Travis' Leadville

I always told myself I could wait until I was at least 30 years old to do the Leadville 100. After all, its an old mans event because everyone knows you get better at endurance as you get older. Well, I must be getting stupid because I decided to do the Leadville. I mean why not, the qualifier went well, its only 40 miles longer, it shouldn't be that much harder....

The Spectacle

What happens when 1900 riders and their families and support crews take over the mining town of Leadville at 10,000 ft? Chaos ensues. Not really, but you have to wait in line for everything. You can't go out to eat because everywhere is overrun and the grocery store gets cleaned out. Lycra clad riders and their $10k rides are all over town. The locals must have a hate and love relationship with this event. 

How does a mountain bike race have a mass start with 1900 riders? Again, chaos ensues. The start is right in downtown Leadville and is pavement for the first 3 miles, downhill pavement. I was lucky enough to get to start in the top 100 because of my Pro license. The gun went off and I had the most tense 10 minutes on my bike ever. For a solid 10 minutes we were riding at 35+mph (spun out) with a few 90 degree corners thrown in for some fun. I was quite prepared for this as all I wanted to do was stay upright so I didn't get run over by masses behind me. I survived the pavement and as soon as we hit dirt began moving up through the crowd despite the nasty dust cloud prepping everyone's lungs for the rest of the 100 miles.


Once we hit the first climb, 5 miles in, things calmed down a bit and it became more of a normal bike race. I realized I wasn't nearly aggressive enough off the start and it took me most of the first climb to move up from 100th to around 30th. I then found myself in a pack of about 8 guys who I would ride with all the way out to Twin Lakes taking turns pulling and drafting. I quickly realized that my legs hadn't seen enough of my road bike as the flat power sections were sucking the life out of them. And yes, Leadville is a road race. By the time we got out to Twin Lakes (40 miles in) I was wondering if my legs were going to get me up Columbine.

I stopped for a quick feed at our Team Alpine Ortho tent to fuel up before the long climb up Columbine hoping my legs would come around for the climb. I had no such luck and instead of making up time on the climb I watched some of the flat-landers put time on me. I was relieved to reach the top and turn around to be more than half way done with the race. Descending back down Columbine for a solid 20 minutes at high speed, I realized how far I had just climbed up. It was cool to see the 1000+ people in a conga line still coming up the road as I descended and thanks for the cheers whoever was cheering for me. 

Back into the aid station at Twin Lakes and all I wanted was a new set of legs to get me to the finish. I settled for half a PB&J and took a bunch of goodies to hopefully get me back to the finish. For the next 15 miles I rode in no mans land (the section from Twin Lakes to Powerline), mostly riding solo. Shortly after the Powerline aid station Rebecca Rusch caught up to me. The women were riding fast this year! As soon as she caught me, my new goal for the race was not to get chicked. 


As I hit the base of powerline my legs miraculously felt fresh again (probably due to all the Aclimate and food I put down since Twin Lakes). I was riding behind Rebecca for the beginning of the climb, but she opted to get off as soon as it got steep. I felt good and stayed on the bike riding by to luckily never see her again (during the race). The last 25 miles of the race I felt good and picked off riders one by one to eventually catch Bill Demong at the bottom of the last decent. We ended up riding the last 5 miles together, taking turns pulling to finish under 7.5 hours. 


I was pumped to ride across the finish line in 7 hrs and 27 minutes and glad I came around for the last quarter of the race. I ended up finishing 34th which isn't quite what I was expecting place wise, but shows how many fast guys raced this year (including a lot of pro roadies). My time would have placed me 14th in last years race, top ten the years before that. Not bad for a mountain biker who has only ridden his road bike twice in the past two months.

Thanks to Alpine Orthopaedics and Dr. Griggs for the awesome support out on course (and all season)!  And Rock n Roll Sports for hooking it up all the time!


I highly recommend doing the event to anyone just because it is such a spectacle and experience (and probably the most popular mtb event in the U.S. now). 

Top 5 guys- (Nice job Jay, your the man!)   

• 1. Todd Wells, in 6:23:38 DURANGO CO M3 (30 to 39)
• 2. Alban Lakata, in 6:27:57 LIENZ AK AUSTRIA M3 (30 to 39)
• 3. Alex Grant, in 6:35:32 SALT LAKE CITY UT M3 (30 to 39)
• 4. Jay Henry, in 6:38:31 AVON CO M3 (30 to 39)
• 5. Jeremiah Bishop, in 6:43:34 HARRISONBURG VA M3 (30 to 39)

Top 5 women (FAST!)

• 1. Rebecca Rusch, in 7:31:46 KETCHUM ID F4 (40 to 49)
• 2. Gretchen Reeves, in 7:35:38 AVON CO F4 (40 to 49)
• 3. Pua Mata, in 7:37:50 ANAHEIM HILLS CA F3 (30 to 39)
• 4. Jennifer Smith, in 7:39:14 GUNNISON CO F3 (30 to 39)
• 5. Tammy Jacques, in 8:02:30 STEAMBOAT SPRINGS CO… F4 (40 to 49)

Congrats to Jenny Smith on finishing 4th in the women! You'll get it next year. 


For some awesome pics from Crested Butte Photography (Thanks Kevin!)
http://crestedbuttephotography.com/blog/2011/08/14/leadville-trail-100-mtb-race-2011/
Of course the one on the main page has to be me and Rebecca (note to self; do not let the girls actually catch you!)


For full results-
http://singletrack.competitor.com/2011/08/news/2011-leadville-trail-100-results-top-50-men-and-women_19946/1

Jenny's Leadville 100 Wrap up.

Image courtesy of Jody Grigg.

Leadville Wrap up.

I think Leadville has turned me into a passionate endurance MTB racer.

I chose this race as an A race earlier in the year, partly as a new challenge. 
Its been a great experience from start to finish and I am officially totally hooked.

The womens field was exceptionally deep and fast in Leadville this year. I am psyched to have finished the race 8 minutes under the existing record time. It was also really an engaging and mostly enjoyable experience to race with the fast deep field of women out there. .

Now that I have completed the event I have a heightened respect for the 100 mile distance and for this particular race.
The altitude in Leadville ( 10, 400 ft is the lower elevation of the day). and the road nature of the race make it one tough day out.
For me any road aspect adds difficulty and requires more skill. It adds the whole dimension of other wheels to ride on, and having pace and effort dictated by said wheels, need to hang on the descents and not get dropped from a group, responding to efforts of others around me, etc..

The road nature is only true for part of the course too, others parts are mountain rough, steep, loose, and sketchy. Plus had I mentioned it is an altitude upwards of 10, 400 feet!

My race was honestly really great until it wasn't. I had good legs, good attitude and for 85 miles was fully committed to the race.
I did have stomach issues from 65 miles in . Not sure why. ( heat, altitude, effort. distance: who knows?) juststarted bringing back up my food and fluid. It wasn't a huge problem as I was still eating and drinking and my legs still felt good.
My lights first went out on the pinch of a climb up Powerline. I redlined and never really came back. At the time I was riding with Gretchen Reeves. Super grateful for both the company and the fact that she wasn't accelerating and dropping me. ( . My mantra up that entire 4 mile climb was  go quietly.. hmmm ....not exactly effort inspiring ?!)
From there we descended for about 5 miles and transitioned into a pavement climb around Turquoise lake. That pavement did me in. It was bye bye me time.
At the end of the day while disappointing to have grovelled my way home, I was pretty happy to have lost only 7.5 minutes to Rebecca's new course record.
Congratulations all the women on the podium. Rebecca Rusch for really bringing her A game and defending her title. To Gretchen for riding a near perfect race. Gretchen was so consistent and smooth and really finished strongly.  Another 5 miles and she quite probably would have won. To Pua who hung in there amidst bike problems, it takes alot of strength to keep focused when things don't go the way you hope and plan.
Plus to Kelli, Sari, Tammi, and Amanda for making it such a valid race.

 Any event like this is a team effort. A huge thanks go out to:

1. Alpine Orthapeadics and Dr Rhett Griggs.
Alpine Orthapeadics investment in the Alpine Ortho mountain bike team is the reason I am cycling this season.
It has been an amazing experience that has completely rejuvenated my interest in cycling as my sport. To have the support and companionship of my teamates ( who also happen to be my friends and peers) has been building a sense of comradeship , fun and pride.

Success breeds success and I really believe our team is on a path to success. It is evident in the way that riders have been developing and improving.

Dr Griggs and his family camped out and fed us while racing. Which is huge and we couldn't have done it so smoothly without them ( Twin lakes feed zone has to be seen to believed, It had seeminly about the population of Gunnison out there which totally overwhelmed my senses: thank goodness Brian was in Brasil and not my feeder as planned, he would not have been as kind and tolerant to my confusion as Lisa and Rhett).

Along with all our supportive sponsors making this team a reality.
For excellent Leadville 100 images of the entire Alpine ORTHO crew please visit Kevin Krills website: Kevin Krill: http://crestedbuttephotography.com/blog/2011/08/14/leadville-trail-100-mtb-race-2011/

andBeth Sneider's: Peleton post article. www.peletonpost.com





I was only one of the Alpine Ortho crew out there racing. Nick Kempin, Dave Ochs, Travis Scheefer, and Stuart Grosse have their stories too: You guys need to  post them .....


cheers
Jenny Smith.

Kevin Krill's Leadville 100 Photos

http://crestedbuttephotography.com/blog/2011/08/14/leadville-trail-100-mtb-race-2011/

CB Alpine Oddysey (Leadville Qualifier)- Racing with Lance

Yesterday is worthy of a lengthy blog post, so here it goes.

Since the Firecracker 50 on the 4th of July I have been on the "just ride for fun" plan. This bike season has been up and down for me, with some good results and some bad luck. I opted to not take the trip up to National Championships in Sun Valley a couple weeks ago and instead enjoy the local trails with friends. The high alpine riding is finally dry, the wildflowers are spectacular and the trails are tacky making for some awesome trail riding.

Crested Butte was the host for the final Leadville 100 qualifying race over the weekend and even I had no desire to race Leadville, I'm not one to pass up a local race. I figured I would take the “just for fun” approach with it. I showed up to pick up my number on Saturday afternoon and heard the rumor that Lance was racing. Of course my reaction was, "Yeah, right." However, it was announced at the race meeting that he was on his way over. So much for a casual pace....

Sure enough Lance Armstrong rolled up to the start line a couple minutes before 6:30 am. Of course I’m thinking, "Wow, I'm getting to race Lance again on a mountain bike." I raced against him a couple summers ago in Snowmass at a Mountain States Cup race and it was pretty anti-climatic. The race started and immediately Lance rode off the front and was out of sight within 5 minutes. I hoped for something different today, but expected the same to happen. Luckily, we had a neutral roll out from Mt. Crested Butte down and around town before the race started so everyone would get to ride with him for at least the first 5 miles.

The energy of the peloton was buzzing as everyone rode behind the pace car and Lance down Elk Avenue as locals and tourists snapped pics and cheered. A pace line quickly formed as we headed out of town and turned onto the dirt road to head up the Slate river valley. The group stayed together for the first 5 miles of dirt to the base of the first climb, locally called Slate D'uez. As soon as the road grade started to climb the group slowed dramatically and I found myself out in the front pedaling comfortably. For the first few pitches I was waiting for Lance to come flying by, but he didn't.

Instead he rode right on my wheel and stayed there even when another rider came by and opened up a small gap partway up the climb. I was feeling great, riding at a comfortable pace, and enjoying myself. I could hear Lance breathing hard and about three quarters of the way up the climb he was asking, "Does this climb ever end?". To which I replied jokingly, "I know the Alps has way harder climbs then this." His reply was in good spirit, "Yeah, but it's different when you haven't been training."

When we reached the top of the climb there was a guy who had a 30 second lead on us. I quickly closed the gap on the short decent into Paradise Basin and passed him on a fast section where he chose a bad line threw the rocks. As the road flattened out Lance rolled up and informed me that the guy had flatted due to his bad line choice. There were a couple more little climbs to get to the top of Scoffield Pass and Lance again was asking me, "Do we ever get to descend?" I was still feeling great and found this encouraging, but told him we were almost at the top.

We rolled over the top of Scofield together and started the screaming fast road decent down past Emerald Lake to the snow plug. The snow field across the road is huge this year, still a couple hundred yards long, and requires dismounting to get across. The photographers snapped away at the unique shoot as I scurried across with Lance on right on my heels. Then it was back on the bike for a couple more minutes of screaming fast road decent before it flattened out for some fast road riding. As Lance and I started taking turns pulling across the flats another rider who neither of us recognized, caught up to join us. We made quick work of the ride out of Gothic each taking pulls to get back to the ski area.

I jumped out in front when we hit the 5 miles of singletrack at CBMR to climb up and over to the base area. Hopefully, this will make you chuckle; About halfway up the climb I made the decision to stop for a minute and go pee, thinking I could easily catch Lance and Greg on the decent. Luckily my plan worked as I caught up partway down the decent to ride Lance's wheel into the base area on the first lap. Of course, the crowd was all cheers as we rolled through the base area. You are probably wondering, "How are Lance's descending skills on a mountain bike?". Surprisingly, they are pretty good, he is really fast on the dirt road decents, but a little slower on the singletrack.

As we started the climb up Washington Gulch on the pavement my legs were starting to feel the 40 miles. I ignored the feeling, hoping it would go away and put down some food and liquid to keep going. I was encouraged that Lance was feeling the same as he was asking me about distance and climbing of the second lap. Once we hit the dirt after climbing on the pavement for a few miles Lance said, "Is anybody else feeling this? Or is it just me?" To which I replied, "No, my legs are definitely feeling this." However, the mystery man, didn't really say much and shortly afterward began to push the pace and pull away.

Neither Lance or I felt like trying to hang with him so we chatted it up for a bit as we started the gradual climb. As the climbing got steeper Lance started to push it a little more, split timing with his watch as to how big the gap was. He also asked me, "How much time do you think you can make up on the final singletrack decent on him?" in a way that almost implied that he would help me get to the top to close the gap on mystery man. To which I replied, "I think easily a minute." As we hit "the wall" near the top of Washington Gulch I could feel my legs starting to cramp, but just kept pushing to stay on Lance's wheel. As we rounded the final corner and could see the top he said, "I think there is a god." To which I had to laugh that he was as relieved as me to reach the top.

When we hit the top of Scofield the mystery man had about a minute and a half on us. A quick decent down to the snow field, this time it seemed more challenging to stay up right crossing with my bike, not sure if it was my legs or that the snow had softened up. Then another screaming fast decent down to the flats and Lance started to push the pace on the false flats down to Gothic. My legs started to cramp so I eased up thinking there was no way I could keep that pace all the way to the finish. Lance looked back when had opened up a gap of a hundred yards and to my surprise he slowed down a little to wait for me.
 
When I caught up, he asked me how I was doing and I told him my legs were starting to cramp. He said his legs were starting to cramp too if he started to “give er” and said lets work together. So I put my head down and rode threw the pain, taking turns pulling all the way to the ski area. We turned off onto Prospect and could see the mystery man climbing up the road ahead, still about a minute and a half up. Lance was on it and began to pull away as we started to climb, obviously determined to close the gap.

As I forced my legs to keep spinning as the road got steeper the sound of my chain going around was similar to nails on a chalkboard. My bike was in dire need of chain-lube after 60 miles and multiple stream crossings. My legs felt just like my bike sounded, screaming at me, but I had to keep pushing forward. I was relieved to hit the singletrack and get off the road, but Lance had already opened up a decent gap.

The singletrack gave me something to focus on other than the growing pain and cramps in my legs. On the first steep section my legs began to seize but I just let out a few choice words and pounded my fist against my quad to unlock it and keep going. I was relieved to reach the top of the singletrack but my legs where so smoked that I had little left to push across the top of Painterboy to begin the decent. I rode the decent fast and smooth knowing I would at least make up a little time. Halfway down I caught a glimpse of the duo riding right together lower down on the mountain, but the gap was a little too big to close before the finish line.

Lance Armstrong took the race in a time of 4:32:21, edging out the mystery man by 3 seconds! Turns out the mystery man was Greg Krause from Littleton. I finished just over a minute back in third place. 

Wow! What a day to remember, I got to race side by side with Lance for almost 60 miles!

Lance later tweeted-  
"Helluva fun ride today in CB for the @ltrail100 qualifier. Beautiful course. Squeaked out a "W" somehow. Full body cramp at the end."
"Thanks to the Crested Butte Alpine Odyssey MTB race yesterday I now feel like I've been run over by a truck." 
I guess we have something in common, I woke up this morning feeling like I was run over by a truck too!

Thanks for reading! 

for some awesome pics-
http://trentbona.photoshelter.com/gallery/2011-Alpine-Odyssey/G0000IxvE6pa7a5A 


Team Alpine Othropaedics had a great showing for the day. Jenny Smith from AO took 2nd place on the women’s side in a close race with the winner Rebecca Rusch. Jari Kirkland also from AO rounded out 3rd. We had a bunch of riders from the team in the top 20, including Dr. Griggs, Mr. Alpine Orthopaedics himself.   
 
for full results- http://singletrack.competitor.com/2011/07/race-results/2011-crested-butte-alpine-odyssey-results_19070/2