2010 Leadville 100

Leadville 100: The Quest for Sub Nine

Outbound on the off the Powerline descent- on pace for sub nine.

Nearly 3,500 miles and 250 hours of training, and a few races is what I did to prepare for Leadville this year. This was the Silver Rush (50 MTB race in Leadville);

Finishing at the Silver Rush.

It was toasty out.

The "Head Quarters" climb at the Enduro

I did the Enduro again this year as well- much faster too. It's a great Wyo race!

Around 6:ooam at the Leadville 100 start.

I had to get up at 3:30am to get down to the start line at a 4:45am in order to haggle for a starting position near front. There were 1,230 riders that showed up (1,500 plus registered).

A little closer to 6:30am, I donned the spandex and awaited the shotgun blast that would signal the 1,230 rider mass start (down hill on pavement)!! Really... perhaps the scariest part of this whole race.

Outbound, crossing the bridge near the bottom of the power line descent. I was on pace for sub-nine at this point... and pretty much to this point inbound. It was the 1500 foot inbound ascent of the powerline that put the squeeze on my sub-nine hopes this year.

Having fun... at this point it was early.

Chuck and Karla weren't too far behind me.

The ended up with their 3rd best time in ten years, taking 4th overall in their class.

I placed 188/ 900 plus finishers. My time was 9:18... not sub-nine. Bugger!

Guess I'll do it all over again next year (more miles/ more intervals)--- arrhhhgggg!

With one race left to go, I had to keep my training up. The weekend after Leadville I pedaled into Christina Lake... about a 30 mile ride round trip from the highway. It was a good ride- I hadn't ridden up there in the summer for quite a few years.