Leadville Silver Rush 50: B.P.R. Race Review

Leadville Silver Rush 50 Summary, in as few words as possible:

  1. I love to ride bikes, I love to race bikes – single speed / rigid / titanium, of course
  2. I can’t quit my day job, I’ll never pay the mortgage by racing bikes
  3. Something must change, something will change. 

What do I mean by that. Nothing, really. BUT…. I am gearing up for a big 4 months of racing. (Check back in a few days, I’ll post the race Official BPR schedule for Aug – Nov.) The Leadville Silver Rush experience was awesome, but I failed to achieve my goal. My goal was simple: Ride Faster, Hike Faster. It didn’t happen; I’m not thrilled with my performance. 


So, I need to modify my training and must modify my lifestyle. Modify my lifestyle? Yep. I’m going to work on my nutrition, which means I’m going to cut back on Cheetos. I’m in much better shape than 2009, but I still weight 210 lbs! This is unacceptable. I need to be 170 and 2% body fat. So the Cheetos addiction is a thing of the past. No joke, jokester. No more Cheetos Burritos, no more Cheetos for breakfast, no more last night Cheetos snacks, no more Chocoloate Mint ice cream with Cheetos topping. (But I’ll still eat Cheetos for lunch!) Anyway, enough of this serious stuff. Let’s get on with the race review.

For the Silver Rush 50 I traveled solo, camped solo, raced solo, and meditated solo. It was a solo trip. I met some cool dudes / dudettes. Not my doing, as people know I very seldom start conversations – but I can keep one going. Anyway, Andrew / Mo / Stacy from Denver / Boulder were camping next to me. It was fun talking to the crew. Nice to meet new people and converse about crazy stuff – like UFOs and Sasquatch. No joke. I saw a UFO in Feb 2009, Stacy saw a Sasquatch a few years ago. Talk to enough people, all the mysteries in the world are not so mysterious.


Ok, back to the race, again:


The Basics:

  1. I was 10 min slower than last year.
  2. When on the bike, I performed better than last year
  3. When hiking, I hiked slower than last year. My legs were destroyed – hiking only. A solution – start cruising Walmart. The Walmart shuffle might be good training. Just need to get the guts to go into that Hell Hole.
  4. The blind led the blind. 10 of us missed a turn. The data does not lie, we rode an extra  mile and climbed an extra 150 ft. Just what I need prior to the final 2 wicked climbs (The final 2 climbs were about 1350 feet of vertical in 4 miles. Brutal. But I powered up them in BPR fashion.)
What I think:
Check out the data and the pictures at the following link. The Data and Pics – Dude! 
 
It’s clear, to me, that my riding was faster and my hiking was slower. I broke out the data in 6 splits. 3 on the way out, 3 on the way back. The splits this year are fairly close to the 2009 splits EXCEPT split 4 and 5. Split 4 is the massive hike up from the turn around point, a peak altitude above 12,023 ft. The hike this year was 3 minutes slower than last. Split 5 shows the mistake, the wrong turn. I rode an extra mile (check the distance on Split 3 and 5 below) and was 9 minutes slower. What does all this say? Nothing, really. I have some work to do. I have a very good idea on why my hiking was substandard. But that is a private situation. This is public forum, let’s just say I suck at hiking. This is unacceptable. I will be prepared next year, maybe.  
 
To all the Foxy Mamas out there that gave up on me and told me to get lost because I refused to go on hikes – well, I’m now a fan of hiking, so give me a call and let’s go for a stroll. But…don’t get jealous if I bring along one of the ‘sheep’. That is just the way it is. And don’t get hacked off if I break out in a sprint. Life is all about the situation, training for the situation via a race simulation. There will be times where I simulate The Lt Col encroaching on my usual Back of the Pack lead. If / when this happens, I will take off like a bat out of Hell – it’s all about the race simulation, the mental imagery, dominating from the Back of the Pack.

 
The Results:


The Link: Silver Rush 50 Results

  1. Overall: 156 out of 505 finishers, I think
  2. Single Speed Category: 11 out of 46, 55 registered? (results say 10th, but James / Black Sheep Bikes was not correctly classified as Single Speed. James smoked me by 18 minutes, just like last year.)
  3. The Numbers: 620 started, 763 registered, I think
The Stuff:
 
A basic Google Earth image of the race. Can you pick out the wrong turn?
 
Another View: 
Split 1 = Start to High Point 1
Split 2 = High Point 1 to High Point 3 
 Split 3 = High Point 3 to Turn Around
Splits 4 – 6 are the reverse, dude!

 

The Data: check out the difference is Lap 2 and Lap 7. (Throw out the turn around lap, Lap 4, and the lap numbers will equal the split times on the webpage – link above. Confused? You shouldn’t be.)


The Judd: waiting for the start, catching some rays
 
A View of the Start: the “Finish” sign says “Start” on the other side. No Joke.


The Hill: the race started with a ‘sprint’ up this hill. Took me 1 min 30 secs. I’m fast.
 
Celebrating the Day: solo style, of course

 

Tedd, it’s your turn to drive. Tedd? You There? Oh crap, Tedd stayed home.
No wonder it’s so quite. Yeah right.


Sunday Breakfast: Boathouse Cantina, Salida CO. BPR’s favorite hangout.



Prob-eee is so sick of the hazing implemented by the B.P.R. Founding Members that he is preparing to take the dive into the Black Sheep lifestyle. Good move Prob-eee, funny poem Prob-eee. 

A Poem by Prob-eee, The Ancient One.
 
Baa Baa black sheep, have you any Ti?
Yes sir,yes sir, may I ask why?
One for The Judd who climbs up the hills;
One for the Lt Col who likes to take spills.
One for Tedd who boosts our morale;
One for Prob-eee to be a member with his pals.


 

One thought on “Leadville Silver Rush 50: B.P.R. Race Review”

  1. Dude – you're funny. The boathouse might have AlpenRose beat. You could probably tie some fishing line to your big toe and pull dinner out of the Arkansas while your analysis troubles float away!

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