2019 Leadville MTB 100
Calling all Leadville MTB 100 racers! Congratulations you made the lottery! Now you have to race there! I thought we could start a thread for sharing workouts, race reports, reviews and logistics etc. We have plenty of time right now to share experiences who are competing (and have competed) to train, learn and share with one another. Here is what I have so far:
@scott dinhofer @Gabe Peterson @Emily Brinkley @John Stark @Sheila Leard @Pat Morton @tim cronk (because you know - anything leadville...)
Group Me:
https://groupme.com/join_group/47550975/zbnNbx
Course Map:
EN Race Report:
Scott Dinhofer's EN race report:
https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/21524/leadville-trail-100-mtb
Gabe Peterson's EN Race Plan for the MTB 100 on the way to Leadman
Podcasts:
Coach Patrick with Rob Chose - Leadville 2018
Leadville100 Podcast
Elden "Fatty" Nelson (20 time finisher -& sub 9) & Micheal Hotten (8x finisher)
He has a series of podcasts. He goes how to ride each segment of the course. He also does interviews with guests (Trainer Road coach, Rebecca Rausch 4x champion, Dave Weins 6x champion). http://leadville100podcast.com/
Course description podcast:
This is a long podcast (3 hrs) - but it is a description of each segment of the course without all the other interview stuff. There is a lot of great stuff on gear selection and advice in the other podcasts.
Trainer Road Leadville Podcast - 2019 Race recap.
Trail Genius videos of the course:
Entire course in video, with moving position on the map, and elevation - you pick segments of the course to watch. Tedious but very informative.
https://trailgenius.com/trail-genius-map/leadville-100-mtb?trail=0&view=FC1&time=0
Race Across the Sky: Entertaining and good overview of the course. 2009 year Lance won. 2010 Levi Leipheimer sets the course record.
2009 and 2010 Video (available on Amazon Prime)
Dave Wiens (6x champion) training recommendations / guidelines. He has some interesting variations of standard V02, tempo workouts to keep things interesting and a recommendation to practice pushing your bike as part of training. Also the reminder, you need to practice the off road mountain bike skills (i.e. riding washed out sections, ruts, rocks, descending at speed etc.)
http://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2015-LT100-MTB-Training-Plan.pdf
EN MTB plan by Coach P:
Find it in final surge: Final Surge> Endurance Nation > Find a Plan > Mountain Biking > MTB Plan, Ultra Distance (12 weeks)
Comments
Super stoked to see so many ENers doing Leadville this year! I'm doing the Leadville Trail Run 100 along with a crew of ENers. @Dino Sarti and @John Stark are also doing the MTB 100.
@Emily Brinkley reached out to me a couple days ago asking about the MTB 100. I'm copying my advice to her below. Good luck and enjoy the adventure that is the Race Across the Sky!
I did the MTB 100 as part of the Leadman, where you do all five of the Leadville races. I was also training for the Run 100 at the same time, and ended up feeling like the MTB training got short changed. I want to go back one of these days when I can focus on the MTB race.
It was my first serious year of MTBing, and from a technical perspective probably the easiest ride I did that year. I don't ride a whole lot of fire roads in Utah because the single-track is soooo good. There is one technical descent on Powerline that everyone worries about but it's not bad.
Here are what I'd say are the keys to the race:
Having a diesel engine. 100 miles on a MTB is probably about like 200 miles on a road bike. It's a ton of pedaling. Most MTB rides you pedal up a hill and then get a break on the descent. There aren't a lot of breaks in Leadville. It's more like road riding. In fact, I'd recommend doing some of your training on a road bike so you can get those long days of steady pedaling.
I think the crux of the race is the climb up Columbine. It's about 3,000ft of climbing to over 12,000ft. You don't get many climbs like that on a MTB, so this is where the road bike will come in handy. Make sure you have a granny gear to spin up. Lots of other riders were walking because they didn't have the right gear.
The wild card is altitude. For some reason, it doesn't bother me running at high altitude but gets to me on the bike, probably because I'm a much better runner. It's still the only race I've ever puked in. I'd recommend making a trip to Leadville if you can swing it to do your own camp so you'll know how your body will respond. Also you want to test your nutrition at altitude.
You're smart to do Tahoe to get a better starting corral. I was in the second from last and had to ride through a bunch of traffic up the first climb on St Kevin's. I had to stop a couple times when riders ahead stopped or fell off their bikes.
Some resources you may want to leverage:
The movie "Race Across the Sky" gives you a really good sense of the course. I think it's available on Amazon. It follows Lance Armstrong when he won the race.
My old MTB 100 race plan is up in the Epic forum. I used a template I got from Scott Dinhofer. You should reach out to him if you haven't already. I also had a thread chronicling my Leadman adventures.
If you decide to do your own camp, then I can connect you with Marvin Sandoval. He lives in Leadville and has finished on the Leadman podium multiple times. He knows the course like the back of his hand. You can hire him to do coached rides on the course. He helped me out when I was doing the Leadman and is coaching me this year from the LT100. A group of us from EN are doing the Run Camp June 20-24, so you could join in the fun just on a MTB.
I'll be in Leadville for the MTB 100, cheering and helping any EN'er that needs it. Following this thread and joined the GM, however I cant seem to post on GM. Message sent to P for authorization.
@Gabe Peterson - good stuff above. Let’s talk about Marvin Sandoval in Moab. I may do a run with some buddies to LV and a course tour would be cool.
@tim cronk - What would it take to get you in a pink Speedo on the course in Leadville?
@matt limbert - Where is you all that info above? Quality info. Thanks.
Mike Graffeo is doing this race as well. He is a PlanEN member so no access to the forums, but I have sent him the link to join the GroupMe and may put him in touch with one of your for a E-intro. He is a returning member.
soomeone needs to get graffeo back in the club!!! he's a huge boost to the program!
A bit of discussion has happened in the GroupMe about nutrition, tire choices, etc. Long way to go but the Leadville riders are getting their shit together.
@John Stark - if anyone wants my experience in the group me, please feel free to add me.
@scott dinhofer - You are obviously in. I have most things figured out already. Thanks for being willing to help.
Life challenges with summer vacation, unexpected wife travel, work, etc. has me deferring to next year. Will do a local 100 mile MTB with 10k of climbing here in Bend in July 20th. Upside it is 95% single track, technical sections, fast flowy downhills, etc. My preference. Plus, next year I get to roll with @Scott Alexander So that is a win for sure.
peace out.
Dammit @John Stark I was really looking forward to hanging out.
@tim cronk - Me too, brotha. As they say, happy wife....happy life. 😎
You may see me in Tucson next winter for a couple of weeks.
Hi to your lovely bride and the pups.