The last few days in Leadville before the race had Lisa, the kids and our good friend Graham from NorthKacklacky come to town for race support. For Riler, it was early training at 10,200.
To be honest, it’s taken awhile to get back in the proverbial saddle this past week, not tired physically but mentally, suppose suffering in either is good in doses. To recap Leadville now a week later is a bit more a bummer than I recall. Still, to put the infinite loop of number 8 in the ground is a good thing. Last year a stomach bug of some sort had me pull out of a 100 for the first time on illness, whereas this time things were pretty great from the get go, and with cold, wet and crazy weather early (something new), I was 33rd and 5-10 minutes ahead of schedule at the 40 mile aid heading up Columbine.
That weather got sideways at twelve thousand five hundred right as I got to the 50 turnaround, with full on gale force hail braking back on us. And in haste, bombing the decent to get the hell off the top, I ripped a sidewall. Thinking straight now, I should’ve stuck in a tube first off, but I had Blind Faith in Stans – and the amount of latex that was or wasn’t spitting out of my tires.
I calmly rode the last 55 miles with a sidewall that wouldn’t seal. (Well, the last 10 were getting tight I must admit.) And with a new front derailleur courtesy of Slate the day before which had me having to break my chain – timeout: When did Shimano decide it was a good idea not to have that screw to hold the rear of the front derailleur so you can undo & slip the chain through? – I ended up breaking my chain not by choice while sealing & putting in air for the third time but managed to get back together with the mushroomed pin. (Maybe the Marmot was good luck?)
In the end, my geek timing knowledge of the course paid off and approximately 20+ stops and seven air cartridges took me from a time I was projecting at 8:10 through 40 to 8:57. And what matters is that I stuck it out. Which in some ways surprised me. But with all the people there to help, riding with the Gentlemen of Conti just weeks before and time put in, you have to, right? It’s always been about survival since I started these things almost 20 years ago. 8:10, 8:30, 8:57. All the same I was telling myself. Just get in under 9 and you’ll keep the streak alive. All eight times under 9 hours. Man, just barely.
And after riding most of the climb into town out of the saddle to keep as much air in the rear tire as I could, it was great to see everyone before the red carpet and bounce in. Time to take the next two years in a row seriously again hopefully and plow back under eight hours again and shoot for sub 7:40. I think I’ve had the mechanical gamut now. And I learned a shitload once again. Leadville is a real great town.
And in the calm it was super to spend some time back in Boulder again, have the kids meet up and play in the mountains and road trip it home. Good to know Laramie and the Pedal House is still keeping it straight.
Back to work in P-town. I’ll try to post some race photography from Slate.
