Leadville 100, the highest mountain bike race in North America starts and finishes at 10, 000 ft in Leadville Colorado with the highest point being 12, 100 ft. It's also an out and back with a total of 14, 000 ft of climbing over 100 miles.
Leadville is a small town just on the other side of Independance Pass from Aspen Colorado and in the Shadow of Mt Elbert, Colorados highest peak at 14, 443 ft. The Main Industry was at one time the mining of Molybdenum but when the mine closed down they turned to tourism and holding races. Despite the focus on tourism the town is very un touristy and very much an old town feel.
I travelled to Leadville with Thomas and Tamara which was really nice and I had a lot of fun! On the Thursday when we arrived we went for a little ride up around 12,500 ft and did some intervals just to get used to the thinner air and we also hiked up to to 13,000 ft to look at the view and even spotted a nursery of sheep!
The race was a lot of fun. with my start position I had a lot of traffic to move through which was allright but it also meant that I was never really able to make it into the lead group because they seperated themselves right from the start. By the base of the first climb I had just bridged up to the back of the lead group and was slowly working my way through but was also aware of the fact that I still had 150km to go. I had actually never ridden 160km on a mtb and was not so sure about how I would handle it. The Altitude was not a huge worry for me, it was the distance that would give me a hard time. After the first climb I settled in with a group and started to eat and drink and since I was feeling great I pulled for the flat section going into the second climb and then keeping it steady on the climb I was able to move up even more. By the top of the second climb it was raining and around two degrees which caused almost everyone around me to start shivering and worry about hypothermia or start to put on their rain jackets and going through the feed station at the bottom of the descent many had their support there to hand them dry clothing. Since I had no support and was already wearing knee warmers, jersey with arm warmers and a vest I was pretty good and I had been much colder many times in my life. Reaching the base of the third and largest climb I stopped at the aid station and ate some food and talked to the volunteers a bit. Before getting back on my back and catching all the guys who had gone through with their support crews handing them bottles and food. By the top of the big climb at Columbine Mine it was hailing and windy so I stopped again and had some chicken soup while talking to a volunteer who was also a shop owner in Colorado and one of the larger Blue dealers, but didn't realize that Blue made a mountain bike. hmm interesting..... On the descent back down I once again caught everyone who just kept riding while I stopped at the aid station and put a pretty good gap on them along the flat going into the next aid station where I once again stopped to eat some watermelon and cookies and watch everyone I had just passed ride by again. I was able to once again catch them on the climb and then go to the front and pull for the next 20km to the next aid station slowly dropping riders as the distance and altitude started to take its toll on their bodies. I should say though that by the time I had 40km to go I was feeling the distance and my legs didn't have much punch on the climbs and I was struggling to keep the pedals turning on the steep stuff. I think i need to work on my climbing for next year because I don't think its where I need to be to be competitive and it showed and on Saturday. I was still able to ride the flat at 35-40km/hr but could barely turn the pedals on the climbs. The last 40-50km were excrutiatingly painful, I never bonked I just didn't have the milage in my legs to race for so long. But going through the finish line with a time of 8hr 23min was good and I was able to pick up the big buckle!!!
Thomas and Tamara both also had a good time and Thomas being a gentle man gave Tamara a wheel when she had a flat so she could keep riding while he fixed it and then continued on. both were right around their goal of 10hrs. Tamara a bit under and Thomas a bit over. 
This is now the end of my race season for 2009 and I am going to spend some time getting going to running group and hiking and I also start school in September which will be a big change for me!
