How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation

[Conan71]

I realize it's not first day of school yet, but...

I'll be scarce on the forum for the next week.  I'm taking on a challenge of epic proportions, the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race in Colorado.  Also known as "The Race Across The Sky" the race starts at 10,200 feet and ranges between 9200 and 12,570 feet with approximately 10,000 to 12,000 feet of climbing depending on who you talk to.  It's the longest and highest bike single-day race in North America and has become one of the most prestigious (if not the most) mountain bike races in the world.

The course distance is just over 103 miles, we race from downtown Leadville to Columbine Mine (perched atop a 3000 foot climb over about 8 miles) and back.  The winner of the race last year did it in a little over 6 hours & 16 minutes.  Lance Armstrong (yes, seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong) won the race two years ago and it's rumored he will be in the event again this year after winning a qualifying race two weeks ago at Crested Butte, though he's claiming he's "too old" for 100 mile races these days.

I expect to finish in 11 to 12 hours, 12 hours is the final cut-off and there are cut-offs at check points along the way.  If I finish in under 11 hours, you will hear a large "WHOOP WHOOP" coming from the northwest. A lot can happen on race day when you are lining up with 1600 or so other riders.  My reward for this punishment if I finish in under 12 hours?  A T-shirt, a medal, and a silver commemorative belt buckle.  Out of 10,000 or so entries, only 1500 get into the race via a lottery system and they've added a qualifying race system this year which will add, I think, 300 or so riders to the field.  Only about 65% of event entrants finish the race.  This was my first year to enter the lottery and I made it in.  Needless to say, I was shocked when I got the news I was in.  The first words out of my mouth I believe were "Oh smile!"  That was five months ago, I've been through lots of ups and downs in my training, but I'm ready and feeling confident.

I'm primarily a road cyclist, but the event seems to favor endurance riders more than technical mountain bikers as much of the race takes place on fire roads, jeep trails, and paved county roads.

This isn't bragging (well okay, maybe a little)   .  I wanted to post this to show that anything is possible you can put your mind to.  I smoked on and off until 2005 and still didn't worry too much about my health.  I would get on a kick of going to the gym for awhile, then get lazy and fat again.  I was up to 225 pounds when I came back from a vacation in the BVI's three years ago, which was my all-time high.  I'm now maintaining 180 to 185, cholesterol and other blood chemistry is in line finally, and I feel great for being 45 years old.  

I started cycling again as cross-training for rowing a little over two years ago and decided three weeks before the event to attempt my first 100 miler "century ride" at the Hotter 'N' Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls, Tx. which I managed to finish.  I didn't own a mountain bike until after I saw the movie documentary on the Leadville 100 in Nov. of 2009.  I was still about 210 pounds then and not near as serious about my training.  I dreamed of being able to do this race someday, but never really believed I'd have what it takes.  After months of training and doing a three day pre-ride on the race course in early July and pouring over hours of ride data and video taken from that trip, I know I can do this.

This is my NYC marathon or my Iron Man triathlon.  That's what it means to me.

I've overcome a lot of adversity in my life and it's probably no shortage of miracles that I'm even here today.  Go after your dreams and don't quit until you reach them and don't live to have regrets about the things you didn't do in your life.  Any thing you put your mind to is possible!  Your dream might not be a 103 mile bike race, but whatever it is, get moving toward achieving that dream.  Life isn't getting any longer!

In the words of Ken Chlouber, the founder of the Leadville Race Series:

"You are better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can!"

[AquaMan]

Good luck. Kick donkey-take names!

[ZYX]

Good luck! I bet the training for this was pretty brutal. And you're right, school doesn't start until tomorrow, and I just finished my summer assignments about ten minutes ago.  

Tell us how you did when you back. I want to see how long it takes you before you can walk again...

[cynical]

Where's the "Like" button on this thing, anyway? 

Actually, it would need to be the "Envious" button in my case. 

[nathanm]

Good luck! Try not to come back broken. 

[GG]

I want to know if you see any grown men crying.   

[RecycleMichael]

I will be your partner. You do the uphill stuff then pass off to me to do the downhill portions.

[dbacks fan]

Good luck Conan, have a safe trip up and a safe trip back, and kick a$$ and take names later in the event!

[joiei]

Good Luck.

[Conan71]

Thanks everyone the well wishes are appreciated.  I've had a lot of windshield time to think about the race and how it will play out.  There's so many things out of your control which can work in your favor or ruin your day.  Let's hope it's all good luck. 

We're staying down in Pueblo tonight trying to delay going over 5000 ft. as long as possible, as it actually takes a couple of weeks to acclimatize.  You've got a window of 36-48 hours that your blood chemistry will still be pretty normal once you get over 5000 ft., after that you won't be close to your max potential for 2-3 weeks.  Sort of a disadvantage for flat-landers.

Everyone have a great weekend and enjoy the break in the heat!

[Townsend]

We're staying down in Pueblo tonight trying to delay going over 5000 ft. as long as possible, as it actually takes a couple of weeks to acclimatize.  You've got a window of 36-48 hours that your blood chemistry will still be pretty normal once you get over 5000 ft., after that you won't be close to your max potential for 2-3 weeks.  Sort of a disadvantage for flat-landers.

What?    700 feet above sea level, refinery love in the air covering our fair city, and one of the highest per-capita rates of smokers in the country?  Your lungs should be tough as leather.

Now go get 'em high altitude pulmonary edema boy!

[Conan71]

What?    700 feet above sea level, refinery love in the air covering our fair city, and one of the highest per-capita rates of smokers in the country?  Your lungs should be tough as leather.

Now go get 'em high altitude pulmonary edema boy!

I actually did appear to be suffering from edema slightly on Saturday, apparently it's a common occurrence

GG- saw plenty of grown men crying, through damp eyes of my own!  Part of it is pain, but the biggest part is being overwhelmed by the view at the top of Columbine turn-around as well as what you'd swear is 100's of volunteers waiting to help you and cheer you at the top, or a spectator helping a racer regain their feet after a fall or seeing someone so deep in the pain cave they can barely pedal go ahead and finish at 13 hours even though they know there's no buckle or medal waiting for them.  Can't really describe all the emotions, I've never seen or experienced anything like it.

I finished in 11:58:54 on chip time, 12:00:41 gun time.  (This is where the math gets interesting, the fellow who finished at 12:00:02 on gun time actually was 00:03 behind me on chip time) According to my bike computer, my actual rolling time was 10:32, so I spent about 20 minutes in rest areas, the rest of the dead time was catching my breath, doubled over in pain, or waiting for a bottleneck to clear. Due to a starting field of just over 1600 riders, it takes about 3 1/2 minutes for every rider to clear the start line after the starting shotgun blast.  For the first time ever, they used chip timing for all the course splits (distance between electronic "check points") and also employed it to make sure everyone had a full 12 hours to complete the course.  Your chip time starts as you roll across the start line and ends when you roll across the finish.  Turns out, I have the honor (or dubious distinction) of being the first beneficiary of this system in the history of the race.  Had this been under last years rules, I would have been the first person to NOT win a sub-12 belt buckle.  

The start used to be a free-for-all, start where you drop your bike.  If you got there early enough, you could stage right behind the potential winners even if you had no chance of finishing.  That used to cause congestion at the first critical climb of the race so they employed a corral system this year to stage previous riders by previous best finish time and new riders were placed all at the back.

At any rate, I wanted to quit from about 7.5 hours on, but you have hundreds of people on course cheering you on as well as other riders who are in just as much pain telling you not to quit.  FMC was at one of the aid stations to help with my on-course hydration and nutrition and surprised me parked along one one stretch of road on her way back to the finish area cheering for me as I went past.

You simply cannot appreciate the atmosphere of something like this unless you've been to an Iron Man, a marathon, or some other event which is more than a physical challenge- it's a battle of the human spirit.  I saw and talked so many incredible people and there is such on-course camaraderie it was easily the most humbling experience of my entire life.  It was brutal as all Hell but I understand now how people get addicted to it.  When you are there, everyone is a racer, spectator, or volunteer, not a CEO, high powered lawyer, physician, retiree, college student, etc.  No one is more important than anyone else and the winners were quick to point out the real race isn't about the people at the front it's the people at the back and the people fighting for a certain goal.

Pre-race. I look relaxed but I had the jitters big-time and kept smiling so FMC wouldn't worry.



On the red carpet, a few seconds later I was laying on my back on the asphalt still unaware I'd won a buckle.  I'd heard the gun go off before I got to the finish and forgot about the chip timing even though I wore the damn thing on my left ankle for over 12 hours  FMC got the honor of telling me I'd gotten the buckle.  That sure perked me back up!



With race founders Marilee Maupin & Ken Chlouber.  That's my "dragged through a knothole" look.  Ken is one of the best motivational speakers I've ever heard.  Marilee broke her back two months ago in a car wreck but refused to have surgery until after this race so she could see all the racers this year.



Hardware



Fellow racer Bahram Akradi, founder of Lifetime Fitness, which now owns the Leadville Race Series.  They are also building a new Lifetime Fitness on S. Memorial in Tulsa.  He was making sure I knew all about that.  He's a true gentleman, sportsman, and renaissance man.  Not only does he run the company, personally design his fitness centers, and find time to work out, he's going for the "Leadman" this year, basically two mountain bike races, a couple of marathons, a 10K foot race this last Sunday morning and he will be in a 100 mile foot race this coming weekend.  What an animal!

[nathanm]

Congrats! Good to hear that all your hard work paid off.

[Conan71]

Congrats! Good to hear that all your hard work paid off.

Near disaster of the weekend-

Drove down to Pagosa Springs, about 200 miles from Leadville on Sunday to celebrate with Pow Pow IPA at Pagosa Brewing Co.  Checked into the motel we always stay at there within staggering distance of the brewery.  Walked to the brewery, sign says: "Closed for private party".

smile, now what?  I've been off beer for over 2 months and FMC came up with the idea of a summer visit to Pagosa for a post ride beer or five.  Fortunately the brew-master, Tony Simmons, was sitting near the entrance of the large courtyard where the private party was.  I approached him, explained the situation and he had one of his employees basically tend to our every need for the next few hours.  Now that was totally cool.

I always recommend Pagosa Brewing Co for their beer, but add over-the-top service to the reasons.  Turns out Pow-Pow is only available in winter, so I had the regular IPA and their red, but still no disappointment, just no 10.1 ABV beer, which was probably a good thing

[Hoss]

Near disaster of the weekend-

Drove down to Pagosa Springs, about 200 miles from Leadville on Sunday to celebrate with Pow Pow IPA at Pagosa Brewing Co.  Checked into the motel we always stay at there within staggering distance of the brewery.  Walked to the brewery, sign says: "Closed for private party".

smile, now what?  I've been off beer for over 2 months and FMC came up with the idea of a summer visit to Pagosa for a post ride beer or five.  Fortunately the brew-master, Tony Simmons, was sitting near the entrance of the large courtyard where the private party was.  I approached him, explained the situation and he had one of his employees basically tend to our every need for the next few hours.  Now that was totally cool.

I always recommend Pagosa Brewing Co for their beer, but add over-the-top service to the reasons.  Turns out Pow-Pow is only available in winter, so I had the regular IPA and their red, but still no disappointment, just no 10.1 ABV beer, which was probably a good thing

So now it's time for me, you, Towner, and whoever else to get together somewhere (McNellie's) so you can imbibe of the Arrowhead..finally.  We need to settle on a date/time.