Six hours, 41 minutes and 39 seconds. That is how lengthy it took me to complete the least predictable Leadville Path 100 MTB within the race’s 32-year historical past, on a course that, 10 days earlier, did not formally exist.
Leadville has been essentially the most predictable race on the calendar for the Life Time Grand Prix, which made its debut in 2022. The race begins at elevation, 10,152 toes above sea degree in Leadville, Colorado, and collects greater than 10,000 toes of climbing throughout an out-and-back 100-plus-mile route.
Riders obsess over the identical particulars yearly: when to reach at altitude, how onerous to trip the mid-point climb to Columbine Mine, which tires to run, and the way to survive the Powerline climb (gradients reaching 26%) at mile 80 on the return.
This yr, nearly none of that was sure. The Willow Fireplace threatened the course and the race itself in early July. The wildfire was much more threatening to native companies and houses, with evacuations made final month with greater than 6,000 acres burned.
Getting in it was the Leadville no one knew. If we did race, we might nonetheless climb Columbine, above the treeline to 12,500 toes, at the very least as soon as.
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10 days of guessing
With no official course, we turned novice course designers, learning hearth maps, pouring over path maps, common maps, and constructing our personal routes. My favourite, courtesy of Cecily Decker, who went on to complete the 2026 race as runner-up, was aptly named ‚Pretendville‘.
I additionally rode sections of the Colorado Path with 2024 winner Melisa Rollins (now two-time winner), chasing rumors about what Life Time may add for sufficient elevation acquire and distance. Or would the three-day Leadville Stage Race course grow to be the ’new‘ 100-mile course?
The Leadville Stage Race (July 24-26) turned our greatest substitute for reconnaissance. I wasn’t formally entered, however I rode it anyway, one hour earlier than the sphere, with former US marathon mountain bike champion Alexis Skarda.
The climbing was steep, free, and unfamiliar sufficient that 4 miles into Stage 1, solely Alexis and one different rider might clear the primary steep part with out placing a foot down. Cecily gained the official elite ladies’s race, ending second general, and set the all-time QOM up the Columbine climb.
Then on August 6, the Leadville 100 course was lastly launched. After weeks of guessing, we lastly had a race to arrange for, at 102 miles and slightly below 10,000 toes of climbing, with the standard one ascent, and descent, of Columbine.
What to learn subsequent
And Powerline was gone.
Tyres. Stress. Gearing. Dropper or no dropper? For the primary time, we might cease speculating and begin dialing within the particulars.
Race day
The course stopped being theoretical as 6:10 a.m. MST arrived on August 15.
Above 10,000 toes, Leadville feels much less tactical and like extra of a health contest. No actual technique. You’ll be able to’t faux it on the ‚Race Throughout the Sky‘.
There’s no gap shot at Leadville (suppose cyclo-cross). The sector is comparatively small, the primary 5 miles are a quick highway descent, and no one needs to blow any matches with 10,000 toes of climbing nonetheless forward. That lasted about 5 miles.
The primary muddy dust part hit, and the race instantly began to blow aside. Riders went down within the first nook, adopted by a much bigger pileup that took out a number of Life Time Grand Prix athletes, together with the eventual ladies’s winner Rollins.
Then got here St. Kevin’s, the place the sphere cut up for good. With a 25% grade and teams forming throughout me, being in the appropriate group abruptly mattered greater than nearly the rest.
From there, we hit a serious highway descent and an extended, flatter stretch towards Pipeline. There was an sudden sense of camaraderie among the many ladies I used to be using with. We took equal activates the entrance. At a race this grueling, no one was attacking. The camaraderie amongst the ladies was a breath of oxygen-rich recent air.
Then we hit Columbine. I’d saved just a few matches for the climb and began shifting up a number of spots. Each switchback felt just like the final one.
Close to the highest, I noticed Cecily coming down in first place. I cheered, sparing the little oxygen I had. It was value it. I knew how onerous she’d work for this race.
After Columbine, the course was a race towards the clock. With a lot pavement and comparatively little climbing left, the tempo by no means let up.
Goodbye Powerline
I would not have predicted lacking Powerline. I crossed the road in 6:41:39, greater than an hour quicker than my earlier finest at Leadville. And ending an hour quicker, with smiles as an alternative of the standard clean stares, felt prefer it was lacking the intestine punch the race is meant to have. I will take the grins. I will nonetheless miss the collective trauma.
An hour quicker is a quantity that gained’t maintain up in biking courtroom, nonetheless. With roughly 2,000 fewer toes of climbing and no Powerline, it wasn’t the identical race. However 6:41 nonetheless felt fairly rattling good.
The handlebar debate in motion
This wasn’t a private gear alternative. It was a rule change being put to the check on a newly-designed course the place, for the primary time, there was a powerful argument that drop bars would have been quicker.
After final yr’s race, Life Time banned drop bars on mountain bikes to standardise gear. The reasoning made sense. Flat bars and drop bars deal with in a different way, particularly on slender descents with high-speed, two-way visitors.
Quick ahead to this yr. With the ultra-long paved sections, smoother ‚hero‘ dust, after per week of rain, and fewer tough Leadville options, the course was nearly begging for drop bars. Even I needed to admit it.
For years, I insisted {that a} mountain bike needs to be a mountain bike: flat bars, suspension, dropper put up, the entire package deal. Now, after racing Leadville sufficient occasions, I’ve realised it races extra like a gravel race with just a few rougher sections and quick descents.
From a pure velocity perspective, this was the Leadville course for drop bars.
Professional help stations
Elite riders had 4 alternatives to see their crews: Pipeline at mile 26.1 outbound and 74.2 inbound, and Misplaced Canyon at mile 42.5 outbound and 58.7 inbound.
The course naturally cut up the sphere into smaller teams, and with the separation of novice and elite feed zones, the race felt much less chaotic, and extra organised.
The largest profit was having to do much less facial recognition; it turns into difficult, as soon as race-brain takes over. Having designated help stations meant fewer probabilities to fly previous your folks since you did not see them.
Getting smarter about altitude
Leadville nonetheless requested one thing of the city, and the city nonetheless gave it.
The Leadville Path 100 working race, began by Ken and Merilee Chlouber in 1983 following the closure of the Climax Mine, which value roughly 3,250 folks their jobs. The race was created to carry guests and cash right into a neighborhood that had abruptly misplaced its financial spine.
A number of cities don’t need cyclists taking on their roads. Leadville welcomes us with open arms.
Going from sea degree to five,200 toes, in comparison with going from 5,200 to above 10,000 toes, is a wholly completely different sport. Oxygen loss is exponential.
I’ve tried completely different methods to acclimate. Final yr, I spent three weeks in Leadville, which, for my part, did extra hurt than good. This yr, after 10 days above 10,000 toes, I returned to Boulder and felt like I would dropped all the way down to sea degree. My energy surged whereas my coronary heart charge slowed.
Perhaps three weeks in Leadville is not essential. Perhaps maximising my health at 5,200 toes and arriving nearer to race day is smarter.
What I really discovered
For weeks, I attempted to eradicate uncertainty: maps, wildfire updates, hypothetical programs, revised vitamin plans. On race day, essentially the most helpful factor I would ready was being OK with not understanding.
I nonetheless have not discovered the right technique to race Leadville. The course, bikes, and feed zones may change, and the altitude can humble you, irrespective of how a lot time you spend in Leadville.
One factor will at all times keep fixed, Columbine. Finally, you end up above the treeline once more, climbing in the direction of 12,500 toes, questioning should you’ve acquired another switchback in you.
There are printed indicators positioned at almost each switchback on higher Columbine, above the treeline. A few of them learn „Dig deep“ and „You paid for this“. On the signal that learn, „You’ll be able to dig deeper than you suppose you’ll be able to“, I requested in reply, „Are you certain, signal?“
Columbine did not change. It by no means does.
