For every of the previous three years, Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz) has not simply received Leadville 100 MTB, he has smashed data. Final yr he stormed throughout the rocky, high-elevation terrain in his first sub-6-hour effort, ending in 5:43:31 and crushing the file time by 15:06.
These performances aren’t nearly successful occasions, however the margins to main contenders. Lachlan Morton (EF Training-EasyPost) was second to Swenson at Leadville in 2021, eight minutes off the successful tempo. Swenson was 14:30 sooner than second-placed John Gaston in 2022, and final yr 14:29 sooner than runner-up Alexey Vermeulen. Final yr Morton recorded his private finest time at Leadville, 2:49 sooner than 2021, however completed ninth and simply over 33 minutes again of Swenson.
Different than simply “cross the road in entrance of him”, Morton mentioned it received’t be straightforward to knock Swenson from the highest spot at Leadville because the race stands out as the hardest one on the calendar to match his dominance.
“I might say Leadville might be the toughest race to compete with him. It is positively very a lot a health check. There’s restricted alternatives to invent a tactic the place you will get a bonus over him,” the reigning Unbound Gravel 200 champion instructed Cyclingnews and a number of other media final week throughout a Leadville pre-race digital press convention.
“I feel it could take somebody on a fairly special occasion, and possibly Keegan on a not so special occasion, to beat him simply wheel to wheel. You by no means know what can occur. There’s at all times the possibility that individuals have dangerous luck, and alternatives come up, so you do not want that on anybody, nevertheless it’s positively a actuality of the form of racing we do.
“On the finish of the day, it is a bike race. There’s six hours of various issues that may occur on the market, so that you form of simply received to point out up along with your finest self.”
Likewise, Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works-Purple Bull) confirmed Swenson goes into Leadville as the person to beat, and for McElveen, present a path to maneuver into the general lead of the Life Time Grand Prix offered by Mazda off-road sequence. Just like the previous two years, Swenson enters the 2024 Life Time Leadville Path 100 MTB offered by Kenetik as the general chief of the Grand Prix, however solely by one level over McElveen. And shut behind are the duo of Matthew Beers (Specialised) in third and Morton in fourth.
The most recent race content material, interviews, options, critiques and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
“I’ve form of needed to distance myself a bit of bit from what Keegan can do on this course, as a result of it is frankly, simply form of arduous to wrap my head round. For those who have a look at his efficiency on the assorted segments in comparison with the remainder of the sphere, it is form of like he is doing a distinct sport than the remainder of us on this course,” McElveen instructed reporters in the identical digital press convention.
The latest winner of the 100-mile, three-day Life Time Leadville Stage Race, McElveen was fourth in Leadville in 2021, 13:42 behind Swenson, after which improved his time by nearly 7 minutes in 2023. However he nonetheless misplaced massive floor, ending eleventh to the record-setting Swenson.
Swenson opened the door for a detailed Grand Prix leaderboard with a fifteenth place end at Unbound Gravel, the 200-mile behemoth received by Morton, whereas McElveen earned prime factors because the second-best Grand Prix finisher in eighth total.
“Fortuitously, so far as the Grand Prix total goes, it is best 4 of six, not each race counts. I’m actually excited for races like Chequamegon [MTB in Wisconsin] and [Rad Dirt Fest] in Trinidad, the place possibly on paper I’ve a bit higher alternative to go toe to toe with him,” McElveen admitted.
“With reference to the way you beat him at Leadville, I might echo what Lachlan mentioned. You’d should have some fairly severe issues go mistaken, at the least at this stage. I simply form of hold chipping away at it and making an attempt to get higher on this course, and simply take note of my very own efficiency greater than evaluating myself to somebody who’s fairly a generational expertise at 10,000 plus ft.”
McElveen, a Colorado resident, used the stage race to prep for Saturday’s ‘race throughout the sky’, which is characterised by 12,480 ft of elevation acquire over 100 miles, the beginning in Leadville at 10,152 ft above sea stage. He mentioned the stage race was “a reminder of simply how unbelievably arduous the 100-mile course is, and it put a very good dose of respect again in my thoughts”.
After Crusher within the Tushar was cancelled in mid-July as a consequence of wildfires in that space of Utah, which then eradicated the scheduled third cease of the Grand Prix, Morton traveled to Leadville for a have a look at the course and to take a look at new tools. After years in Boulder, Colorado, Morton now lives in California, and he went house to coach in July, then returned to Leadville 10 days earlier than the competitors.
“I have never approached it this manner earlier than, as a result of I had the posh of residing in altitude up till this yr. I feel it’s going to be superb. It is so excessive, there’s solely a lot adaptation that occurs. It is form of remembering what it appears like, methods to race it, and simply typically getting comfy with that feeling of getting much less oxygen accessible. I am to see the way it goes,” Morton mentioned.
“It’s a race that attracts you again yr after yr as a result of there’s at all times one thing you may enhance on. Finally, you are going to trip up Columbine for no matter it’s, 45 minutes or an hour, and whoever’s received the legs goes to get to the highest first. It is robust.”
The Leadville Path 100 MTB is now the third of six races within the Life Time Grand Prix Sequence, after the Crusher within the Tushar cancellation. The elite males will begin at 6:15 a.m. MDT on Saturday. For the primary time within the thirtieth anniversary of the mountain bike race, the elite ladies can have a separate begin, 5 minutes behind the elite males. Protection will offered on Instagram channels for Life Time Grand Prix and Leadville Race Sequence (@ltraceseries).
