Congratulations Leadville 100 MTB Riders

Congratulations to all the TrainingPeaks members who rode in this year’s Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, including Matt Shriver, the 3rd place finisher who rode in support of this year’s champion Lance Armstrong, and Justin Snow, who rides with Optimize Endurance and is planning to complete the entire Leadman series. View a video of Lance Armstrong finishing the race on a flat rear wheel to break the course record, check out Justin Snow’s race file, and read on for more from the riders.

Describing the race overall, Justin commented on the weather, which was challenging for all the riders. “The conditions were not good - it was really wet and cold for the first 3 hours… It was just demoralizing. I was warm going up those climbs, but descending down was freezing.” Another challenge of the race was the mass start, with so many riders in a huge pack vying for position on the single-track trail in the early part of the race and struggling with the hills later on. ”I was riding shoulder to shoulder with people for the first 2 hours, and people were passing in a really dangerous fashion. Then, on the first big climb, maybe 20 percent of them couldn’t even ride the darn thing.”

Ahead of the main pack, Matt Shriver pushed the pace for Armstrong in the leading group, as described in Velonews: “Armstrong ally Matt Shriver helped drive the pace in the early miles, powering a group of eight along the relatively flat mid-section of the course and into the base of the turn-around climb.” Former champion Dave Weins remarked, “Matt was making everyone suffer except Lance."

Lance Armstrong's record-breaking finish

Aside from the weather and the crowded pack of riders, Justin had a couple of technical challenges to deal with, including some shifting trouble and a few stops to lube his chain. Nearly halfway through, he realized that he probably wasn’t going to finish in his goal time, giving him the opportunity to ease up a bit and save some energy for the 100 mile trail run he will be doing next weekend. “Once I hit mile 40 I decided I wasn’t going to hit 9 hours, so decided to kind of back off some and save some energy for next weekend.”

Saving his energy had its benefits, when at the finish of the race Justin was still feeling good. As a race director pointed him towards the finish line, he joked, “Can’t I do a second lap?” He explains, “I think I’m really more of a 200 mile race kind of a guy, more of an ultra distance racer. I think I would have done better if it had been twice as long.”

Luckily, Justin will have the opportunity to do another 100 miles in just a few more days, when he races in the Leadville 100 trail run this coming weekend. To prepare, he is doing “lots of eating, drinking, and sleeping,” as well as some massage and cold soaks following by hot salt baths. He’s already earned two big buckles from finishing in under 25 hours in 2004 and 2005, and this year he says he definitely feels good enough to earn another, and maybe even PR with a time close to 22 hours.

Next year, rather than competing in the whole Leadman series, Justin thinks he may “just” do the 100 mile bike and trail run, and save his energy for something even bigger: the Colorado Trail Race, a 480 mile mountain bike race with no support allowed.

Good luck and happy training, Justin! Check back next week for Justin’s overall Leadman results including this weekend’s Leadville 100 trail run.

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[...] be his fourth 100-mile race, but his first at … http://teamtype12007.blogspot.com/ Official Blog of TrainingPeaks» Blog Archives » Congratulations … Aug 17, 2009 Luckily, Justin will have the opportunity to do another 100 miles in just a few more [...]