Leadville 2024 Recap
It's a few days after completing my 4th Leadville Trail 100 MTB race and a good time for a little critical review of race day and the preparation.
First, a few highlights:
- Set a new PR – 7:21:53
- Won the 50-59 age group and set the 4th fastest time on the books for that age group
- Generally felt prepared and had a clean race for the most part
Lowlights:
- under-fueled a few points of the race and pace suffered (especially Powerline inbound ~10 minutes lost)
- still can't climb into the group I need to on St. Kevins (need to be ~2 minutes faster to Carter Summit)
- Probably needed to ride harder outbound from Sugarloaf to Twin Lakes
Extended Acclimatization Period
I stayed in Leadville for 30 days before the race. This had a major positive impact on my performance. Key improvements were noticeable after 1 week and 2 weeks. Not everybody responds to elevation in the same way, but it is clear that for me a "normal" performance is simply not possible without this period of acclimatization.
Training
The 12 months preceding the race were mostly unstructured riding. My average weekly volume was a little higher than recent years (~12-13hrs/week), but not my best in the last 5 years. Fitness in 2024 was better than in 2023 or 2022, but not as good as 2020-21. I would estimate 5% lower than 2020-21, which was in turn probably the fittest I've been in the last 12 years or so.
Descending
I descended a little better than in previous years (times were faster on main descents). This year I was on better wheels and was able to follow at faster speeds than I would do on my own. I didn't feel any less comfortable and didn't feel as if I was taking more risks. For most of Sugarloaf I felt like I could have gone a little faster if I was following someone a little faster. This highlights the value of starting well and being with the right group at the right time.
Climbing
I was faster on all the climbs than in previous years (except Powerline), but I had some training rides where I rode a little faster. I think in the race I was a little too conservative, thinking that I was in a good group and it was better to save energy for later in the race. This is a common error in a race like this. Obviously, we can't ride too hard without major consequences, but many riders overcorrect and lose time in the first half of the race that it is impossible to get back.
Fueling
This was my weak spot for the race. In hindsight, I believe I was getting low on fuel (bonking) on the Goat Trail outbound and from Pipeline to the top of Powerline inbound. I needed put down a gel late on the road portion of the Columbine Climb and probably 2-3 gels between Twin Lakes and Powerline. This probably would have been enough to keep me firing on all cylinders. I was so low on Powerline that I actually contemplated shortcutting back to town and calling it quits. Thankfully, I just put down a gel or two on the descent from Sugarloaf and the legs came back strong for the rest of the race. I was only a few seconds behind my PR on the Boulevard, so I was clearly back in the game. Unfortunately, the damage was done. I lost 10-12 minutes on the Powerline Climb that I couldn't get back. I would have been pretty stoked with a 7:10!
Takeaways
While I did have a "stretch goal" of sub-7:00 this year, I was not overly confident about whether I could do it and exactly what hurdles needed to be overcome to achieve it. Now I feel more confident that a sub-7:00 is possible. I feel like I could have ridden a 7:10 this year without the mistakes I made. That means I'd only need to improve about 5 minutes on each leg. This seems possible with better preparation and a little more aggressive pacing on the outbound leg. Not sure if I'll try to tackle this goal in the future yet.