...to get to the start line. Then I will attempt to ride this...
The SR50 is one of 5 nationwide qualifiers for the Leadville 100 race in August. The LT100 is a "bucket list" ride for many. Until late last spring, it wasn't even on the radar. But when several of my racing buddies from Austin qualified, I decided to check it out. It so happened that Aaron and I would be heading to Colorado about the time of the Silver Rush. He would be getting off the mountain from his Wilderness Trek trip on July 11th in Salida. The SR was on July 13th only an hour north in Leadville. Hmmm. Why the heck not? I decided to train for the SR and make a go of it. If I qualified, awesome. If not, the 50 miler in Leadville would have to be epic enough.
(The boys had a great trip and are home safe.)
Some novice nerves have tried to set in, but I'm doing my best to remember my motto for the race: Stay positive and keep moving. Even though I've never raced in the mountains, never raced at altitude, never raced against pros, never raced with 2-way traffic, I'm hoping to simply enjoy the experience.
Since I won't have many pictures from the event, I decided to take my time on my "scout trip" from a couple of days ago and snap some photos.
After stopping by the local bike shop to pick up a map of the race course, I ventured to the start/finish area at the Cloud City Ski Hut.
Several locals had told me the first few miles after the start is confusing. Even with the map, I would have never figured it out. But I was in luck. Art, the very guy that is in charge of marking all the courses for the Leadville races, happened to be close to the start area. I joined him and a pro rider, Ben Bostrom (I just googled him...he has his own Wikipedia page. He was interviewed for Bike Magazine. Crazy to be on a course with the likes of these) who was also out pre-riding, to get a guided tour of the turns to look out for at the beginning. After a few miles of relatively tame terrain, Ben continued on (to do the entire 46 miles on only one water bottle) Art and I returned so I could see what the finish would look like.
I chatted with Art a bit, then loaded my bike and drove to the turn around point 23 trail miles away (not too far by car, cutting back through town). I had asked in the local bike shop if there were any sections of trail that were the most important to pre-ride, and I heard a couple of times that there was one gnarly descent. Not wanting to wear myself out, but needing to see enough of the course to be mentally ready, I found the section the locals were talking about. Since the course is an out-and-back, I started going up the long descent. I quickly found myself off the bike pushing it uphill. Going back down was a bit hairy, especially knowing that on race day there will be 2-way traffic to watch out for.
The part I'm most nervous about are the turns on these downhills. At high speeds, it's not easy to hold the right "rut" in the road. We'll see...I'll try to remember some advice I heard for the 100: "You won't win the race on the downhills, but you sure can lose it." In other words, keep rubber side down.
I traversed back to the double track and checked my map. Again. I'm hoping the pink ribbons will be easy to spot come race day. Sure is a beautiful place to get lost though:)
At the top of this ridge is a perfect wall of snow.
Safely back in Leadville, I snapped this shot of this church with the clouds and skyline behind it.
I'm loving the great pizza that is found in every small mountain town.
The day ended back in Salida. There was rain on Mt. Shavano, but the sun refused to be shut out. Even though I'm getting ready for a race in two days, my soul is at peace knowing that whatever happens, life is good.
No comments:
Post a Comment