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Race Year Race year's a bit of a misnomer. The Leadville Trail 100 MTB race has been on my race calendar for half a decade now. I just never knew what year. Several attempts at getting in via lottery hadn't panned out. Following the lead of Doug B, I went the volunteer route last year. Then the waiting started--I wouldn't know for another five months. I January, the email arrived.  Things just got real. I didn't just want to ride Leadville, I wanted to give it the respect that it deserves and earn the coveted silver buckle given to sub-12 hour finishers. (Sub-9 earns a gold buckle. 10 finishes earns a bigger buckle. And 20 finishes earns one a buckle large enough to serve a Mac's worth of Haggis.) So I prepared.
  I'm certainly not the most skilled MTBer out there, but I know a bit about handling a mountain bike and that bit was a pretty key addition to having a decent cycling engine. Could I have trained harder? Sure. But but my standards, I trained pretty hard. I also tapped numerous people for technique, course info, and advice. Most notably, they were the Fat Cyclist "family" (Elden N, his wife Lisa, and his friend and 4x women's champion, Rebecca Rusch), my friend Doug B from upstate NY, and Wellesley's Stan S. Sure, they couldn't help me turn the cranks, but they were invaluable in helping my turn them productively. |