A Weekend in Leadville

Travelled to Leadville with Steve Bremner this weekend for some high altitude biking and running. Steve is a Leadman contender so part of the reason we went was to show him sections of the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike course, and get some good Leadman training. We spent about 7.5 hours on the course so Steve got a good taste of what he signed up for. We’ll go over the rest of the course the day after the Leadville Marathon in three weeks. I’ve mentioned Steve many times in the past as he is an incredible ultra-endurance athlete, a good friend, and has accomplished just about everything under the sun, except mountain biking. Quite a feat to take up mountain biking at 56 years old and signing up for Leadman! If anyone can do it, Steve can.  

Steve Heading Out of Leadville

Sugar Loafin Inbound

Back in Leadville after 7 1/2 Hours on the Trail

We stayed overnight with the intent to run from Twin Lakes over Hope Pass to Winfield and back. We started from a campground so we could cross the river over a bridge vs wading across it as the current was strong and high. The campground was a few miles up the road. We got a bit disoriented and ended up doing a 23 mile loop on sections of the Continental Divide and Colorado Trails instead. It was an incredibly enjoyable run on pristine single track, amazing scenery, and for us new trails! What impressed me the most is I never knew there was so much incredible single track in Leadville. I definitely have to come back here with gang on bikes. As an added bonus we came upon the ruins of InterLaken, a huge resort built in the 1800s and abandoned since World War I. Most of the resort is still in very good shape and the main house has been restored by the US Forest Service. Quite an unexpected treat!

Crossing the River via the Bridge

Pristine Single Track Continental Divide Trail



A Land Owner with a sense of Humer
Moutain bikers and hikers are allowed

Steve Refilling his water bottles

These two days combined with the ProCycling leg buster and lung blaster, tempo runs & rides during the week provided another incredible week for Leadman prep. Three weeks until the first event: The Leadville Marathon!

Training Log June 4 - 10, 2012

Mon: Core strength and rest. Still tired from Ring the Peak
Tue AM: Run with Max to AFA and 1 * up AFA Hill. Did three tempo runs, one north on Santa Fe Trail to south entrance of AFA 10:02 @ 7:36/mile. The second up AFA Hill 8:04 @ 9:59/mile, then from AFA south gate for 7:29 @ 7:47/mile. Overall run avg 8:55/mile. Felt really good considering the super long run on Sat. 1.5 hrs/10 Miles
Tue PM: Shop ride. Legs were tired but still was able to maintain a steady pace and keep the HR where I wanted. Was even able to accelerate a couple times when duking it out at the end of the Gold Camp  climb. Took it easy up Orion. 23:41 up Cheyenne Canon with HR 147/154. Overall HR 122/158 with the 158 reached on the Gold Camp Climb. Total climbing 4,507. Even though tired was able to push it and get my HR where it needed to be. 2.2 hrs/29 miles
Wed AM: Easy run with Max. Hank's open space loop. Walked the uphills. Just wanted to do an easy recovery run. 9:52/mile  0.7 hrs/4.1 miles
Wed PM: Very easy ride home. It was pretty windy so rode a lot in a very small gear just spinning and not fighting the wind. HR 96/117  0.6 hrs/7.6 miles
Thurs AM: Ride to work via MTB Ute Park then  Tempo from north of Costco to North Bridge (Gate) of AFA on Santa Fe Trail. Tempo was 39:45, 9.9 miles, HR 136/143. Overall HR 118/143  1.2 hrs/22 miles
Thurs PM - Ride Home very easy. Went South Gate of AFA then Santa Fe Trail to  Rockrimmon Trail. Went out for run when I got home but was very tired. Legs were dead. Went to Hank's and back. 9:37/mile  Bike 0.7 hrs/8.6 miles, Run 0.4 hrs/2.4 miles
Fri AM: Very easy ride to work. Felt really good and the ride seemed really easy. Went CostCo route 0.7 hrs/8 miles
Sat AM: Leadville training ride with Steve. Great ride and I got a lot of extra climbing in by going to the top of some of the climbs then going back down and riding the rest of the way with Steve. Rode from start to Pipeline and back. HR 120/154 and 8,604 ft of climbing. Mileage was a little high from going back and forth during the ride which is great for training. Climbing Bonus! Definitely need to  look an different tires for the race the current ones are very scetchy! Total  time was > 7.5 hrs actual rolling time 5.9 hrs/62 miles
Sun AM: Leadville training run with Steve. We decided to start from the NF campground rather than Twin Lakes so the bikes would be safe, with plan to run over Hope Pass to Winfield and back. Got a little turned around and ended up running portions of the Continental Divide Trail & Colorado Trail. Incredible trail and incredible run. Scenery was magnificant and we got a bonus of discovering Interlaken, a late 1800 resort that is now a ghost town in still excellent condition! 6,175 ft of climbing. 5 hrs/23 miles