Leadville Preview: Race Day Checklist

Go time is near. The start of the 2011 Leadville 100 is less than a day away. Soon you’ll be on your bike, facing down a 100 miles (actually 103) of high-alpine mountain biking along with about 1,800 of your new best friends.

But what to do between now and then? What should be on your race day checklist? Singletrack.com queried its round table of pros, plus America’s best known cycling coach – and multi-time Leadville finisher – Chris Carmichael, to find out.

The Day Before the Race

Dave Wiens, six-time champion
“It’s all about getting as much ready ahead of time as possible, so mix your bottles, get your feeds ready, make sure your bike is perfect and ready to go. There will be a lot of tension at this point, but remember that you’ve put a lot of training and preparation in and you’re ready. So relax and don’t over think it.”

Chris Carmichael, cycling coach
“Make sure you know what your pre-race meal and evening-before meal are going to be. This is not the time to be flipping a coin. You should have those decisions made.”

The Night Before the Race

Nate Whitman, director Herbalife24 Basecamp
“Lay out everything you are going to need the next morning: bike, shoes, helmet, bottles, kit, gloves, tools, everything. You can even do a dry run, pretend it’s race day, go through things head to toe. At the same time, don’t over-think it and make yourself too crazy. You have ridden hundreds of miles without problems. This is just another day on the bike. Just remember to go to bed early. The race starts at 6:30 a.m.”

Chris Carmichael, cycling coach
“For your evening-before meal, eat lots of carbs. You don’t need to stuff yourself, but eat well. The reason is that the next morning it may be hard to eat a substantial meal, so you need to rely on the meal from the night before. That’s important to remember.”

The Morning of the Race Part 1

Nate Whitman, director Herbalife24 Basecamp
“First off, make sure to give yourself extra time for everything, because you’ll probably need it. Something always seems to pop up that you weren’t expecting. Budget for that ahead of time.”

Chris Carmichael, cycling coach
“For breakfast, the usual rule of thumb is to eat three hours before your race. But that would mean waking up at 3:30 a.m. which I do not advise. Most years, I’m up around 4-4:15 and have a meal that’s a combination of rice, eggs, some cereal and coffee.”

The Morning of the Race Part 1

Dave Wiens, six-time champion
“Once breakfast is done, get to the start line. I feel for the people who are not in front box who want to do well. But if that’s the case, you need to be out there on Sixth and Harrison really early to get a decent starting position. Remember you can lose 30 minutes at the start just by being a ways back.”

Chris Carmichael, cycling coach
“A lot of people overdress at the start. You’re at 10,000 feet, it’s cold. But once you get going, within 20 minutes you’re going up the St. Kevins climb and you are going to get hot pretty quick. So you won’t need much more than a vest, arm warmers and mountain bike gloves. You can regulate temperature by unzipping the vest and pulling down the arm warmers as needed.”

“To overcome being cold at the start when you are sitting around, and you don’t have someone to take your stuff right before the start, a good thing to do is pick-up a sweatshirt and sweatpants at Goodwill and wear them at the start. A couple minutes before, just toss it to the side and hopefully it gets back to Goodwill. Whatever you do, don’t start the race with leg warmers and a bunch of other stuff. You’ll get hot and just have to take it off.”

And Don’t Forget

Ken Chlouber, Leadville 100 founder
“Inside each of you is an inexhaustible well of grit, guts and determination. When the time comes when you are suffering and want to quit – and that time will come – reach deep inside that well of grit, guts and determination and find the will to keep going. And to do that remember that you are better than you think you are, and you can do more than you think you can.”