I have to drive back over to Leadville to get my belt buckle this morning, so this has to be short. I’ve never heard of an awards presentation at 7:30 am, the day after the race.  Crazy.  We’re going to take our road bikes and do a ride around the town after.  Vincent says the bike path around Leadville is pretty interesting, going by a lot of old mines, etc.

Yesterday didn’t go as I had hoped or planned.  I’ll write about it tomorrow.   I kept motivated, even though I had no reason to be.  Finally, with about 1/2 the race left, I started cramping and that was it.  I tried to control the cramping as best I could, but who knows how to do that?  Certainly not me.

Anyway, I’m not so disappointed.  I had no chance of ever winning the race, but felt like I had the form to finish way better than I did.  Limping in at the end of a race is not something I wish on anyone.

Okay, we have to head off.  This early morning stuff, especially after a real early morning race start isn’t my cup of tea.

 

 

I might as well just get this done & posted and move on.  I have some pretty mixed emotions about the Leadville 100 race on Saturday.  It didn’t go as I had planned/hoped, but that is the way of sport.  I have been dwelling on it on and off, but I’m not second guessing myself about preparation or execution.

I think, and still think, I was pretty ready for the race.  I kind of just didn’t show up that day, which was a surprise.  I do like surprises, I learn from them usually, but so far, I haven’t really learned much yet other than I am having a hard time just letting it go.

I woke up at 4:30 am Saturday feeling pretty spry.  Kind of like in Lutsen.  Surprisingly awake and ready to get going.  I wasn’t hardly nervous at all.  It was dark when we got there at 5:45 and I really didn’t have much to do than to ride up to the start.

There were a few introductions, most the guys that finished at the front over the years, then the F1 driver, Mark Weber and a couple others.  I talked to my friend Dave Wiens a little and then we started.  It was a tad cold, 45 or so, but I just started in short sleeves, no undershirt.  I knew we’d be climbing pretty soon and that the day was supposed to warm up quickly.

I was fine going downhill the first few miles.  A little spun out, but everyone was.  The Ergon team was setting pace, but it was pretty tame.

We started up the first climb a few miles out and I got caught behind a few guys that got tied up and a big gap opened up in front of me.  I made an effort to get back up to the front group that was stringing out, but backed off, following my plan of not redlining it early.  Pretty soon I was climbing by myself, which was fine.

I started worrying a little on the first descent, not seeing anyone in front of me.  I knew I needed to be attached to a group at the bottom of the Powerline descent, which was a climb away.  I caught Todd Wells who had a flat.  He stopped and changed his wheel I think, right when we hit the pavement.  I started the 2nd climb, to the top of Powerline and Todd came blasting by.  I sat behind him for a couple minutes, but once again was over my limit, so decided to back off.

Again, I worried a little, thinking I might have to ride the 17 miles over to Columbine by myself. But, I guess I went fast enough down the rocky descent of Powerline because about a minute from the bottom, I came upon a huge group that seemed to be creeping along.  I was stoked.

So, I had my group and thought I was okay, even though I wasn’t pedaling very good, I was optimistic that I was going to eventually come around.  The next hour over to the Columbine climb I tried to eat as much as I could stomach.  I had a banana, a couple protein bars and drank my whole bottle.  My group was somewhere between 10-15 guys, depending on where we were at.

I started feeling a little better, especially when we were climbing, my group was slowing down a lot, slower than I felt like going, but I just rode with them, conserving my energy.

Trudi and Dennis were at the bottom of Columbine and I told them I would get a bottle on the way back through after the descent.  I didn’t want to carry a full bottle up the 3000 foot climb.  I knew I’d be breathing too hard to drink anyway.

By the bottom of the climb, I was only with two other guys.   The rest of my group was behind.  I didn’t try very hard on the flat bottom section, saving my energy for the last couple miles, which is steep and technical.

I climbed just okay.  My body still wasn’t going as I had hoped, but I was still optimistic.  I started up the top section, above tree line, when the 5 leaders came flying down.  It was the three Ergon riders, Christoph Sauser and another guy.  Then it was a huge gap.  I climbed another half mile before Todd came down on his own in 6th.  Then another huge gap.

With less than a mile left to climb, guys started coming down pretty continually.  Brian was in 14th.  I think I was in 21st, maybe three minutes or so back on Brian.  I was okay with that, considering how pitiful I was riding.

The descent down Columbine was interesting, scary interesting.  Going downhill at 40 mph against a bunch of oxygen starved bike riders climbing keeps it interesting.  A couple times guys would just veer over to my side because they had overlapped a wheel or something and I’d have to skid and swerve.

Anyway, I made it down unscathed , but the rest downhill didn’t seem to help my pedaling.  I got a feed at the bottom and then started the open section back to the Powerline climb.  I was by myself and it was a pretty good headwind.  I couldn’t get pedaling right.  I still don’t get it.  I felt like I had power, but it wasn’t assessable.  This is where I first started feeling like I might cramp.

I’ve always had hit or miss issues with cramping.  First my right satorious started catching some.  This is weird, because it usually starts with my left leg.  Pretty soon I realized I was going to be having some real issues.  I tried a lot of different things.  I tried standing some, stretching my legs.  I had eaten and drank so much I couldn’t really change that.

But, nothing helped.  I was riding along and all of a sudden my right leg would lock up.  The satorius cramps are manageable.  I can pedal through them and eventually it releases.  After about 40 minutes, a guy towing Sally Bingham came up.  I sat behind the two of them, hoping a little less effort would help with the cramping.  I tried to pull through once, but both my legs seized up and I dropped way off the back of them.  After they released I just rode back up to them again.  I had power, just it was being interrupted seriously by cramping.

And that was how it went the rest of the race, the last 25 miles.  At the bottom of Powerline, I let the guys I was riding with go ahead.  I didn’t want to start in front of them and then seize up and screw them up.

But, I was thinking the day was so bad, but I wasn’t going to walk or dab anywhere on this climb. I knew I didn’t have any control of the cramping, but I was hoping that they would stay away for the next 10 minutes.

I had ridden this climb a few times and it wasn’t that bad.  But, I knew I was going to have issues.  I had put a 11-40 on the rear and was planning, in my state to climb the hill in a 24 x 35, which is one cog down in the back.  I rode the first steep section in this gear, then it levels out for a little and when I looked up at the next section, I realized that I was going to have to use the 40.  I didn’t know whether I could balance my bike riding so slow.  The gear is stupid easy.

I shifted into my 40 and started up the next section.  Sally and the other guy were about 1/3 the way up.  A couple spectators gave me pushes, which didn’t seem right, but I was in not position to talk and tell them I’d like to ride up it myself.  Sally got off at the top and walked a little.  I kept on my bike and was mildly relieved to get there without touching my foot to the ground.  It was a small success on a bad day.  I was riding the climb in 5 1/2 minutes training and it took me nearly 10 to ride it in the race.  I have a hard time believing I could balance riding that slowly.

The cramping started again soon.  There is still a couple more miles of rocky climbing.  Guys kept just going by.  I think at least 5 or 6 more guys passed me.  Each one talked to me for a bit. It really didn’t seem like we were racing anymore, just surviving.  We were in the mid 20’s placement-wise, but we only had one speed.  And mine was really slow.

I got over the top and started down the descent to the pavement, where you went downhill and then had a couple mile pavement climb.  I caught a couple guys and then went right past them.  When I started climbing, my legs were twitching like crazy.  I stayed on one guy, then cramped and dropped back to the other guy, which was a couple hundred meters back.  Then I started feeling better, so would ride away, only to seize up again and be back.

At the top, only 10 miles from the finish, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pedal the rest of the way.  We descended down and the last few miles was flat, with a 10 minute climb to the finish.  But, before I got to the pavement, my right hamstring cramped and I couldn’t pedal.  It was on a small hill, so I just stopped and got off my bike.

Man, the pain.  It released after 30 seconds or so, but when I tried to get back on, it would start all over.  I got to the other side of my bike and started pedaling.   To my surprise, I could pedal.  I looked back on the road and couldn’t see  anyone behind me.  When I got to the last long dirt climb, I couldn’t even see the guy I was riding with on it.  He had put a couple minutes on me the last 3 miles of the race.  Crazy.

So, I rode to the finish.  I wasn’t that depressed.  I really didn’t have control over what had just happened.  Plus, I had stayed really motivated throughout the ordeal.  I can’t really fault my effort, I never really gave up.  But, I never really showed up.  Maybe it was the heat.  It wasn’t that hot, but climbing, with the sun on you, it seemed crazy hot.

I finished about 30 minutes slower than I thought I would.  I was hoping to be somewhere between 6:45 and 7 hours.  I finished in 7:23.  I was 29th, with two women ahead of me.  That is a first in a mountain bike race.  But, they were both going crazy good.  Brian finished good.  He was a minute faster than last year at 6:54 and finished 12th overall.  He seemed happy with that, which is great.

The experience was pretty great.  Maybe I’m just not made to ride that far at that high of altitude at that intensity.   I had put a lot of time and effort into the event and it is still stinging some.  I want a do over, but that isn’t happening.

I really appreciated all the support from all my friends, plus all the people that I didn’t know cheering like crazy for me.  The feed zones were my favorite part of the race.  Little tent cities jammed with crazy fans.

My legs are pretty destroyed.  Riding that long with cramps is not a good thing for muscles. They are still pretty wasted.  I’m not so tired, more mentally than physically.

The awards cermony was on Sunday morning, early.  I though it was terrible timing, but it was good after we got there.  It was supposed to start at 7:30, but we didn’t get there until 8.   It is at a huge gym, completely jammed with people.  Right after we got there they started giving out awards.  The first one was for climbing the Powerline climb.  Oakley was giving out a prize bag for the fastest rider in each age group.  I had just been telling Vincent how I had done my balancing act trying to ride the whole climb.

I was really surprised when they call my name for my age group.   I couldn’t have gotten up that hill any slower, without walking and that might have even been faster.

Anyway, I got some glasses and a bag and Oakley gift card.  Super nice.  Steve Blick, Mr. Oakley himself, was standing on the Powerline climb cheering all day.  I said hi to him when I was crawling by.  I didn’t know there was a timed segment, and even if I did, there was nothing I could have done to do anything different than I did.

The guys at the front of this race were unbelievable.  The three Ergon guys rode from the Powerline to the finish the day before at race pace.  They rode 1:31 and it was  2nd fastest Strava time ever, behind Christoph Sauser.  I don’t understand it at all.   Then they go and crush everyone on race day, riding under 6 hours.  The did take 4 minutes off their day before Powerline to Finish Strava segement.  It was unreal.

I’m not sure that these 100 mile MTB races are for me.  I’ve done two so far and have had a super day and then now a really subpar day.  I guess that isn’t enough to really make a judgement.

Next year, if I come back, I’m going to try something different.  Maybe race a little more instead of sitting at altitude and training.  I’m not sure what went haywire, but something did.  Overall, I’m glad I did it.  I’m trying to do races I haven’t done previously, and this was one of them.  I’m going to stay on this program, doing new races with new experiences.

After the awards we got on our bike and did a lap of Leadville on the bike path.  It was a 15 mile ride going by the old mines.  It was wonderful.  Part of what makes racing bicycles so great.