08-12-2017 A Weekend in the Life of a Leadville 100 MTB Race Crew Member

After sending the girls off for their first day of school, we loaded up and headed to Leadville.  Upon arriving in Leadville, our first stop was race check-in.  We picked up Mike’s race packet and headed off to find our lodging location.  We were fortunate this time around to find Alison and the perfect rental set-up off 9th and Harrison.  We were able to walk to the various race events and would have easy access to the start and finish without needing to park the car elsewhere.

As we were settling in, we ran into our first “issue” of the weekend.  The bike lock keeping the bike on the car was jammed and would not open.  A bit of panic as we headed to ACE and had the fortunate encounter with Ryan who allowed us to borrow bolt cutters and helped us free the bike!  Back to the apartment, dropped the bike and the rest of our gear and headed off to the athlete briefing.  

Picture 100s of people packed into the Lake County High School gym and this would describe the athlete briefing.  We were able to gather our entire group together and listened to the history and stories of the Leadville race leaving inspired to take on the event the next day.  

We had lunch at the Tennessee Pass cafe and headed back to our apartment to lay low for a while.  A final run to the grocery store.  A quiet dinner at the apartment and early to bed.  

Saturday was my first experience crewing for the Leadville 100 MTB event. I arrived in Leadville with several responsibilities for the day as a wife, a crew manager, a friend, and a press assistant, with my number one priority being Mike and anything that he needed to make his day go smoother.   

I learned when Mike ran the Leadville 100 in 2015 that as the event approaches that I need to start keeping notes as he shares his expectations of the day.  I had a decent list prepared of what to expect his needs to be as he came through and with my new found projected timelines that I use at all of my coaching events a reasonable expectation of times that my athletes should be rolling through.  The good news for me this time was that everyone was paced slightly different so I had time to assist each one as they came through as I had three that I had gear for.  My goal for the other athletes that I was following was to cheer, support and take pictures.

Here is how the day went:

4:45 a.m. - The alarm sounds.  It is go time.

4:45-5:45 a.m. - Get dressed, pack up my food cooler, pack up crew supplies cooler

5:45 a.m. - Head out to the start area

6:00 a.m. - Arrive at Corals - drop Mike in his coral.

6:10 a.m. - Meet Thad to pick up crew items

6:20 a.m. - Facebook Live National Anthem

6:28 a.m. - Send Thad to start race - run up 6th to meet Mike

6:30 a.m. - Watch Mike start

6:35 a.m. - Pack up guitar, amp and all supporting equipment in Thad’s car.

Pack crew supplies in his car to pick up as I leave for Twin Lakes

6:45 a.m. - Meet with Hugh and Cole at City on the Hill

7:15 a.m. - Walk back to apartment - use functioning restroom one last time and head out

7:20 a.m. - Pick up Thad’s crew items from his car

7:45 a.m. - Arrive Twin Lakes Dam aid area/Opted to pass first parking option (GOOD CHOICE)

7:45-8:30 a.m. - Unload car/set up crew area

8:39 a.m. - Race Leaders through TL Outbound

8:54 a.m. - First Female through TL Outbound

9:07 a.m. - First First Descents Team Member TL Outbound

9:14 a.m. - Wesley Sandoval TL Outbound

9:18 a.m. - Chris Colt TL Outbound

9:28 a.m. - One Arm Willie TL Outbound

9:55 a.m. - Thad TL Outbound

10:12 a.m. - Race Leaders TL Inbound

10:20 a.m. - Carrie Larson TL Outbound

10:23 a.m. - John Baker TL Outbound

10:45 a.m. - Mike TL Outbound

10:45-11:00 a.m. - Walked to restroom

11:15 a.m. - Columbine UPDATE received on Chris

11:25 a.m. - First First Descents Team Member TL Inbound

11:55 a.m. - Chris TL Inbound

12:03 p.m. - One Arm Willie TL Inbound

12:06 p.m. - Aided Athlete #1998 with water - could not find his crew to refill

1:19 p.m. - Thad TL Inbound

Begin loading car back up/move car closer in event of rain and for additional supplies

1:40 p.m. - Carrie Larson TL Inbound

2:00 p.m. - John Baker TL Inbound

2:15 p.m. - Mike TL inbound

Load car of remaining gear

3:00 p.m. - Arrive in Leadville

Check in at apartment, regroup on supplies, head to finish

4:00 p.m. - One Arm Willie  FINISH

4:08 p.m. - Chris Colt FINISH

Coffee shop to visit with Tom & Margie, meet Laura from CAF and take a break from the rain

6:15 p.m. - Thad FINISH

6:25 p.m. - Carrie Larson FINISH

Move supplies from cars

Home to regroup, send photos, respond to messages

8:00 p.m. - Out to dinner with Colts

9:30 p.m. - To Bed

I always ask my athletes that I coach to provide me with a 5/5/5 report post race.  5 Celebrations/5 Challenges/5 Goals to work towards next time.  Here is my post event report.

5 Celebrations:

1. Supporting Chris in his final step of a journey we have been a part of all year (seeing his family and experiencing all of their reactions)
2. Did not miss anyone that I was tracking/watching coming through either direction
3. Seeing friends achieve milestones in their journeys
4. Good weather - a bit of rain but most of the day sunny and not too warm
5. Pictures of nearly all if not all First Descents Team Members

5 Challenges:

1. Poor service in Twin Lakes - struggled to get messages through to establish meetup location
2. Celebrating friends accomplishments while others in our pack did not finish
3. Mike’s return to Twin Lakes Inbound - replaying what had transpired since his last pass through (his expression)
4. The mood swing of celebrating the cut made to finding out that it was missed and why
5. Catching people for photos - not identifying quickly enough

5 Goals:

1. Execute the storage container plan that I have been wanting to start for crew organization
2. Get a collapsible wagon to easily transport items from car to designated spot - the walk is inevitable (found one to borrow - remember Miss Dee for the next round!)
3. Figure out how to work with a spotter/tracking to anticipate and catch desired pictures
4. One bike tool kit of sorts to be shared among all athletes versus duplication of multiple items
5. Is it worth connecting crew spot to existing tent (First Descents or others?)

Sunday, we enjoyed a quiet morning in Leadville.  A chilly walk to the Golden Burrow for breakfast followed by a little bit of browsing around town.  We then participated in the Leadville Race Series 10K which showed a very fast field at elevation with climbing.  We then headed back to Denver - a part of the I70 heavy traffic to Idaho Springs that the signs told us about.