gave me 15 minutes to descend to the base of the St. Kevins climb and 25 minutes to get up the climb. In my sub-9 years of 2013 and 2016, I did the St Kevins climb in about 20 minutes. I didn't have those legs today, but thought I could split the difference somewhere in the middle. Sure enough, I hit the nail right on the head with a 22.5 minute ascent, arriving at Carter Aid at 9 hours. This gave me a few minutes cushion to down a few more cokes and indulge in a chocolate-chip cookie and a few slices of salted watermelon.

I took off at 9:03 and knew from experience that I could easily cover the last 11 miles in about 52-53 minutes. At this point, the skies were darkening and this gave me added incentive to push it before the impending rain. With no issues on the St. Kevins rollers and descent, followed by a smooth ride up the Boulevard and “Fuck You Hill,” I crossed the finish line in 9 hours and 55 minutes, collecting my 13th hug and medal from Merilee.

In retrospect, I did not give myself enough credit and rode more conservatively than necessary. So maybe I could have been 10-15 minutes faster. But that 15 minutes would have likely been the difference to feeling pretty good at the end versus feeling like turd at the end. Frankly, I just wasn’t in the mood to feel like turd. Not when my finish time was going to start with a 9 or 10 regardless. That being said, I was satisfied that I was able to summon enough foolish pride to pick it up over the last 25 miles to get in under 10 hours.

Already looking forward to coming back for number 14 in 2020. Also ready to end my non-training sabbatical and get back on a regimen this coming year. Still harboring a hope that my best Leadville time is in front of me and not behind me.

TOUR DIVIDE 2018

For an extensive recap and tale about my 2018 Tour Divide adventure, please click the link below and purchase my book. 100% of book sales proceeds are for the benefit of First Descents. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960051716/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_LYOnDbSRGD66T

2018 Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race

August 11, 2018

This recap will be short and sweet. 2018 was my 12th consecutive Leadville 100 mountain bike race. Once again, I raced for First Descents. I had no expectations for this race as I was still only a month removed from completing the Tour Divide, a 2,731 mile self-supported mountain bike race from Banff, Alberta, Canada down the Continental Divide to the US-Mexico border at Antelope Wells, New Mexico. I was still physically and mentally fried and also still injured in several places.  Although I always start Leadville with a sub-9 goal, my only real goal for this year was to get through it and try to enjoy it.

The start was fast, but I was well off a sub-9 pace by the first checkpoint at Carter Summit. I tried to give a big push up Hagerman Pass Road and Sugarloaf, but I was even farther off pace when I reached the Pipeline Aid station. It was a beautiful morning, so I just settled into a comfortable rhythm and arrived at the FD Aid station at Twin Lakes at about the 2:55 mark.  This was the first year that Lisa wasn’t there to greet me as she had to get home to help my daughter get off to school. Andrew “Tops” Coulter was my man on the ground and he got me resupplied with great efficiency and expertise. Though he was a little confused when I just hung around gabbing for a few minutes as my typical stop at Twin Lakes outbound is less than a minute.

Heading up Columbine, my legs felt heavy so I didn’t push too hard.  I arrived at the Goat Trail at 4:34, hopped off the bike and happily enjoyed the hike, thinking how much easier this hike was with an unladen bike versus some of the crazy hikes on the Tour Divide toting 25-35 pounds of gear, food and fluids. 

I reached the turnaround at about 5 hours, still pretty respectable as I was only 15-20 minutes off a sub-9 pace. I stopped, had some cookies, rapped with the volunteers and headed back to Leadville.

Back to Twin Lakes at 5:40, more lollygagging at the FD aid station and then off to enjoy the last 40 miles.  Like 2017, there was something nice about not worrying about the finishing time and just enjoying the ride.

I hit Pipeline aid at 6:50 and stopped for more refreshments. It looked like I would finish sometime between 9:40 and 9:50.  I didn’t really care either way, but I knew that my competitiveness would kick in if I started flirting with 10 hours.

The Powerline climb was the usual slog but, surprisingly, I did it in roughly the same time as my sub-9 years. While I felt cumulatively taxed from a long summer, the weariness thankfully wasn’t manifesting itself as misery in Leadville.

Tailwind on the Carter Summit pavement climb.  #winning. 

Reached Carter Summit at 8:48. Stopped for Cokes and salted watermelon. After 11 years of this race, I knew that I was between 50 and 55 minutes to the finish, depending on how hard I wanted to push.

Took the St. Kevin’s descent a little cautiously as my fingers, still totally numb from the Tour Divide, were not doing their jobs with my brakes. Cruised through the valley, hit the rocks at the bottom of the Boulevard, embarrassingly spun out and had to walk for about 50 yards, and then cruised up the Boulevard.

Hit the finish at 9:42:55 and was met by my Dad and several folks from FD.

Despite the soreness and weariness, I had a great day on the trail and found it to be a great cap-off to my Tour Divide summer.