This blog will be a little different, consisting of a smorgasbord of writings, posts and thoughts on Leadville. This isn’t meant to provide a lot of details for riders thinking about doing the race, but rather represents a journal about our Leadville experience. It’s been a personal journy and journal—the race and the reflection.
Leadville Chapters—The Beginning
I can’t remember when I first started dreaming about the Leadville 100 mountain bike race, but it’s been over decade. For the longest time, Leadville felt out of reach. Between chronic migraine, poorly shaped hips and the tendinopathies, a high elevation race that can take 12+ hours and has a lot of hike-a-bike in it, just didn’t seem logical or possible. And yet I spend so many of my winter rides on the indoor trainer diving deep into the Leadville library of videos and articles and it’s a race that I’ve never been able to shake.
Perhaps I should start by explaining what Leadville is—or better yet, what it is not. Leadville is not a gravel race, despite a handful of the top pros putting drop bars on their mountain bikes. Leadville is a proper mountain bike race—an old school, cross-country style ultra-endurance epic of a mountain bike race.
The town of Leadville where the race starts and finishes is the heart of an old mining district. It’s rough, tough and surrounded by stunning scenery. The race is iconic, traversing high altitude and rugged terrain across gnarly and rutted jeep roads with a splash of singletrack in the heart of the Colorado Rockies. It’s got two massive climbs (and several other big ones too), a couple fast and furious descents and there’s a lot of pedaling in between.
The race starts at 10,152 ft and gains over 12,000 feet of climbing (topping out on Columbine at 12,500). Altitude is a critical factor and weather can be an experience altering element.
It’s affectionately called ‘The Race Across the Sky’ and it’s all of that and more. The best way to explain it is that Leadville is to mountain bikers what Kona is to Ironman athletes—it’s the stuff of legends. https://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/mtb/leadvilletrail100mtb/
Leadville Chapters—First Descents
The first challenge with Leadville for the everyday woman and man is getting in. There’s seven different ways to enter the race, none of them cheap. The lottery is by far the most common and cost-effective way to participate in Leadville, but it’s a lottery, and while the method for selecting riders is unknown to the public, there’s stories of people putting their names on the list for years without making the cut.
One of the alternative ways to participate in Leadville is getting selected by one of the NGO (nonprofit organizations). After completing the three-day Breck Epic (a technical, backcountry stage race at elevation) the idea of Leadville began to feel like a realistic possibility. Two days before my birthday in October, I reached out to First Descents, a Denver based powerhouse of a non-profit organization.
On October 4th, 2023, I turned 45-years-old. I awoke that morning to an email from Anna Wallace of First Descents, inviting me to be on their Leadville 100 Team. I was stoked beyond belief. I couldn’t wait tell my mom—who I knew would be over the moon with enthusiasm and excitement. We unexpectedly and suddenly lost my mom that evening—it was devastating. I knew right then that I had to do something big to honor her.
Leadville became more than a race—it became a mission.
First Descents offers young adults impacted by cancer and other serious health conditions an outdoor adventure experience, empowering them to paddle, surf and climb beyond their diagnosis, while connecting with others who are doing the same.
We raised the $3500 in four days (ultimately raising over $5,000+ with the generous support of our donors) and the race was on.
Leadville Chapters—The Training
I’m not going to dive deep into my training here, but I’ll say, my training was very much inspired by Leadville. I pretty much spent all my saddle time on three rides: the trainer, a 16-mile gravel ride that I would link up for 32, 48, 64 and 80 milers and a twenty-mile mountain bike ride on fire-roads. I put together a reverse periodized style training plan where I focused on max effort, V02 intervals during the dreary winter months on the trainer and then turned the focus to threshold(y) efforts in spring, while lengthening out the long rides and then getting more specific, targeting subthreshold (sweet spot and tempo efforts) as the trails cleared and summer arrived in the valley.
I’ve become a big proponent of polarized training over the last five years as I’ve simply found it much more sustainable to plan one or two hard workouts per week, versus three or four hard rides per week, which I’d done in the past. I generally rode anywhere from five to six times a week, with two rides being hard efforts, one ride being long (hard physiologically in its own right) and the rest of the rides being easier, though I was still climbing with almost every ride, so I’d say that my easy rides varied between aerobic base/endurance pace and low tempo.
I ran into a couple injuries and niggles in the spring as I ramped up the volume and long rides (my longest rides were right around 6 hours) and then hit a wall of fatigue in early July—which I dive into on the podcast with Dylan Johnson who gave some great advice.
In the lead up to Leadville I was spending a lot of time driving, between swim meets, wedding officiating gigs in Jackson Hole, all while keeping the wheels spinning and three weeks out from the race, I tweaked my back and developed some sharp and painful back pain that my PT diagnosed as a compression injury. Leadville felt very much in jeopardy as my wife put on and took off my bike shoes just two weeks out from the race. Fortunately, though I had to pivot and adapt my training, I didn’t miss any days in the saddle and was still logging fifteen-hour weeks of training, so the fitness was still being gained.
My training leading up to Leadville wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough. The week before my taper I was able to pull off a sixteen-hour training week on the bike including some strong threshold efforts and a PR on a 49-minute climb up to Mystic Lake, which gave me confidence that the fitness and stamina was there—the endurance and back we’d find out about on race day.
I do feel strongly that strength training is essential for Leadville. It’s a long day in the saddle on a rough and bumpy course. I’ve always been a gym rat that has dedicated at least three days a week to lifting and I think this was important. I did reduce my lifts to two times per week once I really kicked up the ride volume in May and June and then dropped it to once per week in the month leading up to the race.
I’ll say this about the training. When training with chronic migraine, ankylosing spondylitis, tendinopathies and just being a busy dad, I remained agile and adaptable. I believe it’s critical to see our training plans as a roadmap, as a trajectory (Roger Thompson), as a guide, while remaining flexible enough to check in each day and train intuitively, listening to our body, watching the weather and doing rides that inspire and uplift us.
Ultimately, there’s a lot of ways to skin the training cat for an event like Leadville, but what I really think it comes down to is consistency. If you consistently ride, don’t overdo it, do some intensity, but not too much, I think you can thread the training needle, building fitness while staying healthy, putting yourself in a place where you can show up to the start line feeling fit, fresh and firing, which will give all of us a shot at completing the highest, hardest mountain bike race in North America—with the Leadville Gods and a little luck on our side.
Leadville Chapters—The Bike
I’ve written a lot about the bike and would encourage you to read the attached blog (https://beaudacious.com/the-origin-story-of-our-allied-bc40/) and watch the bike build video for details, but the bike was dialed. The Leadville whip was a special build. I kept the steed in the stable following the last tune up from my trusted bike mechanics before sussing it out and making sure it was ready to rip. As far as the bike goes, I’m just blown away by how fast the Allied BC40 is. It’s such a stiff pedaling platform and it feels incredibly efficient and capable, with every ounce of energy you put into it, converting to forward momentum—and speed.
Jessie and the bicycle station crew built the bike of my dreams. My guys from my local shop (Jacob and Kyle) have taken such tender care and had the bike ready to race and have donated so much of their time—including a trailside bike maintenance day where Jacob and I spent an afternoon breaking chains, puncturing tires, and getting the bike ready to ride as fast as we could. I’m truly blessed to have such a strong team supporting this endeavor. Jacob and Kyle threw their support behind this Leadville endeavor in a big way and I can’t imagine getting to the start line without them.
And my PT, Jason Lunden from Excel PT, he’s been with me for years, helping me navigating injuries and setbacks and always inspiring me to believe that my body is indeed capable of doing big and hard things. He worked some magic to get me to Leadville, helping me manage the niggles of more training than I’ve ever done, and after a back injury/tweak two weeks from race day, he got me back in the saddle and made me believe I had time to bounce forward. Then he played hero ball getting me in the day before we left when I suspected some cleat slippage, making sure that my knee would be tracking well for up to twelve hours in the saddle.
The bike was ready to roll.
Sidenote: everyone wants to talk tires at Leadville and I settled on the Maxxis Rekon Race 2.4 front and rear. It was a solid set up, not the fastest on the pavement, but I’m a big fan of them. No issues.
Leadville Chapters—Common Kings
The thing about Leadville—especially as a first timer that really stands out, is the logistical challenges. First, it’s a long damn day in the saddle. Then you add the elevation factor, managing your hydration and nutrition at elevation for over ten hours, weather, the potential for mechanicals, lodging (which is super limited and pricy in town) and this year, a shuttle system and new crewing tactics, and there’s a lot to juggle.
For us, Leadville is an 11-hour drive. We opted to stay fifty minutes away in Breckenridge, since we felt comfortable at the Beaver Run Resort after staying there last summer while racing the Breck Epic.
We had a big debate leading up to the trip on whether to attend a concert two nights before the race. Common logic would say, skip the concert, stay off your feet and don’t risk getting sick. But when your favorite band is playing ten miles from where you’re staying the night of your arrival AND they (the band) plan to hang out with you and you’re in daddy mode, going to the concert felt like a no brainer.
We had ambitious plans on our second day of travel. I had a doctor appointment scheduled in Westminster, Colorado, where I hoped to reestablish care with my internal medicine doctor, who treats my clotting disorder. I’ve seen Dr. Kaplan for over a decade (since my brush with eternity and rare clotting disorder diagnosis), but he left the University of Utah for a new clinic in Colorado, and it seemed like the perfect time to reestablish care.
The problem is that the concert we planned to attend was in Dillon, Colorado, kicked off at 6 pm and we’d be cutting it really close. Chances are we wouldn’t get to the Beaver Run Resort in time to unload and we had three bikes hanging off the back of our truck that probably valued more than the truck itself, along with our dog, which is not how we wanted to roll to the concert. Doing the math, without traffic (and there’s always traffic on I-25 leading into Denver and on I-70 heading to Breckenridge), it felt like it was going to be too much of a stressor, so we bailed on the appointment and took the scenic route from Laramie to Breck, which was a game-changer.
On the drive we received word that our friends from Spokane, Jessi and Rodger Thompson, were going to join us (check out my conversation with Rodger on the podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/6R6TmPV5DIGWSvI6r18C8J) , which was going to make for a special evening.
Going into an event like this, the more you can reduce stress and foster some down-time, the better. We rolled up to the Beaver Run at 3 pm, my guy Landon from Oahu hooked us up with an upgrade and we began wheeling in our gear for the weekend—the Beaver Run is a special spot.
Once all squared away in the room, we got dressed up and headed to Dillon for a big show and reunion with our favorite band and dear friends, Roger and Jessi.
The magic of our trip to Leadville and back to Breck wasn’t just on the bike or racecourse. Anyone who knows us well, knows how much we love Common Kings. Their music, their spirit, their goodness. Uncle Lui—Common Kings’ bass guitarist hooked us up with artist comped tickets and created space for us after the show to share big hugs and to talk story. We’ve known him and have been exchanging seasonal texts and love for over five years now, but his generosity amazes me each time we connect. We shared a bear of a hug after the show. As always, they were electric on stage. But the love they showered and spread lifted us up and into the clouds and would fuel our Leadville race two days later.
And sharing it all with dear friends Rog and Jessi, elevated the experience, taking a night of magic to another level.
I’ve got to share this little side story. During Queen Majesty (one of our favorite songs), Junyer put Kamiah on the mic multiple times—it was ALLTIME and pure gold.
The last Common Kings show we saw, they dedicated ‘Today’s A New Day’ to Kamiah and this time they put her on the mic. They also gave her the set list for the show.
It was a night of reunions—with two of our treasured friends and Uncle Ivan and Common Kings. The hugs were huge, and the love was big.
‘When you run with kings and queens, better days are quite common.’
Leadville Chapters: Calm before the Storm—Racer Meeting
The Friday before the race, we drove up to Leadville for the first time for the pre-race meeting and expo. There was a lot of hype and the energy was palpable. The history of the race—being it’s 30-year anniversary—was on full display with presenters and videos celebrating the biggest and most famous mountain bike race in North America.
We tried not to spend too much time on our feet in Leadville that day, knowing the task at hand the next day, but we were fully able to soak in the experience and festivities. We knew it was a bit of a risky strategy posting Kamiah and Amanda up at Pipeline for the day, but with no restrictions and easy access from town, that’s the call we made—to use neutral aid at Twin Lakes and to rely on Powerline as our home-base. We set up the frame of our pop-up tent after attending the expo and receiving our race plates and felt good about the spot that Amanda and Kamiah (my wife and daughter) would be spending the duration of the day.
On our drive back to Breck from Leadville, the skies let loose with a deluge—one of the heaviest and hardest rains I can remember. It was mid-afternoon and all we could think is, “Well, I’d have about twenty miles left if things were going well right about now tomorrow.” God, I hoped it wouldn’t rain like that on race day.
I spent much of the evening just hanging with Kamiah and Amanda, sorting out my gear, my bottles, my fuel, labeling all the bottles, labeling all the zip-lock baggies full of gels and including index cards with detailed directions for Amanda and Kamiah when I rolled through Pipeline outbound and inbound.
I knew sleep would be hard to come by on this night, so after eating a big dinner—Amanda really hooked it up—we all just hung out, loved on each other and talked story until it was time to go to bed.
Haley Smith said it best, ‘tomorrow we find out what we’re made of’.
Leadville Chapters—Race Morning
The alarm was set for 3:15 am, but I didn’t need it to wake me up as I was already up. By 3:40 am I was eating a big breakfast. We went with my every morning race day breakfast when we have a kitchen, the breakfast strategy for events like the Breck Epic and BC Bike Race: three gluten free pancakes (Bob’s Red Mill), two eggs and two pieces of chicken sausage. Amanda got up early to make sure I had a hardy breakfast—the sprinkle of honey and bananas on the pancakes, hit the spot.
I didn’t get any quality sleep—hell, I didn’t get sleep at all—but I had no problem eating the big breakfast at 3:40 AM. After making a couple trips down to the truck with the bike, the cooler and all the food for the day, we were on the road by 4:25 am, which had us rolling into Leadville just before 5:20 am. The timing was perfect as we had no trouble finding street parking and with the corrals closing at 6:15 am, I had plenty of time to go for a walk with the wife and the dog, find a port-a-potty and get dressed.
The drive to Leadville was pretty fun as there was a steady stream of headlights on I-70 before 5 am, many of the vehicles loaded down with bikes, and then the caravan really tightened up and turned into a ribbon of taillights from Copper Mountain to Leadville.
The temps weren’t too cold at all walking around town on race morning, hovering around 45 degrees F. Even under a blanket of stars, with the little town of Leadville shrouded in darkness, there was a buzz in the air.
I got to my blue corral between 6:05-6:10 am and settled in for the wait—a that didn’t feel long at all. Again, there is such a energy radiating in town, and by this time it’s light and everyone is in their corral, waiting for the pro men and women to start before we began the shuffle to the start-line.
Leadville Chapters—The Start
The shotgun blast for the pro men went off at 6:15 am and was followed shortly thereafter at 6:20 am for the pro women and then there was a twelve-and-a-half-minute gap before they started the Silver/Red corral. Once the Silver/Red corral went off, we’d creep up until it was our turn at 6:42:30, with corrals going off in two and a half minute increments. The corrals are relatively new—I believe this was the second or third year—and they are brilliant as it really spaces things out for the initial surge and first couple climbs.
There was a lot of enthusiasm in our Blue Corral as the gun went off and we worked our way through town and towards the first climb of the day, St Kevins. The Leadville course has five major climbs: St Kevins, Sugarloaf, Columbine, Powerline and Turquoise Lake Road.
There was certainly a lot of jostling and positioning as we worked our way to the base of St Kevins. The road was lined with riders from left to right and as far as you could see ahead of us, so there wasn’t a lot of room to make moves. I got on the wheel of a young rider from Salt Lake City, and we talked about our goals for the day and agreed to team up on the first climb to see if we could bob and weave our way through the traffic, without burning too many matches.
Once we got over St. Kevins, things spaced out a bit as we worked our way through some fast and flowing forest roads, we had a ripping descent down Turquoise Lake Road and then another climb up Haggerman Pass to Sugurloaf Summit. While I wouldn’t say I was necessarily utilizing my power meter as a governor, I thoughtfully tried to keep my efforts from going above my threshold (zone 4), opting to spend most of my race day in Zone 2 and 3 (my endurance pace, up to tempo/sweetspot). I knew I’d reach above Zone 3 and into Zone 4 on some climbs, but I really tried to meter my efforts and race by feel.
I felt good getting to the top of Powerline—which was a downhill section that I had worried about because of its speed, the rutted and loose surface, and the number of riders bombing down it.
One of my strategies for the race was to chunk everything out, to break the race down into sections—so I didn’t spend time worrying about Powerline until we got to the top of the descent and once we were ready to point our front wheel downhill, I checked in on the bike and my body, said a couple positive affirmations and really focused on riding my descent, picking my line and not getting wrapped up in what other riders were doing.
I was so damn happy when we made it to the pavement at the base of Powerline and hooked up with a local doctor who had broken a spoke, which had his rear wheel wobbling as we boogied towards the new Outward Bound Aid Station. We shared a good conversation, and I told him about my clotting disorder and racing/riding on blood thinners and he said, “Be so, so careful coming down Columbine.” He too was happy I made it down Powerline unscathed. I knew I had two big climbs ahead—Columbine and Powerline, but coming in, it was the descents that concerned me, it’s always the descents that concern me. It’s not that I’m not capable as a descending, I just have to ride more carefully than I did pre clotting disorder.
I knew the climbs would be hard, but I’m a strong climber and I know I can do hard. My number one objective, even before finishing the race is always to stay upright. One, being on blood thinners, I’m a higher risk rider and my priority is always to get home safely to my wife and daughter. And two, I just love to train, and I don’t want anything to disrupt that training, so I pick my line, I try and ride light and I ‘ride’ the descents more than I race them.
After a bit of pavement, we hit Outward Bound and I knew we were getting close to Pipeline where I’d get to see Kamiah and Amanda.
Rolling through Pipeline was glorious—it was an unofficial aid station this year, but there were still hundreds of people lining the forested corridor and the energy was high. I found Kamiah and Amanda, ran behind the truck to take my first (of many) pee and grabbed two new bottles (I only rode with one bottle from the start to Pipeline knowing it would be a cool morning with a lot of crowded climbing and descending and that I wouldn’t need much water) and after exchanging kisses with Kamiah, Amanda and Coach Claxton, I was off.
Our first aid wasn’t flawless as I recognized about forty seconds into my pedal towards Twin Lakes that they had only put one bottle on the bike, so I was without the second bottle, which had my electrolytes. Knowing I had a long haul ahead of me up Columbine, I turned around and went back to them to get the extra bottle. This cost me two minutes, tops, and was the right call.
Leadville Chapters—Columbine
From Pipeline Aid Station to the base of Columbine was smooth sailing. I got in a good group of riders, the wind was at our back and we ripped our way to the singletrack section. I had a good run through the singletrack and we rolled into the carnival that is Twin Lakes and I rode through with a massive smile on my face. I made a quick stop at neutral aid to refill my small bottle and we were off to Twin Lakes Alternate. It was between Twin Lakes and Twin Lakes Alternate that Keegan and the rest of the pro men came ripping through—with Keegan was way off the front. The out and back nature of this race is special as we get to see the pro men and women race unfold.
When we reached the base of Columbine, I pulled over to take another pee (I’ll need to figure this out for next time) and when I jumped back on my bike and started pedaling to get back to the group I was with, I noticed my shifting wasn’t working. I had one back-up battery, so instead of fiddling with it the one that wasn’t working, I just jumped off the bike, dug around my pocket for my spare and swapped out AXS batteries, so I had fresh shifting going up the climb of climbs.
This race is so hard and so fun. I was smiling out there all day (well, for a lot of the day), but no smile was bigger than when we hit the Columbine turnaround—the halfway point— at 12,500 feet in 5 under hours.
Columbine is a brutal climb, gaining over 3100 feet of elevation in eight miles. The road leading to the Goat Trail is long and steady and then the Goat Trail itself is one steep mug. After a mechanical that took me a couple minutes to rectify, I pushed hard to get back with the group of strong ladies I was climbing with. I was excited by how much of the climb we were able to stay in the saddle, despite to two times we had to hike a bike—with racers ripping down the other direction of the tight, rugged, often washed out two track trail.
I’m not sure I paced my first half of the race as well as I intended and climbing so much of Columbine might have burned some matches, but the first half of the day I sure felt strong and the legs were firing.
The world needs more love there was a lot of love in Cloud City.
Leadville Chapters—Cloud City, Back to Pipeline
The descent down Columbine is sketchy—there’s no way around it. Going under five hours to the top of the Columbine climb didn’t have me anywhere near the front of the race, but it put me well beyond the middle of the pack, so there were more than 800 riders still climbing as I was descending. With the Goat Trail being a narrow two track, with two-way traffic, it’s a risky descent—and it’s a long descent. I had the same mindset going down Columbine as I did getting down Powerline: don’t take risks, ride your line, don’t worry about anyone behind you.
The ride down Columbine is fast and loose and there’s a string of riders walking there bike up it for the entirety of your descent. One mistake, one missed turn or simply carrying too much speed into a bend in the trail and you could really injure yourself and other riders. I get the pros making time and moves on this section, but for the age-groupers and amateurs, it seems like this should be a neutral zone of sorts as the passing that occurred was always cheeky and often super sketchy.
By the time we hit the road section of the descent down Columbine I was able to let it go and let the brakes breath (they were screaming the latter half of the Goat Trail). I still felt strong rolling back through Twin Lakes Alternate and Twin Lakes Inbound—but not long after that, I started to fade. I think that was the lowest point of my race, the section between Twin Lakes and Pipeline. I wasn’t fueling on the climb up or the descent down Columbine the way I needed to be and I was paying the price as I rode solo into a headwind.
It was about eight miles outside of Pipeline when my friend, Roger Thompson caught me—after I had passed him going up Columbine. I stayed on his wheel for a couple miles, but he was too strong, so I put in a surge and connected back up with a group of about ten riders that I had spent time with throughout the day and we pace lined it to Pipeline.
Seeing Amanda and Kamiah at Pipeline Inbound was just what I needed. We decided to go with a hydration pack and one bottle and refueled with a gel bottle with 340 grams of carbs. They knew I had big ambitions at Powerline and before sending me off, Kamiah said, “Daddy, go catch that group you came in with.”
Leadville Chapters—Powerline
Anyone who finishes this race has their high point—for me it was Powerline. Leadville is a race of chapters and the Powerline chapter is a big one. Many say the race doesn’t start until Powerline inbound (I can’t agree with that, as Columbine was pretty damn formidable), but Powerline is the stuff of legends. Only two people knew (Kamiah and Amanda) going in that I had a really ambitious and audacious goal of clearing the Powerline climb.
I felt strong going up Columbine, so I knew I had a shot at it, but I also knew I’d need to get lucky. Rolling into the aid station at Pipeline inbound I was losing steam having worked too hard riding solo in the flats and headwind coming back from Twin Lakes, but seeing K and A and sharing kisses for the second time, gave me wings—along with all the fuel they provided.
According to Kimo Seymour from Life Time, 98% of riders will walk up Powerline and I really was hoping to be a 2 percenter.
I spent the entirety of the lead up from Pipeline Aid to the base of Powerline, psyching and coaching myself up. Simply looking at the climb the day before, I wasn’t sure if it was doable, even on an empty course and fresh legs. On race day, the climb becomes far more challenging as riders wisely dismount—saving valuable matches and hike their bike.
There was a lot of bobbing and weaving, pausing, stalling, and hammering on the pedals as I navigated the course, ruts and other riders. The first part is loose and steep (we’re talking grades of over 20%) and the latter part presents rocks and slow tech climbing as rain and hail came showering down. With the support of other riders willing to move aside, staying present and obsessively focused on the terrain and every pedal stroke, I kept moving forward.
There’s no doubt I paid the price for the final 90 minutes of the race, but I’m proud to say (and I had riders excitedly confirm it with Kamiah and Amanda at the finish), that I channeled my inner and cleared the entirety of the Powerline climb.
Everything about Leadville is a Be Audacious endeavor and adventure, but that—a clean clear of Powerline, nearly 80 miles into this race, for me, was the most audacious and fulfilling chapter of my day on the bike from a performance standpoint, even if it emptied me with 20+ miles left.
Powerline: If you know, you know. ⛰️🐐
Leadville Chapters- top of Powerline to home stretch—
Once I cleared Powerline, I felt like I planted my flag and I certainly emptied the tank. I struggled the final 20+ miles. Just when I thought I had nothing left to give, I turned the dial and found another gear, though it wasn’t a fast one. The steady paved climb up Turquoise Lakes Road on paper, looked like a great place for me to make up time, but at this point I was in survive and advance mode, just trying to keep my pedaling smooth and steady.
I put in some efforts at the base of Kevins, getting on the wheel of a strong rider as we approached the Boulevard, but the Boulevard was a far longer and punchier climb that I anticipated—which was certainly an eye opener at that point in the race. It was on the Boulevard that my friend and mentor, Mike Durner, found me. As cycling coaching legend out of Colorado Springs who was coaching riders that day, he knew roughly where I was having seen me at Pipeline and he rode beside me as the signs paying homage to the previous thirty Leadville winners (women and men) ticked off, one by one, spaced out about every 100 feet. And then we hit the pavement. That time with Mike was really special—here’s this coach and mentor that I really admire, a sub-niner at Leadville himself, and sharing that time with him was a memorable way to wind down a day for the ages.
Leadville Chapters—The Red Carpet
The Race Across the Sky was everything and more. We were walking on clouds in Cloud City after this one. We dug deep into the well and learned so much out there. When I crossed the finish line at Leadville, I tapped my heart, flashed a peace sign with two pink fingernails that Kamiah painted the night before and then covered my mouth and cried. The joy was overwhelming. The sense of gratitude overflowing. I see how people become obsessed with this race. I see how this becomes people’s training why. For the last 8 months, we’ve been on a mission. Leadville has been that mission. We went all in on Leadville. And it did not disappoint.
The event. The place. The landscape. The people. The cause. All the support along the way. The passion. The enthusiasm. Clearing Powerline. Climbing most of Columbine. I’m over the moon with the entirety of the experience, the execution and the ending.
I felt like I won the day and the race that mattered. My race against the clock, my race against the course, my race within myself. I wasn’t there to beat or stick it to anyone, but to do my best. My primary goal was to finish. My second goal was to stay upright. My get it goal was to earn a buckle. My stretch goal was to go sub-ten hours—we went a 9:41:34. We achieved a lot at Leadville and it’s safe to say, it’s in us.
Training through injuries, fatigue, migraine, Leadville provided purpose, meaning and healing after losing my mom. I talked to her on every training ride and throughout race day. And then when I crossed the finish line, the emotions poured over. The hugs with Kamiah and Amanda—my dream team— at the finish line were golden. What a day. What a ride. What a journey. What a rich and rewarding experience.
Will we be back? Well, Saturday’s ride bumped us up to the purple corral and that’s a win.
Leadville will stay with us, always.
Leadville is a celebration of health, fitness, family, friendship, community, Colorado and how deep we can dig when surrounded by enthusiastic supporters and fellow racers. I’m beyond grateful for all of the people who helped make this dream a reality—you know who are and the tribe is big.
Leadville Chapters—The Aftermath
I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. This race for me wasn’t a race against anyone else. I wasn’t out there to stick it to anyone or to beat anyone—Leadville is a time-trial, a long and arduous time-trial. You’re trying to go from point to point (to the top of Columbine and back), 105 miles as fast (and as safely) as you can. For me this was a race against the clock, a race against the course, a race within myself.
And even though there were a handful of edgy dudes out there, making some sketchy moves and killing some vibes, they were few and far between. The Leadville community and energy is so strong on race day, there’s no way to bring it down. This race takes us out of our comfort zone, it takes us higher, and brings us together.
As a whole, as a collective, the community was beautiful, uplifting, empowering. We’re all out there on our individual ride, but we’re out there experiencing it together and everyone, the other riders, the volunteers, the sheriff and local police, the first responders, the aid station workers, the crew, the fans, the family, are all a part of this experience (they are all an integral part of the experience), out there providing enthusiasm and providing energy to help propel every participant forward. That’s the beauty of these big, hard endurance events.
Waves are created by energy—and the people create that energy at the highest, hardest mountain bike race in North America and we’re still riding the Leadville wave.
If Leadville shows us what we’re made of, it’s truly an elevating experience, summoning the best of us on a single, glorious day. And if we’re really lucky, it’s a transformational summoning mentally, emotionally and physiologically.
Leadville Chapters—The Road Home
We decided to spend a couple bonus days in Breckenridge, just to soak in the entirety of the experience. I was surprised by how I felt on Sunday morning following the race. I was stiff, sore, fatigued, but I make gluten free pancakes for Kamiah and Amanda, honoring our Sunday morning ritual. Amanda and I went for a couple walks and then we returned to Leadville–honoring and celebrating what we all achieved the day before.
We connected with some old and new friends, Brianne and Taylor, both pros racing at the Breck Epic, Mike McCormack, founder of the Breck Epic, and on our way back home, we stopped in Grand Junction, Colorado, where we connected with our friend, Gwendalyn (on the brink of racing Worlds in Andora), for lunch and a tour of the Colorado Mesa University campus and aquatic center. Once again, the people and the love they showered us with, the time they gifted us, was the most meaningful part of this entire adventure.
The girls were pretty quiet as we rolled through Wyoming (northbound) and while it’s a desolate drive, it’s a state where our roots run deep and I always treasure those big, long drives, despite the skies opening up and unleashing copious amounts of rain, thunder and lightening. This really was one of those trips you simply didn’t want to end. I think our good friend Roger Thompson put it best when he texted me saying, “I think we can say, there will NEVER be another Leadville 2024…but there may be another Leadville and it will shine with its own epicness. I cannot express my gratitude in sharing this pursuit with you and literally “with you.” It doesn’t get any better. No question.”
Those are words ring so true about our experience and trip surrounding this race. There will never be another Leadville 2024, but there will be another Leadville–body, mind and Leadville Gods willing. And we’ll spend much of our winter reveries and time on the indoor trainer dreaming, hoping, wishing, waiting, and when it comes, I’m sure, it’ll be glorious pilgrimage back to Cloud City.
WNbL, mwl
Junyer putting Kamiah on the mic.
Kickin’ it with Common Kings.
A glorious reunion with beloved friends Rog and Jessi.
The Bike.
Team First Descents 2024.
My main man, Roger Thompson, the Ironman himself.
Top of Columbine.
The finish.
We did it!
Dream Team.
