Race versus survival at the Leadville Trail 100
Over 1400 riders where line up at 6:30am in the streets of the one time super famous town of Leadville, the front of the pack was there to race and about 1300+ riders where there to just finish and try to crack that 9 hour mark so they can take home one of those shinny belt buckles, along with the pride of saying that they smoked it in less than 9 hours, other riders where strictly there for business.
This is my second time doing the race, last year I did not have enough time to acclimate, so this year the plan was to arrive about 9 days before the race to get used to the 10.000+ feet elevation. Thanks to Max Taam and his roommates for hosting me, because of the time I had to acclimate I was able to breath and go harder this time around.
At the front of the pack I could sense the tension, as the two favorites Dave Wins and Lance Armstrong looked at each other with a scared look on their faces not knowing what today was going to bring.
6:30am sharp the shotgun was fired and off we went, last year the start was neutral for about 3k, but this year it felt like we started racing right off from the start, this year attracted more top pro riders some of them were: Tinker Juarez, Travis Brown, former winner Bryson Perry. 6 time Leadville champ Dave Wins and Lance Armstrong along with them there were some 1400+ more riders.
I had trained hard for this day and was as prepared as I could be, weeks prior I was riding 22+ hours per week to get ready for this 7+hour race.
Like I mentioned before the start was fast and riders where anxious to get to the front and show what they had, this year I knew that I need it to be smart in order to place well, so I decided no to do any work at the front and just follow wheels to save energy for the main climb of the day, the Columbine Mine. During the start at the flatter sections of the race we where doing over 45kph, at the base of the first climb the pace was still strong and for very many it was more than what they could handle, quickly there where only 8 of us at the front with gaps that were increasing with each pedal stroke, I was just able to barely hang, by the top of the first climb I had lost about 25 seconds, I knew that I could close this gap in the descent so I was not too worry about it and wanted to save energy, plus closing gaps on the down hills is a blast.
By this point we had the first and second climb out of the way, we were about 11 minutes faster than last years time just 2 hours into the race, the next group behind us was 6 minutes back, so I knew that I need it to stay in contact with that front group in order to be able to draft in the upcoming flatter sections of the course.
For a video of the race click here.
Just about starting the Power-line descent it started raining, it is still 8am, the temperature at the start was below 40F, and now is raining. I had on me a long sleeve under layer, my team Jersey, thick arm warmers and a vest that was handed to me by the great CTS crew. All this clothes were not helping very much as I was getting wet under my clothes. By the bottom of the descent I was with the pack once again, the pace was still strong and by this point I was totally wet, feet, face and hands were starting to freeze.
At the aid station I was handed my muset bag by the Carmichael Training Systems support crew, my hands were so cold that I could not grab much of what was on the bag.
I was able to hang with the front for another 20 minutes and by them my body was starting to shut down and using most of it’s energy to keep me warm and alive. Tinker and one of his teammates were also feeling the cold as we were all starting to loose ground to the front pack of now 4 riders. By the time we got to the Twin Lakes aid station I was totally devastated, Tinker and his teammate were far back loosing even more time to the now leading rider Lance Armstrong. I was ready to stop my race there for safety reasons, but at the aid station there were so many people cheering for me that all I could do was get a rain jacked on and keep moving forward, I was so out of it that someone had to put the jacket on for me. About halve way up the 1+hour Columbine climb I was still really cold and was starting to loose vision of my left eye, once again I thought about quitting but this time my motivation was not to let myself my friends or my sponsors down, so I decided to just ride and not worry about the race and try to survive.
I usually never stop at the aid stations while at a major race, but this time I did, in fact I stopt for a few minutes and had some brownies, 2 sandwiches and a Coca Cola, about 4 riders had gone by without stopping, one of the guys at the aid station told me that Lance was about 25 minutes in front, I looked a him and said “I don’t care” in fact I didn’t, all I wanted was to finish and survive. I kept loosing ground everywhere, now I could not see very well and the major descent of the day was here, I rode really slow and took no chances, by the bottom of the descent I was now on 9th place with Jason Tullous from Carmichael Training Systems to ride with, I wanted to do more work for him but all I could do was to hold his wheel and take some pulls here and there. By now I was starting to feel my hands and be able to shift with my fingers, for the past 3 hours I was shifting with the palm of my hand, so I went ahead and took off the rain jacked and grabbed my muset bag at the Pipe-line 2 aid station, I looked at the time I realized that we had only 2 more hours to go.
Jason did most of the work on the lesser steep climbs and I did some work on the steeper parts, by the top of the last climb another rider had joined us, in my brain knew that I could descent fast but my vision was almost none, so soon enough I crashed on a turn and got some good dirt rash, bent my bars and lost even more confidence, quickly I fixed the bike and got going, as much as I could I went fast and closed the gap to the two riders in front, by now just like any other racer I was starting to think how to edge out the other two riders so I could get 8th rather than 9th or 10th, by this point we were in Leadville town and there was a little rise right before the finish, I knew that this was a better place for me to attack rather than waiting till the finish line, so I did and it paid off, by the time I hit the finish I was about 100 meters ahead of Mike HOGAN who finished 9th with Jason Tollous in 10th.
I can easily say that this was the hardest day I’ve had on the bike by far, many thoughts of quitting not only the race but the sport in general, yes that is how bad I was suffering out there.
The way we grow up and the things we do day by day will make us who we are and who we will be in the future, I was able to come out on top on this one, but it was not easy. Many of us will eventually come to a point weather in racing or live when we want to quit, but keep in mind that sometimes all we need is to push a little and little more to get over the hump, at the end the result could be very rewarding.
The night after the race I was able to go to sleep knowing that I gave it my all and made a difference in my live and hopefully the live of all of those around me. If I was able to inspire at least one person then that makes all that suffering worth it, one by one is how we can make a difference and change the world.
Thanks for reading, Manuel Prado.
