Leadboat 2021

I went to the USA in August to race, cause that’s what I still am at the end, a bike racer. Road, mountainbike or gravel, if it is on two wheels I am into it. Although I won’t consider downhill mountain biking racing, and the main focus is gravel. Last week I gave it a shot at the #leadboat challenge. A combined overal on a famous mountainbike race very high in the Colorado Rockie Mountains, Leadville is sitting at 3000 meters altitude,  and a new fast growing gravel race, SBTGRVL, a 1000 meter lower in elevation in Steamboat Springs. The challenge is pretty insane, consisting of  2 days of riding, over 400 kilometers in total, with like 7000 meters of climbing. All this above 2000 meters elevation. We race on two different bikes and both mountain towns where separated 3 hrs driving apart. A logistic nightmare. 

I came to race. I did Leadville before and I sucked. Talking about a logistic nightmare. I remember a 13 hour flight Tuesday after the Tour de France. And then a 2000 km trip from Santa Cruz to Leadville by car to arrive Thursday night, with 2 jet lagged kids of 1 and 4 years old on the backseats. All parents know that it was a challenge.  Counting in that I came from sea level,  I didn’t rode my bike for 3 days and the day before Leadville was the first day that I stepped on a mountainbike that year, I new exactly why I sucked. 

This year was going to be different. I flew in 14 days before Leadville. I carefully planned my travel in a luxury Sprinter Van from Storyteller Overland, quite the upgrade since UNBOUND where I drove an old beat up chevy.  I made sure that I was on time on altitude in Truckee. I collected my mountainbike in Morgan Hill at the Specialized hq immediately on arrival in order to get used to the bike. On all the bbq’s they threw me in my old home towns, Santa Cruz and  Truckee I tempered my appetite, I knew I had to climb a lot. I went only twice for my favorite breakfast containing pancakes, eggs and bacon. I was way better prepared than in 2016 and had high hopes for Leadville the first of the two races. And guess what?

I still sucked. 

Somehow I was dropped from the first meters up hill after the cold 6.30 am start. If it was the altitude, the cold start or maybe even the smoke from the California wildfires I trained in the week before, I don’t know. Fact is that it felt an asthma attack on the first climb. I never recovered and had to put my body into survival mode in stead of race mode. I nursed me and my bike to the finish without crashing, just being 5 minutes faster than 5 years ago. With all the preparation that went into it, it was fair to say that I was disappointed.

That is the beauty of the human body. It keeps on surprising you. Where I was on an upward swing in may and June. Feeling unbeatable and surprised by the excellent form I had. Now I was surprised in a bad way. I was way worse than I expected. I drove down the mountain from Steamboat a little sad. But I knew too, the body can switch. The legs are there, I knew that from training, so when the lungs open up I’ll be able to do a good race. I was happy with my second chance that weekend in SBTGRVL. 

I suffered again the first 2,5 hours of the race, but then the temperature rose and the body switched. The lungs opened up and were able to catch more air. My legs felt better every kilometer. Whereas I was dropped a few times in the beginning I started to think about attacking the field a couple of hours later. And I did. Adrenaline flew and I felt like I was superman again, being the bike racer from May.

But I got countered on my attack and 8 guys flew by. They left me behind.  I had overshoot myself a little bit and found myself in a second group of 4 riders. We rode to the line together and very tired and satisfied I settled for a 10th place. It felt like I did a race instead of just riding my bike to the finish like I did the day before in Leadville. I had been in the mix again. 

So satisfaction was there and I could reflect on a great trip. Unfortunately it was a solo trip as my wife and kids were not be able to make it into the USA. We will save that for next year. What stood out for me this trip was the hospitality and welcoming altitude from all the people I met during my travel. I lost count of the families I stayed with during my weeks over here. I remember the new friends I’ve made and the old ones I met again. It felt good to fit in the  “band of gravel brothers” again and  kick each others arse while meeting for a beer or my favorite  pancake breakfast afterwards. The amount of women racing bikes in SBTGRVL was insane. The organization was flawless. It all was really nice to experience.

I have some European projects coming up now, stay tuned. It is cool . But this might have been my last big USA trip and big block of racing for this season. I can’t wait to come back to see all my gravel friends in 2022.