Leadville 100

I'm seriously considering it. I'm planning on a long trip (4 weeks?) to Co this summer purely to ride, but I was thinking of going a bit earlier in the year. I was also thinking of mostly staying in Salida, Crested Butte and Durango, but I'm open to any ideas.

I've even been toying with the idea of doing Tour Divide http://tourdivide.org/ but the two drawbacks to that are it would consume my entire summer (and the planning and training would be a 24/7 effort starting last year) and I believe there's a good chance I'd push hard enough to really hurt myself.

bruce b.
 
If I get in I'll be heading out right after finishing the Wilderness 101 which is two weeks prior. Hopefully this will help me acclimate and I'll get some preriding in. My brother lives in Colorado so some hiking, climbing, and riding shenanigans will go on for sure... I'll probably stay out there the week following as well and have a nice 3 week adventure.
 
xc62701 said:
I'll probably stay out there the week following as well and have a nice 3 week adventure.
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...and then he'll post a bunch of cool stories and photos from the trip and drive us mad with jealousy.😛
 
I'll be in CO riding that weekend, but not Leadville. High Cascades 100 the weekend before, Fools Gold 100 the week after 😎
 
If I get in, I'll head out there a week in advance and hope that it's enough time to acclimate.

Have any of you done Leadville before?
 
Yo Eddy said:
If I get in, I'll head out there a week in advance and hope that it's enough time to acclimate.

Have any of you done Leadville before?
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I have not done Leadville but I have done the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge which is all above 9500 feet. Be prepared for that thin air to kick your butt...seriously! I did it on 4 days acclimation and was feelin it bad. On the other hand I did XC nationals this past year on 2 weeks and I felt pretty good.
 
Acclimation

I've done Leadville twice (got two buckles but over 11 hours). The worst thing to do is go out 3 or 4 days early. A week is ok but the more the better. However, there is also a strategy of going out the day before since the worst part of acclimatizing hits in 3 or 4 days.

My first attempt I went out a week early but the second time, I showed up on Friday and raced Saturday. I could not notice much difference between the two. The altitude will kick your butt regardless. The main thing will be to not stay at the top of Columbine (12.5k) any longer than you have to to turn around and head down.

Good luck.

Barry
 
Two friends of mine received word they have been accepted yesterday. I have not heard yet, but the Leadville website says that everyone will be notified by 2/12...
 
Officially - REJECTED!!! It actually works out better in my schedule this way. They could have charged less for kicking me in the nutz though...
 
The entry process for LT100 can be pretty frustrating. A $290.00 nonrefundable entry fee 8 months before a race 1500 miles from home always seems like a great idea until you either receive the happy postcard or the Dr. John postcard. I've entered the lottery 6 times and get in all 6 times though only made it to the start line 4 of those years. I made the grade again this year and was bummed that Ryan didn't make the cut. So much for sucking his wheel for the first 40 miles. I found this post on another site and thought it was pretty interesting:

So, not sure if most people realize this, but Leadville is a non profit organization run mostly by volunteers that uses the proceeds from its races for the benefit of the town and its children, namely assisting with school funding and buildings, assuring EVERY child gets a christmas present, helping underprivileged families in times of need, etc. Leadville has one of the highest unemployment levels in the country and also one of the highest percentages of poverty.

Most of this was caused when the mines shut down. The races started as fundraisers and now continue with the same goals - bring revenue to the town and try to pass a portion of it directly to those most in need.

It's an expensive race, but no more so than other races, for example a Granny Gear 24 hour race - solo was like 330.00 last year, and that is a FOR PROFIT organization.

Leadville, to me, is so much more than the race itself. The whole atmosphere is like no other race I have been to in 20 years of racing. I am going again this year for the 6th time and am loooking forward to it. I would continue to go if it was even more money.

Also - I have mixed feelings on the 15.00 application fee as well. The only thing I will say is that they are a very manual organization. They reportedly received well over 5000 entries. That takes a TON of time to sort through. I run a few races in VA that have about 500 racers and it is incredibly time consuming with 500, I cant even imagine 5000 entries. They have to account for their time somewhere, so I guess we have to pay for it.
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