Leadville, The 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race Podcast p/b Shimano

This podcast is all about preparation, but the reality is you can't be ready for everything...and the stuff that catches you off-guard is what you'll remember for the rest of your life. So in this episode of the Leadville Podcast, Hottie and Fatty talk about the importance of planning for the things you can't plan for in the Leadville 100 (and other races)...and embracing these unexpected moments. That said, when the rain really comes down (and the Leadville 100 has been overdue for a big rainy race day for more than a decade), you might want to have a great rain jacket, like Fatty's new Gore-Tex Shakedry Trail Hooded Jacket.  We talk with Jeremiah Bishop, the astonishingly fast pro with one of the five fastest times in the history of the Leadville 100, about how to prepare for the unwanted: flats, broken chains, and other mechanical issues. Jeremiah has incredibly practical guidance on what, where, and how to carry the gear you hope you won't need during the race. Hottie has an extended conversation with Jake Pantone of ENVE Composites about one of the most impactful -- but sadly neglected -- component combo on your MTB: Your handlebar and stem. They make a massive difference in your fit and ride quality. (Note: ENVE is a sponsor of The Leadville Podcast.) Finally, our Training Tips segment, Jonathan Lee talks with us about training duration. As it turns out, you may not need to put in the huge training volume you thought. Be sure to listen to this part of the show to get a sense of how you can train for the Leadville 100...and still have a life. Thanks for listening to the show that breaks down, builds up, gets you ready, and freaks you out for the highest and hardest one day mountain bike race in the country!  

We talk about a part of training that many of us completely neglect: weight training. Bob Forster gives us details. Then nutrition expert Roxanne Vogel is back to talk about bonk-proofing yourself for the Leadville 100 by becoming metabolically flexible. And we’ll hear from pro cyclist and Leadville legend Jeremiah Bishop about making smart drivetrain choices. Plus, Fatty and Hottie reveal something new about their plan for Leadville this year...a plan Hottie is likely to regret. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS Presenting Sponsor: Floyd's of Leadville — In this episode, Fatty and Hottie talk about the difference between Isolate and Full-Spectrum CBD. Learn more here and then use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first 2 orders! THE FEED: Every single thing you need to fuel your training and day. Get a discount on Maurten drink mix by using the Leadville15 code at checkout.  Lazer Sport Helmets: Fatty's stoked to get a Z1 MIPS — it's light, safe, good-looking, and perfectly ventilated.  Banjo Brothers: You know how we've always told you you can get 15% off your order by going to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites? Well, now you can get 20% off. Just sign up on our page and get the 20% off coupon!

This is such a packed episode. First, we take a detailed look at whether the corral you qualified into is a good predictor of your finish time. The answer is both surprising and useful. Next, we introduce our latest regular contributor to the show: JEREMIAH FREAKING BISHOP. Yep, we're going to have one of the fastest-smartest-nicest pros to ever do this race on our show regularly!  Roxanne Vogel joins us to chat about nutrition and how to start working on putting that 50,000 calories of energy (i.e., fat) you've got in your body to work. And finally, Coach Jonathan Lee sets us on the path to building sustained power, which is what this race is all about. It's the show that breaks down, builds up, gets you ready, and freaks you out for the highest and hardest one-day mountain bike race in the country. Welcome to Leadville! Download the qualifier analysis spreadsheet here. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS Presenting Sponsor: Floyd's of Leadville — Fatty and Hottie have been digging Floyd's Warming Balm. It is an a great way to get your legs feeling great for the ride, as well as to help you recover afterward. Use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first 2 orders! THE FEED: Every single thing you need to fuel your training and day. Get a discount on Maurten drink mix by using the Leadville15 code at checkout.  Shimano: In this episode, Hottie and Fatty talk about how the best way to make your bike feel new is to put on a new XT chain and Cassette. Try it. It's true. Banjo Brothers: You know how we've always told you you can get 15% off your order by going to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites? Well, now you can get 20% off. Just sign up on our page and get the 20% off coupon!

The Leadville 100 will start in waves this year. It's a big change, and has strategy implications for many (if not all) racers and crews. In this episode, Hottie and Fatty speculate and pontificate about how it will affect all kinds of racers in different places on the course. Then they go right to the source — Kimo Seymour, Sr VP of events and media at LifeTime — and ask all the questions you want answers to.  If you're wondering why Life Time is changing to start waves, what the time gaps are between waves (you might be surprised!), how (or whether) this change is going to affect the timing of the 12-hour shotgun blast, whether this will affect your finish time for good or bad, the status of potential outbound/inbound rerouting timing, and what changes will be made to on-course cutoff times, this is the episode for you.

Every year, there is someone in the Leadville 100 who is the last person to finish—the “Last Ass Over the Pass.” That person is guaranteed to have a story to tell. In this episode, we’ll hear his story. We'll also hear from Bob Forster, Physcial Therapist and Coach, on finding more horsepower in your engine (so you won't be the 2019 Last Ass Over the Pass).   Big thanks go to our sponsors: Floyd's of Leadville: We’re very excited to have Floyd’s of Leadville as our presenting sponsor; check out Floyd’s at floydsofleadville.com and use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first two orders. Shimano: You already know they make the best components, drivetrains, and brakes. You know how many mountain bikes Fatty and The Hammer have between them? Around half a dozen. You know how many of those bikes have Shimano XT or XTR brakes? All of them. Coincidence? I think NOT. Banjo Brothers: Fatty and Hottie are both such huge fans of these tough, practical and affordable bike bags and packs. Go to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites and get 20% off your order. And you know what? Be sure to pick up a Deluxe Seat Bag, size Medium while you're there. You'll be amazed at how much it can hold, and some day you'll be glad that bag is holding it. ENVE: The best wheels — for road, gravel and (of course!) mountain bikes. If you want a faster time at Leadville, the best upgrade you can make is a great wheelset. And the best wheelset you can possibly own for the Leadville 100 is the ENVE M525.  The Feed: February is a great time to try new things, and our sponsor The Feed is exactly the right place to go experiment. Head on over, chat online with one of the experts — tell them that the Leadville podcast sent you — and see what they recommend for you and the goals you’ve set. Get a great price on a pack curated for Leadville racers. Go to TheFeed.com/leadville for our Leadville pack, and be sure to use the code LEADVILLE15.   

We’ve got a remarkable guest this episode — Jeremiah Bishop, who last year took fifth overall in the 2018 Leadville 100. Which is no small achievement on its own merits, but is seven times more incredible when you consider that he did this the day after WINNING the six-day-long 2018 Breck Epic. Fatty also talks about his off-season weight gain, and we bring in two experts —coach Jonathan Lee of TrainerRoad, and Roxanne Vogel of GU Energy Labs — to help him (and you) start reversing the damage done over the holidays.

By now we've all sent in our registration and are waiting to see if we got lucky with the lottery. While we're all waiting, Hottie and Fatty answer some questions from our listeners, including: What major changes in training led to Fatty's change from being a 9 - 10 hour guy to being a low-8 guy? How do we feel about the creek crossing being covered (and other course changes)? What's the best bike for a first-timer? Would we ever do this race on a fat bike? How should racers -- especially racers without a crew -- prepare for bad weather? Have we ever thought we weren't going to finish? How important is your position in the starting corrals? What is it about this race that keeps us (and others!) coming back? Where are the places on the course where you're tempted to go too fast? Where are the places on the course where you go to slow? It's a fun free-flowing hour of conversation about this race we love.  Big thanks go to our sponsors: Floyd's of Leadville: We’re very excited to have Floyd’s of Leadville as our presenting sponsor; check out Floyd’s at floydsofleadville.com and use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first two orders. Shimano: You already know they make the best components, drivetrains, and brakes. You know how many mountain bikes Fatty and The Hammer have between them? Around half a dozen. You know how many of those bikes have Shimano XT or XTR brakes? All of them. Coincidence? I think NOT. Banjo Brothers: Fatty and Hottie are both such huge fans of these tough, practical and affordable bike bags and packs. Go to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites and get 20% off your order. And you know what? Be sure to pick up a Deluxe Seat Bag, size Medium while you're there. You'll be amazed at how much it can hold, and some day you'll be glad that bag is holding it. ENVE: The best wheels — for road, gravel and (of course!) mountain bikes. If you want a faster time at Leadville, the best upgrade you can make is a great wheelset. And the best wheelset you can possibly own for the Leadville 100 is the ENVE M525. 

We're back! It's season 2 of the show that breaks down, builds up, gets you ready, and freaks you out for the highest and hardest one day mountain bike race in the country. In this episode, we focus on the ways you can get into the LT100. Everyone knows about the lottery, and a lot of folks are at least aware of the qualifiers. But those are just two of many ways you can get into the Leadville 100. We’ve got Kimo Seymour, Senior VP of Events and Media at Life Time — in other words, head honcho of the Leadville race series — with us for this episode to talk about ALL of the ways you can get into the Leadville 100. Big thanks go to our sponsors: Floyd's of Leadville: We’re very excited to have Floyd’s of Leadville as our presenting sponsor; check out Floyd’s at floydsofleadville.com and use the code FATTY at checkout for a 15% discount on your first two orders. Shimano: You already know they make the best components, drivetrains, and brakes. Have you tried their S-Phyre shoes? They are all Fatty uses now (and he's got some very nice options gathering dust). Banjo Brothers: Fatty and Hottie are both such huge fans of these tough, practical and affordable bike bags and packs. Go to banjobrothers.com/fatty-favorites and get 20% off your order. ENVE: The best wheels — for road, gravel and (of course!) mountain bikes. If you want a faster time at Leadville, the best upgrade you can make is a great wheelset. And the best wheelset you can possibly own for the Leadville 100 is the ENVE M525. 

The training, the logistics, the stress, the excitement, and the actual racing are now all behind us...at least for this year. Now it's time for some storytelling. In this episode, Fatty tells Hottie a little bit about his Breck Epic experience (it matters, because it determined what bike Fatty rode in Leadville), as well as gives a full-on blow-by-blow of his 21st Leadville 100. We do away with our normal show structure for this episode -- it's a lot more like one of our bonus episodes, with a couple of friends talking about a race both of us love. This is the last "regular" show of the season. Hottie and Fatty want to thank our listeners for your kind feedback, and we definitely want to thank the dozens (really!) of you who — before, during, or after the race — mentioned enjoying the show. We're really proud of what we created, and it's awesome to have that work acknowledged. We also want to thank Rebecca Rusch and Jonathan Lee for their generosity with their time and insight. If you have an amazing story that would make a great bonus episode, leave a comment with with the short version of it here. Finally, a big thank-you to our sponsors, each of which took a big gamble on an experiment, and stuck with us through every episode: The Feed, which fueled Fatty to and through this race, including getting me through a very tough spot at a critical moment. Shimano, which gave both Fatty and his wife an utterly flawless, no-maintenance-needed, trouble-free shifting and braking for seven straight days of mountain bike racing. XT Di2 is so good it makes Fatty mist up. ENVE Composites, for bombproof wheels, bars, and stems. Seven days of mountain bike racing on the M525 for both Fatty and his wife, with not a single pinch flat. Perfect, confident riding for the whole week for both of them. Banjo Brothers, for sturdy, affordable, great-looking bags that do exactly what they should. Somewhere out there, there's a rider who DIDN'T have a Banjo Brothers seat bag whose race didn't end because Fatty does.

When you pass the Carter's Aid Station, you've got 12 miles and about an hour left in your race. In this episode of The Leadville Podcast, Hottie and Fatty talk not just about the physical part of the course — the St Kevens climb and descent, the push to the pavement, the railroad doubletrack and the brutal finish up The Boulevard — but the mental toll the race has likely taken on you. Do not miss this fierce and satisfying conclusion to the pre-race episodes of Season 1 of The Leadville Podcast!  (Don't worry, though: there will be at least one post-race storytelling session episode of the show before we go on hiatus 'til season 2.)