Overview
We 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 course
- Is Leadville a drop-bar bike course?
- Best Bike Setup for Leadville 100
- How much suspension do you need?
- Bottles or hydration pack?
- What about a hardtail MTB?
- Wheels and Tires for Leadville 100
- Crank length for mountain biking
- MTB, Gravel, or Road shoes and pedals?
- Training and Nutrition tips for Leadville 100
LINKS
- 5 Race Bikes from the 2022 Leadville 100 - Pinkbike
- Tech Week – Bike & Tire Guide for the Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB
- Roundup: The mountain bikes of Leadville - Velo
- XC vs Trail Bike Geo: Trail vs cross-country mountain bikes: Which is right for you? | BikeRadar
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Guest
Jim 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.
Host
Adam 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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the team at CTS.
This is the Time Crunch Cyclistpodcast, our show dedicated to
answering your trainingquestions and providing
actionable advice to help youimprove your performance even if
you're strapped for time.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford, and I'm one of the over
50 professional coaches whomake up the team at CTS.
In each episode, I draw on ourteam's collective knowledge,
(00:30):
other coaches and experts in thefield to provide you with the
practical ways to get the mostout of your training and
ultimately become the bestcyclist that you can be.
Now on to our show.
Now onto our show.
What's the perfect bike for theLeadville Trail 100 mountain
(00:52):
bike race?
That's a common question foranyone dreaming of doing the
race and a hotly contesteddebate for those having raced it
before.
But with so many mountain bikeson the market out there from XC
to downcountry enduro, allmountain it's easy to overthink
it.
Choose right, and you'llincrease your chances of having
a good day out there.
(01:13):
Choose wrong, and you couldjust be fighting your bike for
100 miles instead of gettingthat belt buckle or simply
enjoying the race across the sky.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford, and today we're
breaking it all down forendurance, mountain bike setups
what bike actually gives you thebest chance of success at
Leadville Full suspension orhardtail, drop or post or not?
(01:35):
And how do the demands of thishigh altitude endurance race
shape your setup?
To help answer these questionsand more, I'm joined with Jim
Ruttberg, author, bike racerfather and the guy who really
makes this podcast happen.
Jim, or Ruddy as we like tocall him, has been around the
Leadville scene for years andwe'll talk about how many times
(01:58):
he's actually raced this thing,but we're going to be talking
about and picking his brain onthe best bike setup here.
So ready, welcome back.
Hey, thank you, yeah, so, um, Idon't know.
Straight to the point, whatbike is the best setup for for
Leadville?
Just shooting right down thehip here.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, you know, the the reason that you and I talked
about doing this podcast wasthat we were looking at, um, you
know, other content that wasout there, and we actually got a
question from one of the CTScoaches who has an athlete who
is going to be doing Leadville,and they said, hey, you know
what, what should I recommendfor this athlete who's going to
do it for their first time?
And the comparison between thecontent that's out there, which
(02:37):
is awesome, really great content, and then what really works for
the, the regular athletes.
So, and then what really worksfor the regular athlete.
So, you know, we have thecontent out there from the pros,
essentially, and here'severybody's race set up, etc.
But then there's 2,000 otherpeople who are behind the pros
(02:58):
and what are they racing?
And so the trend right now is,you know, is it drop bar, is it
minimal suspension, is it theaero component of doing
Leadville in six hours orsomething like that?
And then you go well, yeah, butfor a normal person who's
either just trying to finish in12 hours or they're going to be
sort of in the middle of thegroup in 10 hours, or they're
(03:19):
going for a sub nine, that setupand that scenario is very, very
different than if you're goingfor six hours or you're really
trying to um, you know, go atthe very high end of the of the
tech spectrum, yeah, yeah, andwith that I mean it's like to
answer the question, uh, and todo it justice, it will take a
(03:41):
full podcast because there'sthat many variables that
actually go into it, includingjust the demands of the event
itself.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So I would say let's let's maybe first talk about
that and kind of drum up thefear inside people of those who
have actually registered anddon't know what they registered
for.
Then we'll kind of like segueinto the best setup and I'll
just like roll through my, myopinion, um, from times I've
raced it, and then we'll talkabout some fueling, we'll talk
about training, because ofcourse got to give some tips out
(04:10):
there.
So now, how many times did youdo it?
Uh, I've, I've only done itthree, as opposed to yourself,
who has done it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
So you have.
You have your proof of your,your proof, in the behind you
there right here, right next tomy Breck.
Epic belt buckle Right, andthen that's the sub-nine buckle
so you're a fast guy.
I was not very.
I have one sub-nine, but thiswas my proof of expertise, so to
speak, or the 1,000-mile bucklefor 10 finishes and I have to
(04:44):
get to, uh, get to, however youwant to phrase it.
Um, race Leadville again thisyear because my son is riding
his first as an 18 year old and,um, he's always wanted to race
Leadville with me as cause.
He was in the pits when I wasdoing it as when he was a kid.
So he got in and I was like, ohshoot, now I got to ride
(05:06):
Leadville again.
Um, so I will be at least onthe start line with him.
I'm going to be nowhere nearhim anywhere during the race,
but uh, theoretically we'll beracing Leadville together.
You got to get your training on.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I know, well, that's awesome.
Yeah, I didn't know that youwere going to ride it again.
So good luck to you and uh andOliver.
Um, yeah, so Leadville, it's awild beast and I I throw some
shade at it because it's gottenso big and it's it's legendary
for its own right, but I'venever you never have an easy day
(05:42):
at Leadville, and the reasonfor that is it is so hard, but
the environment is sochallenging.
It's it's high altitude orextreme altitude, according to
how we gauge things as exercisephysiologists.
So how high are we talking here?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Anywhere from minimum of about 9,500 feet up to
12,600 feet, um, and you havemultiple passes within that.
So the the sort of baseelevation is right around 10 and
then you go up above 11 once ortwice and then up to 12, six,
um, so yeah, it's, the altitudeis a challenge.
(06:18):
Um, I think to your point ofkind of people either
downplaying Leadville sometimes,um, they'll say, well, it's
really not a mountain biker'scourse, it's kind of a dirt road
with a smooth line in.
It is a lot of times how I'vekind of phrased it because it's
not a highly technical mountainbike course for the most part.
However, when you have to rideany of those conditions for that
(06:44):
many hours and at altitude andwith the weather and with 2,000
other people, it can get quitechallenging.
And, as you said, it's similarto.
You know, we talk a lot aboutultramarathon and some of the
other sports that we've coachedathletes, for it has more in
(07:04):
common sometimes with thosesports because it's a hydration,
nutrition challenge, it's apacing challenge, it's a mental
challenge.
The writing itself is not maybethe biggest uh challenge of the
of the event, it's everythingelse that goes into it yeah,
yeah, spot on.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And I think too, it's like it long, right, like nine
hours is fast, right, so in theway of the ultra endurance I
mean it is.
It is very challenging, um, andeven at the fittest of like fit
years ready, where you went subnine maybe that wasn't your
fittest year, but like was itstill hard when you were at your
(07:43):
fittest maybe that wasn't yourfittest year, but like, was it
still hard when you were at yourfittest?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The thing that was most surprising to me was that I
did.
I rode the race 10 times and Ithere were a number of years
where I was in that sort of justover nine hours, somewhere
between nine, 10 and nine, 20,something like that.
The effort required the oneyear that I went sub nine was
exponentially harder.
To go 20 minutes faster, like Idon't think it's a matter of
(08:12):
incrementally more difficult, Iturned myself inside out just
trying to get under nine hours.
Where had I had a relatively,you know, not easy, but had the
effort required to do nine?
15 versus eight, 46 was nightand day.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yes, and in two to shape up some of the like.
If you've never raised thealtitude before, I think a lot
of people have maybe taken skivacations where they go skiing
in Breckenridge or or veil orsomething like that, and those
are going to be around that samekind of 9,000, 10,000 feet,
maybe at the base of themountain.
You might take the gondola up alittle bit higher, but even
(08:54):
walking steps right, you walk inthe steps of your condo at
9,000 feet people get out ofbreath.
Now you have to ride your bikefor a hundred miles on a
mountain bike and it's superchallenging.
So in that way, yeah, it's nottechnical relative to BC bike
race or Breck Epic or some ofthese other things, but it's my
(09:16):
opinion, not a drop bar sort ofbike course.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
It's only a drop bar bike course if you are really
truly going for a top 10, top 20overall kind of finish.
And I think when you look atthe Keegan Swenson's Dylan
Johnson sort of that level ofrider.
(09:41):
They're going so fast thataerodynamics is really a
challenge because, um, it's ahundred miles and a lot of the
of the course is flat, uh, the,the all of those flat road
sections, dirt road sections,between the big climbs, you've,
in order to do a six hour, sixand a half, seven hour Leadville
, you've got to be hauling atthe on those sections.
(10:03):
Leadville, you've got to behauling at the on those sections
, um, and what used to happen isthat, uh, people just struggle
to get low enough, um, on a flatbar bike, so they're all,
they're tucked as far as theycan go and it's uncomfortable
and everything.
I mean you used to see thefolks with their, you know,
holding onto the four crowns,which I always thought was
insane.
Um, you know, holding onto thefork crowns which.
(10:26):
I always thought was insane.
Um, but people would, would tryit.
Yeah, and I think the drop barcomponent for um for Leadville
really is more of anaerodynamics thing.
Like you, you the controlaspect isn't so dramatic because
the course isn't so technicalthat you can't control the bike
with a narrow drop bar.
Um, and the ability tocomfortably get into a lower
(10:48):
position and more aerodynamicposition is worth the effort at
that point.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, so I guess for the pros at the tippy tippy top,
sure they can do that.
There's still, there's stillsome flat bar people in the top
20.
So it's not like flat bars areslow.
Still, there's still some flatbar people in the top 20.
So it's not like flat bars areslow.
And I think too and I thinkyou'll agree with this is like
99% of the people listening tothis podcast.
(11:14):
My recommendation is should notbe on drop bars, not be on drop
, but they should be on a propermountain bike.
So let's talk about what thatproper mountain bike setup looks
like.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So here's the crux of it.
The biggest thing I think thatcripples people during Leadville
is their back, is the corestrength, fatigue and whether or
not your back is able to handlethe the uh rattling and the
rough course.
So if your back fatigues to thepoint that you just have zero
(11:44):
power left because your core isso worked that you're just done
or you're sore and you have toconstantly sit up and stretch
and get off the bike and allthese kinds of things, that's
what I think takes people from asub nine to a nine, 30 or 10
hour finish and it's what takesdefinitely takes people from a
(12:04):
10 and a half or 11 hour finishto a.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I didn't finish at all, yeah, so comfort right, the
, the, the bike that feels thebest is is well, there's more to
it than that, but that's goingto sit more to it than that.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
But I think that one of the things that I mean this
is the reason why you startedout asking sort of what is the
perfect bike for Leadville?
For 99% of the people I wouldsay a cross country dual
suspension is your best bet,certainly if you're trying to
finish and you're not certainthat you're going to finish.
So anybody who's aiming at kindof a 10 plus hour ride, I would
(12:43):
say should be on a dualsuspension cross country rig.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Fully agree.
So a little bit more on.
That is full suspension.
You should be looking at like ahundred to 120 mil of travel
upfront, maybe 75 to a hundredmil in the rear.
So that would look like thelike the S works, uh, world cup.
I think that's the latest onewith its 75 mil.
The Giant Anthem, for example,that would be another one.
(13:08):
The Canyon Lux, the LuxCross-country Will work Bikes
like that.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
The Trek has the.
Is it Super Caliber at thispoint?
Yep.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Super Caliber?
Yep, exactly, and, in myopinion, the bike.
So that's your front, that'syour full suspension setup.
So, squishy in the front,squishy in the back, try to get
one with two water bottle cages,yes, which is tricky, for for
some full suspension bikes outthere, they all don't come with
them, but like when you go intothe local bike shop and they're
(13:43):
like, oh, this is super fast andKeegan rates this and whatever.
Like two water bottle cages,why do we want that ready?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
What's so important stations, and they're roughly 20
miles, 25 miles apart, that ifyou're on a reasonable pace you
can usually ride um with justspeed bottles, as opposed to
having to wear a pack.
Um, now again, we were talkingabout the folks at the very tip
(14:21):
top of the course.
A lot of them are.
Some of them are riding withpacks so that they have no doubt
as to whether or not they canget fluids or not.
Um, so there is a lot ofvariability as to are you
comfortable riding with a with apack?
I can't.
I, I'm personally just I don'tlike it Um, if I can avoid it.
So, um, now, my son, oliver,who has is in this newer
(14:44):
generation and they wearhydration packs everywhere.
He's perfectly comfortable withit.
So maybe he'll do it Um and I,and he's also trying to go a lot
faster.
But if you're in the kind ofthat middle portion of the of
the pack, especially if you'rewanting to be able to change
what's in your fluids you know Iwant a hydration mix here, I
want water here, I wantelectrolytes there Then, um,
(15:07):
bottles are a lot more adaptablefrom that standpoint.
Um, so yeah, I was definitely.
I would definitely recommendbikes that have two bottles.
The one segment of the coursethat can be a little bit
different, for that is the climbto Columbine Mine, because
depending on what pace you'regoing to be doing for that, it
(15:28):
may require a third bottle.
So there were times where Iwould pick up a third bottle and
put it in my jersey pocket todo that climb.
Um, on the slower years Uh,there is an aid station at the
summit but, uh, by that pointyou're just going to bomb down
the thing and really not drink awhole lot anyway.
Um, but if you need, if it'sgoing to be more than two hours
(15:48):
or something going uphill, uh,to get to the turnaround that
that was the one spot thateither people would take a pack
or stuff a third bottle intoyour pocket.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, I agree with that, and there's no shade
thrown to the hardtails outthere.
A hardtail mountain bike isstill a great bike.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
If you have the core strength and you've done the
work and you're comfortable on ahardtail, it will most likely
be a little bit faster.
I mean unless your back givesout it's lighter tail, it will
most likely be a little bitfaster.
I mean, unless your back islighter, um, and then some of
the bikes that have have, youknow, very minimal rear
suspension just to take the edgeoff a little bit um can work
very well.
Slightly larger tire, um and Ithink we're probably going to
(16:31):
end up talking at some pointabout tire choice and pressure
and all of those kinds of thingsbut a hard tail with a just a
bigger volume tire that givesyou a little bit of, uh, extra
squish, can be a fast solution.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, and I think for me personally if I was going
hard tail it's already lighterand I might even do a dropper on
a hard tail.
I wouldn't do a dropper on afull suspension.
But that's also.
I think that's a personalpreference on my end and if
you're running like SRAM or somewireless dropper, you can
essentially have two seat posts,swap them out very easily and
(17:08):
depending on how you ride.
The reason I say dropper onhardtail is hardtail is going to
beat you up for nine hours, 10hours, 12 hours, whatever.
And if you can drop that on thedescents you start to soak up
the bumps with your legs alittle bit better, as opposed to
on a full suspension wherethat'll get kind of soaking or
soaked up through the bike.
So that would be like a verynuanced kind of like personal
(17:30):
preference on my end.
Droppers are hot but they areheavy, so just kind of know that
.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, and I think that the some of that also is
that there's a practical orpragmatic component to that,
like if your bike has a uh,internally routed um dropper
post and it's you're not doingit on your own you could remove
it, but it's going to be a kindof a pain and and you have to
(17:57):
evaluate whether it's worth themoney, time, hassle to swap it
out for a non-dropper post forone event.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So Leadville is not a dropper course, but the reason
I mentioned it is, let's justsay, you're going to sink in 5k
to or more to this mountain bike, going to sink in 5k to or more
to this mountain bike.
I think having a dropper postis way more fun.
So, in the way of versatility,uh, if you're buying a new bike,
plan ahead and maybe you havetwo seat post uh options,
(18:29):
because having a dropper 364, uhdays a year going to be super
cool, throw it out for this onerace, all good.
So all that to say, we're nottalking about, uh, dropper posts
for leadville any longer thanthis.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
but wheels, 29 inch wheels, I don't think yeah, I
mean, I think, 29 inch wheels Idon't.
It's very difficult to getanything that that doesn't have
29 inch wheels, unless it's a150 mil travel uh type bike.
Um, now, the smaller, the verysmall frames I think are still
(19:03):
using 27, five, um, yeah, whichprobably does make sense.
So I think it's, whereappropriate, at 27, five for a
smaller rider a smaller framemakes sense, but 29 for certain.
And then the tire width I thinkyou know it's again 2.4s seem
to be pretty much, uh, uh,almost standard.
(19:23):
Again, on a hardtail maybe yougo up a little bit, um, as well.
What I would say is that and Isaw this recently, uh, in the
conversation about mountain bikeor or larger tires for gravel,
uh races, and then one of therationales was that gravel tires
, being more robust, tend to beheavy, the casings are thick,
(19:46):
all of those kinds of things,and a lightweight cross country
mountain bike tire is thinnerand some and can be lighter than
the gravel tire, etc.
So that brings up the questionof how robust a tire do you need
for Leadville?
Do you need downhill burly kindof major tread kind of tires?
(20:08):
I think you can get away with amoderate XC tire.
The course, is not sort of softand loamy or sandy, it's pretty
much gravel and hard pack typesurface.
I think some traction is goodFor most people.
I don't think like a file treadreally East Coast cross country
(20:31):
or Midwest cross country tireis probably great.
So some tread I think is good.
But I don't think you needburly big knob downhill tractor
tires.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I mean me personally, I'll take a little extra rubber
on the sidewalls for anymountain bike course because not
getting a puncture is going tobe way faster than saving a
little bit of weight.
So my two go-to tires forLeadville would be like the
Kenda Booster or the Maxxis Icon.
Those are two like still hastread.
(21:04):
They're not super knobby,they're not crazy.
But then they have the Kenda.
Just look for their sidewallprotection.
I think you look for that.
It's extra security.
But you still have to know howto ride your bike.
You still have to know how totake smooth lines.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Well, and that's the nice thing with Leadville, which
is a little bit strange I havealways used to refer to
Leadville as single track withoptions there is a smooth line.
Even though the road is 10 feetwide, there is a smooth line
and you can see it quite clearlybecause that's where the other
2000 people have gone for thelast you know however many
(21:41):
months during the summer inrecon courses and all these
kinds of things Like there is apretty notable smooth line that
everyone's going to take.
The thing is that if theconsequences of going off the
line are not that great, you canmess up and take a turn too
wide or too narrow or whateverelse, and not hit a tree because
(22:02):
it's not single track, um, butyou'll see where that smoother
line is and where you're goingto get outside of the line and
perhaps, uh, run into somebigger kind of rocks.
But that smooth line tends toalso be a safe line to take
because it's it's been thechoice of people you know over
and over again.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah for sure.
So I think it kind ofsummarized the wheel situation.
I go carbon lightweight wheel,go pretty light there and
everybody's going wider as well,so you can get away with in in.
They're optimized for like 2.4,uh mountain bike tires.
So a nice light, stiff uh 29inch wheel setup, get a little
(22:43):
extra rubber in the tires and Ithink that's like the perfect
race wheel setup to go alongwith that.
Um XC geometry and and onequick word on the uh cross
country mountain bike geometryit's so I'll link to an article
here if any nerd wants to knowwhat the differences are between
(23:04):
some of these head tube andseat tube angles.
In short, that cross-countrygeo is going to be optimized for
climbing and power productionas well as being comfortable
over time.
Keep in mind you're going beclimbing what 13,000 feet at
Leadville it's a lot and as aeroas some people want to be in
(23:27):
those road sections and whatnot,that's still a shit ton of
climbing man.
So having something that setsyou up well for comfortable
climbing on the day, give methat all day.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
To that point too, I'm a fan of lockouts.
So what does the lockout do?
Explain?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
that.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
So, depending on, some of them are just
open-closed, and then some ofthem are three-position, where
it's fully open, a cross-countrysetup which just kind of
tightens up the suspension a bit, and then total lockout where
there's a well, I mean it's justthere is no suspension Um, and
usually they'll have a blow outor a blow through kind of
(24:05):
threshold for that, like, if youhit something big enough it'll
still give you suspension.
But for the climbing, forinstance, having if you have a
um, a hundred or 120 mil umsuspension fork and you want to
get out of the saddle and you'rebobbing up and down when you're
climbing and you're not lockedout, you're losing watts.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
If it is like a paved climb or like a steady climb,
in that, in that sort of thing,if it's a technical climb,
that's when you want moresuspension, cause that'll
actually, or your suspensionopen, cause that'll actually
help you climb a little bitbetter.
So I think it's reallyimportant to mention all this
because there's a whole culture,there's a whole section of of
trail riders out there thatdon't even know that lockout
(24:50):
exists or is an option for,because some of those enduro
bikes all mountain bikes, downcountry bikes they come with no
option of that.
Cross country bikes do.
So there again, when you'rechoosing, choose wisely, because
you get on that thing andyou're going to go climbing,
stand up, get out of the saddle.
You're going to be losing somuch power production, so much
efficiency by having thesuspension be sloppy on those
(25:15):
climbs.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, and the biggest climbs at Leadville are smooth
yeah exactly.
So the Hagerman Pass climb hassome technical bumps in it
essentially, but not very much.
The majority of the climb upColumbine is a relatively smooth
dirt road.
The very top of Columbine isnarrower but honestly, if you're
(25:38):
not in the sub nine group,you're not riding it anyway,
because it's a Congo line ofpeople walking.
Um, and then the one that getspeople.
I mean, obviously there's the,there's the climate power line,
which there's a little bit of awalking section for most people
at the very beginning of it andthen you can ride the rest of it
.
(25:58):
Um, it's slow going by thatpoint, cause you're 80 miles in
Um and then there's a road climb, a absolutely paved, smooth as
glass road climb that peoplesort of forget about, but it's a
20 minute climb for most people.
Um, and if, if you can, it'swhere you can really make up
(26:19):
time or lose a lot of timebecause, um, if you're, if you
sort of forget that it's thereand you kind of crawl up the
thing it's, it can cost you time.
If you recognize that it'sthere, you eat well and hydrate
well and recognize that it'ssmooth, then you can, if you can
stay on the pace, you canactually make up some time there
(26:40):
.
It's a good place to to havesome gas.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah, yeah, agree.
So finally, to kind of roundoff the whole bike setup, I
won't spend a ton of time herebut on the drive train.
I'm a SRAM guy all day one by.
Personally, I don't think youneed more than that, and I think
on the mountain bike side ofthings, two buy is overkill, but
kick it over to you.
Can you even find a two?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
buy anymore.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I don't know, man, I haven't seen one in the last six
, seven years.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Yeah no, I think that the drivetrains are almost
universally one buys.
I think the interesting thingthis year, or the last couple of
years probably, is the wholecrank length discussion With
Leadville.
There's not a whole lot ofconcern about pedal strikes
because the higher bottombracket or shorter cranks to
(27:32):
avoid pedal strikes is probablynot a big deal and the evidence
seems pretty good on the ideathat shortening your crank is
not going to lower your powerproduction or this idea of
longer lever arm is going to bemore powerful.
It seems pretty clear that inthe relative lengths that we're
talking going from 175, 172.5down to 170, you're not going to
(27:57):
lose any power.
You may gain some ability tokeep your cadence a little bit
higher because your feet arejust traveling in a smaller
circle.
And then I guess it's probablyless important on the mountain
bike from the hip anglestandpoint, because I think the
discussion on the road andgravel racing scenes with
(28:18):
shorter crank arms has been thatyou can reduce the trunk angle
because you're not kneeingyourself in the chest as much or
bringing your thigh up as high.
I don't know that that's asmuch of a concern on mountain
bike, just because the positiontends to be more upright to
begin with.
Yeah, not as big of a concern,but I would say in general, not
going to the extreme end ofthings like 140s, but I would
(28:41):
say a little shorter the better,because the torque and the
leverage that we once thoughtwas a thing with the longer
crank arms not really a thingthat I think is relevant
potentially for this audience isthey've gone to maybe they've
gone on the road or gravel to ashorter crank and now they're
(29:02):
riding 167, fives or 165s theirmountain bike, which they
haven't touched in a while andis a medium or a large mountain
bike and came with OEM 175millimeter cranks.
Do they need to match?
Do they need to at leastshorten, you know, reduce,
narrow the gap between the two?
Or does it not matter if you'reriding, you know, 165 on the
(29:29):
road and a 175 on the mountainbike, because that seems
intuitively like a pretty bigjump?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, I mean I, I would definitely go to your
local bike fitter to get someprofessional advice on that
personally, and my advice that Igive to my athletes is try to
be as consistent as you can,because there's neuromuscular
patterns that occur with your uh, with your uh pedal stroke and
(29:59):
if you're all over the place,from one 65, all the way up to
one 75 and all this stuff in themiddle it's.
I don't have any data to linkto or anything like this.
I will try to find it.
But what we do know is thatpatterning that occurs is
(30:19):
important in the way of how youproduce your pet, your power,
and I would say anyone who kindof has those bikes that goes
from one 75 down to even one 70,you're going to feel that it
feels a little bit morelaborsome to push that 175.
So me personally, I've moved to170s on all my mountain bike
(30:42):
stuff and I'm still 172.5 ongravel and road.
I think too, the other importantaspect is if you're putting
power meters on all these bikestoo, you got to make some
decision on where you want toland and how much money you want
to spend swapping cranks andgoing with power meters.
So I would say, if you are toerror, especially in the
(31:03):
mountain bike, go a littleshorter.
And if you haven't touched thatmountain bike in a while maybe
it is a little older you'relooking for an upgrade I
wouldn't stick with the 175, butgo to the bike shop or go to
the local bike fit specialist,Cause they'll be able to give
you even better informationabout why you should need what
you need, and it's also relativeto how you sit on the bike and
(31:26):
what the angular measurementsare for.
Like you as an individual, I dothink, like smaller people,
people with shorter legs,they're going to feel way more
comfortable on the shortercranks.
If you have a size large andyou're a big person and you're
taller, the 175s may work justfine.
So I do think you should go geta bike fit for that.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
My solution, honestly , for the uh well, one solution
for the power meter conundrum onthat standpoint has been going
with a power pedal.
I've been using the SRMmountain bike pedals and I just
swap them between road, mountaingravel and so it's one pair of
pedals.
I only wear mountain bike shoes.
(32:08):
Mountain bike shoes at thispoint are a high-end.
One is so light and I'm notracing road that to me it allows
me to keep all of themeasurements on the bikes very
similar, because I'm notconcerned about well, the road
shoes have a different stackheight and the pedal has a
different stack height, and soif it's the road shoe and the
road pedal, my saddle height isthis, and keeping one shoe and
(32:30):
one pedal across all bikes hasbeen really nice.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
It's a pragmatic approach, for sure, but to that
point I mean.
So when we're talking aboutefficiency in the bike and the
equipment and the gear, I mean,on the bike side of things,
lightweight, full suspension,super efficient shoes.
Let's talk about some of theseother efficiencies, because road
(32:56):
shoes or mountain bike shoes orgravel shoes for Leadville,
what should we do?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
A gravel shoe and a mountain bike shoe, as far as
I'm concerned, are pretty muchthe same thing, marketed
differently.
But I think the key is you'regoing to walk, unless you are at
the very tippy top of the field.
Um, you're going to walk at thetop of Columbine because it
just turns into a Congo line, um, and you may be walking for
(33:22):
half an hour kind of thing, um,and then you're going to walk on
power line.
Almost everybody walks on powerline on the way inbound, um,
and where else are you going towalk?
Oh well, depending on how,where you are on the start, uh,
you may end up walking on StKeevan's outbound as well.
So road shoes, I think, are anon-starter.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
You're, you're going to be off the bike and walking,
um, yeah, and I'll just chime inand say here's a quick uh coach
tip Since you're going to bewalking that much in the race
itself, you should probably dosome hike a bike in your
training.
It's not fun and the way to doit is you find some stupid steep
thing that's maybe really funto come down, ride up as much as
(34:07):
you can, unclip and startpushing.
And that pushing because you goback to what Ruddy was saying
about if your back hurts, ifyour hands hurt, all this kind
of stuff.
If you're not used to pushingyour bike in goofy bike shoes up
a loose over hard pack trailwith a bunch of other people
around you, it's really not fun,it's stressful, it's hard.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I lost so much time pushing the bike in a number of
those years, um, because I'm notgood at pushing bikes I have
not to your point, I haven'treally practiced it.
Um, and I would get to the topof Columbine and I found that I
was taking these short little,tiny steps and the person
passing me was taking longerstrides and was more, you know,
(34:50):
better at walking with a bicyclethan I was.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Get efficient with it .
So what Rudy's talking aboutunclip, be smooth and just start
pushing the bike.
Two wheels on the ground.
Push, push, push and watch yourheart rate.
I would say for your Wahoo orGarmin devices don't use auto
pause, because if you stopriding you're going so slow and
you're not pedaling.
(35:14):
Your device thinks you'repaused, so take that off auto
pause because you want tocapture the heart rate and the
training stress and everythingthat occurs with that.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Well, the other reason you want to take it off
auto pause is if you stop at aidstations and the timer on the
device pauses.
That's not your time.
That's not your elapsed timeanymore.
Pauses that's not your time.
That's not your elapsed timeanymore.
Um, the the timing forLeadville is when you roll
across the line to when you rollback in, and it doesn't take a
pause there for for stoppages.
(35:43):
So if you're concernedespecially on time cuts and on
um pacing schedules and thingslike that, you need to keep a
watch that is constantly runningbecause it's real time.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah.
One final word on shoes Again.
I think they got to be mountainbike or gravel whatever.
And those shoes you know, shoesthese days are way more
efficient than back 10 years agowhen we were doing Leadville
camps as CTS out there on theLeadville course.
But we had one guy show up oneyear in road shoes and he was
(36:19):
fast.
He was a properly fast guy andthat was his strategy for race
day.
We said, hey, I don't think youshould.
He's like no, I'm going to dolike a sub eight or something
like that.
He didn't finish that yearbecause he was going fast, he
was going good, but when he didhave to hike he couldn't get up
power line with road shoes.
(36:40):
It just was not doable.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
And to that point too , if you haven't walked in your
mountain bike shoes because youlive somewhere where you don't
really ever have to unclip, makesure you can actually hike and
push a bike up a hill for a longperiod of time in them without
getting ridiculous blisters orreally painful um feet.
So in some cases the gravelshoes, for instance, can be a
(37:05):
little bit um more forgivingfrom that standpoint.
They tend to have a little bitmore flex and I think that the
toe area tends to be a littlebit more slanted upward as
opposed to a strict racing crosscountry shoe.
Um.
So that may be um a good option, especially cause you know that
the places you're going to bewalking are all uphill.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Exactly, exactly, all right, ready.
In the spirit of the timecrunch cyclist podcast that we
have here, we're going prettylong, long.
I would be remiss to not talkor mention fueling specifically
for Leadville, because it issuch a huge component to the
race.
This podcast was intended tojust talk about the bike setup,
(37:45):
but I'm a coach, so I want totalk about fueling.
Let's go rapid fire here,though.
We talked about two cages or apack.
You mentioned kind of the prosand cons of that, but what would
you recommend for the uh,greater audience here, whether
you go pack or bottle?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Uh, again, I'm personally a bottles forward
kind of person.
Um, I would say that, unlessyou're really really concerned
on not getting enough hydration,um, I would go bottles if you
can.
I think.
There, I think it's a fasteroption for most people.
Again, preserving your back isis paramount If you're not used
(38:24):
to riding with a pack on fornine hours, 10 hours, and it's
going to weigh on your shouldersand your and your lower back
and things like that.
That's where I think thebottles can be beneficial.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
And heat dissipation.
So, from bottle standpoint andhydration, how many bottles per
hour should we be aiming?
Speaker 2 (38:45):
for during Leadville.
I think you're aiming for twoan hour.
If you can get them down, thereare ample places to drink, so I
don't think that the ability tograb a bottle is a problem for
the most part.
You have to remember thatyou're at altitude, so you're
going to dehydrate faster.
So even if the temperature isnot extreme and usually the
(39:06):
temperature is not extremeyou're still going to want to
drink as if you are in a hotcondition.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
And then like, let's assume that we're not going to
go for a hundred grams ofcarbohydrate per hour, but maybe
somewhere between 60 and 70grams per hour.
That's going to be roughly, formost people, around 250
calories per hour.
Times that by 10, almost 2000calories that we're going to
shove down our mouth.
(39:31):
How do you carry it?
How would you recommend peopleuh, leverage the carrying
capacity for their bikes andtheir and their bodies?
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Um, I think that if you're good at and comfortable
with reaching into your ownpockets, that carrying um Jersey
mounted fuel is easy.
Uh, I was personally very umpartial to gels for Leadville
because I didn't have to have myhands off the handlebars very
long.
I could get them and not stopriding.
(40:02):
I'm an old roadie so that wascomfortable for me.
Again, because, remember, ifyou're going for, say, a
nine-hour finish or a 10-hourfinish, or you're worried about
the time cuts, anytime thatyou're standing still you're
losing time.
So even if you just have tograb something at an aid station
and roll slowly forward whileeating and drinking, that's
(40:22):
still better than sitting in theaid station for five minutes.
You can't make up five minutesfrom an effort level on the
course, so minimizing thosestops and being able to carry
what you want.
So some people use the bentoboxes.
I personally have not reallygotten into those.
It's easier for me to reachinto my back pocket than it is
to fumble around with a bentobox, but if you're experienced
(40:46):
with it, that works too.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Yeah, yeah, I've had some people.
Same thing bento boxes Rightnow.
The cargo pockets on people'sbib shorts are pretty in right
now.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
um I'm sorry, but I'm an old roadie.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
I can't do it, I just but it's the spirit of gravel I
see, I see the utility of it, Iunderstand it intellectually I
can't do it, okay, well, I'llget all of her on the podcast
see what he has to say about it.
Um, but in the way, like,wherever you can stash stuff,
utilize it.
I think that's the importantpart.
One thing Rebecca rush we usedto do a bunch of camps.
(41:18):
She's awesome and she has shedoes a lot of great stuff.
If you've never heard aboutRebecca rush, google her, do her
events.
Um, but one of the things shesaid just keep your garbage and
your food separate.
So, like, all the trash goes inone pocket, all the food goes
in this and you're, so you eatthis and then you transfer it
over to there and then you canalso see how much food you're
(41:39):
eating based on how much garbageyou have.
Then you dump that at the aidstations and away you go, that's
a pretty good idea.
So there's, there's thosestrategies.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Similarly to.
I think you should startLeadville with at least two to
three hours worth of fuel onyour body.
It isn't that heavy to carry.
You're not going to be weighteddown by it, but if you can, if
you can extend through causeyou're going to stop for fluids
you're going to need.
You're going to run out offluids first, but you should be
(42:07):
able to carry almost everythingyou need.
Yeah, yeah, at least for thefirst half of the race, or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
And finally, strapping gels to the top tube.
Uh, that's an old cross countrymountain bike um, uh, tip as
well where you, you, um uh, takethe gel and tape it, and just
tape the, um, the very top, so,and then you layer them.
You can put in like three, fouror I've seen like 10 on
someone's top tube and all youdo is you rip the gel and the
(42:34):
tape keeps the top of the gel onthere.
So you just keep on ripping,get gel over your bike, all over
your hands.
It's awesome.
Okay, let's, let's carry thisthing home with some training
tips.
We talked about some hike abike aspects.
We talked about maybe gettingup to altitude so you can
experience it, if all possible,whether that's a ski weekend or
a training trip, something likethat.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
But the key there is most people are not going to be
able to do an altitude trainingintervention that is going to
affect blood oxygen carryingcapacity.
We're not talking about that.
The experience of going toaltitude for a weekend or
something like that is moreabout understanding how your
body responds to altitude, howto pace yourself, what happens
(43:17):
to your power output, whathappens when you dig a little
bit too deep and you have toback off and you feel like
you're going to die, all ofthose kinds of things.
It's the experiential componentthat you're really after.
The expectation should not beI'm going to go to altitude for
a weekend and have more redblood cells.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
That is the nerdy way of definitely saying the proper
thing about that and I wouldsay, the experiential realm of
that and also the what we nowknow too, when the brain hits
altitude and how it thenregulates.
So how you respond to altitudeas well as getting those
exposures, so that the brainslet's just call it the algorithm
(43:56):
figures out the altitudeRubik's cube faster on race day.
It's important, even though youwill not get any of the natural
EPO or red blood cellproduction that people talk
about with altitude camps.
Anyway, exposure to altitude isgreat if you can, but let's
talk about training.
It's a long day.
Let's say someone's going for10 hours.
(44:17):
How long should their longestride be, ruddy?
Speaker 2 (44:21):
The longest ride is not going to be a fitness
component type thing, as you'vetalked about on the podcast
multiple times and things.
It's more experiential,Especially for Leadville.
It's what happens to your back,what happens to your neck, what
happens to your back, Uh, or Iprobably mentioned that already
because it's that important Canyour feet, you know your feet,
everything all of those contactpoints, Um, that's the reason
(44:45):
that you want to do long rides.
So I would say five to six houruh ride is essential for doing
Leadville, whether you're goingfor 10 hours, 12 hours, et
cetera.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Um, mainly just because you need to figure out
what's going to happen to yourbody in that kind of a condition
.
Yeah, I definitely agree withthat.
I think, uh, a really goodrecipe, I've always said, is a
six and four weekend, meaningright for six hours on Saturday,
you then ride for four hours onSunday, start, say, you know,
morning seven, 8 AM each day,and that way you kind of get 10
hours in in a kind of a lessthan 24 hour time period.
(45:23):
So that stress to the body isexponentially kind of strained
going on and that's that's whatyou want.
It's not just a one time, Imean.
And it's hard to answer thatquestion of like what's the best
training program for Leadville?
But if you can get in a highquality six and four, that's
great.
If you can get in a couple ofthem, even better, and the
(45:44):
better you can get at just youknow I'm going to get shredded
by what is high quality mean.
but y'all know what high qualityis high quality six isn't four
weekends, and I think that'sgoing to be pretty soft.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
The other thing to keep in mind is, if you're that
Leadville again is, it is a notrelatively non-technical
mountain bike race and it's long.
Um, if you tried to do sixhours on a highly technical
single track uh, north Carolinamountains, new York mountains,
kind of California single trackthat's going to be much tougher
(46:19):
than six hours on the Leadvillecourse.
You're going to get beat upmore, the fatigue is going to be
great and you're going to comeback from that six-hour ride and
think, oh my God, I can't doanother six hours of that.
There's no way.
Or Leadville is going to beimpossible because that six
hours just beat the livingdaylights out of that.
There's no way.
Or Leadville is going to beimpossible because that six
hours just beat the livingdaylights out of me.
So be careful from thatstandpoint On those long rides
(46:41):
that you're preparing.
For Leadville, I'd almost sayyou can do a long gravel ride
and it can be a good test forLeadvilleville.
Or a long mountain bike ridethat includes, uh, some fire
roads, some some gravel roads,uh, because again it's time on
bike, not how much technicalchallenge can you withstand in
(47:04):
six hours?
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Let's bring this thing home ready, because I
think we are planting the seedsof a Leadville training podcast.
Uh, so today we talked aboutthe best bike setup and in
general in our experience wethink that that typical classic
cross country setup is the wayto go.
So light, carbon fiber wheels,probably 2.4s, maybe two, threes
(47:25):
, a little extra side rubber tokeep the punctures at bay and
then you start doing yourtraining, you figure out how to
carry your food, you practicefueling on the bike and you go
for some of these longer rides.
And that that best bike setup.
You should spend some timetalking to local bike shop, your
(47:48):
bike fitter, maybe sometraining buddies that have
either done Leadville before orsomething adjacent to it.
So anything you want to add towhat is the best bike setup.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
No, I think the biggest key is the best bike
setup for normal bike racers, asopposed to the pointy end of
folks is going to be morecomfort-oriented or back-saving
than worrying about what's thefastest setup, because at
Leadville the fastest setup isthe one that you can sustain for
(48:17):
the longest.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Perfect way of putting it, perfect way of
putting it.
So if that spurs on a bunch ofmore questions around Leadville,
let's hear them.
Head on over to trainrightcombackslash podcast, ask anything
you want about all thingsLeadville, bike training,
nutrition related, and maybewe'll do another podcast about
that soon.
But, ruddy, thank you again fortaking some time to jump on the
(48:41):
podcast, because now you'regoing to have to listen to
yourself and edit yourself.
So thanks again for your time.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (48:47):
My pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
Thanks for joining us on the Time Crunch Cyclist
podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
If you want even moreactionable training advice, head
over to trainrightcom backslashnewsletter and subscribe to our
free weekly publication.
Each week you'll get in-depthtraining content that goes
beyond what we cover here on thepodcast.
That'll help you take yourtraining to the next level.
(49:12):
That's all for now.
Until next time, train hard,train smart, train right.
From the team at CTS.
This is the Time Crunch Cyclistpodcast, our show dedicated to
answering your trainingquestions and providing
actionable advice to help youimprove your performance even if
you're strapped for time.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford, and I'm one of the over
50 professional coaches whomake up the team at CTS.
In each episode, I draw on ourteam's collective knowledge,
(00:30):
other coaches and experts in thefield to provide you with the
practical ways to get the mostout of your training and
ultimately become the bestcyclist that you can be.
Now on to our show.
Now onto our show.
What's the perfect bike for theLeadville Trail 100 mountain
(00:52):
bike race?
That's a common question foranyone dreaming of doing the
race and a hotly contesteddebate for those having raced it
before.
But with so many mountain bikeson the market out there from XC
to downcountry enduro, allmountain it's easy to overthink
it.
Choose right, and you'llincrease your chances of having
a good day out there.
(01:13):
Choose wrong, and you couldjust be fighting your bike for
100 miles instead of gettingthat belt buckle or simply
enjoying the race across the sky.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford, and today we're
breaking it all down forendurance, mountain bike setups
what bike actually gives you thebest chance of success at
Leadville Full suspension orhardtail, drop or post or not?
(01:35):
And how do the demands of thishigh altitude endurance race
shape your setup?
To help answer these questionsand more, I'm joined with Jim
Ruttberg, author, bike racerfather and the guy who really
makes this podcast happen.
Jim, or Ruddy as we like tocall him, has been around the
Leadville scene for years andwe'll talk about how many times
(01:58):
he's actually raced this thing,but we're going to be talking
about and picking his brain onthe best bike setup here.
So ready, welcome back.
Hey, thank you, yeah, so, um, Idon't know.
Straight to the point, whatbike is the best setup for for
Leadville?
Just shooting right down thehip here.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, you know, the the reason that you and I talked
about doing this podcast wasthat we were looking at, um, you
know, other content that wasout there, and we actually got a
question from one of the CTScoaches who has an athlete who
is going to be doing Leadville,and they said, hey, you know
what, what should I recommendfor this athlete who's going to
do it for their first time?
And the comparison between thecontent that's out there, which
(02:37):
is awesome, really great content, and then what really works for
the, the regular athletes.
So, and then what really worksfor the regular athlete.
So, you know, we have thecontent out there from the pros,
essentially, and here'severybody's race set up, etc.
But then there's 2,000 otherpeople who are behind the pros
(02:58):
and what are they racing?
And so the trend right now is,you know, is it drop bar, is it
minimal suspension, is it theaero component of doing
Leadville in six hours orsomething like that?
And then you go well, yeah, butfor a normal person who's
either just trying to finish in12 hours or they're going to be
sort of in the middle of thegroup in 10 hours, or they're
(03:19):
going for a sub nine, that setupand that scenario is very, very
different than if you're goingfor six hours or you're really
trying to um, you know, go atthe very high end of the of the
tech spectrum, yeah, yeah, andwith that I mean it's like to
answer the question, uh, and todo it justice, it will take a
(03:41):
full podcast because there'sthat many variables that
actually go into it, includingjust the demands of the event
itself.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So I would say let's let's maybe first talk about
that and kind of drum up thefear inside people of those who
have actually registered anddon't know what they registered
for.
Then we'll kind of like segueinto the best setup and I'll
just like roll through my, myopinion, um, from times I've
raced it, and then we'll talkabout some fueling, we'll talk
about training, because ofcourse got to give some tips out
(04:10):
there.
So now, how many times did youdo it?
Uh, I've, I've only done itthree, as opposed to yourself,
who has done it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
So you have.
You have your proof of your,your proof, in the behind you
there right here, right next tomy Breck.
Epic belt buckle Right, andthen that's the sub-nine buckle
so you're a fast guy.
I was not very.
I have one sub-nine, but thiswas my proof of expertise, so to
speak, or the 1,000-mile bucklefor 10 finishes and I have to
(04:44):
get to, uh, get to, however youwant to phrase it.
Um, race Leadville again thisyear because my son is riding
his first as an 18 year old and,um, he's always wanted to race
Leadville with me as cause.
He was in the pits when I wasdoing it as when he was a kid.
So he got in and I was like, ohshoot, now I got to ride
(05:06):
Leadville again.
Um, so I will be at least onthe start line with him.
I'm going to be nowhere nearhim anywhere during the race,
but uh, theoretically we'll beracing Leadville together.
You got to get your training on.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I know, well, that's awesome.
Yeah, I didn't know that youwere going to ride it again.
So good luck to you and uh andOliver.
Um, yeah, so Leadville, it's awild beast and I I throw some
shade at it because it's gottenso big and it's it's legendary
for its own right, but I'venever you never have an easy day
(05:42):
at Leadville, and the reasonfor that is it is so hard, but
the environment is sochallenging.
It's it's high altitude orextreme altitude, according to
how we gauge things as exercisephysiologists.
So how high are we talking here?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Anywhere from minimum of about 9,500 feet up to
12,600 feet, um, and you havemultiple passes within that.
So the the sort of baseelevation is right around 10 and
then you go up above 11 once ortwice and then up to 12, six,
um, so yeah, it's, the altitudeis a challenge.
(06:18):
Um, I think to your point ofkind of people either
downplaying Leadville sometimes,um, they'll say, well, it's
really not a mountain biker'scourse, it's kind of a dirt road
with a smooth line in.
It is a lot of times how I'vekind of phrased it because it's
not a highly technical mountainbike course for the most part.
However, when you have to rideany of those conditions for that
(06:44):
many hours and at altitude andwith the weather and with 2,000
other people, it can get quitechallenging.
And, as you said, it's similarto.
You know, we talk a lot aboutultramarathon and some of the
other sports that we've coachedathletes, for it has more in
(07:04):
common sometimes with thosesports because it's a hydration,
nutrition challenge, it's apacing challenge, it's a mental
challenge.
The writing itself is not maybethe biggest uh challenge of the
of the event, it's everythingelse that goes into it yeah,
yeah, spot on.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And I think too, it's like it long, right, like nine
hours is fast, right, so in theway of the ultra endurance I
mean it is.
It is very challenging, um, andeven at the fittest of like fit
years ready, where you went subnine maybe that wasn't your
fittest year, but like was itstill hard when you were at your
(07:43):
fittest maybe that wasn't yourfittest year, but like, was it
still hard when you were at yourfittest?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The thing that was most surprising to me was that I
did.
I rode the race 10 times and Ithere were a number of years
where I was in that sort of justover nine hours, somewhere
between nine, 10 and nine, 20,something like that.
The effort required the oneyear that I went sub nine was
exponentially harder.
To go 20 minutes faster, like Idon't think it's a matter of
(08:12):
incrementally more difficult, Iturned myself inside out just
trying to get under nine hours.
Where had I had a relatively,you know, not easy, but had the
effort required to do nine?
15 versus eight, 46 was nightand day.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yes, and in two to shape up some of the like.
If you've never raised thealtitude before, I think a lot
of people have maybe taken skivacations where they go skiing
in Breckenridge or or veil orsomething like that, and those
are going to be around that samekind of 9,000, 10,000 feet,
maybe at the base of themountain.
You might take the gondola up alittle bit higher, but even
(08:54):
walking steps right, you walk inthe steps of your condo at
9,000 feet people get out ofbreath.
Now you have to ride your bikefor a hundred miles on a
mountain bike and it's superchallenging.
So in that way, yeah, it's nottechnical relative to BC bike
race or Breck Epic or some ofthese other things, but it's my
(09:16):
opinion, not a drop bar sort ofbike course.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
It's only a drop bar bike course if you are really
truly going for a top 10, top 20overall kind of finish.
And I think when you look atthe Keegan Swenson's Dylan
Johnson sort of that level ofrider.
(09:41):
They're going so fast thataerodynamics is really a
challenge because, um, it's ahundred miles and a lot of the
of the course is flat, uh, the,the all of those flat road
sections, dirt road sections,between the big climbs, you've,
in order to do a six hour, sixand a half, seven hour Leadville
, you've got to be hauling atthe on those sections.
(10:03):
Leadville, you've got to behauling at the on those sections
, um, and what used to happen isthat, uh, people just struggle
to get low enough, um, on a flatbar bike, so they're all,
they're tucked as far as theycan go and it's uncomfortable
and everything.
I mean you used to see thefolks with their, you know,
holding onto the four crowns,which I always thought was
insane.
Um, you know, holding onto thefork crowns which.
(10:26):
I always thought was insane.
Um, but people would, would tryit.
Yeah, and I think the drop barcomponent for um for Leadville
really is more of anaerodynamics thing.
Like you, you the controlaspect isn't so dramatic because
the course isn't so technicalthat you can't control the bike
with a narrow drop bar.
Um, and the ability tocomfortably get into a lower
(10:48):
position and more aerodynamicposition is worth the effort at
that point.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, so I guess for the pros at the tippy tippy top,
sure they can do that.
There's still, there's stillsome flat bar people in the top
20.
So it's not like flat bars areslow.
Still, there's still some flatbar people in the top 20.
So it's not like flat bars areslow.
And I think too and I thinkyou'll agree with this is like
99% of the people listening tothis podcast.
(11:14):
My recommendation is should notbe on drop bars, not be on drop
, but they should be on a propermountain bike.
So let's talk about what thatproper mountain bike setup looks
like.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So here's the crux of it.
The biggest thing I think thatcripples people during Leadville
is their back, is the corestrength, fatigue and whether or
not your back is able to handlethe the uh rattling and the
rough course.
So if your back fatigues to thepoint that you just have zero
(11:44):
power left because your core isso worked that you're just done
or you're sore and you have toconstantly sit up and stretch
and get off the bike and allthese kinds of things, that's
what I think takes people from asub nine to a nine, 30 or 10
hour finish and it's what takesdefinitely takes people from a
(12:04):
10 and a half or 11 hour finishto a.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I didn't finish at all, yeah, so comfort right, the
, the, the bike that feels thebest is is well, there's more to
it than that, but that's goingto sit more to it than that.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
But I think that one of the things that I mean this
is the reason why you startedout asking sort of what is the
perfect bike for Leadville?
For 99% of the people I wouldsay a cross country dual
suspension is your best bet,certainly if you're trying to
finish and you're not certainthat you're going to finish.
So anybody who's aiming at kindof a 10 plus hour ride, I would
(12:43):
say should be on a dualsuspension cross country rig.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Fully agree.
So a little bit more on.
That is full suspension.
You should be looking at like ahundred to 120 mil of travel
upfront, maybe 75 to a hundredmil in the rear.
So that would look like thelike the S works, uh, world cup.
I think that's the latest onewith its 75 mil.
The Giant Anthem, for example,that would be another one.
(13:08):
The Canyon Lux, the LuxCross-country Will work Bikes
like that.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
The Trek has the.
Is it Super Caliber at thispoint?
Yep.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Super Caliber?
Yep, exactly, and, in myopinion, the bike.
So that's your front, that'syour full suspension setup.
So, squishy in the front,squishy in the back, try to get
one with two water bottle cages,yes, which is tricky, for for
some full suspension bikes outthere, they all don't come with
them, but like when you go intothe local bike shop and they're
(13:43):
like, oh, this is super fast andKeegan rates this and whatever.
Like two water bottle cages,why do we want that ready?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
What's so important stations, and they're roughly 20
miles, 25 miles apart, that ifyou're on a reasonable pace you
can usually ride um with justspeed bottles, as opposed to
having to wear a pack.
Um, now again, we were talkingabout the folks at the very tip
(14:21):
top of the course.
A lot of them are.
Some of them are riding withpacks so that they have no doubt
as to whether or not they canget fluids or not.
Um, so there is a lot ofvariability as to are you
comfortable riding with a with apack?
I can't.
I, I'm personally just I don'tlike it Um, if I can avoid it.
So, um, now, my son, oliver,who has is in this newer
(14:44):
generation and they wearhydration packs everywhere.
He's perfectly comfortable withit.
So maybe he'll do it Um and I,and he's also trying to go a lot
faster.
But if you're in the kind ofthat middle portion of the of
the pack, especially if you'rewanting to be able to change
what's in your fluids you know Iwant a hydration mix here, I
want water here, I wantelectrolytes there Then, um,
(15:07):
bottles are a lot more adaptablefrom that standpoint.
Um, so yeah, I was definitely.
I would definitely recommendbikes that have two bottles.
The one segment of the coursethat can be a little bit
different, for that is the climbto Columbine Mine, because
depending on what pace you'regoing to be doing for that, it
(15:28):
may require a third bottle.
So there were times where Iwould pick up a third bottle and
put it in my jersey pocket todo that climb.
Um, on the slower years Uh,there is an aid station at the
summit but, uh, by that pointyou're just going to bomb down
the thing and really not drink awhole lot anyway.
Um, but if you need, if it'sgoing to be more than two hours
(15:48):
or something going uphill, uh,to get to the turnaround that
that was the one spot thateither people would take a pack
or stuff a third bottle intoyour pocket.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, I agree with that, and there's no shade
thrown to the hardtails outthere.
A hardtail mountain bike isstill a great bike.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
If you have the core strength and you've done the
work and you're comfortable on ahardtail, it will most likely
be a little bit faster.
I mean unless your back givesout it's lighter tail, it will
most likely be a little bitfaster.
I mean, unless your back islighter, um, and then some of
the bikes that have have, youknow, very minimal rear
suspension just to take the edgeoff a little bit um can work
very well.
Slightly larger tire, um and Ithink we're probably going to
(16:31):
end up talking at some pointabout tire choice and pressure
and all of those kinds of thingsbut a hard tail with a just a
bigger volume tire that givesyou a little bit of, uh, extra
squish, can be a fast solution.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, and I think for me personally if I was going
hard tail it's already lighterand I might even do a dropper on
a hard tail.
I wouldn't do a dropper on afull suspension.
But that's also.
I think that's a personalpreference on my end and if
you're running like SRAM or somewireless dropper, you can
essentially have two seat posts,swap them out very easily and
(17:08):
depending on how you ride.
The reason I say dropper onhardtail is hardtail is going to
beat you up for nine hours, 10hours, 12 hours, whatever.
And if you can drop that on thedescents you start to soak up
the bumps with your legs alittle bit better, as opposed to
on a full suspension wherethat'll get kind of soaking or
soaked up through the bike.
So that would be like a verynuanced kind of like personal
(17:30):
preference on my end.
Droppers are hot but they areheavy, so just kind of know that
.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, and I think that the some of that also is
that there's a practical orpragmatic component to that,
like if your bike has a uh,internally routed um dropper
post and it's you're not doingit on your own you could remove
it, but it's going to be a kindof a pain and and you have to
(17:57):
evaluate whether it's worth themoney, time, hassle to swap it
out for a non-dropper post forone event.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So Leadville is not a dropper course, but the reason
I mentioned it is, let's justsay, you're going to sink in 5k
to or more to this mountain bike, going to sink in 5k to or more
to this mountain bike.
I think having a dropper postis way more fun.
So, in the way of versatility,uh, if you're buying a new bike,
plan ahead and maybe you havetwo seat post uh options,
(18:29):
because having a dropper 364, uhdays a year going to be super
cool, throw it out for this onerace, all good.
So all that to say, we're nottalking about, uh, dropper posts
for leadville any longer thanthis.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
but wheels, 29 inch wheels, I don't think yeah, I
mean, I think, 29 inch wheels Idon't.
It's very difficult to getanything that that doesn't have
29 inch wheels, unless it's a150 mil travel uh type bike.
Um, now, the smaller, the verysmall frames I think are still
(19:03):
using 27, five, um, yeah, whichprobably does make sense.
So I think it's, whereappropriate, at 27, five for a
smaller rider a smaller framemakes sense, but 29 for certain.
And then the tire width I thinkyou know it's again 2.4s seem
to be pretty much, uh, uh,almost standard.
(19:23):
Again, on a hardtail maybe yougo up a little bit, um, as well.
What I would say is that and Isaw this recently, uh, in the
conversation about mountain bikeor or larger tires for gravel,
uh races, and then one of therationales was that gravel tires
, being more robust, tend to beheavy, the casings are thick,
(19:46):
all of those kinds of things,and a lightweight cross country
mountain bike tire is thinnerand some and can be lighter than
the gravel tire, etc.
So that brings up the questionof how robust a tire do you need
for Leadville?
Do you need downhill burly kindof major tread kind of tires?
(20:08):
I think you can get away with amoderate XC tire.
The course, is not sort of softand loamy or sandy, it's pretty
much gravel and hard pack typesurface.
I think some traction is goodFor most people.
I don't think like a file treadreally East Coast cross country
(20:31):
or Midwest cross country tireis probably great.
So some tread I think is good.
But I don't think you needburly big knob downhill tractor
tires.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I mean me personally, I'll take a little extra rubber
on the sidewalls for anymountain bike course because not
getting a puncture is going tobe way faster than saving a
little bit of weight.
So my two go-to tires forLeadville would be like the
Kenda Booster or the Maxxis Icon.
Those are two like still hastread.
(21:04):
They're not super knobby,they're not crazy.
But then they have the Kenda.
Just look for their sidewallprotection.
I think you look for that.
It's extra security.
But you still have to know howto ride your bike.
You still have to know how totake smooth lines.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Well, and that's the nice thing with Leadville, which
is a little bit strange I havealways used to refer to
Leadville as single track withoptions there is a smooth line.
Even though the road is 10 feetwide, there is a smooth line
and you can see it quite clearlybecause that's where the other
2000 people have gone for thelast you know however many
(21:41):
months during the summer inrecon courses and all these
kinds of things Like there is apretty notable smooth line that
everyone's going to take.
The thing is that if theconsequences of going off the
line are not that great, you canmess up and take a turn too
wide or too narrow or whateverelse, and not hit a tree because
(22:02):
it's not single track, um, butyou'll see where that smoother
line is and where you're goingto get outside of the line and
perhaps, uh, run into somebigger kind of rocks.
But that smooth line tends toalso be a safe line to take
because it's it's been thechoice of people you know over
and over again.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah for sure.
So I think it kind ofsummarized the wheel situation.
I go carbon lightweight wheel,go pretty light there and
everybody's going wider as well,so you can get away with in in.
They're optimized for like 2.4,uh mountain bike tires.
So a nice light, stiff uh 29inch wheel setup, get a little
(22:43):
extra rubber in the tires and Ithink that's like the perfect
race wheel setup to go alongwith that.
Um XC geometry and and onequick word on the uh cross
country mountain bike geometryit's so I'll link to an article
here if any nerd wants to knowwhat the differences are between
(23:04):
some of these head tube andseat tube angles.
In short, that cross-countrygeo is going to be optimized for
climbing and power productionas well as being comfortable
over time.
Keep in mind you're going beclimbing what 13,000 feet at
Leadville it's a lot and as aeroas some people want to be in
(23:27):
those road sections and whatnot,that's still a shit ton of
climbing man.
So having something that setsyou up well for comfortable
climbing on the day, give methat all day.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
To that point too, I'm a fan of lockouts.
So what does the lockout do?
Explain?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
that.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
So, depending on, some of them are just
open-closed, and then some ofthem are three-position, where
it's fully open, a cross-countrysetup which just kind of
tightens up the suspension a bit, and then total lockout where
there's a well, I mean it's justthere is no suspension Um, and
usually they'll have a blow outor a blow through kind of
(24:05):
threshold for that, like, if youhit something big enough it'll
still give you suspension.
But for the climbing, forinstance, having if you have a
um, a hundred or 120 mil umsuspension fork and you want to
get out of the saddle and you'rebobbing up and down when you're
climbing and you're not lockedout, you're losing watts.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
If it is like a paved climb or like a steady climb,
in that, in that sort of thing,if it's a technical climb,
that's when you want moresuspension, cause that'll
actually, or your suspensionopen, cause that'll actually
help you climb a little bitbetter.
So I think it's reallyimportant to mention all this
because there's a whole culture,there's a whole section of of
trail riders out there thatdon't even know that lockout
(24:50):
exists or is an option for,because some of those enduro
bikes all mountain bikes, downcountry bikes they come with no
option of that.
Cross country bikes do.
So there again, when you'rechoosing, choose wisely, because
you get on that thing andyou're going to go climbing,
stand up, get out of the saddle.
You're going to be losing somuch power production, so much
efficiency by having thesuspension be sloppy on those
(25:15):
climbs.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, and the biggest climbs at Leadville are smooth
yeah exactly.
So the Hagerman Pass climb hassome technical bumps in it
essentially, but not very much.
The majority of the climb upColumbine is a relatively smooth
dirt road.
The very top of Columbine isnarrower but honestly, if you're
(25:38):
not in the sub nine group,you're not riding it anyway,
because it's a Congo line ofpeople walking.
Um, and then the one that getspeople.
I mean, obviously there's the,there's the climate power line,
which there's a little bit of awalking section for most people
at the very beginning of it andthen you can ride the rest of it
.
(25:58):
Um, it's slow going by thatpoint, cause you're 80 miles in
Um and then there's a road climb, a absolutely paved, smooth as
glass road climb that peoplesort of forget about, but it's a
20 minute climb for most people.
Um, and if, if you can, it'swhere you can really make up
(26:19):
time or lose a lot of timebecause, um, if you're, if you
sort of forget that it's thereand you kind of crawl up the
thing it's, it can cost you time.
If you recognize that it'sthere, you eat well and hydrate
well and recognize that it'ssmooth, then you can, if you can
stay on the pace, you canactually make up some time there
(26:40):
.
It's a good place to to havesome gas.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah, yeah, agree.
So finally, to kind of roundoff the whole bike setup, I
won't spend a ton of time herebut on the drive train.
I'm a SRAM guy all day one by.
Personally, I don't think youneed more than that, and I think
on the mountain bike side ofthings, two buy is overkill, but
kick it over to you.
Can you even find a two?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
buy anymore.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I don't know, man, I haven't seen one in the last six
, seven years.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Yeah no, I think that the drivetrains are almost
universally one buys.
I think the interesting thingthis year, or the last couple of
years probably, is the wholecrank length discussion With
Leadville.
There's not a whole lot ofconcern about pedal strikes
because the higher bottombracket or shorter cranks to
(27:32):
avoid pedal strikes is probablynot a big deal and the evidence
seems pretty good on the ideathat shortening your crank is
not going to lower your powerproduction or this idea of
longer lever arm is going to bemore powerful.
It seems pretty clear that inthe relative lengths that we're
talking going from 175, 172.5down to 170, you're not going to
(27:57):
lose any power.
You may gain some ability tokeep your cadence a little bit
higher because your feet arejust traveling in a smaller
circle.
And then I guess it's probablyless important on the mountain
bike from the hip anglestandpoint, because I think the
discussion on the road andgravel racing scenes with
(28:18):
shorter crank arms has been thatyou can reduce the trunk angle
because you're not kneeingyourself in the chest as much or
bringing your thigh up as high.
I don't know that that's asmuch of a concern on mountain
bike, just because the positiontends to be more upright to
begin with.
Yeah, not as big of a concern,but I would say in general, not
going to the extreme end ofthings like 140s, but I would
(28:41):
say a little shorter the better,because the torque and the
leverage that we once thoughtwas a thing with the longer
crank arms not really a thingthat I think is relevant
potentially for this audience isthey've gone to maybe they've
gone on the road or gravel to ashorter crank and now they're
(29:02):
riding 167, fives or 165s theirmountain bike, which they
haven't touched in a while andis a medium or a large mountain
bike and came with OEM 175millimeter cranks.
Do they need to match?
Do they need to at leastshorten, you know, reduce,
narrow the gap between the two?
Or does it not matter if you'reriding, you know, 165 on the
(29:29):
road and a 175 on the mountainbike, because that seems
intuitively like a pretty bigjump?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, I mean I, I would definitely go to your
local bike fitter to get someprofessional advice on that
personally, and my advice that Igive to my athletes is try to
be as consistent as you can,because there's neuromuscular
patterns that occur with your uh, with your uh pedal stroke and
(29:59):
if you're all over the place,from one 65, all the way up to
one 75 and all this stuff in themiddle it's.
I don't have any data to linkto or anything like this.
I will try to find it.
But what we do know is thatpatterning that occurs is
(30:19):
important in the way of how youproduce your pet, your power,
and I would say anyone who kindof has those bikes that goes
from one 75 down to even one 70,you're going to feel that it
feels a little bit morelaborsome to push that 175.
So me personally, I've moved to170s on all my mountain bike
(30:42):
stuff and I'm still 172.5 ongravel and road.
I think too, the other importantaspect is if you're putting
power meters on all these bikestoo, you got to make some
decision on where you want toland and how much money you want
to spend swapping cranks andgoing with power meters.
So I would say, if you are toerror, especially in the
(31:03):
mountain bike, go a littleshorter.
And if you haven't touched thatmountain bike in a while maybe
it is a little older you'relooking for an upgrade I
wouldn't stick with the 175, butgo to the bike shop or go to
the local bike fit specialist,Cause they'll be able to give
you even better informationabout why you should need what
you need, and it's also relativeto how you sit on the bike and
(31:26):
what the angular measurementsare for.
Like you as an individual, I dothink, like smaller people,
people with shorter legs,they're going to feel way more
comfortable on the shortercranks.
If you have a size large andyou're a big person and you're
taller, the 175s may work justfine.
So I do think you should go geta bike fit for that.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
My solution, honestly , for the uh well, one solution
for the power meter conundrum onthat standpoint has been going
with a power pedal.
I've been using the SRMmountain bike pedals and I just
swap them between road, mountaingravel and so it's one pair of
pedals.
I only wear mountain bike shoes.
(32:08):
Mountain bike shoes at thispoint are a high-end.
One is so light and I'm notracing road that to me it allows
me to keep all of themeasurements on the bikes very
similar, because I'm notconcerned about well, the road
shoes have a different stackheight and the pedal has a
different stack height, and soif it's the road shoe and the
road pedal, my saddle height isthis, and keeping one shoe and
(32:30):
one pedal across all bikes hasbeen really nice.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
It's a pragmatic approach, for sure, but to that
point I mean.
So when we're talking aboutefficiency in the bike and the
equipment and the gear, I mean,on the bike side of things,
lightweight, full suspension,super efficient shoes.
Let's talk about some of theseother efficiencies, because road
(32:56):
shoes or mountain bike shoes orgravel shoes for Leadville,
what should we do?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
A gravel shoe and a mountain bike shoe, as far as
I'm concerned, are pretty muchthe same thing, marketed
differently.
But I think the key is you'regoing to walk, unless you are at
the very tippy top of the field.
Um, you're going to walk at thetop of Columbine because it
just turns into a Congo line, um, and you may be walking for
(33:22):
half an hour kind of thing, um,and then you're going to walk on
power line.
Almost everybody walks on powerline on the way inbound, um,
and where else are you going towalk?
Oh well, depending on how,where you are on the start, uh,
you may end up walking on StKeevan's outbound as well.
So road shoes, I think, are anon-starter.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
You're, you're going to be off the bike and walking,
um, yeah, and I'll just chime inand say here's a quick uh coach
tip Since you're going to bewalking that much in the race
itself, you should probably dosome hike a bike in your
training.
It's not fun and the way to doit is you find some stupid steep
thing that's maybe really funto come down, ride up as much as
(34:07):
you can, unclip and startpushing.
And that pushing because you goback to what Ruddy was saying
about if your back hurts, ifyour hands hurt, all this kind
of stuff.
If you're not used to pushingyour bike in goofy bike shoes up
a loose over hard pack trailwith a bunch of other people
around you, it's really not fun,it's stressful, it's hard.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I lost so much time pushing the bike in a number of
those years, um, because I'm notgood at pushing bikes I have
not to your point, I haven'treally practiced it.
Um, and I would get to the topof Columbine and I found that I
was taking these short little,tiny steps and the person
passing me was taking longerstrides and was more, you know,
(34:50):
better at walking with a bicyclethan I was.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Get efficient with it .
So what Rudy's talking aboutunclip, be smooth and just start
pushing the bike.
Two wheels on the ground.
Push, push, push and watch yourheart rate.
I would say for your Wahoo orGarmin devices don't use auto
pause, because if you stopriding you're going so slow and
you're not pedaling.
(35:14):
Your device thinks you'repaused, so take that off auto
pause because you want tocapture the heart rate and the
training stress and everythingthat occurs with that.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Well, the other reason you want to take it off
auto pause is if you stop at aidstations and the timer on the
device pauses.
That's not your time.
That's not your elapsed timeanymore.
Pauses that's not your time.
That's not your elapsed timeanymore.
Um, the the timing forLeadville is when you roll
across the line to when you rollback in, and it doesn't take a
pause there for for stoppages.
(35:43):
So if you're concernedespecially on time cuts and on
um pacing schedules and thingslike that, you need to keep a
watch that is constantly runningbecause it's real time.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah.
One final word on shoes Again.
I think they got to be mountainbike or gravel whatever.
And those shoes you know, shoesthese days are way more
efficient than back 10 years agowhen we were doing Leadville
camps as CTS out there on theLeadville course.
But we had one guy show up oneyear in road shoes and he was
(36:19):
fast.
He was a properly fast guy andthat was his strategy for race
day.
We said, hey, I don't think youshould.
He's like no, I'm going to dolike a sub eight or something
like that.
He didn't finish that yearbecause he was going fast, he
was going good, but when he didhave to hike he couldn't get up
power line with road shoes.
(36:40):
It just was not doable.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
And to that point too , if you haven't walked in your
mountain bike shoes because youlive somewhere where you don't
really ever have to unclip, makesure you can actually hike and
push a bike up a hill for a longperiod of time in them without
getting ridiculous blisters orreally painful um feet.
So in some cases the gravelshoes, for instance, can be a
(37:05):
little bit um more forgivingfrom that standpoint.
They tend to have a little bitmore flex and I think that the
toe area tends to be a littlebit more slanted upward as
opposed to a strict racing crosscountry shoe.
Um.
So that may be um a good option, especially cause you know that
the places you're going to bewalking are all uphill.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Exactly, exactly, all right, ready.
In the spirit of the timecrunch cyclist podcast that we
have here, we're going prettylong, long.
I would be remiss to not talkor mention fueling specifically
for Leadville, because it issuch a huge component to the
race.
This podcast was intended tojust talk about the bike setup,
(37:45):
but I'm a coach, so I want totalk about fueling.
Let's go rapid fire here,though.
We talked about two cages or apack.
You mentioned kind of the prosand cons of that, but what would
you recommend for the uh,greater audience here, whether
you go pack or bottle?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Uh, again, I'm personally a bottles forward
kind of person.
Um, I would say that, unlessyou're really really concerned
on not getting enough hydration,um, I would go bottles if you
can.
I think.
There, I think it's a fasteroption for most people.
Again, preserving your back isis paramount If you're not used
(38:24):
to riding with a pack on fornine hours, 10 hours, and it's
going to weigh on your shouldersand your and your lower back
and things like that.
That's where I think thebottles can be beneficial.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
And heat dissipation.
So, from bottle standpoint andhydration, how many bottles per
hour should we be aiming?
Speaker 2 (38:45):
for during Leadville.
I think you're aiming for twoan hour.
If you can get them down, thereare ample places to drink, so I
don't think that the ability tograb a bottle is a problem for
the most part.
You have to remember thatyou're at altitude, so you're
going to dehydrate faster.
So even if the temperature isnot extreme and usually the
(39:06):
temperature is not extremeyou're still going to want to
drink as if you are in a hotcondition.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
And then like, let's assume that we're not going to
go for a hundred grams ofcarbohydrate per hour, but maybe
somewhere between 60 and 70grams per hour.
That's going to be roughly, formost people, around 250
calories per hour.
Times that by 10, almost 2000calories that we're going to
shove down our mouth.
(39:31):
How do you carry it?
How would you recommend peopleuh, leverage the carrying
capacity for their bikes andtheir and their bodies?
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Um, I think that if you're good at and comfortable
with reaching into your ownpockets, that carrying um Jersey
mounted fuel is easy.
Uh, I was personally very umpartial to gels for Leadville
because I didn't have to have myhands off the handlebars very
long.
I could get them and not stopriding.
(40:02):
I'm an old roadie so that wascomfortable for me.
Again, because, remember, ifyou're going for, say, a
nine-hour finish or a 10-hourfinish, or you're worried about
the time cuts, anytime thatyou're standing still you're
losing time.
So even if you just have tograb something at an aid station
and roll slowly forward whileeating and drinking, that's
(40:22):
still better than sitting in theaid station for five minutes.
You can't make up five minutesfrom an effort level on the
course, so minimizing thosestops and being able to carry
what you want.
So some people use the bentoboxes.
I personally have not reallygotten into those.
It's easier for me to reachinto my back pocket than it is
to fumble around with a bentobox, but if you're experienced
(40:46):
with it, that works too.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Yeah, yeah, I've had some people.
Same thing bento boxes Rightnow.
The cargo pockets on people'sbib shorts are pretty in right
now.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
um I'm sorry, but I'm an old roadie.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
I can't do it, I just but it's the spirit of gravel I
see, I see the utility of it, Iunderstand it intellectually I
can't do it, okay, well, I'llget all of her on the podcast
see what he has to say about it.
Um, but in the way, like,wherever you can stash stuff,
utilize it.
I think that's the importantpart.
One thing Rebecca rush we usedto do a bunch of camps.
(41:18):
She's awesome and she has shedoes a lot of great stuff.
If you've never heard aboutRebecca rush, google her, do her
events.
Um, but one of the things shesaid just keep your garbage and
your food separate.
So, like, all the trash goes inone pocket, all the food goes
in this and you're, so you eatthis and then you transfer it
over to there and then you canalso see how much food you're
(41:39):
eating based on how much garbageyou have.
Then you dump that at the aidstations and away you go, that's
a pretty good idea.
So there's, there's thosestrategies.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Similarly to.
I think you should startLeadville with at least two to
three hours worth of fuel onyour body.
It isn't that heavy to carry.
You're not going to be weighteddown by it, but if you can, if
you can extend through causeyou're going to stop for fluids
you're going to need.
You're going to run out offluids first, but you should be
(42:07):
able to carry almost everythingyou need.
Yeah, yeah, at least for thefirst half of the race, or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
And finally, strapping gels to the top tube.
Uh, that's an old cross countrymountain bike um, uh, tip as
well where you, you, um uh, takethe gel and tape it, and just
tape the, um, the very top, so,and then you layer them.
You can put in like three, fouror I've seen like 10 on
someone's top tube and all youdo is you rip the gel and the
(42:34):
tape keeps the top of the gel onthere.
So you just keep on ripping,get gel over your bike, all over
your hands.
It's awesome.
Okay, let's, let's carry thisthing home with some training
tips.
We talked about some hike abike aspects.
We talked about maybe gettingup to altitude so you can
experience it, if all possible,whether that's a ski weekend or
a training trip, something likethat.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
But the key there is most people are not going to be
able to do an altitude trainingintervention that is going to
affect blood oxygen carryingcapacity.
We're not talking about that.
The experience of going toaltitude for a weekend or
something like that is moreabout understanding how your
body responds to altitude, howto pace yourself, what happens
(43:17):
to your power output, whathappens when you dig a little
bit too deep and you have toback off and you feel like
you're going to die, all ofthose kinds of things.
It's the experiential componentthat you're really after.
The expectation should not beI'm going to go to altitude for
a weekend and have more redblood cells.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
That is the nerdy way of definitely saying the proper
thing about that and I wouldsay, the experiential realm of
that and also the what we nowknow too, when the brain hits
altitude and how it thenregulates.
So how you respond to altitudeas well as getting those
exposures, so that the brainslet's just call it the algorithm
(43:56):
figures out the altitudeRubik's cube faster on race day.
It's important, even though youwill not get any of the natural
EPO or red blood cellproduction that people talk
about with altitude camps.
Anyway, exposure to altitude isgreat if you can, but let's
talk about training.
It's a long day.
Let's say someone's going for10 hours.
(44:17):
How long should their longestride be, ruddy?
Speaker 2 (44:21):
The longest ride is not going to be a fitness
component type thing, as you'vetalked about on the podcast
multiple times and things.
It's more experiential,Especially for Leadville.
It's what happens to your back,what happens to your neck, what
happens to your back, Uh, or Iprobably mentioned that already
because it's that important Canyour feet, you know your feet,
everything all of those contactpoints, Um, that's the reason
(44:45):
that you want to do long rides.
So I would say five to six houruh ride is essential for doing
Leadville, whether you're goingfor 10 hours, 12 hours, et
cetera.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Um, mainly just because you need to figure out
what's going to happen to yourbody in that kind of a condition
.
Yeah, I definitely agree withthat.
I think, uh, a really goodrecipe, I've always said, is a
six and four weekend, meaningright for six hours on Saturday,
you then ride for four hours onSunday, start, say, you know,
morning seven, 8 AM each day,and that way you kind of get 10
hours in in a kind of a lessthan 24 hour time period.
(45:23):
So that stress to the body isexponentially kind of strained
going on and that's that's whatyou want.
It's not just a one time, Imean.
And it's hard to answer thatquestion of like what's the best
training program for Leadville?
But if you can get in a highquality six and four, that's
great.
If you can get in a couple ofthem, even better, and the
(45:44):
better you can get at just youknow I'm going to get shredded
by what is high quality mean.
but y'all know what high qualityis high quality six isn't four
weekends, and I think that'sgoing to be pretty soft.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
The other thing to keep in mind is, if you're that
Leadville again is, it is a notrelatively non-technical
mountain bike race and it's long.
Um, if you tried to do sixhours on a highly technical
single track uh, north Carolinamountains, new York mountains,
kind of California single trackthat's going to be much tougher
(46:19):
than six hours on the Leadvillecourse.
You're going to get beat upmore, the fatigue is going to be
great and you're going to comeback from that six-hour ride and
think, oh my God, I can't doanother six hours of that.
There's no way.
Or Leadville is going to beimpossible because that six
hours just beat the livingdaylights out of that.
There's no way.
Or Leadville is going to beimpossible because that six
hours just beat the livingdaylights out of me.
So be careful from thatstandpoint On those long rides
(46:41):
that you're preparing.
For Leadville, I'd almost sayyou can do a long gravel ride
and it can be a good test forLeadvilleville.
Or a long mountain bike ridethat includes, uh, some fire
roads, some some gravel roads,uh, because again it's time on
bike, not how much technicalchallenge can you withstand in
(47:04):
six hours?
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Let's bring this thing home ready, because I
think we are planting the seedsof a Leadville training podcast.
Uh, so today we talked aboutthe best bike setup and in
general in our experience wethink that that typical classic
cross country setup is the wayto go.
So light, carbon fiber wheels,probably 2.4s, maybe two, threes
(47:25):
, a little extra side rubber tokeep the punctures at bay and
then you start doing yourtraining, you figure out how to
carry your food, you practicefueling on the bike and you go
for some of these longer rides.
And that that best bike setup.
You should spend some timetalking to local bike shop, your
(47:48):
bike fitter, maybe sometraining buddies that have
either done Leadville before orsomething adjacent to it.
So anything you want to add towhat is the best bike setup.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
No, I think the biggest key is the best bike
setup for normal bike racers, asopposed to the pointy end of
folks is going to be morecomfort-oriented or back-saving
than worrying about what's thefastest setup, because at
Leadville the fastest setup isthe one that you can sustain for
(48:17):
the longest.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Perfect way of putting it, perfect way of
putting it.
So if that spurs on a bunch ofmore questions around Leadville,
let's hear them.
Head on over to trainrightcombackslash podcast, ask anything
you want about all thingsLeadville, bike training,
nutrition related, and maybewe'll do another podcast about
that soon.
But, ruddy, thank you again fortaking some time to jump on the
(48:41):
podcast, because now you'regoing to have to listen to
yourself and edit yourself.
So thanks again for your time.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (48:47):
My pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
Thanks for joining us on the Time Crunch Cyclist
podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
If you want even moreactionable training advice, head
over to trainrightcom backslashnewsletter and subscribe to our
free weekly publication.
Each week you'll get in-depthtraining content that goes
beyond what we cover here on thepodcast.
That'll help you take yourtraining to the next level.
(49:12):
That's all for now.
Until next time, train hard,train smart, train right.
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