2021 Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB Updates

Greetings Leadville Family, 

We are officially under one month out from the Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB and the excitement is building! After missing you all in 2020, Leadville is ready to welcome you back with open arms. We hope you’ve been training and preparing for the big day.

In light of COVID-19 and in an effort to improve athlete experience, we have some big updates. Saddle up and read on through. 

CORRAL PLACEMENT

We have poured through past race results and emails to assign your corral for 2021. Please review your registration information and confirmed corral assignment in your email. 

Not in the right corral?

If you believe that you have a finish time that would place you in a faster corral, here are the steps needed:

  1.  View our 2021 corral chart for corral assignments and eligible races.
  2. Send a screenshot or the direct link to your results to us at leadville@ltevents.zendesk.com for us to verify and consider re-corralling you. 
  3. You will receive the final word on your corral by August 6th. 

TAHOE TRAIL AND LEADVILLE STAGE RACE RIDERS – If you raced the 2021 Tahoe Trail 100 (July 17th) or are registered and racing the 2021 Stages Cycling Leadville Stage Race (July 30th- August 1st), we will pull those results to adjust any corral assignments necessary – no need to email your results! We will send a final email with your bib assignment and corral on or before Friday, August 6th.

WAVE STARTS

In order to spread riders out, reduce bottlenecks and increase safety on the course, we will be utilizing wave starts in 2021. This is a significant change from the mass start in the past, so please take note of your assigned corral and start time!

Wave starts will take place as follows: 

  • Wave 1: 6:30am – Gold AND Silver
  • Wave 2: 6:32am – Red
  • Wave 3: 6:35am – Green
  • Wave 4: 6:38am – Purple
  • Wave 5: 6:41am – Orange
  • Wave 6: 6:45am – Blue
  • Wave 7: 6:49am – White

*IMPORTANT* COURSE CHANGES

We will be making three changes to the LT100 MTB course. Please view below.

  • ~43 Miles / 59 Miles – Riders will exit the trail, turn left towards Lost Canyon road and then turn right back towards the powerlines, taking the powerlines to FR398 (Lost Canyon) before heading up to Columbine.  Riders will use the same route in reverse inbound.
    • Why?  This ensures that we are not encroaching on private property.
  • ~51.8 Miles – Columbine Turnaround – Athletes will turn around before the cabin at a larger area.  
    • Why?  This change will ensure we are not adding substantially different mileage, potentially jeopardizing 9-hr and 12-hr buckle cutoffs.  Additionally USFS has new signage limiting vehicles near the historic turnaround.  Lastly, the area is larger and allows for a more natural turnaround.
  • ~68 Miles – County Road 10 – Riders will stay on County Road 10 for approximately 0.75 miles before turning left on CR136, taking a right on to Trail 1306 at mile 70.4.  
    • Why?  This allows for no head-on congestion on the single track from inbound leaders and outbound riders near the back.

COURSE CUT OFF TIMES

All course cut offs are based on gun time (6:30 AM). All course cut offs will be increased by 15 minutes to accommodate riders starting in later waves.

  • Outbound
    • 10:45am (4 hours 15 minutes) Twin Lakes – mile 40
  • Inbound
    • 2:30pm (8 hours) Twin Lakes – mile 60
    • 3:30pm (9 hours) Pipeline – mile 73
    • 3:30pm 9-hour cutoff time for the Big Buckle
    • 6:15pm (11 hours 45 minutes) Carter Summit – mile 91
    • 6:30pm 12-hour final cutoff time for completion of the race and the Small Buckle

BUCKLE TIMES

All buckle times are based on individual rider chip times, as they have been in years past. See definition of chip time vs. gun time below.

  • 9-hour cutoff time = BIG BUCKLE
  • 12-hour cutoff time = SMALL BUCKLE and official finisher

CHIP TIME vs GUN TIME

  • Chip Time – your time starts when you cross the timing mat at the start, and ends when you cross the timing mat when you finish – accounting for all elapsed time on the course.  
  • Gun Time – your time starts when the race starts (6:30am).  
  • Reminder – Chip time will be used to determine your belt buckle eligibility and there will be no changes to those times. Gun time will be used for course cutoffs, which have been increased by 15 minutes.

NOTE: Top 3 men and women overall times will be based solely on gun time. 

CREW & VEHICLE UPDATE

Each rider will be given 1 vehicle hang tag and 2 crew passes. This decision has been made based on the large impact our event has on Twin Lakes, a reduction in parking at the dam, as well as our updated COVID-19 protocol. Please be respectful of this new rule, as we need to follow these guidelines in order to ensure the issuance of future permits at the LT100 MTB. 

PRE-RACE MEETING / AWARDS

In a “normal” year we would all get cozy in the gym and get riled up with the entire family.  This year, we are taking that party outside. In order to ensure that we are doing our utmost to spread people out, we will host the pre-race meeting as well as the awards ceremony at the High School football field.  We will have a large stage and a video screen wall and expect that the backdrop of Mount Elbert will be an amazing prelude to your ride.  Come prepared for Colorado weather in the mountains!

We realize these are significant changes to our iconic event. Change can be tough, but Leadville is tougher. We are implementing these changes in light of COVID-19, the growth of the local community, and our continued partnership with local officials and land managers. 

We appreciate your continued support and look forward to seeing you on the start line!

– Leadville Race Series Team 

Related Posts

Back To Top