It was cold when I woke up this morning at 8 am.  And Leadville had already been going on for nearly 1 1/2 hours at 1500 ft. higher elevation.  I’m not sure what the temperature was this morning for the start, but it had to be in the 30’s I’d guess.

Today’s Leadville race is going to be interesting.  To spectate.  I am pretty happy that my interest in riding today is minimal.  If someone would have called me a couple days ago and said they had a slot for me to race, I might have said yes, but that would have been just for the life experience.  I’m not fit enough to go fast enough for my liking, so it would have been just for fun.  I might have beaten my last’s year time, but I was pitiful there last year, so that would be that hard of a thing to do.

There are some road pros coming here this year.  Joe Dombrowski, specifically ,is interesting.  He won the Tour of Utah last year and is a competent MTB racer.   He is an incredible climber. I’d be very surprised if he won the race today, though.  The Ergon Team has too many cards to play.

Here’s an interview with Jeremiah Bishop talking about the extents that he is going to try to go faster.  Aero bars, taping up the helmets, bending numbers to act as a fairing.  I’m not really sure any of those things would help me much, but I guess every second counts, somewhat.

They are interested in lowering the under 6 hour mark.  There aren’t any prizes here, so it is just bragging rights.  I don’t think that there really should be course records for MTB races.  The course conditions are always so variable, sometimes not even the same course, so winning the race is the goal, not trying to one-up someone from year’s past.

I have a few friends riding today, so am heading over to Leadville.  I won’t be there for the first guys finishing, which should be around 12:30, which is 6 hours.  I’ll be there closer to 8 hours when my guys should be starting to roll in.  I am probably just going to ride there.   It is around 40 miles from Silverthorne to Leadville, through Copper Mountain, then over Fremont Pass.  It is a nice ride.

Jeremiah Bishop leading the field out last year. You can just see my helmet, but my team mate Brian Jensen is in full view on the left.

Pre-riding Leadville some yesterday with the Eriksen’s and Vincent.

Tucker and Trudi this morning.