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Incidentally yes diamox (acetazolamide) is on the banned list, but not because it will aid performance, more as masking agent.
Thought I would give an update on training/equipment/diet progress.
Training is going well - averaging around 12 hours per week. Just come of the back of a recovery week and gained another 1% (noise really) on the FTP so up to 334w at sea level. On Saturday I wanted to a do a fuelling practice ride so did a 4 hours ride taking in 3 Precision 30g gels per hour. This worked well and for the last hour I changed them to caffeine gels. I pushed hard for the ride which isnt easy with the local roads (lots of short sharp hills which mean surges and then coasting). I ended up with a average power 207w and a NP of 227. It was an OF of 0.71 so right where i want to be for Leadville (adjusted for altitude). There was a nice 12 mile low gradient gravel hill that I was able to push hard on and got some nice momentum. Overall I ended up with 105 km, 25.8 kph average (which is pretty decent on a MTB with gravel tyres) and 1400m of elevation gain.
Weight wise I am now down to 179lbs as of this morning which means I have hit my goal weight. If I can squeeze a little more out of it then I will but as long as I maintain that I will be happy. This puts me at 4.1 w/kg which means I can shoot for a sub 9 time. If I dont make it I wont be too sad but this gives me lee way to at least buckle for the event (sub 12 hour).
Bike wise - the bike is in good condition. I need to swap out the rear wheel bearing and will also change jockey wheels (or just the bearings) and the bottom bracket which has started creaking. A few minor adjustments on the controls as well but that is it.
The next 3 weeks of specialty phase are key as after that there are only a few more weeks but I feel like I would be in a good place if we started the race today.
Great update - sounds like you've really worked at getting into shape for this and preparing as well as possible. 2 months to go?
Yeh - it is the 9th of August. With any adaptations normally taking a few weeks to show in your fitness this block will put the icing on the cake and then it is holding the fitness for three weeks and making sure I am as fresh as I can be
A chap I used to work with went out for this a couple of times. He did say the alitiude and heat was the hardest thing to prep for. 3000 - 3800m up will make riding feel tough. I find as soon as I'm over 2000 to 2500m it becomes really obvious. FWIW "Climb high, sleep low" as the climbers say - if you have 6 days before go up as high as you can in the day time but sleep as low as you can for adaptation and recovery. PS you know Diamox is a diuretic, right? (and altitude is dehydrating on its own).
Nice shot of Parsley Hay where the trails split/meet?
@morecashthandash Yep - was a nice morning for a ride up there - only saw 3 other people
@morecashthandash Yep - was a nice morning for a ride up there - only saw 3 other people
Blimey, was it 5am?
Another update from me – just over a month to go. Training is still going well.
Was going to touch on nutrition for this post.
I will be using drop bags on the day. This means I need to think ahead about what I want and when and roughly how long it will take me between the aid stations. There is neutral aid available at all of the aid stations which means you rarely go more than about 10-15 miles without the opportunity for aid so there is plenty of back stop.
I am pacing for a 9 hour finish so my nutrition is as per that plan.
There are two drop bag locations and you hit both locations twice. Location 1 you hit at 25 miles and 78 miles and Location 2 and Mile 40 and mile 63.
I will skip location 1 on the way out as I will have enough on me from the start (1.5 litres plus what I have drank in the morning). I will be carrying 9 x 30g carb Precision Gels and have 3 of these per hour. It should be less than 3 hours to location s (40 miles in). All my fluid will be made up with 1 x 1000mg sodium plus 40g of carbs. This means I will be hitting round 100g of carbs per hour. I have done plenty of rides at this level and happy that it doesn’t cause me any issues.
At location 2 I will drop the two bottle I started with and pick up a 1.5l hydration pack plus another 6 gels. This will get me up the big climb. The hydration pack will have 1.5l with the same mix. A hydration pack will help so I can keep both hands on the bar when climbing or descending.
When I get back to location 2 I will drop off the hydration pack and grab another 1.5 litres of bottles. I will prob only drink 1l between there and the next location as it is a fast section but it helps to have more on me plus I will down what I can before the next drop bag if it means having a bit of a break before picking up more drink. I will prob need 4-5 gels for this section.
At the last drop point I will pick up another 1.5l of fluids plus another 6-8 gels. There are some nasty climbs in the last bit so it should take about 2 hours in at 9 hour pace. If it is really hot I will have another bottle with plain water in this drop bag. There are also a lot of other places to get plain water and some gels etc if needed or if things go wrong and I need a bit more fuel but the plan is to go in with the aim of hitting 9 hours or less.
I will also have in each drop bag the following: Spare tyre (I have them anyway so I might a well put them in the bag, If I need to change a tyre due to a rip it will still hopefully allow me to get in under 12 hours), spare inner tube in each drop bag, spare CO2 and head, some bacon strips.
On the bike I will have an electric inflator pump, some dynaplugs, 2 lightweight inner tubes, some tyre boots and a multitool.
That’s about it for the moment. Ill update the bike post with some pics and an overview of the bike at a later date.
Another really interesting update thanks. Did you figure it out yourself or get guidance from coaches or previous riders?
Mostly from looking through past threads on the TrainerRoad forum to be honest. There is a wealth of knowledge on there. There are pacing charts as well for 7 hours pace through to 12 hour pace
I now you said you are happy with gels and carb mix, but have you done it in high temperatures for > 6 hours?
I know that I tend to find it hard to keep up fluid intake if I only have carb mix in hot weather. I prefer having a bottle of water as well.
Yeh I can switch to water only if needed and dump the carb mix later in the day if the going gets hot and keeps the gels up. The above plan gives me quite a bit of flexibility which is why it is good to decouple the main fuel from the fluids but as the fluids are going in I might as well get something in at the same time especially early in the day
Another update from me. Just over 3 weeks out now for race day. Training has been going well. I am down to 78.7kg and an FTP of 338w. My goal before the event was 80kg and 320w so its nice to surpass both measures.
Todays post mainly focusses on the bike for the ride.
I will be riding a Trek Procaliber 9.5. I have upgraded the gears to NX Eagle AXS, the brakes are XT with uprates rotors. All the other components are stock. I have fitted a pre waxed chain from KMC as I did some testing and these worked well in the dry UK conditions we have had which should be similar to Colorado at that time of the year. I will have a small botle of lube in my drop bag to put on at 75 ish miles in case it starts running a bit dry.
I have swapped out the tyres to Continental Dubnital 2.4 Rapid Race with Vittoria XC light inserts. This tyre choice is baed purely on surfing the internet at what people typically run at Leadville. Some suggest you can almost get away with a gravel tyre but these are testingg well and have felt good for the test rides I have tried them on. They normally wouldnt be great in the UK slop but it has been so dry recently so happy with them.
I have put some blips on the inside of the handlebars close to the stem and then wrapped this with bar tape. There are two 20 miles ish rolling sections on fast double track and roads so I can get into a more aero postion on these section and being able to change gear in that position is great. I have been practicing it on my commute and it has worked well.
Two bottle cages - as im short the front one will fit a 1l bottle and the back one a 500ml bottle so I can carry 1.5l on my bike plus my USWE hydration pack.
I have a 4iiii power meter on the LH crank and I will be using Shimano XT pedals with a small cage to give a bit more support to the foot on race day.
Final update from the UK!
Weight is down to 77.5kg and feeling comfortable on an FTP of 338 (completed some tough threshold and VO2 max workouts at this level. Really happy with how the nutrition has gone this year. Dropped 38ish lbs and will look to maintain this weight when I get back or possibly drop a little more but will see how I go.
Bike is packed up and ready to as is all the other bits and pieces. We are heading to Heathrow tomorrow and fly out on Sunday landing in Denver. First 4 days are at 7500ft and the 2 nights before the race are at about 9000ft so hopefully that gives a decent acclimatization.
I will prob do about an hour on Tuesday next week making sure the bike is all OK after the flight and then about an hour recon on the course on Thursday. Its race day on the Saturday. Other than that its some easy days with some sight seeing as well as hot tubs and pools to relax. Race day nutrition is all sorted so there isnt much race prep to do once I get out the US.
Some training stats for my year from the 5th Jan when I found out I would be going:
Hours on the bike: 301
Hours on walking, running and yoga: 71
Calories burnt on the bike: 206,085 or 858 snickers! (this will be fairly accurate as I have a power meter on all my bikes)
Distance: 5402 miles (irrelevant as a lot has been inside)
I might post an update in the middle of next week. Pretty excited to get going now. I have put the work in so time to see if I can make sub 9 hours for the big belt buckle (although ill be happy just to finish!).
I was expecting the above to read "this will be fairly accurate as I've actually eaten 858 Snickers bars since 5th January" 🙂
Good luck, it looks like a great race/"Holiday"!
Hope all that training and planning mean you smash your expectations!
Good luck Rob. You've come a long way since the start of the Singletrack race series, give it your best shot.
All the best for the race.
Great ride and write up. I know that feeling if not be able to eat all to well..
Colorado really is a fantastic state to ride in.
Fantastic!
About the stomach cramps: did you only eat gels and "sport nutrition" or did you manage to eat some proper/regular food?
Brilliant! I once considered entering the ballot with a friend but there was no guarantee we would both have got in. Reading your write up I'm kind of glad I stuck to road adventures!
Well done, glad you got the buckle and there were no disasters. A fantastic experience and thank you for keeping us updated on the process of preparing for the event too.
No just sports nutrition. It’s hard enough taking in gels let alone trying to chew something. Had practiced on long rides with the nutrition. Just how it goes sometimes. If I were to do it again I would probably still do the same. Just try and get the stomach used to it earlier if I could get out there earlier
Fantastic ride and write up. Congratulations on an amazing experience.
Awesome thread and amazing updates 😎
I don't really follow MTB/Gravel but randomly saw something about Leadville on the Cycling News website just now and thought shit, how did that guy on STW do 🤣
Brilliant effort, you'll remember that forever. Thanks for sharing!
Well done. I've enjoyed the in depth posts and following your journey.
Wow ! great write up and amazing effort, very well done.
Well done Robbo! Saw your ride pop up in my Strava. Definitely deserving of kudos 🙂 Impressive, not just the ride but everything it took to get there!
Thanks for writing these posts. Very interesting to follow, and well done on the training and race!
Nice ! Good job in the race and thanks for the write up 🙂