I first learned of the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race several years ago when I watched the original Race Across the Sky movie on YouTube featuring Lance Armstrong from the 2009 race (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KCrsdQLv04). My interest in the race reintroduced itself in early 2014 when I learned there was a sequel to the Race Across the Sky movie and I purchased it on Amazon Instant Video. Upon watching it, I knew immediately that this was something I must do.
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| As race founder Ken Chlouber puts it, in order to finish the Leadville 100 you'll need to "dig deep into that inexaustable well of grits, guts and determination!" |
After taking nearly a year long sebatical from endurance events in 2014, I figured 2015 would be the year of the Leadville 100! Kylie was pregnant the first eight (8) months of 2014 and we welcomed our third child, Rigley Dean, into our life on August 15, 2014. Ironically, the date for the 2015 version of the Leadville 100 would fall exactly on Rigs' first birthday!
Our 2014 was also consumed with Avery's first season on the Frisco Amatuer Summer Swim Team (FASST) as well as her first season in softball which I was an assistant coach. I did fall back in love with CrossFit which helped get me back in shape and I did manage one (1) sprint triathlon (which nearly killed me), a Spartan Beast (which I thought was easy) and a 30 mile MTB race at Isle Du Bois ) which made me realize my handling is much better on a tri bike)!There are only two (2) ways to receive entry into the famed Leadville 100:
1) entering into the lottery in the month of December with hopes of your name being randomly drawn; or
2) race one of the six (6) qualifying races where 50 entries are proportionally given to those who finish near the top of their age group and another 50 are given to those who throw your race bib number into a hat (literally) and are lucky enough to have your number drawn.
Austin Rattler 100k
Well, I entered the lottery unsuccessfully so I was forced to try and gain entry by racing the Austin Rattler 100k qualifying race in March. The Rattler is worthy of it's own blogpost but I'll save that for another day. In short, it was a four (4) lap course at Rocky Hill Ranch 30 minutes East of Austin near Bastrop, TX. Kylie and I camped on top of the hill of the first climb where she set up and served as my crew all day. I by no means finished well enough to qualify so my entry was left to fate. I threw my race number bib into a cowboy hat and then we sat patiently as Dave Weins (6-time Leaville Champion) and Josh Colley (Leadville Race Director) pulled numbers from the hat and read them aloud.
I sat patiently in the beginning as numbers were drawn and watched the reactions of those lucky enough to be drawn and receive their gold coin. Kylie and I were making small talk with a couple from Minnesota who had plans of doing Leadville on a tandem. When Josh mentioned they were down to the final 20, my anxiety began to grow.
Josh was repeating a number and no one was claiming it so I shouted "78" and to my surprise, Josh paused, pointed at me and said "What number did you say?" I replied "78"
Josh then started flipping over all of the race bib numbers on the ground that he had already called and then pulled up number 78 and said "I guess this is your lucky day since I called your number earlier, where were you? Come on up here and get your gold coin!"
I couldn't believe it...the blessing and curse of having a loud mouth finally paid off! Had I not yelled out my own number, I would have never known. And how Kylie and I BOTH didn't hear him call my number is beyond me. All I know is that the stars aligned and it was meant to be!After grabbing my coin, the first thing that popped into my head was "Shit...just...got...real!"
For some reason, I thought that the training regimen for Leadville would be less demanding that that of an Ironman. Well I couldn't have been more wrong! In reality, the volume was nearly identical as IM training ranging from 10-16 hours/week, however, all of these hours were spent on the bike which felt a lot more demanding.
When training for the IM, I created my own training plan using a couple books and countless free sample training plans found online. I wasn't so lucky with Leadville as there is little to no training information available online. A coworker turned me on to TrainerRoad.com back in January which is an indoor cycling software that literally has hundreds of power (FTP) based workouts and training plans. Considering that 4-5 of my rides/week would be done on my trainer, this turned out to be a lifesaver. TrainerRoad is extremely addicting as it is almost like playing a video game while riding your bike. TrainerRoad did eventually come out with a Cross Country MTB Plan which I used in combination with a plan I purchased from Coach Lynda Walenfels (http://lwcoaching.com/) to customize my own plan which met the demands of my work/family schedule.
Table Rock
I took my MTB with us on our annual trip to Table Rock Lake in Shell Knob, MO and found time to enjoy some of the most fun solo rides of my life. I found a network of gravel roads just outside of town where I was able to get 8,500' of climbing in 50 miles. The rides were completely covered with tree canopies and I them all to myself. The weather was also much more forgiving than the 100 degree Texas heat.Silver Rush 50
The weekend after the 4th, I made a solo trip to Leadville, CO to race in the Silver Rush 50 which is another Leadville Qualifier. My intent was two (2) fold in that I wanted to see how my body acclimated to the elevation and I was hoping to improve my starting corral for the LT100.
This is another race worthy of it's own post, but I'll summarize it as follows....it was arguably the hardest, most pain enduring thing I have ever done! The Silver Rush 50 is rumored to be more difficult than the Leadville 100 due to a similar amount of climbing in half the distance. Like the LT100, this is an out-and-back course with 7,500' of climbing in which we hit 12,000' in elevation four (4) times. I felt good in the beginning but the climbs and elevation eventually got the best of me. 
The start of the SR50 is unique in that we begin at the bottom of the Dutch Henri Hill and have to run up the hill while carrying our bikes. It doesn't look too intimidating, but add in pre-race anxiety plus 10,000' elevation and it was one rude awakening!At the halfway point, I started doing the math in my head and got mentally defeated as I thought my goal time of 06:00:00 was out of reach. This mental battle continued until I hit mile 40 with the clock at 05:25:00 and I knew the final 10 miles were all downhill. I white knuckled the descent passing at least 30 people along the way, however, it wasn't quite enough to accomplish my goal as I crossed the line in 06:02:25.
Completely exhausted I rode to my truck and immediately broke down crying. I was second guessing myself from the effort I just put forth, my training plan/execution and even began to contemplate whether or not I had it in me to finish the LT100 the following month. I eventually gathered my thoughts and called Kylie to tell her I finished and I broke down crying again when she answered. In hindsight, this race was the turning point my journey to Leadville. One of my favorite commercials of all time is of Michael Jordan which ends with him saying "I've failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed." I firmly believe that in order to truly succeed, you must experience failure along the way. No great success was ever achieved without failure. It may be one epic failure or a series of failures such as Edison's 10,000 attempts to create a light bulb or Dyson's 5,126 attempts to invent a bagless vacuum cleaner. But whether we like it or not, failure is a necessary stepping stone to achieve our dreams.
Talimena Scenic Drive
I took a Friday off of work and drove up to Talihina, OK (3 hours) to ride my bike on the Talimena Scenic Drive. This place was incredible...it was like I was transported from central Oklahoma to the middle of the Appalachains. The highway was lined with tall pine trees and there were vistas nearly every mile. There were several mile-long climbs including one 5-mile long climb which gained 1,500' topping out around 2,600'. I road a 05:00:00 out and back that included over 8,500' of climbing....who'd a thougth that was possible in Oklahoma!
Riding solo probably wasn't the smartest thing I've done as I was physically and mentally smoked by about mile 40. I ended up having to walk two (2) of the major climbs coming back and bonked bad because my fluids in my Camelbak and gel in my flask to too hot to even drink. I contemplated waving down a vehicle to give me a ride back to the parking lot, but vehicles were few and far between...not to mention I kept hearing dueling banjos playing in my head!
Horseshoe Bay
Three (3) weeks out from the LT100, we went on a weekend vacation with a pair of neighbors to Horseshoe Bay on Lake LBJ near Marble Falls, TX. Why is this significant? Well, this was the last big training weekend with back-to-back six (6) hours rides scheduled for that Saturday and Sunday. Initially, I thought it would be a great idea to take my bike and sneak my rides in early since we were in the Texas Hill Country, but after much consideration, I decided to leave my bike at home and instead cherish this time relaxing with my family. Doing so made me second guess my level of fitness, but in hindsight, my body needed the rest and recovery. I had been hard at it for five (5) months riding the bike 5-6 days/week so having nearly four (4) full days to recover was a godsend (I did sneak in a 2-hour ride Thursday morning before we left!).
It's now August and my anxiety is nearing an all-time high as the Leadville 100 is right around the corner!
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