Fun, Fun, and suffering.Excerpt from "Dreaming of Leadville: A blog about my trip to Colorado to compete in the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race"
Catamount Reservoir Looking at Pikes Peak
The last week has been filled with a lot of fun. I’ve been mountain biking around Woodland Park here and there with my host Roger’s two, adorable Australian Sheppard / Border collie mix dogs, Buckey and Kona. You can throw whatever you want at these dogs and they just keep pushing the pace and coming back for more. The other day I took them on a 15 mile, 3 hour bike ride at Catamount Reservior, which is located at the at the northern base of Pike’s Peak. Just about the entire time, these two rascals would be weaving their way through the woods at breakneck speeds to be anxiously waiting at the top of each hill. I’m sure they were thinking “man, this guy is fun to punish” I think these two are the best training partners I’ve had the pleasure of biking with so far.
The next day Roger talked me into (without much persuasion) tagging along on a trip to Snowmass Colorado while he competed in the Mountain States Cup Mountain Bike series. Roger has participated in just about every one of these races and is currently positioned as the number 1 racer in his age group. Although I just planned to watch and explore the local trails, it wasn’t long before I saw myself cutting a check for the XC race registration.
Saturday morning at 9AM, I took my place at the start line with all other Category 2 racers. The course was either up or down hill – no flats to be seen. In other words it kicked everybody’s ass. To make matters worse, it involved 2,000 ft of climbing from 8,000 to 10,000 ft each lap. Although I told myself that I would take it easy so that I could save myself for the grand prize, the Leadville 100, I couldn’t help but put the hammer down and figure out just how much all of my training has paid off.
The course was extremely difficult and I regularly caught myself in my heart rate zone 5, or the complete exhaustion / all out effort which can only be maintained for several minutes before lactic acid in your muscles burns you to a crisp or your lungs quit, whichever comes first.
In the first of two laps I stayed strong and mostly held on to my position in the first 10 riders of the field. However, on the second lap, my long training days of 6 and 7 hours in the saddle began to pay off. While most of the racers began to fade slightly, I kept my pace and remained stable with my output, passing people as I climbed up the ski hill. In the final section of the downhill, I saw what I thought was one of the top riders, so I aggressively sped up on the already fast, windy downhill section.
This landed me exactly nothing, as I lost traction on the final turn and wiped out going 30 mph. Luckily the tall grass slowed my yard sale of crash and I quickly remounted my bike with minor scrapes. About 200 yards later I crossed the finish line to discover that I, a sea level flatlander from Vermont had take 4thoverall in the category and 2nd in my age group.
The mental confidence this result has given me is invaluable and will surely go a long way this weekend in Leadville. Sunday was spent watching Roger compete in the short track race and then heading back home over Independence Pass. Independence Pass sits at 12,000ft, whereupon you can hike for an additional 1,000 ft to the top of Twinning Peak.
In order to properly prepare for Leadville, which reaches 12,600ft, it is greatly beneficial to spend as much time as you can at or above that elevation. So, Roger and I set about to hike for a couple hours at altitude. The views were absolutely spectacular and remind me of how different this place is from any semblance of the East Coast.
This week is my taper, or recovery week. This is when I scale back my training efforts significantly to allow for my body to heal itself from the long (about 4 months) training period that has passed. I will be focusing mostly on logistics for the race, like where I will be sleeping, my nutrition plan, and the more basic necessities, like finding a bike to ride for example (read between the lines, FedEx). Till next time (probably Thursday). Take care.
-Alex
Me on the left
Catamount Reservoir Looking at Pikes Peak
The last week has been filled with a lot of fun. I’ve been mountain biking around Woodland Park here and there with my host Roger’s two, adorable Australian Sheppard / Border collie mix dogs, Buckey and Kona. You can throw whatever you want at these dogs and they just keep pushing the pace and coming back for more. The other day I took them on a 15 mile, 3 hour bike ride at Catamount Reservior, which is located at the at the northern base of Pike’s Peak. Just about the entire time, these two rascals would be weaving their way through the woods at breakneck speeds to be anxiously waiting at the top of each hill. I’m sure they were thinking “man, this guy is fun to punish” I think these two are the best training partners I’ve had the pleasure of biking with so far. The next day Roger talked me into (without much persuasion) tagging along on a trip to Snowmass Colorado while he competed in the Mountain States Cup Mountain Bike series. Roger has participated in just about every one of these races and is currently positioned as the number 1 racer in his age group. Although I just planned to watch and explore the local trails, it wasn’t long before I saw myself cutting a check for the XC race registration.
Saturday morning at 9AM, I took my place at the start line with all other Category 2 racers. The course was either up or down hill – no flats to be seen. In other words it kicked everybody’s ass. To make matters worse, it involved 2,000 ft of climbing from 8,000 to 10,000 ft each lap. Although I told myself that I would take it easy so that I could save myself for the grand prize, the Leadville 100, I couldn’t help but put the hammer down and figure out just how much all of my training has paid off.
The course was extremely difficult and I regularly caught myself in my heart rate zone 5, or the complete exhaustion / all out effort which can only be maintained for several minutes before lactic acid in your muscles burns you to a crisp or your lungs quit, whichever comes first.
In the first of two laps I stayed strong and mostly held on to my position in the first 10 riders of the field. However, on the second lap, my long training days of 6 and 7 hours in the saddle began to pay off. While most of the racers began to fade slightly, I kept my pace and remained stable with my output, passing people as I climbed up the ski hill. In the final section of the downhill, I saw what I thought was one of the top riders, so I aggressively sped up on the already fast, windy downhill section.
This landed me exactly nothing, as I lost traction on the final turn and wiped out going 30 mph. Luckily the tall grass slowed my yard sale of crash and I quickly remounted my bike with minor scrapes. About 200 yards later I crossed the finish line to discover that I, a sea level flatlander from Vermont had take 4thoverall in the category and 2nd in my age group.
The mental confidence this result has given me is invaluable and will surely go a long way this weekend in Leadville. Sunday was spent watching Roger compete in the short track race and then heading back home over Independence Pass. Independence Pass sits at 12,000ft, whereupon you can hike for an additional 1,000 ft to the top of Twinning Peak.
In order to properly prepare for Leadville, which reaches 12,600ft, it is greatly beneficial to spend as much time as you can at or above that elevation. So, Roger and I set about to hike for a couple hours at altitude. The views were absolutely spectacular and remind me of how different this place is from any semblance of the East Coast.
This week is my taper, or recovery week. This is when I scale back my training efforts significantly to allow for my body to heal itself from the long (about 4 months) training period that has passed. I will be focusing mostly on logistics for the race, like where I will be sleeping, my nutrition plan, and the more basic necessities, like finding a bike to ride for example (read between the lines, FedEx). Till next time (probably Thursday). Take care.
-Alex
Me on the left
