back to portfolio | back to deepbrook home | by Jeff Dieffenbach

1 Race Year    |    2 Race Week    |    3 Race Across the Sky Race Week Race Year built a physical and mental base, but Race Week slayed monsters. Leadville is a series of large and small climbs that link together 4 beasts (in the following course order): Powerline Descent, Columbine Climb, Columbine Descent, and Powerline Climb. Sight unseen, these monsters get in your head. And not in a good way. As part of the Fat Cyclist/Rebecca Rusch Leadville Experience prep week, we pre-rode Columbine on Mon Aug 10 and Powerline on Tue Aug 11. Hard (the climbs)? Yes. Scary (the descents)? Yes. But no longer invincible. Instead, defeatable. Or, at least, playable to a tie. Mon Aug 10: Top of Columbine descent Tue Aug 11: Top of Powerline descent Tue Aug 11: Bottom of Powerline descent Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 1 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 2 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 3 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 4 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 5 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 6 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 7 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 8 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 9 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 10 Wed Aug 12: Pipeline to Twin Lakes 11 Race Week actually started on Sunday with my trip out from Boston. Arriving at the airport at 4a for a 5a flight, I met with a pleasant surprise. I had booked the flight back in the winter using frequent flier miles. When I checked my 59 pound trunk, I expected to be hit with a hefty fee. "No charge," the curbside check-in person said as he hefted it onto his cart. My expression must have given away my surprise. "You're in first class," he explained. The memory clawed its way back--I had had to book first class to get the flight timing I needed. (The shrimp on the return flight was excellent, thanks for asking.) Wednesday notched things back with a pre-ride of the middle Pipeline to Twin Station section. And Thursday was easier still: a pre-ride of the first 5 miles (downhill)/last 5 miles (uphill). If anyone wants to do Leadville, I can't recommend strongly enough the value of joining the Leadville Experience (it's free!) or doing a similar agenda on your own. At Friday's mandatory race meeting (that packed the gymnasium at the Lake County HS), we learned: At 10,152 feet, Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the US All 50 states were represented (I'd later count 13 racers from MA: 12 men and 1 woman) 27 countries were represented 1889 racers registered: 751 returning and 1128 new (that's a LOT of inexperience out on a sometimes tricky course) 100 riders had finished 10 or more Leadvilles 2 riders were going for their 20th finish 3 riders had ridden all 21 races to date and were going for their 22nd (2 would finish) 55 seniors graduated from the HS earlier this year; through the Leadville Legacy Foundation, each was awarded a $1k scholarship, and all 55 used that scholarship to start a higher education program The owner of a red Jeep Wrangler from TX should be bummed, as it rolled out of the parking lot and into the street: (no damage report was provided) Race Week is also about getting your equipment ready. With several trips to the Cycles of Life bike shop, the grocery store, and the hardware store, my bike, gear, and nutrition was overthought to the Nth degree. But if there are two places where I own the podium, it's overthinking and tapering. So there. Race Week postscript: On my return trip, when I picked my trunk up at baggage claim, I was pleased to see my intricate combination of straps and rope intact. I was therefore surprised upon opening the trunk to find my four 20g CO2 cartridges having been replaced by an ambiguous TSA note mentioning "hazardous materials." The plastic bag containing these cartridges had been buried pretty deep in the trunk, so even finding them was something of an accomplishment. Interestingly enough, TSA did NOT take the two 16g CO2 cartridges I had placed in my toilet kit. (If you're wondering why there might be CO2 cartridges in my toilet kit, note that I normally keep the kit--and the CO2 cartridges--at our office in Denver, but on the return to the airport, we didn't have enough time to stop at the office, so I had to check them.) 1 Race Year    |    2 Race Week    |    3 Race Across the Sky