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

Hottie and Fatty are joined by 2022 Leadville 100 champ Hannah Otto — one of the busiest professional bike racers in recent years. Between juggling UCI races, the Lifetime Grand Prix, and the occasional FKT, Hannah stays fast, smart, and positive: skills all Leadville racers should try to emulate. In this episode, Hannah talks us through both her prior Leadville 100 races AND walks us through a new approach. While none of us could keep with Hannah’s schedule or her pace up Columbine, we can learn a bunch from how she balances goals and overcomes obstacles. You'll also want to listen in for the Fatty's Finishing Tips segment, which is all about consistency and why the mindset you train with is going to affect your race day results.

By now you know whether you got into the 2024 Leadville 100. If you did (and even if you didn't), now is the time to do a baseline FTP test, so you can measure your progress through the season (and yes, Fatty reveals his own current FTP). Coach Jonathan Lee of TrainerRoad -- a favorite friend of the show -- joins to talk about the why, how, and what of FTP testing. We also introduce a new segment for this new season: Fatty's Tips for Finishing. With 25 Leadville 100 finishes (and one DNF) ranging from as slow as 11:27 (1998) to eight sub-9-hour finishes (including six singlespeed finishes and one singlespeed win), Fatty has learned a thing or two (sometimes from successes, often from mistakes) about how to finish the highest, hardest, one-day race in America.

In this mini-episode, Hottie and Fatty encourage you to enter the lottery for the 2024 LT100...but also, to not expect to get in the race that way. We dig into what the surefire ways are to get in, what the tradeoffs are, and strategies to get in that cost less (but are also less certain) or that require more time and patience. Also, we have a request as we plan out Season 7 (!!!) of this show: fill out our listener survey at leadville.fm/survey. It will help us help you get ready for the highest and hardest one day mountain bike race in the country.

This is it: the season's final episode. Like in other seasons, we end with Fatty's race report...but this was no ordinary day on the course for Fatty. In this episode, he talks about what it's like to do his 25th Leadville 100...less than three months after a C2-C5 spine fusion. 

The 2023 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race is now behind us and it's time to look back at the day. Hottie and Fatty talk about and with scores of racers, chatting about Keegan's record-breaking day, how numerous former guests did, and even a few surprising statistics. Enjoy this 2023 retrospective!

Hottie and Fatty talk about their Top 15 Tips -- five each for racers, crew, and spectators -- as we get close to race day. Whether you're out there on your bike trying to get yourself to the red carpet, taking care of your (let's face it) crazy cyclist, or just hanging out at Twin Lakes Dam watching this incredible race unfold, this is an episode you do not want to miss!

Nate Whitman joins the show to answer a whole slew of your questions about preparing for, executing, and recovering from the Leadville 100. We're also incredibly excited to have details on this year's podcast group ride. Don't miss this episode!

We've never raced the Leadville 100 with a power meter, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. There's a lot to be learned from racing with power, and a good case to be made for it. Coach Jonathan Lee of TrainerRoad joins us to make that case.  We also take on the question of whether it's worth the time and travel for flatlanders to spend less time in Leadville, and more at a midway point (altitude-wise) like Denver. For once, Hottie and Fatty actually agree on the answer. Astonishing!

LT100MTB Race Director Tamira Jenlink joins the show to catch us up with what's changed, what's new, and how to be have a great day on the course. We ask her about course changes, crewing, parking, shuttles, road closures, new aid stations, weather and smoke problems, qualifiers, aero bars and bar ends, and much more. It's a packed hour of info you need to know; don't miss this episode!

At some point, you're going to wish you'd listened more closely to this episode. And we're betting that point is as you're riding inbound from Pipeline to the base of Powerline and confronting a headwind that can charitably be called "evil." The fact is, we all think about iconic climbs when we think of Leadville, but you'll spend far more time on rolling and flat terrain than you will on Columbine and Powerline. So: being aero matters. And this episode, we have two true experts to help you cheat the wind on race day.