8 hours, 58 minutes & 58 seconds, whew.... that was close. On Saturday August 9th, I completed my 7th Leadville Trail 100, the grand daddy of the ultra distance mountain bike race. The significance of this years result marked how close I came to NOT getting my 5th "big belt buckle", I nearly missed it as I crossed the finish line with only 1 minute and 1 second in hand. For those not familiar with the race, a time under 9 hours earns the finisher the coveted gold & silver "big buckle" and for those finishing between 9 and 12 hours... one earns the smaller silver buckle. Both are trophies and a testament to ones tenacity over a 100 miles of racing and 12,000 feet of climbing. Everyone who finishes under 13 hours also receives a beautiful finishers medal. The one pictured above is the big buckle, my 5th & I also own two of the smaller buckles. The time I completed this years race is generally considered excellent, but it wasn't one of my better performances and I was bit disappointed. It was a tough day right from the 1st pedal stroke and I wasn't happy with how I rode most of the event, but it was another completed race with only 3 more to go to the 1000 mile gold & silver dinner plate sized belt buckle prize. Next year I hope to be a bit better prepared and conditioned.The big hoopla this year was the presence of Lance Armstrong racing in the LT100. It was pretty cool having the 7 time champion of the Tour de France at this years race. If you hadn't heard, he finished 2nd to David Wiens.... a member of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame & former US National Champion. An epic battle for both, with both breaking the previous course record.
All in all, another memorable and awesome trip to Leadville. Next year I'm contemplating doing the race on a cyclo-cross bike, perhaps a highly modified cross bike with disc brakes and a triple chainring.... something fast and strong, we'll see. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and happy trails.
