Leadville 100

The real pedal work for the race was done between April and July 7 and on July 16th I arrived in Colorado for altitude acclimating prior to the race on August 10, 2002. I pedaled some 700 miles while in
Colorado and pre-rode all of the course. My first course ride was an out and back ride to the highest point of the course, Columbine Mine at 12, 600 ft with an elevation gain of 3,000 ft. on 12 miles of fire road
winding through open sage land, Aspen forests, then grass stubble and rock above timberline. That portion of the race is notorious for foul weather when the afternoon rains can turn to sleet above 10,500 feet
and where two years ago a fifth of the entrants dropped out due to hypothermia. My late afternoon easy practice ride took me 2 1/2 hours of steady climbing, only two 10 foot push sections over crap rock,
endless views from the top and MT Elbert, Colorado's highest 14,000 peak, to the northwest. The downhill return trip took me 48 minutes. The next course ride was a real downer as I coped with lousy route
directions and blew off three hours just trying to get on the route. When I finally did figure out the route I rode what would be the fastest section for me, a service road for a natural gas pipeline that was all things: steep, crappy, flat, and fast.

The next ride was also a seek and find due to poor directions, e.g. "cross the railroad tracks to Forest Service Rd 103" when they could have written "cross the tracks and IMMEDIATELY turn right on Rd 103 which is really hidden." Maybe MT Val was having brain fade due to the altitude; for sure I was
not sleeping, even a little. The rest of the course training rides were in rain, one in hail the size of pinto beans, so I had a chance to test three rain jackets.

The time I devoted to cleaning Ms Moots (my bike) after each ride was remarkable, especially after a rain ride as there was lots of granite sand that was major trouble for my drive train. The mornings were clear and glorious but the rain clouds were usually in place by 1 PM in the Leadville area and dumping by 2 PM.
Again, I did these training rides by myself and only saw three other cyclists during my race course riding; where were the other 749 entrants?

I had anticipated the sleepless situation prior to arriving in Colorado and was prepared to drive to a lower elevation for sleeping; it was now eight days before the race and I needed sleep!!!!!!!! Salida was the right place for me at 7,000 feet (3,500 feet lower than the Leadville area) and nearby was fabulous mt biking. Five years ago when the first IMBA Trail Care Crew, Jan and Mike Ritter, were staying with me I asked them "With all of the great riding that you have done this year, what has been the best ride?" Without hesitation and in unison, they said "Monarch Pass, Colorado." I had waited five years for this ride to happen and while hanging out in Salida I rode it three times! Sleep was just a little better but the social life was hopping. The campground I was staying in was on the Continental Divide Bike Route and each evening new CD riders showed up. Having ridden the CD in New Mexico last Fall I was a source of info for what lay ahead and we all had much to share and laugh and moan over. That week I kept my ice chest full of Singetrack Pale Ale for thirsty and dusty CD riders!

Thursday before the race Jim flew into Vail/Eagle airport and Friday morning was the race check-in and mandatory briefing for participants. This was mostly a real motivational talk about once we leave the starting line we will be tested, forged, ground, splattered, ripped, tempered as we, 100 miles later, cross the finish line. We were also told that "we will never be the same person that started the race...we will have been stripped to raw nerve and never quit and that we are better than we think we are and that we can do more than we think we can." WOW! For me, the worst was behind me: the decision to do this event as a way of celebrating my 60th year; the solo training; the recovery time; the sleep problems. Man, let me at this RACE I am ready to ride and crank! I had not been nervous but as the participants were
identified by gender and age group and asked to stand up I became nervous. Then the announcer said "We don't know who she is, but we have just one woman in the over 60 age group, will she please stand up."
>From the ovation you would have thought that I had won the Trail 100! Whoa, did I get cheers, good wishes, hugs, pats on the shoulder from folk as I left the briefing.

Ms Moots was once again cleaned, lubed, wheels trued, tire pressure checked, race numbers put on the frame. Six bottles of Endura were mixed with water, Zip Lock bags of Gu labeled for the four aid stations where my crew could meet me, clothes laid out, two Camelbak packs prepared: one for the start until mile 40 with 2 spare tubes, a light jacket, pump, Alien Tool, a peanut butter sandwich, and some emergency Gu; the other for the climb up to Columbine Mine at 12,600 feet with rain jacket, pull on rain pants, waterproof gloves (that I had tested on a rain/sleet ride on Monarch Pass), and the same repair gear as the first. Also around my waist I was going to wear a very small pack in which I would carry ten Plain Gu packets between each aid station. Backup gear, tubes, cables, food were put in a backpack that Jim was going to carry into each aid station. My second crewmember, Palea, arrived Friday evening from Grand Junction and we had a wonderful meal at the Tennessee Pass Cafe where I did serious carbo eating and we retired early for our five AM wake up.

Race Day dawned to the usual clear sky and a high pressure system had set in and the forecast was what I had not even dared to dream of...dry and warm! 750 of us started off at 6:30 AM for a three-mile downhill to Leadville Junction and Oh! Why had I not put on fingered gloves? My hands were so cold by mile three that I felt like icesicles were poking out of the end of my gloves. Oh, did I feel sorry for the two riders who were changing flats 15 minutes into the race; I could NOT have manipulated tire irons with my cold fingers. The first climb starts around mile three up into the St. Kevin Mining District and here was where my hope for the race started; I am a hill climber and the long climbable uphills would be where I made time and passed many others. Then there is a short stretch downhill and here I saw the first injury of the day; sorry dude already out...it would be known later that he punctured his lung in this fall and that 25 riders added to the positive cash flow of the Leadville Emergency Room! I ripped through the section where three afternoons before I had stopped to take a picture of the accumulated hail along the trail. The totally rutted and steep downhill of the Powerline section was safely negotiated and I then had a flat fast ride to Pipeline Aid station where Jim refilled my Camelbak, exchanged bottles on the bike, gave me some more Gu...I had
not taken much as I was working off the carbo dinner and breakfast. Palea's assignment was to give me an aspirin (prophylactic) and make sure that I greased my crotch with Vaseline. Here she pulled my leg
warmers and Freewheelers long sleeve jersey off and I was ready for the fast 13 mile Pipeline to Twin Lakes. Total stop time about 1 1/2 minutes. Wheeeeeee! Rip and crank Val. Three hours for the first stretch.

The weather was holding and the day was warming up, and no clouds at all were evident as I blew into mile 40 and....no crew? Not phased because of the great weather and figuring that no stinking weather was going to blow in during the next 4 hours and I scored water from another crew (the guy knew me from Western States), figuring that my crew had either had a flat or a vehicle mechanical....but not me. I was on to Columbine Mine and the high point of the course.

Along here I could see the race leaders as they scorched down the fire road and I kept my heart rate monitor at 147-149; I saw the lead woman riding like a Fury. Somehow I had not reached the turn
around during my training ride and it was another 20 minutes beyond the point to which I had ridden. Opps! Here I was pushing the bike and it was really just a singletrack and the downhill ruled, not the uphill.
Oh my socks! I climbed to the top in 2 1/2 hours even with the pushing I beat my training time. The top aid station was a mt biker's feast but I took just two half PB and J sandwiches and a rice crispy bar, unloaded
a great quantity of pee, and was on my way. The return downhill was not as fast as my training ride but I made the 2:30 PM cut off for mile 60 and there were Jim and Palea; the next stretch was just 13 miles and I had enough water so they exchanged one Endura bottle and removed the second, stuffed more Gu into my jersey, two other guys lubed my chain and I was off...another sub 1 1/2 minute pit stop. Five miles on there was a steep lose rock section that everyone was pushing up, some sliding back down with each step, but I planted my forefoot at an angle to the slope and pushed past five riders, and made it onto Pipeline where a North wind from the high pressure system was blowing into my face.

I arrived at mile 75 at 3:30 and the cut off was 4:30. I told Palea and Jim that "here is where the race starts and the grim climb up Powerline would be the telling section where I could lose lots of time." Jim yelled for me to find someone to draft off of for the next flat miles but I was alone and...I could get nothing out of my Camelbak. Suck, suck, nothing nothing. Suck, suck, zero, zero. Could I make it on just the two Eudura filled bottles? I don't think so I got off the bike, bounced the bladder hoping that it will settle in and water flow. Nothing. I pulled the bladder out and the lower hose was twisted so realigned it in the pack and Viola, water. And that folks, it the closest I had to a mechanical all day!

The push up Powerline was longer and worse than I had envisioned and I kept drinking and eating Gu to maintain energy; I even stopped and sat on a log to have a few bites of a PB sandwich, and then upward again. Finally I got to where I could ride and the top of Sugarloaf Pass. Down, down, down to the paved Turquoise Lake Rd. and in here I played tag with a guy who was wearing a downhill helmet and I
later learned that he was in sales and could not afford a smashed face...neither can I. Good idea. The paved road seemed to never end and I finally arrived at the last aid station and my computer read 94.5
miles but the Ranger said that I had 13 1/2 miles to go. Crap, they had said that the course had never been really checked and I could live with a 101 or 102 mile course but not 107miles. A rough looking mountain man with a beard to his chest and a red plaid shirt who was working the aid station said "Hello darlin' what can I get you?" In Berkeley I would have hassled him about the "darlin'" but in Leadville I was just plain happy to be recognized as female after 94 miles of "Girls Love Dirt."

I looked at my watch and it said 6:38 PM, I had just missed the 12 hour cut and I hoped that Jim was not too disappointed, because I knew that I was going to make it and that was all I had come to Colorado to do. I bounced and skidded and made the last of the downhill and had not had a single fall or unintentional dab; congrats MT Val, no blood today. The sky was turning gold as the sun lowered itself behind the high peaks and I cranked on into Leadville. Jim was waiting below the finish line to cheer me on as I had a few more minutes before the 13 hour mark, and finished 107.25 miles in 12 hours and 54 minutes.

After I had the finisher's medal placed around my neck by blood pressure dropped and Jim and Palea guided me into the medical tent where I was given oxygen, my blood pressure was measure at 64 over 94 and I was given some salty ramen noodle soup. A medical volunteer then told Jim that his job was to make sure that I ate a whole lot that evening. Back at the Inn Palea helped me scrub off the layers of dust, sweat and sunscreen while Jim took care of the bike and extra gear. I then climbed under the covers as I knew that I was going to get cold and then the hyperventilation commenced. For two hours my chest heaved and I tried to get my breathing normal; my body was jumping around as though I was sustaining a two hour orgasm. Why didn't I have that energy at mile 87? Finally my breathing became normal as Jim fed me Trader Joe's tortilla chips, slices of turkey, hot water and other fluids and at 10:30 PM we returned to the Tennessee Pass Cafe and although out of most everything they prepared us a spinach salad, spaghetti and fresh tomato sauce. Jim Beau had fulfilled the doc's orders and MT Val had fulfilled her birthday goal.

Stats: 107.25 miles
12 hours 54 minutes
18,170 feet of elevation change, low point 9,200, high
point 12,600
20 Plain Gu
2 PB sandwiches, 1 rice crispy bar
8 26 oz bottles of Endura
400 oz of water
no mechanicals
one happy MT Val, 2 happy crew Thanks Jim and Palea.
goal achieved