Stinger Buzz

It was another great weekend of racing for the Honey Stinger/Trek team.

With a few subtle nudges from his sometime training partner, Lance Armstrong, Len registered for this year’s much-hyped Leadville 100 at the last minute. Len won the Silver Rush 50 earlier this season, but he hasn’t raced in anything longer than 50 miles all season.  Len had the opportunity to pre-ride some of the course with Armstrong two weekends ago and he, Manny Prado and his Honey Stinger teammate Max Taam rode once before the race, but needless to say, he was pretty nervous at the start line.

Len on Lance's wheel

It was brutally cold and wet for the first 60 miles of the race, but Len held on to the lead pack of riders until the Twin Lakes aid station at the base of the Columbine climb. The group split up at the aid station as riders took on food, drinks and in some cases warmer clothes.

Len reports, “Everyone’s hands and feet were freezing but I had been given advice by a friend to start with warmer gloves and a skull cap under the helmet so that helped big time. I’m guessing I downed 12-15 Honey Stinger gel packets and 6 bags of our energy chews along with some other food throughout the day. Eating and drinking enough turned out to be even more important than I expected given the cold conditions.  Huge shout out to our support crew and my wife Jeanne! Couldn’t have finished that one without you guys. ”

Lance made his move on the climb and exploded to a 10 minute lead by the turn around over defending champ Dave Wiens and the rest of the remnants of the lead group. Lance eventually went on to win by over 30 minutes and set a new course record. Both Len and Max stayed strong through to the finish and ending up in the top ten.

Len finished in 5th place, just one day before his 39th birthday. Max finished in sixth.  Interesting side note: five of the seven top finishers were on Trek Top Fuels.

Max and Len relaxing after 7 hours of brutal racing

Down the road in Gunnison, Team Honey Stinger/Trek also had a strong showing at 24 Hours in the Sage.

Kris Cannon powered her way to a  first place finish in the solo women’s category and Nate Bird eschewed gears with three other strong men to win the Single Speed Four category. Full results here.

More images and tales from both races to come…

Kris before the 24 Hour Solo Worlds start cannon (ha!) goes off

I am just back from the 24 Hour Solo Worlds in Canmore, Canada and I’m already gearing up for the next race, hoping I am recovered.

The Worlds was such an amazing experience, featuring terrain like I’ve never ridden before.  The course was relentless, constantly biking up and over roots.  I can only compare it to the feeling of jack hammering for 24 hours straight.  It took a massive toll on my body and mind.

Stinger kit right out in front

Up until the very end I had thought I was in 5th but ended up with 6th, which really I was very content with. There were spots I know I could have made up time but all in all it was a long, strenuous race and there are always times you wonder about.  Then again, there are also things you know you could not change, like taking the time to help out another rider off a ledge after falling and my grizzly encounter on the 14th lap that I will admit scared me into tears for the next 10 minutes of riding (ed. note, only scared you for 10 mins?! I would have played dead for the next few hours). There’s nothing quite like the sight of a very large grizzly staring at straight at you shaking it’s head when you’re all alone out in the wood.  I could not get my bike over my head because my arms were so sore and all I could think of was the pizza, candy, and stinger gels in my pockets…I was a bear buffet.  I rang my bell and screamed for what felt like 30 minutes although in reality I am sure it was less than ten before it finally went off into the woods.

All in all I might not have had my best race day but am still psyched on the entire experience and came away with a few good stories.