Podcasts about lt100

OverviewWe love checking out what the pros are riding, but "normal" riders aiming to finish the Leadville 100 MTB in under 9 hours or under 12 hours have different needs on race day. Ten-time LT100 finisher, coach, and author Jim Rutberg talks with 3-time finisher Adam Pulford about the best bikes, equipment choices for the 2000+ riders behind the race leaders. And, since they're both coaches, they throw in a bunch of training, nutrition, and race strategy tips as well.Key topics in this episode:Challenges of Leadville 100 courseIs Leadville a drop-bar bike course?Best Bike Setup for Leadville 100How much suspension do you need?Bottles or hydration pack?What about a hardtail MTB?Wheels and Tires for Leadville 100Crank length for mountain bikingMTB, Gravel, or Road shoes and pedals?Training and Nutrition tips for Leadville 100LINKS5 Race Bikes from the 2022 Leadville 100 - PinkbikeTech Week – Bike & Tire Guide for the Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTBRoundup: The mountain bikes of Leadville - VeloXC vs Trail Bike Geo: Trail vs cross-country mountain bikes: Which is right for you? | BikeRadarASK A QUESTION FOR A FUTURE PODCASTGuestJim Rutberg has been an athlete, coach, and content creator in the outdoor sports, endurance coaching, and event industries for more than 20 years. He is the Media Director and a coach for CTS and co-author of several training and sports nutrition books, including Training Essentials for Ultrarunning with Jason Koop, Ride Inside with Joe Friel, and The Time-Crunched Cyclist with Chris Carmichael. A graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Physiology, Jim resides in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his two sons, Oliver and Elliot. He can be reached at jrutberg@trainright.com or @rutty_rides on Instagram.HostAdam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly 20 years and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platformGET FREE TRAINING CONTENTJoin our weekly newsletterCONNECT WITH CTSWebsite: trainright.comInstagram: @cts_trainrightTwitter: @trainrightFacebook: @CTSAthlete

Our guest today is a local running and coaching legend here in Colorado who is also well-known worldwide. Junko Kazukawa came late into the running world, but has been a prolific endurance athlete, while exuding tons of positive energy. This year alone she completed the Leadwoman challenge – all of the Leadville running and biking races – which included her 10th LT100 run finish, then finished the very difficult Tor des Géants 200-miler in Italy, ran rim-to-rim-to-rim in the Grand Canyon, and currently has the NYC Marathon on-deck. In 2015, she became the first person to complete Leadwoman plus the 100-miler Grand Slam – Western States, Leadville, Vermont, and Wasatch – all in the same year. She did this on the heels of a second breast cancer diagnosis. This has given her the wonderful perspective of if there is something you want to do, don't wait, just do it, you never know what will happen tomorrow. And then her philosophy that cancer takes away a lot, but it gives you so much more. Junko also talks here about the interesting topic of how suffering through a tough ultramarathon makes her feel more alive. Her infectious positive energy has created a huge following for her both at her races and in her coaching, and Junko Mountain Training is not only the training regimen for many of her athletes, but has become an Internet sensation, too. Junko with her running and coaching has also generously supported the Susan B. Komen Foundation, the Leadville Legacy Foundation, and several individuals battling cancer themselves. I know you'll enjoy this chat with this relentlessly energetic and positive dynamo.Junko Kazukawaboundless.comkickingjk@gmail.comInstagram @runjunkorunBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram and Threads @stahlor and @coachstahlYouTube We Are Superman Podcast

Melisa Rollins joins us for an hourlong deep dive into what it's like to love this race as much as we do, and to truly give it everything you've got. For everyone who has turned themselves inside out racing the LT100 and wondered, "what if?," this episode is for you.

After the race, it's time to share stories. While we can't tell everyone's, we CAN share quite a few. In this episode, we hear from nervous racers before the gun goes off (and how their races went), how the new course segments, shuttling and crewing rules worked out, have a great finish-line conversation with the LT100 racer on a handbike, talk with the first winners of the LT100, get to know the two people who have finished all 30 of the LT100MTB races, and (believe it or not) more. 

Ryan brings dare we say the best mustache in the game to his first attempt at the 100 mile distance at this years LT100. He has a photogenic AF dog, no Instagram, and lots of stoke going into this years race. Follow Ryan (on Strava) - https://www.strava.com/athletes/3791236 Follow Corinne - https://www.instagram.com/corinne_shalvoyage/ Follow Russell - https://www.strava.com/athletes/10753088?oq=russ

It's one thing to tell people abstractly how they ought to do the LT100. It's a completely other thing to actually describe your own plan. In this episode, Fatty & Hottie detail how they're going to walk the walk in 2024, from bike setup to clothes setup to nutrition to split times to crewing plan.

Hottie and Fatty turn the mics over to the mother-daughter power duo Lisa & Melisa, who have 23 LT100 finishes between them. This is an episode for women and by women, although we definitely encourage everyone to listen. Also be sure to listen to Fatty's Finishing Tip on how to turn a big mistake into a learning experience.

In this episode, we uncover the first in the Leadville Run Series, the Leadville Marathon (and heavy half). We talk about high-altitude considerations, the uniqueness of the course not touching a single step of the LT100 route, thoughts on how to train, and we get weird with guest Ellie Pelle! Enjoy!

An interesting — and confusing — story came out in the Leadville Herald Democrat late last week. In this episode, we untangle the story and lay out our best guesses for what significant changes are actually in store for the 2024 LT100. Then for our main feature we bring back show favorite Dr Justin Ross to talk about what it really means to dig deep, and how understanding this very real phenomenon can help you have a successful day on the course. There is a TON of info every racer needs in this episode; don't miss it!

In this mini-episode, Hottie and Fatty encourage you to enter the lottery for the 2024 LT100...but also, to not expect to get in the race that way. We dig into what the surefire ways are to get in, what the tradeoffs are, and strategies to get in that cost less (but are also less certain) or that require more time and patience. Also, we have a request as we plan out Season 7 (!!!) of this show: fill out our listener survey at leadville.fm/survey. It will help us help you get ready for the highest and hardest one day mountain bike race in the country.

This year's Leadville Trail 100's winners both hail from Boulder, CO, so I got to venture a tad north and west to visit at the house of the men's winner, JP Giblin. JP seized control of the race just beyond Winfield, the mid-point of the race, and he kept adding onto his lead, finishing in 17:07:25, 40 minutes ahead of runner-up Luke Paulson on one of the hottest Leadville race days in history. JP, an Altra-sponsored professional athlete, is hoping this victory opens up new opportunities for him. Despite earning the Leadman title in 2022 for accruing the best time for all of the Leadville running and biking races, sponsors weren't yet knocking down his door, and a disappointing finish at the Western States 100 in June didn't help that or his path forward. So the self-coached JP tore down what he was doing and quickly pivoted his training, which obviously paid off. JP sees a lot of upward potential for himself being that he's only 29 years old with not a lot of miles on his bones. Even though he made his Leadville debut when he was 21, JP only ran one ultramarathon in a span of more than six years due to serving in the U.S. Navy. Uncertain upon his discharge about what direction he wanted to choose with his life, he cast caution to the wind to become a pro runner. So you'll hear in this fun chat about how JP bet heavily on himself, as well as about how he revamped his training, how the LT100 race unfolded, and what lies ahead for him. There are also some good nuggets to learn from for future Leadville racers and all ultramarathoners.JP GiblinInstagram @jgiblin13Strava JP GiblinBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram @stahlor and @coachstahlYouTube We Are Superman Podcast

When I first ran the Leadville Trail 100 in the early 90s, and for many years afterward, there had never been a finisher younger than 23 years old. A few had unsuccessfully tried, but it was considered too much of an endeavor for a younger person to do the necessary training for an ultramarathon. But then along came Clare Gallagher and Annie Hughes, major race winners and record-setters in their early 20s. In 2019, I ran the start-to-May Queen stretch of the LT100 alongside college senior Harrison Hornung, actually named after the main drag in Leadville, who was attempting to complete Leadman, which he did. There's no doubt the demographics in ultramarathons have trended younger, yet I was pretty surprised when I was up at the LT100 this year and saw that there were 4 or 5 runners in the 18-19 year old division. Alden Iselin of Newton MA just graduated from high school and impressively finished in 29:11:33. I was curious what made this young man tick, and what I discovered is an energetic 18-year old who is eager to explore new places and challenges, and who wants to help others seek similar goals. He is relatively new to the ultrarunning world, too, having only run his first 50-miler in NH in October. In February, he completed the rugged Orcas Island 100-miler, which was complicated by bad weather, precipitating a 12-hour start time delay. His time there was more than 32 hours. I greatly enjoyed hearing about what sparked his interest in ultrarunning, his training, the challenges he has faced in his nascent ultrarunning career, what he learned in these first experiences, and about his extraordinary focus for an 18-year old. Alden might be a future star, and you heard him first on the WASP!Alden IselinInstagram and Strava @aldeniselinBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram @stahlor and @coachstahlYouTube We Are Superman Podcast

This podcast has always been about regular people who are racing the Leadville 100: real people with real jobs and families, who find a way to do something big and bold: ride the highest and hardest one-day race in the country.  Natalie Dyksterhouse is doing exactly that. She has a career (as does her husband). She has two young children. And this year, she will be racing the LT100 for the first time.  But while ANYONE who does this race (especially the first time) is doing something pretty amazing, Natalie is upping the ante: she's planning to win it. No, she's not going for an age group podium, she's going for a straight-up win. We love this big goal, and you'll love this dark-horse story. Don't miss this episode!

Dr Allen Lim joins the podcast for a second time this season, this time to guide us through race day nutrition strategies. We also talk about one of the key factors in this race: altitude. You know that all of the LT100 is way up there, but how much time do you actually spend at what altitudes? The answer may surprise (and encourage!) you.

In this episode we re-visit with my favorite running nomad, Tyler Andrews, who is rarely stationary, infrequently in the same locale for any length of time. We last chatted on the WASP in episode 129 in May, 2021. I caught up with Tyler in a rare settled-down moment in Albuquerque. Tyler has a penchant for attempting and setting FKTs, fastest-known times, on both well-known and less-popular routes. Some of these include his recent FKT of Kilimanjaro, which most travelers take many days to hike up and down, but which he ran roundtrip in 6:37; Mt. Fuji, which we talk about here; the Everest Base Camp trail on which he became the first to traverse up and down in less than 24 hours; Aconcagua, the tallest peak in South America, on which he covered the 40 miles roundtrip from 14,435 feet to 22,842 feet in 11:24; Cotopaxi and Ojos del Salado, two of the other tallest peaks in South America, as well as several other routes down there; and Peru's 40-mile long, high-altitude Salkantay Inca Trail in 6:13. I met Tyler in during a running/tourist adventure I joined that he led in Peru, where he has done extensive work helping kids. I also got hop into another trip with him in Ecuador where among other challenges I got to run up past 15,000 feet on Cotopaxi and with Ecuadorian national hero Karl Egloff, with whom Tyler regularly trades FKT records, and is also a past WASP alum on episode 193 in March, 2022. Tyler spends a lot of time training at altitude, but he's not a one-trick pony. He attempted an FKT running across Hong Kong, ran the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2020, and set American records for the treadmill half-marathon and 50K. Last year, he obliterated the Leadville Marathon record up and down 13,185' Mosquito Pass by eight minutes in 3:23. And you heard it here first, Tyler will return to the LT100 in August, where last year he placed fourth. Tyler is a founder of the Chaski Endurance Collective, which brings together some of the best ultradistance coaches in the world to help other ultramarathoners design and tailor their training programs to achieve maximum results. I hope you enjoy this chat with one of the really fun and well-traveled ambassadors of the sport, and for those who follow his social media, you'll learn here the origin of Steve the Andes bird.Tyler Andrews:Facebook Tyler Andres AndrewsInstagram and Twitter: @tylercandrewsChaski Endurance Collective:www.chaski.run/linktreeInstagram: @chaski.enduranceBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram @stahlor and @coachstahlYouTube We Are Superman Podcast

A lot of living happens between lottery registration day and race day, and sometimes that means you have to make a decision: do you line up and race, or do you defer? Fatty's confronting that question right this second, so obviously we get into it -- plus we have info about the deferral policy that we're pretty sure will be news to most people. We're also EXTREMELY pleased to welcome Alison Tetrick back to the show, with her story of racing the LT100 for the first time. While Ali's one of the fastest people we know, she's also about 10X more genuine and relatable than most pros; we guarantee you'll love and identify with her story.  This is an episode about making tough decisions. Don't miss it!

If you're ever at a Leadville Party and the energy starts to lag, you know with 100% certainty you can jumpstart the conversation by asking, "So what tires are the best for Leadville?" In reality, though, that question doesn't really make much sense until you understand the anatomy of tires: their composition and performance characteristics. That's what we aim to do in this show. To help us, we have recruited someone who has no brand loyalty or connection: Velo and Pinkbike Sr Tech Editor Troy Templin. Get ready for some Tire Talk! In our LFAQ section, we focus on another hotly-debated topic: weight. There's a temptation to get as thin as possible for the LT100, and it makes intuitive sense: there's a lot of climbing in this race, and the less you have to drag up to 12,500 feet, the better. But Hottie and Fatty have both tried the "get as skinny as possible" approach and have some different opinions.  This is a practical episode you can definitely use for a better day on the course; don't miss it!  

We're excited to have Dylan Johnson back on the show to talk about how to approach the big X-Factor in the LT100: altitude. Dylan puts thought into every race and every situation and in the case of Leadville, he worked very hard at getting his arrival to high altitude right.  He's here to share his approach and how the citizen racer can figure out how to lessen the blow of Leadville's biggest challenge: it's lack of air. And for our LFAQ, a question sure to spark controversy: is it possible to have your chainring be TOO small?

Dr Allen Lim knows more about sports nutrition than most of us know about...well, anything. And he knows the Leadville course, too. We have a feeling this is going to be one of those episodes that people refer back to, over and over. We also get into the question of how much time we've shaved (or in Fatty's case, increased) between our first and second years of racing the LT100, along with how much time course knowledge buys you. Don't miss this episode!

There was a time when the choice between hardtail and full-suspension bikes at the Leadville 100 was obvious: hardtail if you wanted to be fast and efficient, full-suspension if you wanted to be slow and comfortable. Times have changed, and full-suspension bikes can now be a no-compromise solution for the Race Across the Sky. In today's episode, we get expert advice on setting up your suspension for the Leadville 100, and take a first look at the new Specialized Epic World Cup, arguably a strong contender in the "perfect LT100 machine" contest.

Dr Dan Smilkstein was the oldest person to finish the Leadville 100 MTB race last year. This recently-retired doctor — and father, and grandfather — is way more than just a badass cyclist. He's a runner, a skiier (both cross-country and Alpine), a rock and ice climber, a mountaineerer, a backpacker, a hockey player, and more. He's an offroad unicyclist, for crying out loud. Our point is, Dr Dan has a lot of great stories to tell, both about the LT100 and his other adventures (including the fact that he's delivered 600+ babies). We guarantee you're going to enjoy this episode.

CJ and Jaxon have no right to be racing the Leadville 100 this smart. After all, in 2022 these brothers were just 18 and 20 when they raced the LT100 for the first time. While they wouldn't claim to have raced a perfect race, they certainly avoided a lot of the mistakes most first-timers make, while still learning a lot, challenging each other, and collecting the first of what we'll assume will be many buckles to come. Enjoy this episode with two young guns we expect you'll hear more from in the years to come.

Following my running the LT100 in August, I went through two weeks of extreme fatigue, I was exhausted at times following doing only household chores.  I had an ok week after that, and then I was set back for another two weeks after receiving shots I needed for my trip to Africa.  Even after that, I have often struggled to feel energy on runs, frequently feeling out of breath either at the very start or later in runs. I've had thoughts that maybe I was experiencing so-called long-Covid. Some people suggested I get a blood test. I didn't really know where to turn for that, and more importantly, who would competently analyze and interpret the results for me. Then through Robbie Balenger I became aware of Ixcela, a company started by two biochemists, whose goal is to help people live and perform better by assessing their health using a simple finger pinprick blood test and providing feedback in the areas of gastrointestinal fitness, immune fitness, emotional balance, cognitive acuity, and energetic efficiency, and then providing tailored recommendations to help them achieve their goals. Our guest today is one of those founders and the CEO, Erika Angle, who discusses the science and its benefits to us. Ixcela and I have agreed to have me to do a live test of sorts. I've provided them a blood sample and then had my first meeting with my really awesome nutrition coach, Shelby. I'm going to follow Shelby's recommendations, which include adding certain foods to my diet, as well as a couple of supplements. She and I will have frequent check-ins and then after 90 days, I'll complete another blood test to see if my markers have improved, and more importantly, whether subjectively I feel better. This should be a lot of fun, and hopefully informative for you as well. Ixcela is also offering the WASP family a free 15-minute consultation with one of their nutritionists, and a 10% discount if you decide you'd like to use their services to try to improve your performance and overall health. Go to ixcela.com to set an appointment, and if ordering, use the code SUPERMAN10 to get your discount.Ixcelawww.ixcela.cominfo@ixcela.com781-538-6614Facebook and YouTube @ixcelaInstagram @ixcelaperformanceTwitter.com/ixcelawellnessBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram @stahlor

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Pro Skier, Drew Peterson, and in today's episode Drew talks about his Sub 25hr Leadville 100, mental health and more! To begin, Drew starts off explaining how the Leadviille experience is everything he hoped it would be- it included the good and the bad, lived up to his expectations and lived out his childhood dream. He explored deep parts of himself, met new people and enjoyed connecting again with the mountains. The day of the race started off rocky by getting in late and sneaking up to the front. He discusses his mistakes including not drinking caffeine at first and he made potatoes at the Airbnb, but they were bad, and created stomach issues during the race. He became frustrated with himself during the race because of those mistakes and it started to bring him down, but he changed his attitude with his mental fortitude, and decided he already learned some lessons today, but he could apply them to the rest of the race. Next, Drew goes into his entire play-by-play of the race and how he thought he was going too fast starting off, so he started talking to people to see if he could hold conversations with them. He has a weak right foot and 2 miles into the race that started to hurt, but it quickly went away and that pain didn't pop up again the rest of the race. He explained his mental state that no matter how bad things get, they're always going to get better and vice versa. He continued on and ran downhill really well, which gave him a boost of confidence, but then he hit a wall. His women coaches encouraged him and told him to have fun and go climb Hope Pass, and that's exactly what he did. The climbing part of Hope Pass was his favorite part of the race in getting to reconnect with the mountains, get some confidence and positivity and even let out a wolf howl! He kept up that positivity, but the last 30 miles were the hardest where he was full of pain and struggled. His older brother paced him for the last section and getting to share that with him meant the world. Finally, Drew explains how going across the finish line let all the emotions catch up with him. He was surrounded by his crew, was excited and cried from elation at the finish line. Drew continues on by talking about his film called “Ups + Downs,” which discusses how Drew navigated the mountains and valleys of mental health through skiing. He shares that if you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health, they can call the mental health hotline or check out his website for more resources. His last piece of advice is to start out slower in the race, but to make up your mind ahead of time that you are going to finish the race. Don't leave any space to question whether or not you will finish, but to decide you will. No matter how bad things get, things will always get better.

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Adrian Macdonald, who has won first place in the Leadville Trail 100 twice. On this episode, Adrian shares his experiences winning the Leadville Trail 100 race, his advice in the sport and how he found Leadville. To begin, Adrian tells how he began running during his sophomore year of high school, and fell in love with the self-improvement aspect of the sport and found it addicting. He started running longer distances and ran cross country in college at Gettysburg University in Pennsylvania. He ran his first marathon after college in the Gettysburg marathon and had a perfect first attempt. His time was 2:30 and it took him four years to beat his personal best in Houston. Adrian was living in Boston and they canceled the 2020 marathon a month out due to COVID. He still wanted to race, so he started competing in trail running and found his body did well with the elevation gains and losses. He then found Leadville and shared with his mentor, Nick Clark, that he wanted to compete in the 2021 race and he was very supportive, and volunteered to crew and pace for him. Next, Adrian shares how in his first Leadville Trail 100 race in 2021 that he was very aware of Cody Reed and Tyler Andrews- some of the other racers that were going after the record and setting the pace for the first half. He passed both of those racers and at 50 miles out, the race was very special to him after realizing that he was going to win. He was 35 minutes out on everyone else and he wanted to enjoy the last bit of the race and soak in the experience of winning. When Adrian returned to the Leadville 100 in 2022, he had a film crew and sponsors, but he says the most pressure he received was from himself. He won the 2022 Leadville Trail 100 as well, but he wasn't feeling as good during this race and spent about half of his time running and walking. The other competitors were supporting him and the crowd was cheering him by name and knew who he was. He has a film coming out on YouTube in the next few weeks called “Out and Back” by Rabbit Wolf Creative. You can also check Adrian's sponsors: Ultimate Direction for gear and On Running for shoes in the links below. Adrian continues his passion for running as a cross country coach at Mountain View High School in Loveland, CO. His goal is to create life-long runners, but he tells the kids they will have more fun if they run fast! He is also a financial officer at Colorado State University in the Department of Statistics and he gives back to the Leadville Running Community. Adrian's advice is to put yourself out there by meeting new people and going to new places. He says to enjoy the whole process of training for the Leadville 100 and that if you love what you're doing and having fun, then you will train harder for it and find people to share it with. Adrian states that the Leadville 100 was a life-changing moment for him and has opened up opportunities for him to meet new people and given him confidence. He finishes up the conversation by saying that Leadville really does change your life and feels like family. You can find Adrian racing in Australia in mid-December and potentially the UTMB next summer!

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Brian Feddema, the owner of the local bike shop called Cycles of Life in Leadville, CO. There is no one across the nation who can prepare your bike for the Leadville 100 better than he can. He has brought life into and protected the Leadville community, and he is the guy to see for every cycle, Leadville and business owner need, and everything in between. To begin, Brian shares how he found Leadville. He is from St. Cloud, Minnesota and at the time, he was working in Utah in 2005. He skied in Leadville, and fell in love with the environment of the town and visited the bike shop. He remembered thinking that he could do it better. He talked to the coffee shop owner, Chris, for three hours and they opened the Cycles of Life bike shop together. Brian grew up in a small town and was involved with sports in high school- he didn't bike until college. During college, he worked at a bike shop called Out and About Gear. He loved this shop and looked up to the owner, Bruce. After he graduated college, he moved to Montana to ski and then Utah to work, but quit to start his own bike shop. Brian did not always have aspirations of opening his own business, but after working in the bike shop in college, he decided to get his degree in Business and Administration. Brian competes in four major bike races a year including the Leadville 100, Unbound, Mesa Verde, but he prefers to ride with his friends for fun. The services at Cycles of Life bike shop include: renting and buying bikes, bike maintenance, nutrition advice, shipping and service package, etc. They will help you with anything you need. Their shop has helped countless individuals with their bike needs before the race and they want to be as much of a resource as they can to maximize visitors' stay. Brian shares that his favorite part of owning a business in Leadville is getting to help and see the excitement on customer's faces. He enjoys being the master of his own destiny in that if the shop succeeds or fails, it is due to himself. The most challenging part of owning a business is hiring employees that are skilled enough to help customers and leave people with a good impression in the summer. Another challenge is hiring employees because he can't offer employees full employment since the winter months aren't as busy. Brian recently got married to a real estate agent named Heather, who owns RE/MAX at Aspen Leaf Realty. They met when Brian was trying to buy his first home. Brian shares that Leaville has helped keep him grounded and rooted in the things that matter in life. He is connected with a good core group of friends and Leadville has allowed him to focus on simple and meaningful things. He has also learned to protect what he values, including Leadville and the way that is it. He wants to add to Leadville and help everyone enjoy the city more. To finish, Brian's last piece of advice for the race is to not underestimate the power of having a proper, operating bicycle. He says too many people focus on getting in shape and eating the proper nutrition, but don't take the time to give their bike the respect that it deserves. He advises you to come to the bike shop and they will check your bike to give you that extra confidence you need to finish the race.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, our focus is on family, so who better to bring onto the WASP than the creator of the Leadville family herself, Merilee Maupin? While Ken Chlouber and his rugged miner face and dressed in classic Western attire appears on the Leadville Race Series Web site and posters, Merilee, as co-founder with Ken, was the force behind creating the Leadville Family that gets runners and bikers returning to Leadville summer after summer. It is deeply heartfelt when she says Welcome Home to Leadville. And it's the goal of every runner who starts the race to receive the coveted hug from Merilee upon crossing the finish line, metaphorically returning home. The founding of the Leadville Trail 100 is well-chronicled. The mine was closed and once-booming Leadville crashed, suddenly having the highest unemployment in the nation. Residents fled in droves. Ken had this crazy idea to save the town by staging a 100-mile race at 10,200-foot elevation. Not only did it stick, but it thrived and then grew into a series of running and biking races from 10K on up that is now owned by Life Time Fitness. In the early days, Merilee and Ken did almost everything themselves, including handwriting all of the race documents, and marking and picking up the course, a task that took several days.I got to meet with Merilee at their office that you've probably passed many times on Leadville's main drag and didn't even realize was there. The old house's interior is decorated with dozens of Ken's hunting trophies as well as momentos of past races. I got to visit with Ken in the adjacent garage where he is restoring his gorgeous old Corvette and where his Harley resides. Even though Merilee co-founded the LT100 way back in 1983, she is still as fired up as ever about what the race and the Leadville Legacy Foundation do for the community, and its impact on every runner who challenges themself to cross the finish line. I think you will enjoy this chat with truly one of the pioneers of the sport, someone who is gracious and passionate, and is as tough as anyone in the tough town of Leadville.Merilee Maupinmerileem33@gmail.comBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram @stahlor

Welcome to Grit, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! The show is hosted by Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, and it takes us on a story-telling journey of the rich, nearly forty-year history of this race. In each episode, we hear eccentric stories from Leadville community members, and along the way learn the tips and tricks to get to the line this summer! Today, Cole interviews highly decorated Canadian triathlete Angela Naeth about her racing career, efforts to give back, and current preparations to compete in the Leadville Trail 100 MTB! Angela first explains how both Leadville and athletics in general found her in a very natural way. She can't remember a time when she wasn't interested in athletics, and Leadville has been on her radar for the past decade, coming to the fore more recently as her passion for mountains and gravel biking has grown. Of course, biking has long been a component of her racing career; Angela has had an illustrious triathlon career culminating in three full Ironman wins. She shares how the Ironman competition caught her attention and drove her to explore triathlons, and how she has a particular love for endurance races. Being out on a race course, Angela says, is a way of refocusing and maintaining a sense of connection. Her most recent racing passion, cycling, won her heart by allowing her to adventure in nature and feel like a kid riding again. Angela is driven by love of her sports, and her motivation has pushed her through countless injuries and even the trial of a Lyme disease diagnosis (and to others with this diagnosis, she urges, take your meds, trust your gut, and find a Lyme-literate doctor!). Angela's love for her sports has also driven her to give back to the community of women in sports, and she shares about her coaching and podcast, as well as her efforts with triathlon-focused club I Race Like a Girl and gravel biking team Girls Get Gritty. In her own career right now, Angela is in the top half of the Life Time Grand Prix, and is building toward her first time on the LT100 MTB starting line! As the episode wraps up, she shares about her race day plan, from plans for a crew and her diet to her thoughts on drafting, pacing, and managing the stress of the race start. Thanks for tuning in! Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe, and we hope you'll join us for Part 2 of this conversation, this time focusing on Angela's thoughts post-race! Links: Learn more about Angela Naeth. Check out Angela's sponsors, especially the two she mentioned: Shimano and Oofos. Check out Angela's go-to resource for race day nutrition: The Feed. Learn more about I Race Like a Girl and Girls Get Gritty. Check out the Leadville Race Series and the Life Time Grand Prix.

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Elden “Fatty” Nelson. Elden's story of his health journey and all of his accomplishments since have shown his own grits, guts and determination. Elden put on thirty to forty pounds in his early thirties after moving to a high stress job, his wife having a mastectomy, two young twin girls and then having Bell's palsy himself. He then started a blog called the Fat Cyclist just for his friends and to have some accountability in losing weight. Microsoft put it on their homepage and then his readers went from a handful to more than a couple hundred thousand. He loved telling stories, sharing the difficult path he was in and making jokes. He wrote more than a dozen years on the blog, and then wrote two books called “Comedian Mastermind” and “The Great Fatsby.” He has stopped writing since because he enjoys hearing other people's stories now more than telling his own. He is now co-hosting a podcast called “Leadville- the 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race Podcast.” With more than 20 years of doing the Leadville Mountain Bike Race, Elden shares his tips on the race and hears from other experts on the podcast. Elden's slowest time in the race was eleven hours and thirty minutes, while his fastest speed time was eight hours and twelve minutes. He said the biggest piece of advice that helped him the most in Leadville was hearing, “It is an eating contest disguised as a race.” After he started fueling his body with a hundred calorie snacks and drinks every half hour, that's when his time dropped. Elden says that Leadville hasn't changed his riding, but instead made his riding. He says the race is challenging, but not impossible, and if you work at it and reach into yourself, anyone can do it. In this episode, Elden shares the meaning behind his nickname, his start to the Leadville race, the Fat Cyclist blog and why he quit it, his books, his goals and stats in riding, why he switched to a single speed bike, the LT100 mountain bike podcast, his passion about Leadville, his wife's riding, bike hardware and stories about riding. The main theme in Elden's story is that he continues to ride and not quit. Even when he put on weight, lost his first wife to cancer and had a bike crash, he continues to persevere. Elden's biggest advice is to laugh at your demons. Everyone has them and in racing, they especially talk when you are tired. He says to be prepared for them, don't listen to them and to keep going. It is now Elden's twenty-third year competing in Leadville and he says he will keep continuing to race as long as he can! Thanks for tuning in! Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe, and we hope to see you on the line next summer!

This is it -- the final episode of Season 5: Fatty's recap of the 2022 race. He goes into what went right, what went wrong, what he learned (yes, you can still learn things the 24th time you do this race) and whether he'll ever race the LT100 on a singlespeed again.  Thanks for listening to our show, and we'll see you next year...on the starting line!

Fatty's a lucky guy: not only is Hottie an amazing podcast co-host, he's also an experienced Leadville racer and crew chief. When you add to that the fact that both he and Mrs Hottie are detail oriented and fast on their feet, well...you've got a LT100 crew that dreams are made of. In this episode, Hottie and Mrs Hottie share their secrets for crewing success. You -- and your crew -- will not want to miss it!

You're getting down to the final days before the big race. In this episode, we bring Denis Faye back to the program to talk about some fueling strategies to use in the days before the LT100. We also spend plenty of time detailing the miles from Hagerman Rd to the Turquoise Lake Climb up to the Carter aid station, then down Kevens and to the pavement. It's a lot to know, and the more you know the better you'll be prepared.

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Sandy Monahan. Sandy has 33 years of experience of crewing and being “Cutoff Queen.” In 1989, she set up her crew for the first time. She shares that her husband, Mike, was the runner and she had already had experience crewing him several times in the past. Mike's first crew at Leadville consisted of Sandy, their children and their dogs. She shares how her support pack has changed since she first started compared to now. In addition to Mike as a runner, Sandy has crewed for Nick the biker, too. She finds the run is far more difficult to crew for because it is a longer amount of time. For biking, the crew is there mostly for emergency purposes. After a certain point, the crew has to be the voice of reason for the runner and know what needs to look for. The biggest piece of advice Sandy can offer for crews is to always be prepared for potential weather changes for both running and biking. From her experience, people who transition between biking and running always report that the run is the more difficult feat of the two. In the early dyas of her crewing, there weren't as many meal supplements available as there are today. During the first 50 miles, Mike would eat solid foods before transitioning to only consuming liquids. Runners are advised to eat as much as they can and more during those first 50 miles, because those are the calories they will be relying on later once they can no longer stomach food. It's important to train with whatever you're going to be eating during the race. Crewers have to be very mentally tough in order to carry their runner on to the finish line. Sandy shares some challenging stories she and Mike have faced on the trails. This race is not one from point to point, but rather from the beginning to the end. Cutoffs are there for the crucial safety of the runners. Even in just a 2 hour ride up the mountain, Sandy warns to be prepared for snow, rain, wind and more. At the very least, make sure you have a rainproof windbreaker in your pack. In closing, she offers final advice: always expect the unexpected, make sure your runner always has drop bags at every location and pay close attention to the cutoff times. Thanks for tuning in! Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe, and we hope to see you on the line in August!

The Powerline Climb is undeniably the toughest part of the Leadville 100. You're exhausted, you're hot and exposed (or it's raining and you're exposed), and the false summits just keep coming. Well, in this episode we  tell you how to get through this extraordinary segment of the LT100. We also welcome Coach Cody Waite back to the program for more training advice as we get to the final month before the big day.  

This episode is all about pain. Sorry, it's just a fact. For our segment on THE COURSE, we talk about that brutal two miles to the turnaround: mistakes to avoid, places you'll likely hike instead of ride, and why it's absolutely essential you hug the right side of the trail.  We then bring on Dr Sprouse to talk about something thousands (we're guessing, but a pretty good guess) of LT100 racers have experienced: cramps. And how (maybe, hopefully) you can avoid them.

Considering that it represents only a tiny fraction of the time you spend on the LT100 course—just a few minutes, really—the Powerline descent deserves an outsized amount of preparation. Why? well if you ride it right it'll be behind you in a moment. If you ride it wrong, however, the Powerline descent can absolutely ruin your day. So of course we're going to give this quick downhill trip the time it deserves on The Course. We also meet up with Coach Cody of Waite Endurance, this time to talk about your next phase of training: high-intensity workouts. Follow his advice now and, come race day, you'll be glad you did.

Would you find it inspiring to listen to an episode about a guy who can run a 16:49 5K, a 1:17 half-marathon, and a 3:03 marathon?  Maybe a little.  How about if I added that he has done it as a double-amputee?  Oh yeah, that's a lot different!  I randomly met Brian Reynolds last summer during the Leadville Trail 100.  We were both at Mitch Dulleck's house on 4th Street not far from the finish line waiting in the cold wee hours of the night for a mutual friend, Tyler Andrews, who was on WASP episode #129 in May, to complete his first LT100.  We sparked up a spirited conversation and I quickly realized that this guy is a special kind of human.  Brian lost both of his legs below the knee when he was just four years old due to meningitis.  This tragedy never defined him, but not until the 2010s did he embark on trying to see what he could accomplish in the world of running.  The results have been impressive, and if he can overcome some injuries that have been plaguing him, he hopes to test himself at this spring's Boston Marathon.  We discuss many of the unique athletic challenges he faces, as well as some incomprehensible barriers.  For instance, it baffles me to learn that there isn't a track event longer than 400 meters in the Paralympics.  However, as you'll hear, Brian has a very sunny attitude befitting a man who has seen many wonderous things happen to him in the last decade or so through athletics, including meeting his future wife and having three great kids.  I hope you'll also feel uplifted listening to the chat Brian and I had.Please consider donating to help Boulder County fire victims relief:https://www.commfound.org/grants/get-grant/Boulder-County-Wildfire-FundBrian ReynoldsFacebook and Instagram @brianreynoldsrunnerBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram @stahlor

As you know, when I'm not running in the Leadville Trail 100, I work at the Winfield aid station at mile 50.  That's where I had a very brief encounter with plant-based endurance runner Robbie Balenger, who was completing his summer-long Colorado Crush.  Robbie had previously run the Leadville Marathon as well as the Silver Rush 50-mile.  I've had runners who don't run ultras gasp, wow, he did all that?  Which kind of cracks me up because lots of people have done that, including me.  However, between the marathon and the Silver Rush 50, Robbie also ran the entire 587-mile Colorado Trail in 11 days.  And in-between the Silver Rush and the LT100, Robbie climbed all of the Fourteeners, the 58 14,000 peaks in the Colorado Rockies.  Now that's worth gasping over!  Rather than put his feet up and light up a cigar, Robbie then headed over to England to help friend William Goodge complete 48 marathons, one in each county in England, in 30 days.What struck me about Robbie at Winfield was that despite the fact he had to have been massively tired, and like most race competitors, needed to get out of the aid station as quickly as possible, he graciously posed for selfies with aid station volunteers.  Robbie lives right here in Denver, so I'm very grateful he stopped by the Hive to chat.  His generosity and good nature comes through in this episode.  He was driving his very cool wrapped van that he used on his earlier cross-country run.  In addition to that feat, Robbie this March set the FKT for running the looped road in New York's Central Park during its open hours from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., 16 laps and almost 100 miles in total.  I'm personally just amazed that he spent that much time in Central Park without getting mugged at least three times!  Maybe muggers don't like to touch vegans.  Yes, he does all of this as a plant-based athlete, so listen along if this intrigues you.Robbie Balengerwww.robbiebalenger.comFacebook Robbie BalengerInstagram @robbiebalengerTwitter @robbiebalengerBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram @stahlor

My guest this week is Andrea Kooiman. She's a wife, mother, coach, and ultra runner. She's run Badwater135 three times, Western States two times, LAVS 500K, UTMB, HURT, CJ100, LT100, Mount Gaoligong and she's a part of the Grand Slam Class of 2016. In our discussion, Andrea opens up about the emotions involved with running an ultra, why she prefers coaching kids over adults, being ready to run wherever life takes her, and how to spot the perfect pooping bush during an ultramarathon. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/werunthis/support

Tamira Jenlink took on a big job — race director for the Leadville 100 — at a critical moment for the race. She hasn't yet caught her breath after the Leadville races, but she still made time to answer every question Hottie and Fatty threw at her. In fact, this is a substantial enough conversation that we have split it into two parts. If you love the Leadville 100 and want to know where it's headed next, you will not want to miss this conversation.

Before there was a Leadville podcast, there was FatCyclist.com, where Fatty gave big ol' hairy race reports. The blog is gone (or at least dormant) but the tradition continues here. Fatty (obviously) loves this race, and it really shines through in his telling of his 23rd LT100 finish.

Gary had gotten lost in the wilderness, so to speak, following his last Leadville Trail 100 run finish, not having the passion to followup with further ultramarathons.  But getting on a mountain bike and completing the Leadville Stage Race, and then winning a coin for the actual 100-mile mountain bike trail race set the stage for him to Dig Deeper, as they say in Leadville, and find satisfaction in pushing through and earning a finisher's belt buckle.  It's a great story with lots of useable life lessons, so please enjoy this conversation.Register for the American Heroes Run!  https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=85175Bill Stahl - contact me to join the American Heroes Run Challenge!silly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram @stahlorGary Stotlergarystotler.comFacebook Gary StotlerInstagram @coachgarystotlerFind his latest book, "Success is Spelled Action" on Amazon

You've got a lot of Leadville 100 questions (enough for two full episodes, in fact), and Payson McElveen — pro racer and host of the Adventure Stache Podcast — joins us to answer them. We've also got racer course impressions from the Stage Race, and a little (with more to come) on a Leadville Podcast group ride next week. 

Event season finds us busy both in business and recreation, we sit down for a catch up and cover Firecracker 50 and LT100 prerides, more "on bike" nutrition advice, and we introduce a new sponsor.

Leadville is a legendary place to most of us, so what does it mean to be one of the local legends there? Marvin Sandoval would know.  He's consistently a sub-nine-hour finisher of the LT100, has raced the Leadman nine times and has won the series twice. Along the way he's collected a lot of great stories and valuable information for anyone who races the Leadville 100. Enjoy!

Heath Speckman is a Leadville State Trooper, an Air Force Veteran, and a one-time MMA fighter. And those are the things we hardly even touch on in this episode. Because Heath is also the guy who Everested by riding up and down Columbine over and over. And Heath is the guy who rode the Leadville course every week for 8 weeks last summer. And in short, Heath is the nicest guy who will ever tear your legs off in the race. 

You may know Peter Stetina from his World Tour days. Or you may know him from his fourth-place finish in the 2019 Leadville 100. But we connected with him because we heard he had a great story to tell about his very recent attempt to set a new record on the 142-mile Kokopelli Trail (Moab-Loma). It's a great story on its own merits, but a ride of this distance for a pro like Pete is also hyper-relevant for Leadville racers...because that means Pete was out riding about as long as many of us take to do the LT100. Enjoy this story—and learn a ton—from a guy who makes a living doing crazy-long rides.

Our first guest this season was Michelle Duffy, Associate Marketing Director at Life Time, talking about the LT100 2020 registration challenges. Little did she (or we!) know that by the time we talked again, that would be the smallest challenge the team (and she personally) would have dealt with. We're happy to have the 2020 season behind us, to be looking forward to 2021, with Michelle on the mend and on the mic...once again, answering our questions about plans and logistics for next years' lottery, starting line, and race logistics.  

Kimo Seymour — President of events and media at Life Time, not only has his thousand-mile buckle, he’s finished the Leadville 100 UNDER eight hours every time he’s raced. In other words, we could learn a thing or two about this race from this guy. But we didn't bring Kimo on to talk about the course or race day tactics (at least not this time). It’s been a bad year, simply put, for racers, and we wanted to talk with the guy whose job it is to look past the problems we’ve got right now, and start thinking about what will hopefully be a brighter 2021. If you're dreaming about a 2021 6th  & Harrison red carpet, this just may be the conversation you need.  

Have you ever seen a racer on a Singlespeed at the Leadville 100 and wondered, "Why would someone do THAT?" Well, this is the episode that tries to answer that question. Fatty has raced on a singlespeed for six of his 22 finishes — even winning the category once.  Fatty's built (and will talk at length about) the singlespeed of his dreams for the 2021 race, and details out differences in how singlespeeders need to approach this race.  This episode may not convince you to RACE the LT100 on a singlespeed, but you may find yourself wanting to at least ride one!

Let's just say right up front that this interview is one of the single most fun conversations we've ever had in the Leadville show. Whether it's podcasting, endurance racing, or absolutely crushing the CX field on a singlespeed, Sarah brings amazing energy and join to what she does. And the fact that she is an incredibly accomplished racer and a Leadville contentder means you'll be able to learn while you laugh. We know you're going to love Sarah's smart and hilarious telling of her 2019 LT100 race.

Jonathan Lee of Trainer Road is back to finish up his 2019 Leadville Trail 100 race report and tell us about what he's learned from the Race Across the Sky. We've also got some great info on riding a virtual LT100 while you're training to do the real thing. Last week to get your Leadville Podcast Kit! bit.ly/leadvillekit

Nobody can really say with absolute certitude that they'll be lined up for the Leadville 100 this August 15. However, that doesn't mean you can't be READY for your big race — whether your big race is this August in Leadville, next August in Leadville, or at some other date in some other place. Jonathan Lee of TrainerRoad joins us to talk about strategies for training in place and making smart decisions on being both fit and safe.  Hottie and Fatty also talk about the big Question of the Week: Shorts or bibs? We talk about which is better for men and women, and discuss some of our favorite brands. Big thanks to our Season 3 Sponsors: Floyd's of Leadville: Use the code for a 15% discount on any order! DNA Cycling: Get 10% off the price of your custom kit! Also, try out their comfortable and affordable Gravel Bibs — the value-leader price, premium quality, and side pockets make them perfect for racing the LT100 (or for any long day in the saddle) Shimano: Shimano XTR is the best drivetrain and components available for mountain bikes. And especially for big all-day races like the Leadville 100. The Feed: Leadville podcast listeners get 15% off their orders when they sign up! ENVE: The best wheels. The best seatposts. The best bars. The best stems. Don't let your race end early because you cheaped out on the most important parts of your bike.

For this episode, we've got a race report unlike any we've heard before: Joe Stein — one of this year’s LT100 sweepers — tells stories from the very back of the race. It's inspiring, funny, exciting, sad, and surprising. Don't miss it!

Here is my conversation with this years Run Rabbit Run 100 mile winner and 10th place finisher at the 2019 Western States 100 - Kyle Pietari.  Thanks for the support. NEW FILM!  Matt Daniels' Sub-4 to States  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzTCeT1yqaM 401K RUN DONATIONS http://www.401kforpediatriccancer.com

This podcast spends a ton of time talking about the Leadville 100 Mountain bike race, but have you ever considered the RUNNING version of the Leadville 100? In this episode, Fatty and Hottie talk with Lisa, a 15X finisher of the LT100MTB, about her first attempt at doing the LT100 run. It's an inspiring and personal story, but you'll have to decide for yourself whether it makes you want to try...or to avoid...this event.

Leadville, 2019 Call me a schadenfreude asshole but the moment that stands out from this adventure was watching Eric throw up for the first time in his ultra career, just after we left the Hopeless aid station.  That's the first point where I thought I was actually adding value.  Until that point I felt like a bit of a third wheel, maybe some poorly chosen window dressing for Eric's 8th LT100.  But, right then as he tried to yawn a toxic combination of noodles and electrolyte drink into the bushes, I felt like I was needed, like there was work to be done. And who doesn't like to be needed? Chapter One: Anticipation Eric asked me to pace him at the Leadville Trail 100 some time around the beginning of the year, 6 -7 months ago.  He caught me at a low point.  That ebb in activity where the fall race season is behind you and the spring training hasn't started yet.  A time when summer is as far off as old age used to be. That mid-winter blue period. The doldrums of the year.  A time when I wallow in manic depression without the so much of themania.  He knew I'd be weak.  You may have heard of the Leadville Trail 100 ultra-marathon.  “The race across the sky”.  It was established in the early 1980's as a secret government program to harness the psychic energy of ex-drug addicts, by making them suffer at altitude for hours on end.  Then the iron curtain rusted, the wall fell, and Vladimir Putin started posing for romance novel covers.  They had to make up a cover story about saving the town of Leadville from imminent demise from the abrupt closure of the Climax mine.  The fun thing about Leadville, and here I use the term ‘fun' to mean ‘awful', is that it sits at an altitude approximately 200 meters south of the moon's orbit.  It's a place where only a few thimble fulls of oxygen reach and those few thimbles have to be shared among everyone in town and a few dozen shaggy mountain goats.  It's known for its rough Western setting, it's panoramic scenic mountain vistas and spontaneous nosebleeds … right before you pass out.  As we came into the summer and the event started getting closer it began to dawn on me that maybe this wasn't a good idea.  It's one of those things that seems like a really good idea 6 months in the future where it can't harm you but starts to get gnarly looking as it comes into focus in time.  Eric casually mentioned that one of his pacers was in Europe for a wedding and the other one was hurt, so, hey, I'm going to need you for 39 miles.  Wait, what?  39 miles, at altitude, in the middle of the night?  That's terrifying. So I did what I usually do and didn't train for it.  Well, I mean I was just rolling out of a stout effort at Boston, and in general maintain a pretty solid level of fitness, but 39 miles at altitude is an ultra-marathon.  I live at about 250 feet above sea level.  Hope Pass is 12,600 feet above sea level.  You do the math, unless you're actually on Hope Pass because you won't be able to do math at that altitude, but, yeah that's two miles straight up.  The highest I've ever been is Denver and that's 1 mile up.  Hope Pass is 2 miles up.  Again, math-wise, twice as up.  Here's the thing they don't tell you, until you get there and it's too late, then they tell you because they think it's funny, the oxygen content in the air is not linear. At sea level, where I (and all the bright people) live, the oxygen content is 20.9%.  Where we were running it was in the 12-13% range.  42% less oxygen.  Just a reminder, humans need oxygen to do things, like breathe, run, and stay alive.  I had visions of me bent over coughing up blood by the side of the trail while Eric ran on.  I read a race report from the Leadville trail Mountain bike 100 held a couple weeks previously from a guy my age.  He had a small stroke at the top of one of the passes and the mean old race officials made him stop racing when he was slurring his words.  He was pretty sure his racing days were over.  On the minus side of the ledger: I had not trained well I had never been at this altitude, let alone run at this altitude My head might explode I might give out on my runner – which is very bad form On the plus side I have a lot of trail running and mountain racing experience I was picking him up at 50 miles so he was already cooked when I got him I'm pretty good at suffering when I need to be This is just the sort of stupid shit that turns my crank, so to speak… Chapter Two: Getting there I flew from Boston to Denver on Thursday afternoon.  The race is on, well it's one of those stupid ultra things, the runners start on Saturday Morning at 4:00 AM and have to finish by 10:00 Am on Sunday.  It's a 30 hour cut off.  Which sounds generous but less than 50% of the people who start this race finish.  A majority of those miss the cutoffs at some point on the course.  Flying into Denver is unique.  I've done a lot of flying.  When you fly into Orlando it's all screaming kids with mouse ears.  When you fly into Vegas it's all drunk people in cowboy hats.  When you fly into LaGuardia it's all close-talking loud people shouting at cell phones.  On most flights through the Midwest I get squeezed between corn-fed mid westerners who take up most of my personal space with their MAGA hats and over-stretched golf shirts.  Or, perhaps a California flight with that crazy woman that wants to talk to me about her vitamin regime.  Not the flight into Denver.  Everyone on the plane is an endurance athlete of some form.  Even the children.  On the one hand it's quite spacious with all the skinny people, but on the other hand if I had to resort to cannibalism, they looked a bit gristly.  But, if I did have to resort to cannibalism I'd start with the vegans, because I think that would be ironic.  If we did crash, I'd be all set.  You could not hope for better seat mates.  I'm sure they could carry me out of the plane and up a mountain while devising intricate splints and tourniquets from spare tent pieces and technical fabric scrounged from those North Face backpack carry ons.  Maybe shoot some rapids in a kayak assembled from air sickness bags on the way back to civilization.  Eric and crew fetched me at the airport.  I felt like an adopted child being picked up by the new parents.I have hung out with this crew before and they are a blast to do an event with.  We did the New Orleans marathon in 20014 and it's one of my favorite race memories.  Eric, his wife, Dan his best friend and other pacer, and Dan's wife.  We would round up the crew with Eric's son, Eric's son's wife, who was also pacing and one of Eric's son's friends, who was the other pacer. To formalize his relationship (sort of an indentured servitude type of relationship) with the Leadville Trail 100 Eric bought a house in Breckenridge, which would be race HQ for the weekend.  I had a room at a Breck hotel a mile away.  Breckinridge is a nice town in a Stepford Wives sort of way.  You sort of feel like you're on a movie set and it's all not quite real.  But that could have been the total lack of usable oxygen making it to my cerebral cortex.  At the hotel I was on the 6th floor.  I'll tell you a Colorado story.  I was walking to the elevator and there was a young dad behind me with a 5 or six year old.  I was going to let that kid press the button in the elevator. But they marched right be me and into the stairwell. I figured they must be on the next floor up or something.  When I was existing the elevator, they were trooping down the hallway in front of me.  Really? It's Colorado! We don't need elevators!  We don't' need stairs!  Just put in a climbing wall and we'll belay our luggage up from base camp. Pass me a piton.  Belay on!  Chapter Three: Camp Foreshadow As a walked over to the base camp house early Friday morning I passed a guy out on the sidewalk having a morning smoke.  As we exchanged pleasantries about the beautiful morning, I thought to myself that this guy is going to get mugged by a gang of high-altitude hipsters.  I figured he'd be pilloried on an extra mountain bike frame when I came back by.  If Smokie the Bear didn't get him first.  I consciously chose to walk the less-then-a-mile through the bad streets of Breckenridge just to see how the altitude felt.  Would I be gasping for breath?  Would my muscles be screaming for oxygen?  Would my head explode? Turns out the answer to all this hyperbole was, “No.”  I felt fine.  Well I felt altitude fine.  Which from my time in Denver feels a bit like a three-beer hangover combined with a bit of an allergy.  We collected the tribe and drove over to Leadville, through Frisco and a valley where the headwaters of the Arkansas River begins, to eventually empty into the Mississippi.  The whole place is drop dead scenic.  The Rocky Mountains rise up on all sides with their 13,000 and 14.000 peaks.  There was still snow in places.  With the thin air the mountains pop out at you like some ultra-real Instagram filter, their crags and points crisp and sharp in the lasering sun.  It's just an interesting place, Leadville.  There was an apocalyptic novel written in 2008 where Leadville becomes the new capital of the United States called “Plague Years”. It's got a ton of history and character.  You take all that and pour several hundred near-psychotic ultra-runners on top and you've got a party.  It turns out that, after his 7 straight Leadville finishes Eric is pretty much the Mayor of Leadville.  Everywhere we went he would be embraced by emaciated trail ghosts.  There was much back slapping, handshaking and hugging.  I think he has a good chance in the upcoming election. We attended the pre-race briefing which is a bit of theatre.  The long-time race directors all standup and give inspirational talks.  It's a wonderful, feel-good, almost family reunion feel.  The Ultra-running community is very close.  Almost everyone has a backstory.  There are recovering addicts and abuse victims.  All those lost souls who can only find peace deep in the dark place out on the trails.  Made me wonder what dark secrets Eric was harboring to drive him into this carnival of lost souls.  I'm going to go with dressing up in women's underwear and dancing around, just because the visual cracks me up. From the briefing we wandered over to the expo, which was a small, open-air affair. They had everything you would expect at an event like Leadville; commemorative shirts, extra nutrition, handmade backpacks crafted from organically harvested Koala foreskins.  And as much CBD as you could carry.  Eric and his son grabbed their stuff, more hugs, more selfies and we commuted back to the ranch.  Wonderful news for me was that Dan's knee was feeling better and he'd pick up Eric a bit earlier on the course. Instead of 39 miles, I'd only have to survive 27. Piece of cake.  We had a nice dinner, a couple beers and everyone got an early bedtime.  They would be getting up early to be there for the 4:00 AM start.  The rest of us would sleep in and head over to catch them as they came through Twin Lakes in the early afternoon, then pop over to the turnaround, 50-mile mark at Winfield. Chapter Four: Wait for it. Much of Friday was spent by the runners running the Leadville course.  Much of the day for us was spent waiting. Waiting for them to come through Twin Lakes.  Waiting in line for the buses over to Winfield.  Then lying around in the sun at Winfield waiting some more.  The weather was wonderful for waiting.  A little warm for running.  I ended up with a bit of a sunburn before the day was over.  While I was getting ready, I realized my water pack had sprung a leak and had to do a quick tape-job on my bladder to fix it. I've had that pack for a long time and it's starting to show. I would pick him up at the Winfield aid station which is the turnaround point for the out and back, about 50 miles in.  Dan, Eric's best friend and long-time pacer had the last 7 of Eric's races in a big spreadsheet.  We partially knew what to expect.  Eric has a history of falling down early in this race. Last year he broke his nose.  He decided this year to go out slower in the early sections to avoid rolling in the dirt so much and keep the blood inside his body. Because of this go out slower strategy and the warmer day he was late coming into Winfield.  Now Eric is as calm as a cucumber on a cool day.  A real machine.  The whole time I was with him he was lucid, forming whole sentences and moving well.  Which is not an easy thing to do after 60-70 miles at altitude.  I on the other hand was still a bit terrified.  I still didn't know if I'd be able to perform at altitude.  I knew we were close to the cutoffs.  And my equipment was acting up.  But, on the plus side I had my runner and the game was on.  I had a job.  Eric knew what he was doing but I was there to make sure he stayed on track and drag him through any rough spots. Chapter Five: Up and Over. And so, it began.  At 5:25 PM Eric and I fast walked out of the Winfield Aid station and made our way towards Hope pass.  This is a mountain pass, which is a saddle between two mountains, that tops out at 12,600 feet.  Eric had already been up and over once.  Now we were going back. This is a tough climb at a tough point in the race.  The runners are already 50+ miles in and they already know what they are up against, having just done it.  It's a psychologically hard place for the runners.  On the bright side, they get to pick up a pacer for the return trip.  Eric had me.  My plan was to just try to keep up.  Keep him engaged as much as possible.  Keep an eye on him.  And periodically remind him to eat and drink.  I bit like a mother hen or a border collie. Our approach out of Winfield towards the pass was a beautiful single path through an Aspen grove.  Not easy running, but nothing out of the ordinary.  We passed through places where avalanches had cleared the slopes of trees and piled things up.  The single path hugged the side of the mountain with precipitous drops off the side of the trail.  It was a delightful afternoon.  The whole time we were climbing towards the pass runners were passing us coming in the other direction.  We would tell them “Good Work!” and such but we knew they were ‘dead men (and women) walking'.  We were tight on the cutoff there was not much chance these stragglers were going to see the finish line.   I believe the race intentionally makes the cutoffs tight early to sort people out before they get hurt.  There is a lot of attrition after the first trip over Hope Pass and even more on the way back.  It doesn't seem hard on paper.  You're only trying to hit 3 miles an hour, but the pass and the altitude mess with people.  It get's into their heads.  Especially the second trip up and over.  As we began to climb, I pulled my phone and turned on some Grateful Dead to pass the time.  I had this fantasy vision that my music would attract a van-load of old hippies who had been hiding in the woods since the 60's.  They'd come out smoking joints and dancing and they'd joined us on the trail.  That didn't happen.  When we got to a flat or a down, we'd run a few strides, but for most of that climb Eric was just grinding away trying to hike as best he could. I was feeling good.  The altitude scare passed, and I was able to keep up and even get out front and pace a bit.  We were grinding out maybe 2 miles an hour.  It was single path, rocky trail at 15 – 20 % grade.  Just putting your head down and pushing those quads up one step at a time. I remembered from the Burning River last year when Kevin was pacing me, and I was pretty shot at the end.  He would stay ahead of me like a carrot on a stick and make me keep up.  I tried to do that with Eric.  I could hear his hiking sticks clacking on the rocks behind me so I knew where he was and tried to stay just out of reach.  It took us awhile to clear the tree line.  Then we could see the pass.  And all around us the mountains rose like gods.  It was stunningly gorgeous in the late afternoon sun.  As we got into the switch backs on the final push the temperature started to drop.  I had been super comfortable in the 65-degree, dry sunny afternoon, but now the wind kicked up above the tree line and we stopped to fish out some gear. I remember saying to Eric as we climbed the pass “It had better get cold because I'm going to be pissed if I had to carry all this winter gear and don't use it.” I got my gloves on and a fleece beanie for the summit.  I was wearing my Brooks baggie shorts with a pair of Zensa Calf sleeves for added protection and a tech T shirt with my water backpack.  I brought with me a running jacket.  As we approached the summit, I got Eric's video camera and scrambled ahead to take some video of him crossing the pass.  I felt the altitude.  Not so much in my legs and lungs, but in my head.  My red blood cells were holding an emergency impeachment meeting to vote my brain out of office.  The whole time at altitude for me is like a combination of a 3-4 beer hangover and a spring pollen allergy.  A fuzzy head, dry sinuses, a little cough.  I brought a bit of an airplane cough with me but the dry altitude seemed to dry it up.  One thing I loved was no chaffing.  With the lack of humidity I never got sticky enough to lose any skin.  And just like after about a couple hours of climbing we were up and over.  Eric went blowing by me not pausing long at the pass.  I had my pack off putting on my jacket and finding my lights.  No time to waste.  I'd have to catch up.  He was on a mission.  In the same way that having the pass in front of you messes with your mind, having it behind you give you wings. Eric was a machine. That's why he's finished this race 8 times now.  He just keeps moving. This was to be his modus operandi. It didn't matter what was going on around him he kept moving.  At one point we passed a guy who was down and out on the trail with people gathered around tending to him.  Eric didn't even pause we just went chugging by like this poor bastard roadkill was a rock or branch.  I think they ended up helicoptering that guy out.  While I was on the pass struggling into my jacket the sun was setting.  It was even worse now because we were on the other side of the mountain from the sun.  It got dark in a hurry.  As I was fishing out my headlamp and flashlight in the dusk there a guy asked me if I had an extra light?  I said, well I have my runner's extra light but that's for my runner…  He says, “I'll give you $100 for it.”  I don't think he actually had $100 on him; I think he just wanted me to understand the urgency of the situation.  I relented and gave him Eric's extra headlamp. He put Eric's bib number into his phone.  Far as I know that headlamp hasn't shown up again.  Now I had to catch Eric who had taken off running down the mountain.  I put some coal in the boiler and started making way, happy to be done with the whole Hope Pass thing without incident.  We actually had to run through a patch of snow, left over from the previous winter.  No kidding.  Slipping and sliding through the snow at 12,000 feet in the feeble, failing dusk, trying not to superman as I was trying to catch Eric.  One thing you have to know about Eric.  He's very tall.  Probably 8 inches taller than me with legs to match. He eats up a lot of ground.  When we were hiking, I'd have to run a little to keep up with him. 70 miles in he's walking faster than I can walk.  He thought I was trying to get him to run.  I was just trying to keep up.  Chapter Six: All Night Long. Coming out of the pass the first landmark is the Hopeless aid station.  We paused there to refill our tanks.  I was wearing a pack and carrying a bottle.  We'd shoot Gu's every so often on the trail and then browse what was on offer at the aid stations.  I made sure to be aggressive with the Enduroyltes under the unsupported theory that the electrolytes would help my head in the thin air.  We grabbed some hot broth and noodles.  Eric remixed his backpack with the Sword energy stuff he was using.  We pressed on.  Next thing I know he's retching off the trail behind me.  I guess the Sword didn't mix well and he got a super strong mouthful of it on top of the noodles, and, 15 hours of running, and it wanted to come back up.  I told him keep moving.  If you're going to throw up, throw up and we'll keep moving.  You're going to feel shitty either way, so keep moving.  He managed to get the offending admixture up and out and we forged on.  We had the downhill now and could make some time.  We had to be back into Twin Lakes by 10:00 PM and it was tight. We were good time on the back side of the pass.  By this time, with the dry air and the hundreds of runners the trail was super dusty.  You could see the dust in your headlamp and taste the grit in your mouth.  I was coughing a lot and losing my voice. Which did not keep me from singing.  We were see-sawing with another runner and his pacer. I started singing West Texas Cowboys (because of the one line about dusty dirt) and the other pacer knew the words and was belting out the song with me. I felt great.  We were having fun and Eric was keeping up.  I don't know if it was my imagination but I felt like there was palpably more oxygen as we descended that dusty trail, dancing through the occasional rock garden. I'd try to hold my flashlight beam on anything that looked treacherous so Eric could get a good fix on it coming down behind me.  I'll call out the obstacles when I could, “Toe Grabbers!”, “Rock Garden”. At one point off the side of the trail the moon was rising over the lakes and it was blood red.  An awesome sight.  Dripping that blood red reflection into the lake between the mountains.  This is also where we passed Eric's son Zach and his wife.  Zach was having some sort of stomach issue and had stopped running.  We tried to get him to come with us, but his head wasn't in it, so we forged on.  Coming into Twin Lakes there were 5 – 7 open water crossings. They had a wet year so there was more water. We splashed through these.  Some were cold and knee-deep. Some were disturbingly warmer and muddy and knee deep.  I only had one pair of shoes with me, but they were trail shoes and I was pretty sure they'd drain out and be ok. Eric knew where we were and could smell the barn, so to speak.  He started to hammer through the water obstacles and was running hard through the fields to the Aid Station.  I pulled in behind him and let him drag me in.  As we got close there was a lot of foot traffic. It was a bit confusing and crowded and dark.  Dan met us as we were coming in and told us to hustle to the timing mat because we were tight on time.  The three of us pushed through the crowd in the dark. I was accidently body slamming people in the trail because, they were wandering in crowding the course, I was trying to keep one eye on Eric, it was dark and I was trying to figure out where the finish line was with some urgency.  We made the cutoff by 8 minutes.  Which was a good thing, but also got me to worrying about the next cutoff and making up some time with my athlete being 60+ miles in. The crew got Eric into a chair took care of his needs while I tried to clean all the sand and gravel out of my shoes from the water crossings.  We topped off our tanks and got back on the trail.  We had work to do.  It was just after 10:00PM local time and midnight on Boston clock.  Eric had been going for 17 hours and I had had him for 5 of those.  We had to get to the next cutoff at Half Pipe by 1:15 AM.  Less than 10 miles but on this course you never know. There was lot of fire road and a lot of climbing up out of twin lakes.  Everyone talks about Hope Pass but not so much about how there is another mountain to climb out of Twin Lakes. We worked it.  We were making time and catching runners.  Eric continued to be a machine.  It was all work now.  Deep into the night. This was where I decided Eric was a robot.  He kept telling details about the course as we were coming up on them. “There's a little hill here, then a downhill switch backs with rocks.” We're coming up on 70 miles for him and he knows exactly where he is, he's lucid, and he's moving well. Definitely a robot. We got into a nice rhythm on the downhills and flats.  I stayed out in front and set the cadence.  It's an old ultra-running trick.  You count out 12 strides at a run, then count out 12 strides at a hike.  It keeps you focused on moving without over working anything.  I kept just far enough ahead to keep him engaged and moving.  We made it into Half Pipe with time to spare. Frankly I wasn't looking at my watch much anymore, we were just focused on moving and letting the course take care of itself.  We had 3hours and 15 minutes to get there, we did it in 2:42 and picked up 20 minutes on the cutoff. I was getting tired coming into Half Pipe.  I had some waves of Nausea on the trail and was totally disappointed that it was only gas.  I thought for sure I was going to get dropped.  I figured I should it the porta john at Half Pipe just to be sure.  They had them helpfully rigged with lights inside and not so helpfully absent any toilet paper, but we make do.  When I took my pack off I realized that I had worked up a good sweat coming down the mountain and the cold air on my wet body sent me quickly into chills.  It was cold!  I got some hot broth in the tent and cuddled up to the gas heater for a few minutes. Eric was ready to go again and told him we'd have to keep moving because I was on the edge of hypothermia. With only 8 ½ more miles to Outbound where I would hand him off to Dan I figured I could tough it out.  I was suffering a bit, nothing awful, but with the altitude and the cold I was at the edge of my training. The course was relatively easy in this section and we just kept up a good cadence and kept moving.  We were still passing a lot of runners. Eric was asking for the time. I didn't want to roll up my sleeve to look at my watch because I didn't want to lose the heat so I just told him to never mind and keep moving. We got that good, steady run-hike cadence going again and were making good time.  I had to drop him by 3:00 AM local time, which would be 5:00 AM my time. All good. With about 5K left we were cutting through a farm field and were treated to a wonderful visual, a bit of true performance art.  A runner was reliving himself in a great golden arc by the spotlight of his head lamp. It was like a water feature you'd expect to see in a Venetian fountain. We congratulated and applauded. And that was it for me.  We pushed down a section of open road and across a field that seemed to go on forever.  My lights were dying and I was having trouble staying on the trail on the field.  We pushed into the outbound aid station and I tagged off to Dan. I gave him the update.  Eric was doing great.  He was eating and drinking and performing other bodily functions with reassuring regularity.  Duty done I collapsed into a chair with my teeth chattering from the cold and tried to disappear into a space blanket.  We had picked up some more time and Eric and Dan had a good 40+ minute cushion to work with.  My watch said I had run almost exactly 27 miles in almost exactly 9 hours for almost exactly 3 miles an hour.  Eric's crew bundled me into the car with the heat on to give me ride back to the hotel for a hot shower couple hours of napping.  Eric and Dan pressed on into the morning. Chapter Seven: Aftermath. I got a couple hours sleep and then headed back over to base camp to join the rest of the crew.  We drove over to Leadville trying to figure out from Dan's text messages how close Eric was to the 30-hour cut off.  It looked like it was going to be close and we prepared for the worst. I got some hot coffee and oatmeal and we waited by the road on a warm, sunny Leadville morning watching the happy parade of exhausted runners come up the street wit their crews in celebration. And sure enough, with 20 minutes left on the clock Eric and Dan came up the street and there was much rejoicing. We all ran him in.  He was like a happy drunk.  He just finished his 8th Leadville Trail 100 Race on his 59th birthday on a day where only 42% of the people who started made it home.  It's a beautiful, terrible race that gives back to its runners more than it takes in the end.  It fills them with a satisfaction of having faced this terrible, beautiful course across the sky and walked away, sometimes with a belt buckle, always with a bucket of memories.  Thank you, Eric.  That was something to be part of.  If memories and experiences are the currency of our lives then I am a very rich man. 

Leadville, 2019 Call me a schadenfreude asshole but the moment that stands out from this adventure was watching Eric throw up for the first time in his ultra career, just after we left the Hopeless aid station.  That’s the first point where I thought I was actually adding value.  Until that point I felt like a bit of a third wheel, maybe some poorly chosen window dressing for Eric’s 8th LT100.  But, right then as he tried to yawn a toxic combination of noodles and electrolyte drink into the bushes, I felt like I was needed, like there was work to be done. And who doesn’t like to be needed? Chapter One: Anticipation Eric asked me to pace him at the Leadville Trail 100 some time around the beginning of the year, 6 -7 months ago.  He caught me at a low point.  That ebb in activity where the fall race season is behind you and the spring training hasn’t started yet.  A time when summer is as far off as old age used to be. That mid-winter blue period. The doldrums of the year.  A time when I wallow in manic depression without the so much of themania.  He knew I’d be weak.  You may have heard of the Leadville Trail 100 ultra-marathon.  “The race across the sky”.  It was established in the early 1980’s as a secret government program to harness the psychic energy of ex-drug addicts, by making them suffer at altitude for hours on end.  Then the iron curtain rusted, the wall fell, and Vladimir Putin started posing for romance novel covers.  They had to make up a cover story about saving the town of Leadville from imminent demise from the abrupt closure of the Climax mine.  The fun thing about Leadville, and here I use the term ‘fun’ to mean ‘awful’, is that it sits at an altitude approximately 200 meters south of the moon’s orbit.  It’s a place where only a few thimble fulls of oxygen reach and those few thimbles have to be shared among everyone in town and a few dozen shaggy mountain goats.  It’s known for its rough Western setting, it’s panoramic scenic mountain vistas and spontaneous nosebleeds … right before you pass out.  As we came into the summer and the event started getting closer it began to dawn on me that maybe this wasn’t a good idea.  It’s one of those things that seems like a really good idea 6 months in the future where it can’t harm you but starts to get gnarly looking as it comes into focus in time.  Eric casually mentioned that one of his pacers was in Europe for a wedding and the other one was hurt, so, hey, I’m going to need you for 39 miles.  Wait, what?  39 miles, at altitude, in the middle of the night?  That’s terrifying. So I did what I usually do and didn’t train for it.  Well, I mean I was just rolling out of a stout effort at Boston, and in general maintain a pretty solid level of fitness, but 39 miles at altitude is an ultra-marathon.  I live at about 250 feet above sea level.  Hope Pass is 12,600 feet above sea level.  You do the math, unless you’re actually on Hope Pass because you won’t be able to do math at that altitude, but, yeah that’s two miles straight up.  The highest I’ve ever been is Denver and that’s 1 mile up.  Hope Pass is 2 miles up.  Again, math-wise, twice as up.  Here’s the thing they don’t tell you, until you get there and it’s too late, then they tell you because they think it’s funny, the oxygen content in the air is not linear. At sea level, where I (and all the bright people) live, the oxygen content is 20.9%.  Where we were running it was in the 12-13% range.  42% less oxygen.  Just a reminder, humans need oxygen to do things, like breathe, run, and stay alive.  I had visions of me bent over coughing up blood by the side of the trail while Eric ran on.  I read a race report from the Leadville trail Mountain bike 100 held a couple weeks previously from a guy my age.  He had a small stroke at the top of one of the passes and the mean old race officials made him stop racing when he was slurring his words.  He was pretty sure his racing days were over.  On the minus side of the ledger: I had not trained well I had never been at this altitude, let alone run at this altitude My head might explode I might give out on my runner – which is very bad form On the plus side I have a lot of trail running and mountain racing experience I was picking him up at 50 miles so he was already cooked when I got him I’m pretty good at suffering when I need to be This is just the sort of stupid shit that turns my crank, so to speak… Chapter Two: Getting there I flew from Boston to Denver on Thursday afternoon.  The race is on, well it’s one of those stupid ultra things, the runners start on Saturday Morning at 4:00 AM and have to finish by 10:00 Am on Sunday.  It’s a 30 hour cut off.  Which sounds generous but less than 50% of the people who start this race finish.  A majority of those miss the cutoffs at some point on the course.  Flying into Denver is unique.  I’ve done a lot of flying.  When you fly into Orlando it’s all screaming kids with mouse ears.  When you fly into Vegas it’s all drunk people in cowboy hats.  When you fly into LaGuardia it’s all close-talking loud people shouting at cell phones.  On most flights through the Midwest I get squeezed between corn-fed mid westerners who take up most of my personal space with their MAGA hats and over-stretched golf shirts.  Or, perhaps a California flight with that crazy woman that wants to talk to me about her vitamin regime.  Not the flight into Denver.  Everyone on the plane is an endurance athlete of some form.  Even the children.  On the one hand it’s quite spacious with all the skinny people, but on the other hand if I had to resort to cannibalism, they looked a bit gristly.  But, if I did have to resort to cannibalism I’d start with the vegans, because I think that would be ironic.  If we did crash, I’d be all set.  You could not hope for better seat mates.  I’m sure they could carry me out of the plane and up a mountain while devising intricate splints and tourniquets from spare tent pieces and technical fabric scrounged from those North Face backpack carry ons.  Maybe shoot some rapids in a kayak assembled from air sickness bags on the way back to civilization.  Eric and crew fetched me at the airport.  I felt like an adopted child being picked up by the new parents.I have hung out with this crew before and they are a blast to do an event with.  We did the New Orleans marathon in 20014 and it’s one of my favorite race memories.  Eric, his wife, Dan his best friend and other pacer, and Dan’s wife.  We would round up the crew with Eric’s son, Eric’s son’s wife, who was also pacing and one of Eric’s son’s friends, who was the other pacer. To formalize his relationship (sort of an indentured servitude type of relationship) with the Leadville Trail 100 Eric bought a house in Breckenridge, which would be race HQ for the weekend.  I had a room at a Breck hotel a mile away.  Breckinridge is a nice town in a Stepford Wives sort of way.  You sort of feel like you’re on a movie set and it’s all not quite real.  But that could have been the total lack of usable oxygen making it to my cerebral cortex.  At the hotel I was on the 6th floor.  I’ll tell you a Colorado story.  I was walking to the elevator and there was a young dad behind me with a 5 or six year old.  I was going to let that kid press the button in the elevator. But they marched right be me and into the stairwell. I figured they must be on the next floor up or something.  When I was existing the elevator, they were trooping down the hallway in front of me.  Really? It’s Colorado! We don’t need elevators!  We don’t’ need stairs!  Just put in a climbing wall and we’ll belay our luggage up from base camp. Pass me a piton.  Belay on!  Chapter Three: Camp Foreshadow As a walked over to the base camp house early Friday morning I passed a guy out on the sidewalk having a morning smoke.  As we exchanged pleasantries about the beautiful morning, I thought to myself that this guy is going to get mugged by a gang of high-altitude hipsters.  I figured he’d be pilloried on an extra mountain bike frame when I came back by.  If Smokie the Bear didn’t get him first.  I consciously chose to walk the less-then-a-mile through the bad streets of Breckenridge just to see how the altitude felt.  Would I be gasping for breath?  Would my muscles be screaming for oxygen?  Would my head explode? Turns out the answer to all this hyperbole was, “No.”  I felt fine.  Well I felt altitude fine.  Which from my time in Denver feels a bit like a three-beer hangover combined with a bit of an allergy.  We collected the tribe and drove over to Leadville, through Frisco and a valley where the headwaters of the Arkansas River begins, to eventually empty into the Mississippi.  The whole place is drop dead scenic.  The Rocky Mountains rise up on all sides with their 13,000 and 14.000 peaks.  There was still snow in places.  With the thin air the mountains pop out at you like some ultra-real Instagram filter, their crags and points crisp and sharp in the lasering sun.  It’s just an interesting place, Leadville.  There was an apocalyptic novel written in 2008 where Leadville becomes the new capital of the United States called “Plague Years”. It’s got a ton of history and character.  You take all that and pour several hundred near-psychotic ultra-runners on top and you’ve got a party.  It turns out that, after his 7 straight Leadville finishes Eric is pretty much the Mayor of Leadville.  Everywhere we went he would be embraced by emaciated trail ghosts.  There was much back slapping, handshaking and hugging.  I think he has a good chance in the upcoming election. We attended the pre-race briefing which is a bit of theatre.  The long-time race directors all standup and give inspirational talks.  It’s a wonderful, feel-good, almost family reunion feel.  The Ultra-running community is very close.  Almost everyone has a backstory.  There are recovering addicts and abuse victims.  All those lost souls who can only find peace deep in the dark place out on the trails.  Made me wonder what dark secrets Eric was harboring to drive him into this carnival of lost souls.  I’m going to go with dressing up in women’s underwear and dancing around, just because the visual cracks me up. From the briefing we wandered over to the expo, which was a small, open-air affair. They had everything you would expect at an event like Leadville; commemorative shirts, extra nutrition, handmade backpacks crafted from organically harvested Koala foreskins.  And as much CBD as you could carry.  Eric and his son grabbed their stuff, more hugs, more selfies and we commuted back to the ranch.  Wonderful news for me was that Dan’s knee was feeling better and he’d pick up Eric a bit earlier on the course. Instead of 39 miles, I’d only have to survive 27. Piece of cake.  We had a nice dinner, a couple beers and everyone got an early bedtime.  They would be getting up early to be there for the 4:00 AM start.  The rest of us would sleep in and head over to catch them as they came through Twin Lakes in the early afternoon, then pop over to the turnaround, 50-mile mark at Winfield. Chapter Four: Wait for it. Much of Friday was spent by the runners running the Leadville course.  Much of the day for us was spent waiting. Waiting for them to come through Twin Lakes.  Waiting in line for the buses over to Winfield.  Then lying around in the sun at Winfield waiting some more.  The weather was wonderful for waiting.  A little warm for running.  I ended up with a bit of a sunburn before the day was over.  While I was getting ready, I realized my water pack had sprung a leak and had to do a quick tape-job on my bladder to fix it. I’ve had that pack for a long time and it’s starting to show. I would pick him up at the Winfield aid station which is the turnaround point for the out and back, about 50 miles in.  Dan, Eric’s best friend and long-time pacer had the last 7 of Eric’s races in a big spreadsheet.  We partially knew what to expect.  Eric has a history of falling down early in this race. Last year he broke his nose.  He decided this year to go out slower in the early sections to avoid rolling in the dirt so much and keep the blood inside his body. Because of this go out slower strategy and the warmer day he was late coming into Winfield.  Now Eric is as calm as a cucumber on a cool day.  A real machine.  The whole time I was with him he was lucid, forming whole sentences and moving well.  Which is not an easy thing to do after 60-70 miles at altitude.  I on the other hand was still a bit terrified.  I still didn’t know if I’d be able to perform at altitude.  I knew we were close to the cutoffs.  And my equipment was acting up.  But, on the plus side I had my runner and the game was on.  I had a job.  Eric knew what he was doing but I was there to make sure he stayed on track and drag him through any rough spots. Chapter Five: Up and Over. And so, it began.  At 5:25 PM Eric and I fast walked out of the Winfield Aid station and made our way towards Hope pass.  This is a mountain pass, which is a saddle between two mountains, that tops out at 12,600 feet.  Eric had already been up and over once.  Now we were going back. This is a tough climb at a tough point in the race.  The runners are already 50+ miles in and they already know what they are up against, having just done it.  It’s a psychologically hard place for the runners.  On the bright side, they get to pick up a pacer for the return trip.  Eric had me.  My plan was to just try to keep up.  Keep him engaged as much as possible.  Keep an eye on him.  And periodically remind him to eat and drink.  I bit like a mother hen or a border collie. Our approach out of Winfield towards the pass was a beautiful single path through an Aspen grove.  Not easy running, but nothing out of the ordinary.  We passed through places where avalanches had cleared the slopes of trees and piled things up.  The single path hugged the side of the mountain with precipitous drops off the side of the trail.  It was a delightful afternoon.  The whole time we were climbing towards the pass runners were passing us coming in the other direction.  We would tell them “Good Work!” and such but we knew they were ‘dead men (and women) walking’.  We were tight on the cutoff there was not much chance these stragglers were going to see the finish line.   I believe the race intentionally makes the cutoffs tight early to sort people out before they get hurt.  There is a lot of attrition after the first trip over Hope Pass and even more on the way back.  It doesn’t seem hard on paper.  You’re only trying to hit 3 miles an hour, but the pass and the altitude mess with people.  It get’s into their heads.  Especially the second trip up and over.  As we began to climb, I pulled my phone and turned on some Grateful Dead to pass the time.  I had this fantasy vision that my music would attract a van-load of old hippies who had been hiding in the woods since the 60’s.  They’d come out smoking joints and dancing and they’d joined us on the trail.  That didn’t happen.  When we got to a flat or a down, we’d run a few strides, but for most of that climb Eric was just grinding away trying to hike as best he could. I was feeling good.  The altitude scare passed, and I was able to keep up and even get out front and pace a bit.  We were grinding out maybe 2 miles an hour.  It was single path, rocky trail at 15 – 20 % grade.  Just putting your head down and pushing those quads up one step at a time. I remembered from the Burning River last year when Kevin was pacing me, and I was pretty shot at the end.  He would stay ahead of me like a carrot on a stick and make me keep up.  I tried to do that with Eric.  I could hear his hiking sticks clacking on the rocks behind me so I knew where he was and tried to stay just out of reach.  It took us awhile to clear the tree line.  Then we could see the pass.  And all around us the mountains rose like gods.  It was stunningly gorgeous in the late afternoon sun.  As we got into the switch backs on the final push the temperature started to drop.  I had been super comfortable in the 65-degree, dry sunny afternoon, but now the wind kicked up above the tree line and we stopped to fish out some gear. I remember saying to Eric as we climbed the pass “It had better get cold because I’m going to be pissed if I had to carry all this winter gear and don’t use it.” I got my gloves on and a fleece beanie for the summit.  I was wearing my Brooks baggie shorts with a pair of Zensa Calf sleeves for added protection and a tech T shirt with my water backpack.  I brought with me a running jacket.  As we approached the summit, I got Eric’s video camera and scrambled ahead to take some video of him crossing the pass.  I felt the altitude.  Not so much in my legs and lungs, but in my head.  My red blood cells were holding an emergency impeachment meeting to vote my brain out of office.  The whole time at altitude for me is like a combination of a 3-4 beer hangover and a spring pollen allergy.  A fuzzy head, dry sinuses, a little cough.  I brought a bit of an airplane cough with me but the dry altitude seemed to dry it up.  One thing I loved was no chaffing.  With the lack of humidity I never got sticky enough to lose any skin.  And just like after about a couple hours of climbing we were up and over.  Eric went blowing by me not pausing long at the pass.  I had my pack off putting on my jacket and finding my lights.  No time to waste.  I’d have to catch up.  He was on a mission.  In the same way that having the pass in front of you messes with your mind, having it behind you give you wings. Eric was a machine. That’s why he’s finished this race 8 times now.  He just keeps moving. This was to be his modus operandi. It didn’t matter what was going on around him he kept moving.  At one point we passed a guy who was down and out on the trail with people gathered around tending to him.  Eric didn’t even pause we just went chugging by like this poor bastard roadkill was a rock or branch.  I think they ended up helicoptering that guy out.  While I was on the pass struggling into my jacket the sun was setting.  It was even worse now because we were on the other side of the mountain from the sun.  It got dark in a hurry.  As I was fishing out my headlamp and flashlight in the dusk there a guy asked me if I had an extra light?  I said, well I have my runner’s extra light but that’s for my runner…  He says, “I’ll give you $100 for it.”  I don’t think he actually had $100 on him; I think he just wanted me to understand the urgency of the situation.  I relented and gave him Eric’s extra headlamp. He put Eric’s bib number into his phone.  Far as I know that headlamp hasn’t shown up again.  Now I had to catch Eric who had taken off running down the mountain.  I put some coal in the boiler and started making way, happy to be done with the whole Hope Pass thing without incident.  We actually had to run through a patch of snow, left over from the previous winter.  No kidding.  Slipping and sliding through the snow at 12,000 feet in the feeble, failing dusk, trying not to superman as I was trying to catch Eric.  One thing you have to know about Eric.  He’s very tall.  Probably 8 inches taller than me with legs to match. He eats up a lot of ground.  When we were hiking, I’d have to run a little to keep up with him. 70 miles in he’s walking faster than I can walk.  He thought I was trying to get him to run.  I was just trying to keep up.  Chapter Six: All Night Long. Coming out of the pass the first landmark is the Hopeless aid station.  We paused there to refill our tanks.  I was wearing a pack and carrying a bottle.  We’d shoot Gu’s every so often on the trail and then browse what was on offer at the aid stations.  I made sure to be aggressive with the Enduroyltes under the unsupported theory that the electrolytes would help my head in the thin air.  We grabbed some hot broth and noodles.  Eric remixed his backpack with the Sword energy stuff he was using.  We pressed on.  Next thing I know he’s retching off the trail behind me.  I guess the Sword didn’t mix well and he got a super strong mouthful of it on top of the noodles, and, 15 hours of running, and it wanted to come back up.  I told him keep moving.  If you’re going to throw up, throw up and we’ll keep moving.  You’re going to feel shitty either way, so keep moving.  He managed to get the offending admixture up and out and we forged on.  We had the downhill now and could make some time.  We had to be back into Twin Lakes by 10:00 PM and it was tight. We were good time on the back side of the pass.  By this time, with the dry air and the hundreds of runners the trail was super dusty.  You could see the dust in your headlamp and taste the grit in your mouth.  I was coughing a lot and losing my voice. Which did not keep me from singing.  We were see-sawing with another runner and his pacer. I started singing West Texas Cowboys (because of the one line about dusty dirt) and the other pacer knew the words and was belting out the song with me. I felt great.  We were having fun and Eric was keeping up.  I don’t know if it was my imagination but I felt like there was palpably more oxygen as we descended that dusty trail, dancing through the occasional rock garden. I’d try to hold my flashlight beam on anything that looked treacherous so Eric could get a good fix on it coming down behind me.  I’ll call out the obstacles when I could, “Toe Grabbers!”, “Rock Garden”. At one point off the side of the trail the moon was rising over the lakes and it was blood red.  An awesome sight.  Dripping that blood red reflection into the lake between the mountains.  This is also where we passed Eric’s son Zach and his wife.  Zach was having some sort of stomach issue and had stopped running.  We tried to get him to come with us, but his head wasn’t in it, so we forged on.  Coming into Twin Lakes there were 5 – 7 open water crossings. They had a wet year so there was more water. We splashed through these.  Some were cold and knee-deep. Some were disturbingly warmer and muddy and knee deep.  I only had one pair of shoes with me, but they were trail shoes and I was pretty sure they’d drain out and be ok. Eric knew where we were and could smell the barn, so to speak.  He started to hammer through the water obstacles and was running hard through the fields to the Aid Station.  I pulled in behind him and let him drag me in.  As we got close there was a lot of foot traffic. It was a bit confusing and crowded and dark.  Dan met us as we were coming in and told us to hustle to the timing mat because we were tight on time.  The three of us pushed through the crowd in the dark. I was accidently body slamming people in the trail because, they were wandering in crowding the course, I was trying to keep one eye on Eric, it was dark and I was trying to figure out where the finish line was with some urgency.  We made the cutoff by 8 minutes.  Which was a good thing, but also got me to worrying about the next cutoff and making up some time with my athlete being 60+ miles in. The crew got Eric into a chair took care of his needs while I tried to clean all the sand and gravel out of my shoes from the water crossings.  We topped off our tanks and got back on the trail.  We had work to do.  It was just after 10:00PM local time and midnight on Boston clock.  Eric had been going for 17 hours and I had had him for 5 of those.  We had to get to the next cutoff at Half Pipe by 1:15 AM.  Less than 10 miles but on this course you never know. There was lot of fire road and a lot of climbing up out of twin lakes.  Everyone talks about Hope Pass but not so much about how there is another mountain to climb out of Twin Lakes. We worked it.  We were making time and catching runners.  Eric continued to be a machine.  It was all work now.  Deep into the night. This was where I decided Eric was a robot.  He kept telling details about the course as we were coming up on them. “There’s a little hill here, then a downhill switch backs with rocks.” We’re coming up on 70 miles for him and he knows exactly where he is, he’s lucid, and he’s moving well. Definitely a robot. We got into a nice rhythm on the downhills and flats.  I stayed out in front and set the cadence.  It’s an old ultra-running trick.  You count out 12 strides at a run, then count out 12 strides at a hike.  It keeps you focused on moving without over working anything.  I kept just far enough ahead to keep him engaged and moving.  We made it into Half Pipe with time to spare. Frankly I wasn’t looking at my watch much anymore, we were just focused on moving and letting the course take care of itself.  We had 3hours and 15 minutes to get there, we did it in 2:42 and picked up 20 minutes on the cutoff. I was getting tired coming into Half Pipe.  I had some waves of Nausea on the trail and was totally disappointed that it was only gas.  I thought for sure I was going to get dropped.  I figured I should it the porta john at Half Pipe just to be sure.  They had them helpfully rigged with lights inside and not so helpfully absent any toilet paper, but we make do.  When I took my pack off I realized that I had worked up a good sweat coming down the mountain and the cold air on my wet body sent me quickly into chills.  It was cold!  I got some hot broth in the tent and cuddled up to the gas heater for a few minutes. Eric was ready to go again and told him we’d have to keep moving because I was on the edge of hypothermia. With only 8 ½ more miles to Outbound where I would hand him off to Dan I figured I could tough it out.  I was suffering a bit, nothing awful, but with the altitude and the cold I was at the edge of my training. The course was relatively easy in this section and we just kept up a good cadence and kept moving.  We were still passing a lot of runners. Eric was asking for the time. I didn’t want to roll up my sleeve to look at my watch because I didn’t want to lose the heat so I just told him to never mind and keep moving. We got that good, steady run-hike cadence going again and were making good time.  I had to drop him by 3:00 AM local time, which would be 5:00 AM my time. All good. With about 5K left we were cutting through a farm field and were treated to a wonderful visual, a bit of true performance art.  A runner was reliving himself in a great golden arc by the spotlight of his head lamp. It was like a water feature you’d expect to see in a Venetian fountain. We congratulated and applauded. And that was it for me.  We pushed down a section of open road and across a field that seemed to go on forever.  My lights were dying and I was having trouble staying on the trail on the field.  We pushed into the outbound aid station and I tagged off to Dan. I gave him the update.  Eric was doing great.  He was eating and drinking and performing other bodily functions with reassuring regularity.  Duty done I collapsed into a chair with my teeth chattering from the cold and tried to disappear into a space blanket.  We had picked up some more time and Eric and Dan had a good 40+ minute cushion to work with.  My watch said I had run almost exactly 27 miles in almost exactly 9 hours for almost exactly 3 miles an hour.  Eric’s crew bundled me into the car with the heat on to give me ride back to the hotel for a hot shower couple hours of napping.  Eric and Dan pressed on into the morning. Chapter Seven: Aftermath. I got a couple hours sleep and then headed back over to base camp to join the rest of the crew.  We drove over to Leadville trying to figure out from Dan’s text messages how close Eric was to the 30-hour cut off.  It looked like it was going to be close and we prepared for the worst. I got some hot coffee and oatmeal and we waited by the road on a warm, sunny Leadville morning watching the happy parade of exhausted runners come up the street wit their crews in celebration. And sure enough, with 20 minutes left on the clock Eric and Dan came up the street and there was much rejoicing. We all ran him in.  He was like a happy drunk.  He just finished his 8th Leadville Trail 100 Race on his 59th birthday on a day where only 42% of the people who started made it home.  It’s a beautiful, terrible race that gives back to its runners more than it takes in the end.  It fills them with a satisfaction of having faced this terrible, beautiful course across the sky and walked away, sometimes with a belt buckle, always with a bucket of memories.  Thank you, Eric.  That was something to be part of.  If memories and experiences are the currency of our lives then I am a very rich man. 

NOTE: Enjoying the Leadville podcast? Share it by wearing it! Just $20, cotton / Poly blend, soft as silk, sexy as hell. Go to bit.ly/leadvilletshirt, and use the code PODCAST to get free shipping. This episode Hottie talks with bike skills guru Lee McCormack about what you need to know to be fast, be confident, and keep the rubber side down in Leadville this year.  Lee's Bike Skills Classes RipRow THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS Presenting Sponsor: Floyd's of Leadville: Use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first 2 orders! THE FEED: Every single thing you need to fuel your training and day. Get a discount on Maurten drink mix by using the Leadville15 code at checkout.  Shimano: The absolute best in bike gear, whether you are looking for components, a helmet, accessories...or even socks.  Banjo Brothers: Get 15% off your order by going to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites. ENVE: If you're racing the Leadville 100, there's no better wheels than the ENVE M525, no better bar than the M5, no better stem than the M6 Mountain Stem, and no better seatpost than the ENVE Seatpost.   

Larissa Connors is an incredibly fast, fun, and joyful racer...and quite possibly the most entertaining LT100 champion Hottie and Fatty have ever interviewed. Also, Hottie's back from Sea Otter and we talk about what what felt like the star of the show: the Niner MCR. Will this be the first production drop-bar bike to have mass LT100 appeal?  THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS Presenting Sponsor: Floyd's of Leadville: Use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first 2 orders! THE FEED: Every single thing you need to fuel your training and day. Get a discount on Maurten drink mix by using the Leadville15 code at checkout.  Shimano: The absolute best in bike gear, whether you are looking for components, a helmet, accessories...or even socks.  Banjo Brothers: Get 15% off your order by going to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites. ENVE: If you're racing the Leadville 100, there's no better wheels than the ENVE M525, no better bar than the M5, and no better seatpost than the ENVE Seatpost.   

By now we've all sent in our registration and are waiting to see if we got lucky with the lottery. While we're all waiting, Hottie and Fatty answer some questions from our listeners, including: What major changes in training led to Fatty's change from being a 9 - 10 hour guy to being a low-8 guy? How do we feel about the creek crossing being covered (and other course changes)? What's the best bike for a first-timer? Would we ever do this race on a fat bike? How should racers -- especially racers without a crew -- prepare for bad weather? Have we ever thought we weren't going to finish? How important is your position in the starting corrals? What is it about this race that keeps us (and others!) coming back? Where are the places on the course where you're tempted to go too fast? Where are the places on the course where you go to slow? It's a fun free-flowing hour of conversation about this race we love.  Big thanks go to our sponsors: Floyd's of Leadville: We’re very excited to have Floyd’s of Leadville as our presenting sponsor; check out Floyd’s at floydsofleadville.com and use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first two orders. Shimano: You already know they make the best components, drivetrains, and brakes. You know how many mountain bikes Fatty and The Hammer have between them? Around half a dozen. You know how many of those bikes have Shimano XT or XTR brakes? All of them. Coincidence? I think NOT. Banjo Brothers: Fatty and Hottie are both such huge fans of these tough, practical and affordable bike bags and packs. Go to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites and get 20% off your order. And you know what? Be sure to pick up a Deluxe Seat Bag, size Medium while you're there. You'll be amazed at how much it can hold, and some day you'll be glad that bag is holding it. ENVE: The best wheels — for road, gravel and (of course!) mountain bikes. If you want a faster time at Leadville, the best upgrade you can make is a great wheelset. And the best wheelset you can possibly own for the Leadville 100 is the ENVE M525. 

We're back! It's season 2 of the show that breaks down, builds up, gets you ready, and freaks you out for the highest and hardest one day mountain bike race in the country. In this episode, we focus on the ways you can get into the LT100. Everyone knows about the lottery, and a lot of folks are at least aware of the qualifiers. But those are just two of many ways you can get into the Leadville 100. We’ve got Kimo Seymour, Senior VP of Events and Media at Life Time — in other words, head honcho of the Leadville race series — with us for this episode to talk about ALL of the ways you can get into the Leadville 100. Big thanks go to our sponsors: Floyd's of Leadville: We’re very excited to have Floyd’s of Leadville as our presenting sponsor; check out Floyd’s at floydsofleadville.com and use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first two orders. Shimano: You already know they make the best components, drivetrains, and brakes. Have you tried their S-Phyre shoes? They are all Fatty uses now (and he's got some very nice options gathering dust). Banjo Brothers: Fatty and Hottie are both such huge fans of these tough, practical and affordable bike bags and packs. Go to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites and get 20% off your order. ENVE: The best wheels — for road, gravel and (of course!) mountain bikes. If you want a faster time at Leadville, the best upgrade you can make is a great wheelset. And the best wheelset you can possibly own for the Leadville 100 is the ENVE M525. 

Brian Burk is the author of "Running to Leadville: Life, Love, Loss and a 100 Mile Ultra Marathon Through The Colorado Rockies" in this episode we discuss Brain's first Leadville experience, the up's and down's that one experience over the course of 100 miles and he's key take aways. We also discussed his book and what the writing process was like to paint a picture of a place he had never been to. You can find Brian of social media @ http://briansrunningadventures.com If you'd like to purchase Brian's book head over to amazon and give him some love https://www.amazon.com/Running-Leadville-Marathon-Through-Colorado/dp/1533592845

Brian Burk is the author of "Running to Leadville: Life, Love, Loss and a 100 Mile Ultra Marathon Through The Colorado Rockies" in this episode we discuss Brain's first Leadville experience, the up's and down's that one experience over the course of 100 miles and he's key take aways. We also discussed his book and what the writing process was like to paint a picture of a place he had never been to. You can find Brian of social media @ http://briansrunningadventures.com If you'd like to purchase Brian's book head over to amazon and give him some love https://www.amazon.com/Running-Leadville-Marathon-Through-Colorado/dp/1533592845

I share some pre-race thoughts on CCC.  The race is coming up soon! Always great speaking with Gary Stotler.Hear his amazing race recap of the Leadville 100 miler.  For more on Gary, checkout his full interview on episode 4.  Thanks for the support!

The training, the logistics, the stress, the excitement, and the actual racing are now all behind us...at least for this year. Now it's time for some storytelling. In this episode, Fatty tells Hottie a little bit about his Breck Epic experience (it matters, because it determined what bike Fatty rode in Leadville), as well as gives a full-on blow-by-blow of his 21st Leadville 100. We do away with our normal show structure for this episode -- it's a lot more like one of our bonus episodes, with a couple of friends talking about a race both of us love. This is the last "regular" show of the season. Hottie and Fatty want to thank our listeners for your kind feedback, and we definitely want to thank the dozens (really!) of you who — before, during, or after the race — mentioned enjoying the show. We're really proud of what we created, and it's awesome to have that work acknowledged. We also want to thank Rebecca Rusch and Jonathan Lee for their generosity with their time and insight. If you have an amazing story that would make a great bonus episode, leave a comment with with the short version of it here. Finally, a big thank-you to our sponsors, each of which took a big gamble on an experiment, and stuck with us through every episode: The Feed, which fueled Fatty to and through this race, including getting me through a very tough spot at a critical moment. Shimano, which gave both Fatty and his wife an utterly flawless, no-maintenance-needed, trouble-free shifting and braking for seven straight days of mountain bike racing. XT Di2 is so good it makes Fatty mist up. ENVE Composites, for bombproof wheels, bars, and stems. Seven days of mountain bike racing on the M525 for both Fatty and his wife, with not a single pinch flat. Perfect, confident riding for the whole week for both of them. Banjo Brothers, for sturdy, affordable, great-looking bags that do exactly what they should. Somewhere out there, there's a rider who DIDN'T have a Banjo Brothers seat bag whose race didn't end because Fatty does.

Brent Goldstein's bucket (list) is empty after completing the 2018 Tour Divide, but he's back in Leadville to compete in his 12th Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race! Brent races for the First Descents (FD) Organization--he's the Chairman of the FD Board--and is working on a book about his experience riding the Tour Divide and working with the FD organization.

Kimo Seymour is SVP in charge of events and media at Life Time Fitness, which includes the Leadville 100. In other words, he’s the boss of the race. He's also raced the Leadville 100 eleven times, finishing under EIGHT hours every single time. In this conversation, Fatty and Kimo talk about how Life Time chooses qualifiers and what their plans are for new qualifiers going forward, why they have double-dipping for podiums, whether they’d consider a wave approach to the starting line, what makes this race so attractive, and more. Fatty even pitches his idea for a Leadville-equivalent of the Dirty Kanza XL (and tries to secure an invite to it), getting a pretty surprising response. It's a fun, informative bonus interview anyone interested in the Leadville 100 MTB race is sure to enjoy.

Truly fun episode with Chris Mocko.  Nice to hear how well his training and outlook are these days!  Hear about his Leadville Marathon win and how he feels into the Silver Rush 50 miler and Leadville 100 miler.  Also hear from T4U athlete, Dave Braunlich, as he prepares to leave for a 530 mile journey on the Colorado Trail as training for the Leadville 100 miler.  Two different ways of approaching training into one tough race across the sky. https://www.youtube.com/trainingforultra https://www.patreon.com/trainingforultra    

A Note from Fatty: Hey, next week (7/4-9) The Hammer and I are headed to Leadville to race the Silver Rush 50. If you're going to be in Leadville during that time, let me know. And more importantly, if you're thinking of RACING the Silver Rush 50 (the MTB or running version), use my MRK18INFEN code a checkout to get a $10 discount. This same code works, by the way, to get into the LT100 Stage Race. And from what I understand, those are your two best options for qualifying into the LT100. Indeed, from what I hear, racing the Stage Race is darn close to a guarantee for getting into LT100, as well as a really good way to preview the whole darn course and get some experience at altitude. In this episode, we address the important questions in life: hardtail or full suspension?  What is the right gearing? Have you thought about your shoes, since you're gonna do some hiking? And of course there's so much more on this Leadville-specific bike setup episode. Coach Jonathan Lee joins us for this deep-dive into all things gear.  In our Course segment, we’ll talk about what should be the fastest part of your day: from the moment you turn off the Powerline and onto the pavement, to the high-energy Twin Lakes Dam aid station...in the ominous shadow of the Columbine Mine Climb. And In our Questions for the Queen, we ask Rebecca Rusch about head games — how do you trick yourself into a successful race? Support My Sponsors We went out of our way, for this podcast, to reach out exclusively to companies we actually love and buy stuff from ourselves. Which is to say, you won't find ads here for life insurance companies or mattresses or cooking kits that come to you in a box. These are all companies I buy stuff from and use pretty much every damn ride. Please support them, because you should. And also so they will love me and want to keep supporting me. It's the circle of advertising, folks. Shimano I don't even know what to say about Shimano that I haven't yet said. XT Di2 is just perfect. I have it on both my hardtail (a Felt Doctrine) and my full-suspension mountain bike (a Specialized Epic S-Works). The Hammer has it on her Epic, too, and it's her favorite bike ever. The way it shifts. The way it brakes. Shimano makes the best drivetrain and braking components there are, and XT is bombproof and affordable. Get it already and find out how much better your bike will be. The Feed: Hottie and I have been using Maurtens drink mix, and both of us are totally sold on it. No stomach issues, goes down easy, super easy to mix. Hottie's super anal about stuff like this, so he loved the package precision; they tell you exactly how much water to use, no guessing with scoops and different sized bottles. My overarching impression is that it’s a ridiculously non-intrusive way to get down a lot of calories. One bottle, 320 calories — it’s a little sweet, it’s a little thick, but there’s no aftertaste and I felt great — my stomach was fine, I didn’t feel that weird energy spike you get with some energy drinks. It tastes smooth, and it burns smooth. I am a fan. And our podcast listeners can get a great price on a training and racing packs custom curated for Leadville racers. Go to TheFeed.com/leadville for the race pack, and there’s a link on that page to go to the training pack. And be sure to use the code LEADVILLE15 for a 15% discount on either of those boxes. Banjo Brothers At Leadville, and at any race, you will see riders with all sorts of crazy ways to carry their bike repair essentials. People tape or velcro stuff to top tubes, stems, seatposts and seat tubes. We say do yourself a favor, use our sponsor, Banjo Brothers, to get your flat fixing goodies strapped properly  to your bike. And not just your race bike, but your commuting bike and your bikepacking bike...and they’ve even got great backpacks and messenger bags for when you’ve got to carry bigger stuff. I've got a Banjo Brothers Bag  on every bike I have, and have been for a dozen years. They’re simple and they’re bombproof. They just work. To get 15% off your order, go to Banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites. ENVE I have ENVE wheels on my single speed setup. I have ENVE wheels on my hardtail setup. I have ENVE wheels on my full suspension setup. They are the very best wheels you can buy. They're very expensive, but they last forever (or if they don't, ENVE takes care of you pronto — they're the Nordstrom of the bike wheel world). Spend the money on a great set of wheels and watch them outlast the rest of your bike by a factor of two. F'reals.  

When Dave Wiens talks, Leadville racers listen. That's because they know that this six-time LT100 champion really knows his stuff, partly from having won this race so many times, and partly from having taught the Leadville 100 Camp of Champions several times. Chances are, if a racer has a question, he’s heard it. We get into bike choice, pacing, nutrition, the Race Across the Sky movies, Dave's up-close-and-personal view of Floyd Landis’ crash, and a lot more.

All of our episodes are "must-hear" episodes, but this is quite likely the most critical episode you can listen to this year. We've got an incredible interview with Dr Colin Grissom, a well-known pulmonologist with special expertise in exercise at high-altitude. If you're racing the LT100, you NEED to hear what he has to say. In Our Questions for the Queen segment, Rebecca Rusch gets gross, talking about how to keep going when you have GI issues. In our segment on The Course, we talk about road tactics on Hagerman, as what is often acknowledged as the best part of the race: Sugarloaf  Jonathan Lee’s training advice will — finally — cut you a little slack.  

In this episode we go to the buffet — it's the show almost ALL about food. Dr Kevin Sprouse — Medical Director for the EF Education First / Drapac presented by Cannondale Pro Cycling Team — has a practical prescription for your race nutrition, including changes you need to start making RIGHT NOW. Rebecca Rusch will reveal what’s in her feed bag in Our Questions for the Queen segment, then Fatty and Hottie talk about their respective Leadville menus (they're miles apart). We continue our mile-by-mile (or is that minute-by-minute?) analysis of the course, including pinpointing the first places you should get out something to eat. Finally, Jonathan Lee’s training advice for this show is going to have you outside on a long ride, putting everything you learned about eating in this show into practice. Since we talk about rice cakes very frequently during this episode, here's a recipe for rice cakes from Dr. Allen Lim (of Feed Zone Cookbook fame), originally posted in FatCyclist.com: Ingredients: 2 cups uncooked calrose or other medium-grain “sticky” or sushi rice (never use Basmati as it won’t stick.) 3 cups water (Fatty swaps chicken broth out for this) 8 ounces of bacon (prosciutto or sausage or even roasted chicken also works great) 4 eggs 4 tablespoons (or flavor to taste) of Braggs liquid Aminos (all natural soy sauce) or a low-sodium soy sauce 4 tablespoons (or flavor to taste) of brown sugar Ground sea salt and grated Parmesan (optional) Directions: Combine rice and water in a rice cooker. Start rice cooker. If using a standard pot, combine rice and water, bring to a boil, then let simmer on low for about 20 minutes. While rice is cooking, chop up bacon before frying, then fry in a medium sauté pan. When crispy, drain off fat and soak up excess fat with paper towels. Beat the eggs in a small bowl and tehn scramble on high heat in the sauté pan. Don’t worry about overcooking the eggs as they’ll break up easily when mixed with the rice. In a large bowl or in the rice cooker bowl, combine the cooked rice, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Add liquid aminos or soy sauce and sugar to taste. After mixing, press into an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan to about 1 ½ inch thickness. Top with more sugar, salt, and grated Parmesan if desired. Cut and wrap individual cakes in a paper foil like Martha Wrap™. Makes about 10 cakes. Thanks to Our Sponsors We went out of our way, for this podcast, to reach out exclusively to companies we actually love and buy stuff from ourselves. Which is to say, you won't find ads here for life insurance companies or mattresses or cooking kits that come to you in a box. Shimano: Shimano XT Di2 is glorious anywhere, but its magnificence really comes into play when you're 78 miles into a high-altitude race and are now at a part of the race where it would be really nice to shift pretty much constantly, precisely, and perfectly, without much effort. That's Shimano XT Di2. The Feed: The Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race is an eating contest disguised as a bike race, and you need to train for that eating contest. Get to know the good folks at The Feed and start using your race food plan now, before it's too late. Get yourself a Leadville race pack or training pack, and use the code LEADVILLE15 for a 15% discount! Banjo Brothers: A simple, sturdy, well-designed, time-tested saddle bag is a must during this race. Fatty's trusted Banjo Brothers bags on his LT100 bike race for more than a decade. ENVE: Whether you're thinking about your cockpit or your wheels, the Leadville 100 is the very definition of an ENVE dream scenario. I've got an M5 bar and M525 wheels on his bike and rides without fear of broken components or pinch flats.

In this episode, we talk about the endurance racer’s worst enemy: cramps. Fatty interviews Rebecca Rusch — The Queen of Pain — to get her tips on avoiding and surviving cramps, and Hottie and Fatty talk about our own experiences and expertise on dealing with cramps, too. We detail the dash for the Leadville City limits in our "The Course" segment, digging into the seven most important things you can know about in the first six miles of this race. You'll be astonished at how many of these tips are useful no matter what race you're doing. Finally, Coach Jonathan Lee of TrainerRoad talks about rest intervals, an often-neglected piece of getting real race fitness. If you've ever cramped — or would like to avoid them in the future — you should listen to this episode. And you should subscribe, too, because that will make us happy. Thanks to Our Sponsors We went out of our way, for this podcast, to reach out exclusively to companies we actually love and buy stuff from ourselves. Which is to say, you won't find ads here for life insurance companies or mattresses or cooking kits that come to you in a box. Shimano: Shimano XT Di2 is glorious anywhere, but its magnificence really comes into play when you're 78 miles into a high-altitude race and are now at a part of the race where it would be really nice to shift pretty much constantly, precisely, and perfectly, without much effort. That's Shimano XT Di2. The Feed: The Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race is an eating contest disguised as a bike race, and you need to train for that eating contest. Get to know the good folks at The Feed and start using your race food plan now, before it's too late. Banjo Brothers: A simple, sturdy, well-designed, time-tested saddle bag is a must during this race. Fatty's trusted Banjo Brothers bags on his LT100 bike race for more than a decade. ENVE: Whether you're thinking about your cockpit or your wheels, the Leadville 100 is the very definition of an ENVE dream scenario. I've got an M5 bar and M525 wheels on his bike and rides without fear of broken components or pinch flats.

We kick off Season 1 by addressing the question that keeps every Leadville 100 MTB racer up at night: "Can I finish this race?" Race founder Ken Chlouber has some wisdom to lend with his perspective. Rebecca Rusch launches her "Questions for the Queen" segment with advice on the most important thing you can do while training, during your taper, and during the race itself. Coach Jonathan Lee has training tips to get you caught up and launch your next phase of training. Finally, Fatty and Hottie get into their weekly deep-dive on the race course by detailing strategies for getting to the starting line ready for the race. We went out of our way, for this podcast, to reach out exclusively to companies we actually love and buy stuff from ourselves. Which is to say, you won't find ads here for life insurance companies or mattresses or cooking kits that come to you in a box.  Shimano: Shimano XT Di2 is glorious anywhere, but its magnificence really comes into play when you're 78 miles into a high-altitude race and are now at a part of the race where it would be really nice to shift pretty much constantly, precisely, and perfectly, without much effort. That's Shimano XT Di2. The Feed: The Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race is an eating contest disguised as a bike race, and you need to train for that eating contest. Get to know the good folks at The Feed and start using your race food plan now, before it's too late. Banjo Brothers: A simple, sturdy, well-designed, time-tested saddle bag is a must during this race. Fatty's trusted Banjo Brothers bags on his LT100 bike race for more than a decade. ENVE: Whether you're thinking about your cockpit or your wheels, the Leadville 100 is the very definition of an ENVE dream scenario. Fatty's got an M5 bar and 525 wheels on his bike and rides without fear of broken components or pinch flats.

[cherry_row] [cherry_col size_md="12"] Take a run with Ultra Stories as we discuss the true story of how the Leadville Trail 100-Mile Endurance Run was founded. In Part 2 of our interview with Dale "Sasquatch" Perry, we discuss Jim Butera.. the founder and original Race Director of the LT100. Jim was a well known Colorado race director in the early 1980s. He created the now defunct Colorado Ultra Club and the Moosejaw Ultra; and was the man who's dream and vision for a 100-mile race in Colorado's mountains got Leadville off the ground. Post interview, "Sherpa" John Lacroix and Hollis Lyman of HPRS bring it all together with hopes that the honest history of our sport can be preserved for generations to come. Show Links:Excerpt from October 1983 Ultrarunning Magazine - Leadville 100's first race report written by Race Director Jim Butera. Excerpt from October 1984 Ultrarunning Magazine - Mentions Jim Butera as founder and race director working in cooperation with Chlouber. Dave Combs April 1996 Cal 50 Race Report where he says, "The guy behind me came up and passed, and I just tagged along behind him toward the start/finish area. He was an interesting guy--Jim Butera, the founder of the Leadville 100." 5280 Magazine Article from June/July 2005 written by Chris McDougall talking about Ken Chlouber in detail while only briefly mentioning Jim Butera, yet discusses Jim and Ken's chance meeting in a Denver shoe store. Listed the year Ken moved to Leadville and started working in the mines as 1976. Sue Norwood's 2006 Leadville 100 Race Report which states "Jim Butera came up with an idea to put the town back on the map" and "Jim's idea of a trail ultra marathon that would start in Leadville, go out to the ghost town of Winfield, and return to Leadville started in 1983 with 45 runners and has mushroomed 24 years later into a popular, internationally-known race with over 500 participants. Jim was the first LT100 race director and still runs in the race; he is entered this year." --2010 Lifetime Fitness purchases Leadville Race Series-- --October 2012; Jim Butera Passes away and the story begins to change-- Leadville Herald Democrat from August 2013 reposting of an excerpt from the 1983 Herald Democrat which lists Ken Chlouber as a race sponsor, but Jim Butera as the "coordinator." Leadville Herald Democrat from August 8, 2013 where Jim Feistner (a 1984 Finisher of the event) wrote a letter to the editor to correct a report that the LT100 was started by Merilee Maupin; and he states, "The Leadville Trail 100 race came to be in 1983 and was the dream of founder and race director Jim Butera." --2013 Lifetime Fitness allows the Leadville Trail 100 to grow beyond it's means, starts almost 200 more runners then permits will allow, and chaos ensues-- Leadville Herald Democrat from October 2013 mentioning Jim Butera as coming "up with the idea of an ultra race in the Colorado Mountains, which became the Leadville Trail 100." --In the aftermath of 2013, Lifetime Fitness decides to go back to the races roots, celebrating Ken Chlouber as the sole founder, and use this marketing ploy as a way to save face and regain lost participants-- Trailrunner Magazine Article from February 24, 2014 written by Yitka Winn where she states Ken Chlouber "co-founded the LT100 with Colorado Ultra Club’s then-president Jim Butera." Yitka has since been blackballed in Leadville due to Ken's anger over her writing this. Trailrunner Magazine from a September 12, 2014 article written by Garett Graubins "True Grit: The Man Who Founded Leadville." Article lists 1974 as the year Chlouber moved to Leadville, contradicting the 2005 article written by McDougall that states 1976. Article also points out where Chlouber calls the Governor of Colorado "a dickhead" and his disparaging nickname for Dean Karnazes, "O-fer." No mention anywhere of Jim Butera and is the first time Jim has been completely erased from the history. May 24, 2016 Daily News from UltraRunnerPodcast which points towards the October 1984 Edition of Ultrarunning Magazine. In the comments from URPs daily news someone writes, "Interesting to read the copy of the Ultrarunning Magazine from 1984. I see in the Trail section of the Ultrarunning Calendar on page 58 it shows Jim Butera of the Colorado Ultra Club as the contact/director of the Leadville Trail 100." 2017 Hinsdale County Site Development Report mentioning LT100 being started by both Jim Butera and Ken Chlouber. 2017 Leadville Trail 100 Runner's Manual by Lifetime Fitness... In his open letter to runners, Ken Chlouber lists himself and Marilee as the founders of the event in 1982 (prior to the mine closing and instead of 1983) and makes no mention of Jim Butera. January 4, 2018 article for REI Co-op Journal completely void of any mention of Jim Butera, and states "That's when Chlouber had an idea, one potentially grand enough to put Leadville on the map: "What about a 100-mile race?" Further removing Jim as the founder and visionary for the 100 mile run. Also note that it says, "The first race in 1983 had 49 entrants, 10 of whom managed to cross the finish line. Among them was Chlouber himself, who traded his shovel and dynamite for sneakers and trail shoes." The race had 44 starters (not 49) and Ken Chlouber does not appear in the official results (see 1983 Ultrarunning Magazine excerpt above).  Leadville Race Series Lifetime Fitness Events (owners and directors of the LT100) The Ultra List Download This Episode [/cherry_col] [/cherry_row]

After some time to reflect and decompress, I've got some more thoughts about the 2017 Leadville 100 Run

After some time to reflect and decompress, I've got some more thoughts about the 2017 Leadville 100 Run

Episode 7 - Letting go of 2014 and excepting 2017 for what it is and been 100% confident to toe the line on August 19

Episode 7 - Letting go of 2014 and excepting 2017 for what it is and been 100% confident to toe the line on August 19

Live from the Cloud City, training recap with 17 days to go

Live from the Cloud City, training recap with 17 days to go

The Pro-Roadie turnout at the Leadville Trail 100 got a lesson in altitude and fortitude. The Paceline breaks down how the boys who favor skinnies did in the thin air of the Rockies. Fatty had another day to remember at the LT100. This was his 20th start. He had one...