March of the {Slightly} Crazy People

Nick checked a big item off his "50 before 50 List" last weekend (in case you were wondering, there are only about 3 items on the list right now).

He decided to take on the Leadville 50 Silver Rush Mountain Bike Race.

50 Miles of tough terrain starting at 10,200 feet. The starting hill would have been enough to do me in. In fact, about 2 hours into the race, I felt the altitude draining me. Thankfully, Nick got in enough high altitude rides that he was fine.

Here is the start to the craziness. In addition to the obvious physical challenges, this race has a huge mental component.

It was interesting to hear/watch the riders as they approached the half way point. There were happy riders, focused riders, grumpy riders & desperate riders. We knew about 7 riders in the race & each one demonstrated a different emotion at the turn around.

This was the hill you had to climb before the turn around. It doesn't look that bad in this photo, but I didn't see any rider make it up on his/her bike.

This is Nick with 10 miles to go. I think it's a thumbs up. His goal was to finish the race. About 800 riders were registered to race, but only about 585 crossed the finish line under the 8 hour cut-off. Though my pictures don't show it, there were 75 women in the - the majority of whom seemed to be trying for the Leadwoman Title (i.e, complete 5 of the Leadville races).

Nick accomplished his goal and got to share his success with friends. That he rode the race with his former roommate/half the reason Nick friend was pretty awesome.

Nick & his training partner put in a lot of miles in the last two months. I'm so glad they were able to celebrate together at the end of a very long day. I am so impressed with his dedication & commitment to his goal. Way to go Nick!