merlinextraligh

I really appreciate the benefit of others experience here. I'll do a more detailed race report to add another data point for others.

skol

thanks for the update on your race I was wondering how it went for you. I went out the week prior, 2 years ago from Indiana, and stayed in Denver for a few days and did some day trips to higher elevations and some hiking etc. then back down. Then went to Georgetown, CO for a couple of nights before the race figuring I would ease my body into it. It worked for me as I only felt the altitude in a loss of power kind of way. I hope you take another run at it and have success - I agree qualifying is the way to go as I started in the last corral and your just stuck for miles.

merlinextraligh

So here goes. Started in the white corral, with about 1700 of 1800 riders ahead of me. Took 3 minutes to get to the start line after the race started. After I crossed the start line there was another bottle neck (I think to spread traffic after the bottle neck on the descent) that brought us to a stop then walking pace with the clock running.

You descend out of Leadville on paved roads. I tried to move up as much as possible through here without being sketchy, or wasting too much energy. I'm told there are always crashes on the paved start. Lots of the racers don't have a lot of pack riding experience and you need to take that into account. I did try to draft as much as possible, always being on a wheel to save energy.

At the bottom of Saint Kevins, it was a complete bottle neck, with traffic almost stopping. A number of people walked. It was difficult to ride over short little steep sections were you'd like to accelerate and use momentum to clear, but you couldn't because there was no where to go. About half way up I had to put a foot down, when I got my front wheel on the wrong side of the stopped wheel in front of me, and started walking for a good bit. I think it was more energy efficient to walk than ride in the stop and go.

Probably ended up going too fast up St Kevins, when it finally cleared a bit, burning too many matches. The race starts fast and you can get swept up in it. Hindisight, a little better pacing on ST Kevins might have helped avoid blowing up later.

Second climb Powerline things had spread out a good bit. I did that at my own pace, felt good, and passed more people than passed me.

Descent of Power line was a bit scary for me. I let several faster riders go, and fell in with some people wh actually were even slower than me down it. A little more confidence to let the bike run, and I could have saved several minutes, and some nervous energy.

After the first two climbs, there was some relatively flat paved road. I tried to get a group together with limited success. Got a couple of people to paceline, but it seems that as we rolled up people not many wanted to jump on. Guess they were all mountain bikers. There are definitely times you can draft here on the pavement, and through the Wild west on smooth double track. I tried to balance always being on a wheel, and moving up. In hindsight, I did a lot of work through this section, towing others and burning energy. Would have been better off sitting in.

Th single track section was actually pretty easy. I could have gone a bit faster but got stuck in traffic. I didn't have the confidence that I could go signficantly and consitently faster though, so I just sat in the back of a line, and lost a couple of minutes there.

Got to the first Twin Lakes time cut, with a decent amount of time to spare, feeling guardedly optimistic, but also knowing I'd use too much energy on St Kevins, and on the flat portions. (to be continued).

merlinextraligh

At Twin Lakes, I had 4 plus hours to ride the 20 miles to the top of Columbine and back to Twin Lakes. I figured, just take it easy and spin, stay under threshold, you've got all day, its going to hurt a bit, but easily doable.

First part of the climb up Columbine is relatively smooth gravel forest road, at a modest slope. I should have known I was in trouble when I was doing a good portion of that in my lowest gear, and it was way harder than it should of been.

The top portion of Columbine turns to narrow, rocky, steep double track. I walked most of this. I simply had no choice. I knew at this point the comfortable time margin I thought I had was melting away rapidly. It got so bad I could barely walk pushing the bike. I had a severe headache,dizzy, almost blacked out at one point, heart rate way above where it sohuld have been for the meager power I was putting out.

The math was getting pretty clear at this point I wasn't going to make it. I thought hard about turning around before the top of Columbine, and abandoning. Made the decision it was better to keep going and get pulled, than quit.

I took the descent of Columbine very slowly, even on the easy gravel part. I figured at that point the risk/reward wasn't there, and in my oxygen depleted state, I didn't want to do anything stupid. Also part of me at that point was ok with missing the time cut, which I would have made had I bombed that descent. (which in all likelyhood would just have allowed me to suffer to Powerline, and get pulled there.)

When I missed the time cut at Twin Lakes I was rather surprised there was no sag back to Leadville. I din't have any crew there. I was using Carmichael Training Systems support. I could have gotten a ride back with them, but only after the last CTS rider was off the course which could have been awhile. So I was looking at a 24 mile road ride back to Leadville, until I found a generous soul with an open slot on their rack headed to Leadville.

skol

Great report - sounds like you were in good shape, time wise, heading into the Columbine climb sucks about the altitude sickness its a part of that race that is kind of a wildcard and hard to predict/control.

Parrothead1

That's all I can say, just reading that report certain parts of my anatomy are hurting.

Zephyr11

Great report. Nice job, and good luck in your next attempt.

C Law

Yes, good effort OP. have you done any other 100 milers before attempting this one?

Going from sea level to racing 100 miles above 10k is quite ballsy.

merlinextraligh

First attempt at 100 miles on a MTB. I've done Dirty Kanza (204 miles of Gravel) and a number of 100 mile plus road races, but never 100 miles on a mountain bike.

merlinextraligh

Takeaways:


What worked:

Hardtail 29er was a good choice. There's not much technical terrain. You could ride 90% of it on a cyclocross bike. The weight advantage of a hardtail helps.

Tires: I used Racing Ralphs snakeskins TL. No tire issues at all, and these tires seemed to roll easily, and were the right tradeoff between weight and durability. The baby heads in certain sections are hard on tires, and I saw a number of flats. The little bit extra weight for the snake skin sidewalls was worthwhile insurance against sidewall cuts.

Gearing: I had a 2x10 setup with 38/24 up front and 11-36 in the back. This gearing worked well for me. Any lower gear and you might as well be walking, and the only place I would have liked a touch higer gear was on one paved decent where I could have spun lower rpms with something bigger than 38/11.

Drafting: Could have done more of this. There are definitely sections of Leadville that you can save energy drafting. Because its an MTB race, this doesn't appear to occur to many people, or perhaps it doesn't fit the ethos.

What didn't work:

Lottery pick. Getting in by the Lottery relegates you to the back. If you're going to be close on the time cuts, it certainly doesn't help losing sevral minutes getting to the line, then losing perhaps 10-15 minutes in the first portion of the race from waiting behind traffic.

Doing a qualifier race would get you experience, as well as a better starting position.

Acclimitization. Definitely getting to altitude as long before the race as possible would be helpful. 48 hours before is likely the worst timing.

Eating. I didn't eat enough in the first 2 hours. Between having full finger clothes for the cold, and the tightly packed riders in the early going, it was difficult to grab food out and eat it. Next time, I'll put a sports drink in the camel back, and plan on drinking calories for the first part of the race.

More mountain bike miles. Lack of MTB skills didn't kill me, but a little bit better descending would have saved me 10 minutes or so over the day. Also more MTB miles would prepare me for sitting on an mountain bike for 12 hours, which training on the road can't completely replicate.

skol

maybe consider using a small bento box and keep your food there as its easier to get at and a constant reminder to eat. I also used a Hammer gel flask which helped speed things up and easier to grab/hold. Good idea on some calories in your camel back also. I thought I was going to be one and done on this race but it kind of pulls you back in the more I think about it. You should have some good photos/video available to purchase (I am sure you want to give Lifetime more of your money - ha)