Race with the elite athletes in the EPIC Mountain Challenge

It's exciting to read the names in the daily entries for the Epic Mountain Challenge as anticipation builds for the $60,000 Cash Prize Purse. But in reality it's anyone's game - there's no separate PRO division, anyone can race for the prize money.

Here's a few names you may recognize - all specialists in their fields of Mountain Biking, XTERRA, Trail Running, Mountain Running and Triathlon.

SOLO MEN: Josiah Middaugh; Travis Macy; Jason Michalak; Jorge Mendiola - Mexico; Tate Behning; Dan Hugo - South Africa, Bradley Weiss - South Africa & Ben Allen - Australia

SOLO WOMEN: Fabiola Corona - Mexico; Heidi Rentz; Shonny Vanlandingham; Emma Garrard; Danielle Ballengee; Renata Bucher - Switzerland & Jacqui Slack - Great Britain

TEAM OPEN: Joe Gray/Russell Finsterwald; Michael MaCalla/Macdonard Ondara and Jared Scott/Bryan Alders

TEAM WOMEN: Stevie Kremer/Sarah Stubbe; Lindsay Krause/Megan Carrington & Gretchen Reeves/Rachel Viele

Categories and Prizes

SOLO Men
SOLO Women

Enter and compete in all four events. Lowest cumulative time wins.

1st to 5th place each receive: $5,000 down to $1,000

TEAM
2-Person Women
2-Person Open

Divide the four events between you in any combination. Lowest cumulative time wins.

1st to 5th placed team each receives: $5,000 down to $1,000

INDIVIDUAL
Enter any of the 4 events

Male or Female Age Group 39 and Under or Masters 40+

1st to 5th. Sponsor Prize Packs Finisher awards to all

See you on the 5-6th October, Pagosa Springs CO Register at joingecko.org/epic

Check out the Epic Schedule: http://www.joingecko.com/uploads/gecko_epic_mt_r06.pdf

Josiah Middaugh is a top favorite to take home the Epic title

Race in Review: XTERRA Pagosa Springs

Despite a rainy, damp week leading up to the event, Sunday Sept 15th was a pearler of a day for the inaugural XTERRA Pagosa Springs. Not too hot, not too cold, just right. It was fun to be part of history in the making - there'll never be another first XTERRA Pagosa Springs. First ever swim in Lake Pagosa (or any of the lakes for that matter!); first ever XTERRA and first ever off-road triathlon! 

We are proud to share that we had a professional photographer at XTERRA Pagosa Springs, snapping happy action shots of you all day!  

Thanks to Trent Bona Photography, we've posted some incredible photos of the race on our Facebook page. Please LIKE the page, check out the Album, TAG yourself and your friends and SHARE the love!

There are also Facebook Albums posted by Melissa Webber, Stephen & Randi Durham, Joanne Irons and Teal Noelle (our GOAL Academy student entered into the Photo contest)...so many memories of the event!

Read follow up stories in the media: Pagosa Springs Sun

http://www.pagosasun.com/pros-battle-it-out-at-xterra-pagosa-springs/

http://www.pagosasun.com/cards-of-thanks-40/

Winners are Grinners:

 
Congratulations to our XTERRA sponsored prize draw winners:
 
285 Jenny Ploss wins the XTERRA WETSUITS Vortex Sleeveless Wetsuit!
296 Ambrose Teasyatwho wins XX2i Optics Sunglass or Polarized Reader
251 Hailey Fortin wins a Rudy Project Gift (choose from their gift catalogue range)
 
Hooray!

RESULTS HIGHLIGHTS
 
A full list of RESULTS can be found on our website here.

Honors for the top spot was a dual between Jason Michalak of Crested Butte and Joshua Merrick of Alamosa, Jason taking it out the win 6 minutes ahead of Joshua in a combined time of 2 hours 11 minutes. Pete Mech and Logan Ot both from Durango, took out the top team spot in 2 hours 25 minutes and Shonny Vanlandingham crushed the women's field in 2 hours 27 minutes.

 Medals and Trophies made by local artists Tessie Garcia and Scott Slind were awarded to finishers and winners!

   

A sincere & heartfelt Thank You to our incredible volunteers and our SPONSORS - we couldn't function as we do without them!

Epic gets Personal!

Thanks to Rydin Decal http://www.rydindecal.com/ and First SouthWest Bank athletes that enter the Epic Mountain Challenge before 9am Monday 23rd Sept will receive Personalized Race bibs for the event.

We believe this will be a great event memento for athletes and will also engage the spectators on the course who will will be able to cheer the athletes on personally and will also see where they have come from.

Online registration for the Epic Mountain Challenge, Pagosa Springs CO 5-6th Oct is at http://www.joingecko.org/info.asp?uid=346 Sign up as a Solo, Team or for any of the individual events and be part of the EPIC action.

It's a great incentive to get in early next year - mark your calendars Columbus Day weekend in October!


Tim Sullivan and the Narrow Gauge to Play at EPIC closing

Pagosa Springs Colorado is an authentic mountain town with sprawling ranches and cowboys in every corner. It's fitting then that the area’s premiere country and western band: Tim Sullivan & Narrow Gauge, a permanent fixture at Parelli Ranch in the summer, is going to be closing the EPIC Mountain Challenge with a free concert from 2pm onwards on Sunday 6th October at the Hot Springs Resort & Spa, until the Awards presentation following the final race event mid afternoon.

Tim Sullivan has appeared on stage with such well-known artists as Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, Glen Campbell, and Tammy Wynette.  He has won a Songwriter of the Year award in Massachusetts for his song “Dance In The Rain,” and is featured on the soundtrack of a new motion picture, “Follow Me Outside”.  An entertainer and songwriter who has performed from Los Angeles to Manhattan, Epic Mountain Challenge is proud to have Tim and his band as a fitting part of our event.

GECKO Scholar's Thoughts & Review "Surviving 28 Days in Alaska"

Mason is at least 6ft something in his socks: tall, athletic, the school cross country captain and the perfect contender for a NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) course that traverses the wilds of Alaska with a Pack Raft. Two weeks after Mason was awarded the GECKO scholarship he collapsed with breathing problems. Doctors found he had a condition where blisters formed on his lungs with the danger of bursting, at which point his lung would deflate and collapse. When it happened again a month later he was taken in for invasive surgery where about 30 blisters on his left lung and 100 on his right were sealed closed.

With only a couple of months to go to the NOLS course Mason's health, fitness and ability to join the trip were in question. Showing grit and determination he rallied and was packed off to Alaska in late July.

No stranger to overcoming hardships Mason has had a challenging childhood. The eldest of 5 siblings from a merging of two families Mason has felt a great sense of responsibility for being there for them. He flipped between families with disastrous results and admits to feeling somewhat detached and lost from his sense of family prior to NOLS. This - interestingly - was his biggest outtake from the 28 days in the wild, his changed perspective on home and family and what that means to him.

"Some of the other kids on my NOLS course were already in College and so they were used to being away from home. I was surprised how homesick I was, for home comforts like my bed and a warm shower, and all the conveniences but also for my family. Before NOLS I couldn't wait to move out and go to college but now I feel like I have to make the most of the time I have left and I appreciate it so much more."

Mason chose the Pack Rafting and Back Packing tour of Alaska because he'd never done that before and wanted the experience. A pack raft is a 5ft raft that deflates into part of your backpack, allowing you to travel over land and rivers or lakes without stopping. He said that even though he was still recovering from his operation when he left for NOLS he wasn't worried about his fitness. He has a natural athletic ability and he knew he would quickly get his form back. So it was a shock to him to find just how hard the trip was, and not just from a fitness level but just the way the expedition threw him so far from his comfort zone.

"When we arrived at NOLS they explained to us that this really would be an 'expedition'. NOLS was taking us on a new course of Wrangle State Alias that no-one at NOLS has ever done before, it's very remote and isolated and it was truly going to be a test of survival for us and it was scary."

The expedition took them 255 miles around a glacier called Mt Wrangle and over the 28 days they pack rafted 115 miles and hiked 140 miles. Mason says 'it was surreal, I touched an iceberg everyday, I saw a glacier everyday, I also found myself on a 45 degree slope on a goat track that was as wide as my foot, it was terrifying. Every morning we would say to our NOLS instructors; Where are we going today? What's the terrain like? How tough is it? And they'd reply, we don't know! At first I was so freaked out by the unknown of it all, but then I got used to just accepting it and living each day as it came. They (the NOLS instructors) were like, don't think about home, or tomorrow or yesterday just think about what you're doing now and what you need to do to get through it." 

There were some amazing highlights for Mason on the trip such as the wildlife he saw (including three grizzlies!) but a really low point was when he flipped his raft and wasn't able to get back into it, resulting in him getting frigid ice water in his dry suit. It was also the day before they were due to meet their food drop and they had run out of food. "They made me a fire on the river side and I had to dry out my clothes, I have never been so cold or hungry or miserable in my life, I really wanted to be at home. But then the next day we were laughing about it and I felt like I had a great story to tell."

Now that Mason's home and on dry land again, back in a routine of school, work and cross country I asked him, how does he feel? 

"I think I work harder now, because nothing is a tough as what I did, like that was survival and this is just easy. I feel that I have a better attitude to things like my work, home, my job. NOLS gave me a new perspective on a lot really. It's made me want to be great, not mediocre, and it inspired me to want to achieve more, and showed me that I could. I want to make something of myself. I want to be a doctor, I want to focus on college, I know what I want to write in my college application now about what's important to me.

NOLS is really, really hard. I think only people that have done a NOLS trip will know what I mean. I feel like if I can survive living in the wilderness for 28 days then surely I can do well in school, do well in my job...Every night around the camp fire the instructors asked each of us - today what was your 'rose' and what was your 'thorn'? I feel like I can take each day and good and the bad from it, learn from it, and move on."

Interview: Kirsten Le Roux

Thanks to Mason for his candid, honest account of his NOLS expedition and thank you to everyone who contributed to the scholarship fun to all GECKO to facilitate this!





Wrap up of the Mountain Chile Cha Cha

In its 8th year the Mountain Chile Cha Cha proved to be bigger and better than ever before. The day started with a super-cute and super-successful Kid's Fun Run and then the main event took place, which was 30% up on starters from last year.

We want to take a moment and THANK each and every runner for choosing GECKO's Mountain Chile Cha Cha as part of your 2013 Racing Season and we hope that you feel as pumped up about the day (and your achievement) as we do. Many of you were first timers (first race, first trail run) and many of you have run with us so many times, you should all be very proud! We'd love to hear how your race went - post your thoughts to our Facebook page! We love that the Chile Cha Cha brings so many great people together (Pagosan locals and from far and wide!) and we hope that you made as many new friends and connections as we did.

We are so honored to think that while you're achieving your race goal you're also contributing to a GECKO scholarship, and that you helped give kids the opportunity to attend a life-changing trip to NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School).  We want to thank you, and remind you of the role you play by pushing yourself and by participating in GECKO events. When you race with GECKO you Pay it Forward!

Photos

We are proud to share that we had a professional photographer at the Cha Cha, snapping happy action shots of you all day!

Thanks to Trent Bona Photography, we've posted 1650 photos of the Kid's Fun Race, your Race, the Awards Ceremony and the Cha Cha Festival on our Facebook page. LIKE the page, check out the Albums, Tag yourself and your friends and share the love!

Trent has kindly allowed YOU to use YOUR photos for Facebook for FREE (You Rock Trent) but if you did want a high resolution version or print (without logos etc) Trent has a very user friendly gallery webpage here and very reasonable prices. You can also get the photos on mugs, magnets, mouse mats - virtually anything in fact...Take a look at TrentBona.com 

Results

A full list of RESULTS can be found on our website here.

Here are the highlights: The 5km was won by Pagosan Connie Chubbuck in 28m50 and fourteen year old Lucas Curry 23m22 from New Mexico; the 10km by Nicole DeMarco 45m48 and JD Kurz 43m53 , and the Half Marathon was won by husband and wife Steven 1h39m19 and Catherine Fenster 1h39m53 from Durango who crossed the line second apart. Medals and Trophies made by local artists Tessie Garcia and Scott Slind were awarded to finishers and winners

Videos

Thanks to Blake Irons for Editing this Upbeat Edit of the Mountain Chile Cha Cha Trail Run - can you spot yourself? Contributors Muriel Eason and Jude Lindburg.

Thanks to Joanne Irons for this Kid's Fun Run Video Montage! This is Super-Cute! We love that so many kids GOT OUTSIDE!

This wonderful photo & video blog was created by Allen Lucas who was in Pagosa with his whole clan. "The Mountain Chile Cha Cha was a blast! Thanks so much for putting it on and getting so many amazing volunteers! I think it managed to get a number of our family members hooked on trail racing and hopefully they will be able to make it to Devil Mountain (thanks for adding shorter distances there)." 

Here is another article & video created by Bill Hudson of the Pagosa Daily Post.  

Media - Pagosa Sun

Thanks to the Pagosa Springs Sun for their coverage of the event, read their stories and see their photo gallery here:

http://www.pagosasun.com/patty-aragon-green-chile-classic-winners-announced/
http://www.pagosasun.com/hot-competition-at-mountain-chile-cha-cha-races/
http://www.pagosasun.com/gab_gallery/mountain-chile-cha-cha/
http://www.pagosasun.com/three-bands-entertain-at-saturdays-mountain-chile-cha-cha/
http://www.pagosasun.com/think-your-green-is-the-greatest-enter-the-classic-cookoff/
http://www.pagosasun.com/mountain-chile-cha-cha-races-fun-and-food/

A sincere & heartfelt Thank You to our incredible volunteers and our Cha Cha SPONSORS - we couldn't function as we do without you!
 
Yours in the Outdoors, 
Team GECKO

12 very good REASONS TO RACE XTERRA PAGOSA SPRINGS

1. Proceeds from the race goes to GECKO (www.joingecko.org) a 501c3 Pagosa Springs based charity that raises money to get kids off the couch, unplugged and outside!

2. Entry as an individual or a relay team of 2-3

3. All online entries are guaranteed a limited edition XTERRA Pagosa Springs Coolmax Multi-sport Sock 

4. Inaugural event and the first time that Lake Pagosa has been opened for swimming

5. It's a Wet suit swim

6. Race on a spectacular trail system. You'll traverse the edges of narrow rim canyons with incredible vistas and mountain views. It's mostly fast flowing single track but you'll need to be on your game as there is a couple of technical sections. The winding trail system works you through spectacular Ponderosa and Aspen forests, which makes it rooty and rocky underfoot.

7. Special GECKO adobe finisher medals made by the local elementary school art class

8. Handcrafted metal work trophies made by local artist Scott Slind

9. Top Sponsor Partners for on course fuel and great SWAG!

10. Killer after party at The View Restaurant & Bar, Quality Resort & Suites

11. Why not take advantage of Pagosa Springs and soak in the Hot Springs afterwards!

12. Accommodation partners including The Quality Resort & Suites and Mountain Landing offering 15% discount to all GECKO athletes 




Top Multisport Athletes Head to Battle at Epic Pagosa Springs, CO Event

Race 50 technical kilometers on a mountain bike.  Run a hilly half marathon on trails.  Hammer uphill in a mountain biking time trial.  Turn on the leg speed for a 10 kilometer road run.  Sound like a challenging summer of endurance racing?

Participants in the Epic Mountain Challenge, a multi-sport festival in Pagosa Springs, CO on October 5th and 6th, will accomplish all of the above--in just two days.  The brutal mountain race will punish even the most prepared athletes, and a big purse of $60,000 is drawing some of the nation’s top endurance athletes.  Male and female competitors will race as individuals and teams in the first-year event that hopes to become a mainstay on the endurance racing circuit.

“Four all-out races in two days mean that recovery is crucial,” says prolific endurance athlete and coach Travis Macy, of Evergreen, CO.  “I’ll rely heavily on Vitargo S2 drink mix and Hoka One One shoes to make sure my body is ready for the next event.”  Macy is coming off a win and new record at the prestigious Leadman, which involves running and biking 284.2 miles around Leadville, CO, as part of the Leadville Race Series, but he doesn’t think he’s the favorite. “ Josiah Middaugh is definitely the guy to beat.  He is incredibly strong, especially in the mountains on the bike, and there’s a reason he’s one of the best XTERRA triathletes in the world.  The Team Teenek Racing athletes from Mexico will also be very tough.”

Middaugh, who is a trainer and coach with Dogma Athletica, has raced very well in 2013, with solid XTERRA results and a win over Macy in the GoPro Mountain Games Ultimate Mountain Challenge, which uses a two-day, four-race format similar to the Epic Mountain Challenge.  “This race is a true test of endurance, and it’s perfectly suited for mountain athletes, including trail runners, mountain bikers, and off-road multisport athletes,” says the Vail, CO strong-man, who is rarely bested in the mountains in summer or winter.

In the women’s field, Tokyo Joe’s athlete Gretchen Reeves will battle Luna Pro Team racer Shonny Vanlandingham, among others.

Athletes also have the option of racing in two-person teams, with each athlete completing two of the four races, and competition in this category will be sharp as well.  One favorite duo includes Trek Factory Team rider Russell Flinsterwald and pro runner Joe Gray.  Says Flinsterwald, “I've never done a relay style race so it should be fun! I think my partner, Joseph Gray, and I will bring a lot to the table. We are both coming off our World Championships and hope to carry that form all the way to the finish line in Pagosa Springs.”

Weekend warriors will toe the line with the pros at the race, just one example of the family/community-oriented nature of the event.  One family, the Krauses of Littleton, CO, will trade off time with their daughter as Greg, a pro rider with Team Groove Subaru-Alpha, competes as a mountain biker on a male team and Lindsay runs with a female team.  “This is an awesome event for the whole family, and we are excited to see Pagosa’s fall color,” says Greg.

Epic Mountain Challenge information and registration are at www.epicmountainchallenge.com.

Photo credit: Jan DePuy

Photo caption: Travis Macy, seen here fueling up at the Leadville Trail 100 Run in August, looks forward to racing against Josiah Middaugh and others at the Epic Mountain Challenge in Pagosa Springs, CO on October 5th and 6th.

Mountain Chile Cha Cha - Ready for some Hey Bro?

The Mountain Chile Cha Cha Festival celebrates trail running, combining our incredible in-town trails with the famous Pagosa Springs music and green chile festival. Celebrate the series, the season, trail running and getting kids outside on Pagosa's killer downtown trail course. Beautiful, challenging and remote, all right downtown.  In it's 8th year it has some remarkable characters and traditions. Here's the story of Hey Bro Chile!

Hey Bro Green Chile celebrates their third anniversary this summer. With news from Hatch that the crop will be ready to harvest in early August, Hey Bro’s Andy Warden surveys his homemade chile roaster for any necessary maintenance.

“It all started because of the Patty Aragon Green Chile Cook Off that takes place in Pagosa Springs at the end of the summer. Everyone was eager to make green chile and eat chiles, and there weren’t any roasters available for on-site roasting at the event. I decided to make my own roaster to fill this need.”

“People love to hang out and watch while Andy runs the roaster” says Hey Bro’s female counterpart and wife, Cory Warden. “Everyone loves fire and flames, and the aroma that escapes from the roasted chiles is intoxicating. I always say I wish I could bottle that smell so I could enjoy it all year long.”

“I like selling the chiles” Hey Bro’s third partner and nine year old son Theo remarks. “My job is to help my mom with bagging the fresh, hot roasted peppers and helping with sales. I like eating them too, especially the first batch that is roasted with bacon to help season the roaster.”

“It’s definitely a labor of love” chuckles Andy from under the bandana he wears to keep the hot fumes from burning his nose and mouth. “We love using green chiles in our cooking, as do many of our friends. One friend buys our chiles to make his own chile beer. By roasting a few days in the summer we provide green chiles to many of our friends, other green chile enthusiasts, and stock our freezer too.”

Visit Hey Bro Green Chile at the Mountain Chile Cha Cha on Saturday, August 24th in Town Park, Downtown Pagosa Springs to purchase delicious, fresh roasted Hatch green chiles. Or call 970-946-4219 to pre-order bushels.

To enter your green chile (meat, vegetarian or people's choice) in the Patty Aragon Chile Cookoff click here.  

My 20th Anniversary of the Leadville 100 mile Bike & What I Have Learned...

20 years ago this Saturday I rolled to the line in what was the first ever 100 mile mountain bike race. The facts that we were at 10,100' and going to ride to over 12,400' over a distance that seemed unfathomable to me and that it was raining weighed heavily on all 250 or so of us nervously wondering what the hell we were doing here?

The chatter and banter among most of us over the previous day or two, around  coffee and then the medical checkin (where we were told in no uncertain terms what the risks and hazards and possibilities of death were) and then at the bar, was simple and straight forward.... Can we do it? Can it be done? How long will it really take? And how much, really, must one suffer to get it done?

All legitimate questions with no true basis or experience for answers. This was the first, the beginning step into a void that has since been filled with legend and lore and incredible examples of perseverance and suffering.

I was 28 years old, full of attitude and anger and fitness and ready to test myself against that which had never yet been done. I was in over my head (and I knew it). And, I was scared shitless! (This was a place I had learned that I liked to be and have since developed a serious infatuation with, both being in over my head and being truly, truly afraid.)

My suffering that day only lasted 9 hours and 22 minutes as I become the 28th person in history to complete the now iconic, now historic, Leadville trail 100 mountain bike race. The fallout though has had a more profound impact on my life then perhaps any other single event in my being. The wheels set in motion that day have since guided me on a path of profound change, deep deep pain, fear and suffering and most importantly a dedicated commitment to sharing my love of sport and fitness and challenging ones self against whatever it takes for you to learn the benefits of stepping outside of what you know you can do into the arena of what you are absolutely scared shitless to even attempt to do! The rewards I've reaped from this continuous personal test and challenge of me against me is a gift that I've since become compelled to share as it has defined  who I am (as it has done to others as I have witnessed) and continually improves me as an individual, a father, a son, as a friend and as one man on this planet with the desire of making a positive difference in lives of the people I come in contact with. Ultimately this journey led me to create GECKO and to create races that give athletes all kinds of ways to get uncomfortable while at the same time giving kids scholarships to get uncomfortable too.... For weeks at a time!

My dear friend Mike defines it simply as "getting out of your comfort zone"  and it is as simple as that.
Or, so it may seem... I have another friend, who like to remain anonymous, that says, when speaking in the context of some of his incredible accomplishments, (like being one of only a handful of people on the planet to drive a car at over 350 mph.... Yes, 350) that he is Fear-less! I know him well enough to know that in that arena he actually has no fear.... However I also know that he is working extremely hard to prepare himself for his first ever running race, GECKO's Chile Cha Cha 5k in 2 weeks. And I will bet my Leadville big buckle against his 300mph+club  hat that come the start of that 5k he will taste that cold metallic steel of fear in the back of his throat. And I will go further in saying that the accomplishment of crossing that finish line will rival any of his car race finishes.

But, I digress.... Back to Leadville 2013 year 20 and my 10th time to line up at a Leadville 100 event...
I admire those around  me that come here every year and finish. Many bikers and runners have completed more then 10 or even 15 and one or two even 20 finishes in one of the worlds toughest races. But my story (and this is my story) is different. For me, and I recommend for you, it is about being uncomfortable. Not so much physically, that comes with almost every event. But mentally and emotionally. That is the arena where you get to amaze yourself. Where you get to prove to you (not those around you) who you are and what you are capable of.... And that my friend(s) is where the beauty is. Where you get to make you a better, stronger, happier, more confident, more secure, more gracious you.
Taking my own advice then (and wrapping up this chapter of my story) I chose to roll to the line at Leadville one more time, not with the simple goal of finishing (I've proved to myself many times now that I can do that) not with the goal of my fastest time yet (I've passed that test too improving my time each time I have entered)... If you know me you know I have an admitted love affair with racing in Leadville so I wanted to find a reasons and a personal challenge to do it again.

At the same time I knew that for the experience to be the most rewarding I had to get uncomfortable,,, really uncomfortable.... 20 years later than  the first time my comfort zone is pretty vast. With more  than 40 years of racing experience, competing in many of the most challenging races on the planet doesn't leave me much room to "scare the shit out of myself" on my turf and in what is essentially my backyard.... It took a little thinking, and then a bit of soul searching because once I hit on the idea I really realized that I was scared, truly about what I was considering. And, of course once I realized I was truly afraid I couldn't resist the challenge.

So here I sit. 20 years and 24 hours away from rolling to the line at the Leadville trail 100. This time with 2,000 brave souls. This time with 2 decades of experience and wisdom. This time with a tired 48 year old body that knows exactly how bad it is going to hurt and how deep the suffering will reach.

This time knowing it can be done. That I will finish it. But, and it's a big but (not literally, my but has always been kinda small) but figuratively, as I've chosen to take this 20th anniversary challenge in the hardest variation possible on a bike. How's that? By riding a single speed bike with no suspension. "Old school" that is even older school then 20 years ago. With more than 14'000' of climbing in the race and long long flats in between when everyone else is shifting back and forth selecting the best of their 20-30 different gear options I will have but one. One that is way to hard to climb the climbs with and way, way to easy to hammer the flats with.... And when it comes to the fun parts, the downhills, the rocky, rutty, gnarly downhills when everyone hoots and hollers and hauls ass on full suspension bikes with 5" of shock absorption, or the "hard cores" with their front suspension only "race bikes" I will be hanging on for dear life. Eyes rattling, kidneys slapping, hands burning, forearms pumping on my solid steel rigid everything little single speed. And just to ensure I don't let the challenge be my crutch. My commitment to myself is that I will do what I have always done and throw down my best time yet.

So, that's my Leadville story and this is my point.
Whatever box you are in get out of it.
Wherever you find comfort pick a spot that is uncomfortable and get in it!
When you feel like you are on top of your game enter a new one. Totally new.
When you find something you love, find ways and angles to love it that keep you motivated, rewarded and focused.
And most important of all... When you are in a spot that you are scared shitless and there is not a porta- potty in sight repeat the sacred Leadville mantra; "You are better then you think you are and you can do more then you think you can".

I absolutely promise you, you are.

Yours in the outdoors,

Morgan Murri
Founder, President