Hi Everyone,
It’s less than 24 hours before the start of the Leadville 100 here in Leadville, CO. This week has been hectic, and I don’t mean it was difficult to find parking or there was a long wait at dinner, I mean from start to finish everything has been a bit of a challenge. I found out just this Monday that I was allowed to race, as entry closed some months ago. With 1,600 racers, the sleepy mining town of Leadville is packed to the brim! From housing, course recon, and the required racer meetings, I have been running around like mad. However, all that madness is behind me and I cannot wait to race tommorow! Check out how big the mass start is in the morning. 
Mike Sinyard, the president of Specialized, and some other Idahoans have banded together to help feed one another during the race and assist anyone when needed. Having a good support team makes long races like this that much easier. Nate Whitman is guiding us through the race, feed zones, and tactics so far. He has placed very high up in this race in the previous years, and will help us out a ton. The course is primarily fireroads, with some very significant climbs, and even more significant altitude! The race starts at 10,500 feet and races to over 14,000 feet. My interpretation of the altitude goes something like this, duct your mouth shut and then try to race your bike, breathing is that hard!
We have to check in at 5:15am in the morning, so it’s going to be a long day. Hopefully the weather turns around, as it is very cold right now. There was even snow on top of the peaks this morning! I am not much of a morning person, and quite frankly racing at 6:30am is going to force me to jump into the swing of things. From my understanding, this race, due to the amount of fire roads, can actually work like a road race, where people can work together to go faster. So we will see how the pace is from the start, because everyone needs a fresh new belt buckle after a long race!
The media and crowds are expected to be huge, as Lance Armstrong is once again racing. The local hero and previous winner, Dave Wiens will have to defend his title, and everyone loves a underdog. I will have some friends check in throughout the race to keep everyone posted on how things are going. Until then, I am going to keep sorting my food out, and try to get some rest.
Cheers
Reba
Recent Comments