Looking thrilled just minutes before the start

You know you’re going to be in a death march when bad weather prevents you from driving the posted speed limit on the way to a race start.

Running 100 miles at high elevation in the Rockies is tough as it is. Driving through freezing rain with the occasional lightning hitting the nearby mountaintops makes it surreal.

Fortunately there was only an occasional drizzle in Downtown Leadville prior to the 4 AM start. And unlike the Leadville bike race, there was no jockeying for a good starting position among the 466 runners. Everyone basically stands around nervously making small talk and waiting for Race Promoter Ken Chlouber to fire the shotgun. (more…)

The 2008 Leadville Trail 100 race begins as the bikers head towards the mountains

This is the first year I’ve crewed at the Leadville bike race rather than bike it. Besides getting another perspective on the race, I also got a lot of race photos. Unfortunately I only got two photos of the now infamous David Wiens and Lance Armstrong battle.

Congratulations to all who raced, including Stani Bohac (first timer and finishing well under 9 hours!), Jim Janowicz, Jeff Tenniswood, Doug Cannell, Randy Guymer, Jenn Dice (IMBA), Garth Prosser, and Patrick Olson.

The race photos are on-line at http://www.allyeargear.com/gallery/2008-leadville100-bike

It’s official. Snow is now in the forecast for tomorrow’s Leadville Trail 100 running race.

Snow showers likely and slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning…then rain showers likely and slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Snow accumulation around 1 inch. Highs 45 to 53. Southwest winds up to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.

Because there will be a mix of snow and rain, it’s going to be very tough keeping my clothing dry, especially critical items like gloves.

Also, racing in cold weather makes me want food with higher fat content. Typically I would do this race with just Hammer Gel and a protein-supplement. Now I plan on having raw cookie dough on hand.

The Race Medical check in is underway now. The race starts with an early morning shotgun blast at 4 AM.

Leadville's weekend weather forecast

It’s just a couple days away from the start of the Leadville Trail 100 running race.  Running 100 miles at altitude in the mountains is epic in its own right.  The race doesn’t need to be made tougher with lousy weather.

It appears Mother Nature wasn’t made aware of that.

This weekend’s weather looks wet and cold.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw snow.  I’m glad I packed some winter running gear.  It’s going to be interesting!

Lance Armstrong rides past Twin Lakes (mile 60)

A group of us from Michigan have been racing the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race since 1996.  It’s a tough race to finish but an easy race to become addicted to,  And as my friend Stani noted that everything about this race is epic: the course, the promoters, the volunteers, the altitude, etc.

Normally this race flies under the radar for everyone except the endurance racing junkies  Last year was an exception as Tour de France racer Floyd Landis showed up.  Landis eventually came in second to Leadville-favorite Dave Wiens.

This year Lance Armstrong did the race, putting Leadville in the national news.  And similar to last year, Armstrong came up short, finishing second to Wiens.  As the race announcer said, Armstrong did win his age group.

I only got one lousy photo of the leading duo.  Some of the best coverage is at Super Human Mag and the Denver Post.

The majority of folks I spoke with seemed satisfied with that result.  Wiens is a super nice guy and now a six-time winner at Leadville.  He could have been the seven-time winner, but the race promoters didn’t let him in that first year.  The race was full and they didn’t have any pro slots for late entries.  Wiens said he appreciated not being treated differently than the rest of the racers,

Stay tuned for more Leadville blogging on the Michigan racer results and photos.