Each few years, riders expose how effectively Leadville Path 100 MTB may be raced. The high-altitude, endurance mountain bike race in Colorado has gained extra consideration since changing into a high-stakes spherical within the Life Time Grand Prix.
So when riders expose effectivity, like current winners Keegan Swenson and Kate Courtney setting course information, Swenson doing so in 2024 for the elite males and Courtney final yr for the elite ladies, the dialog shifts from celebrating efficiency to defending identification.
This yr’s identification disaster? Handlebars.
The flat-bar versus drop-bar debate didn’t erupt as a result of riders all of the sudden forgot methods to mountain bike. It occurred as a result of Leadville quietly rewarded effectivity, punished impatience, and exists in a grey zone between gravel, street and mountain bike.
When five-time Leadville winner Swenson first gained the race on drop bars two years in the past. It wasn’t a gimmick; it was a press release. When Dylan Johnson, a three-time US Nationwide Extremely Endurance Collection winner, ran the numbers and confirmed that smoother pacing and aero effectivity may save actual time over 100 miles. It wasn’t idea; it was drag coefficients.
Payson McElveen, who has completed within the prime 5 5 occasions with two podiums, appeared on the security considerations. Completely different bars imply totally different braking factors, totally different descending speeds, and totally different threat tolerances. In a fast-moving pack at all times above 10,000 ft, unpredictability issues greater than marginal aero features. From that lens, standardising gear isn’t anti-progress, it’s pro-safety.
She’s not flawed. We’re arguing about handlebars as a result of the course itself is sending combined indicators.
The ‘VIP assembly’
I used to be within the room when the handlebar dialogue occurred, which is now known because the ‘VIP assembly’. No conspiracy, simply 15 Life Time Grand Prix racers trying to unravel an actual drawback. The request for a rule change was initiated by us, the riders utilizing the course.
So how do combined handlebar setups change the dynamics of riders shifting via one particular race, Leadville Path 100 MTB, particularly when altitude and fatigue strip away margins?
McElveen articulated security considerations about totally different gear, particularly with braking on descents.
Others within the room, with out the identical assets as the highest riders, raised a special problem concerning the change to a drop-bar setup, which isn’t trivial. It’s costly, logistically difficult, and infrequently requires further help that not everybody has entry to.
“Among the many many solutions, removing drop bars at Leadville had close to unanimous help,” McElveen wrote on his Instagram feed to clear the air a few weeks in the past.
“And, perhaps much more stunning to a few of y’all, it was Keegan Swenson who introduced up the consideration of equity. Getting a drop bar MTB to work normally requires getting an additional body and taking place a measurement, a luxurious not everybody on the beginning line has…particularly youthful up-and-coming riders.”
As for me? I’m not a mountain biker by commerce. I used to be a roadie who picked up the self-discipline within the latter a part of my profession so I may compete within the Life Time Grand Prix. I like the broader platform of flat bars as a result of I really feel extra management over the bike. On the identical time, I don’t need to be racing subsequent to riders within the drops. It’s the identical method I really feel using subsequent to a time trial bike on my street bike on a bunch experience: totally different hand positions, response speeds, totally different brake modulation.
By the tip of the assembly, there was no formal vote. It was extra of a vibe. The room swayed in direction of banning drop bars.
Standardise the gear. Standardise the dealing with. And will the very best legs win. However does that logic maintain up?
Life Time is the UCI of gravel, whether or not we prefer it or not
Cecily Decker completed third at Leadville on drop bars, utilizing the highest end result to complete second total within the Grand Prix in October. She wasn’t within the assembly, nonetheless. She didn’t have a vote. And he or she didn’t get to weigh in on who did. Her frustration wasn’t concerning the choice itself, however about illustration.
“I used to be not current on the ‘tremendous secret assembly’ of athletes when the choice was made, nor did I elect any representatives to be current. So far as the protection concern, contemplating drop bars, I’m not conscious of any incidents that have been brought about instantly or not directly by drop bars,” she stated.
That critique is truthful. The reality is, Life Time is a personal, for-profit firm that owns each race in its off-road collection. They will make no matter guidelines they need. They aren’t required to ask for athletes’ enter.
However in a self-discipline with out a true governing physique, these choices inevitably tackle extra weight. When guidelines are framed as athlete-driven, the method issues. Broader athlete enter, clear communication, and precise voting.
As a substitute, the method appears a bit ambiguous: a handpicked group and casual consensus.
Breaking the course down, part by part
Picture 1 of 1
Let’s truly have a look at Leadville piece by piece. This leads me to say that if the entire course demanded it, riders would self-select flat bars in a single day. No conferences required.
Begin to St. Kevins: chaos, adrenaline, unhealthy choices
Flat bars shine right here, not as a result of they’re quicker, however as a result of they’re acquainted. Riders surge, cowl strikes, and really feel in management. Drop bars encourage steadier pacing however can really feel awkward in a chaotic group.
A lot of the harm executed right here has nothing to do with handlebars and the whole lot to do with ego. Flat bars make that simpler.
St. Kevins to Pipeline: the primary take a look at
Lengthy dust roads make for top speeds. Nothing technical. Aero issues. Clean pacing issues. Riders on flat bars sit up, push extra watts, and burn matches.
This isn’t mountain biking. It’s a rolling FTP take a look at at altitude
Pipeline to Columbine: the place self-discipline wins
On Columbine, flat bars really feel good – an open chest and higher leverage for standing bursts. Drop bars reward restraint. Sit, spin, and don’t panic.
Neither setup wins right here. The rider does. However one setup encourages endurance greater than the opposite.
Columbine descent: the protection argument
That is the place the protection argument hits the toughest. Descending drained, unfastened, and oxygen-deprived on drop bars requires focus. Flat bars decrease the psychological tax. Fewer variables. Fewer moments the place one mistake cascades right into a heart-rate spike you by no means get better from.
If there’s a single part that justifies standardisation, it’s this one. Riders are descending drained, unfastened, and oxygen-deprived after reaching the best level of the race (12,424 ft / 3,787 m).
On drop bars, that descent requires precision. Hand place, brake modulation, and line selection all matter whereas fatigue eats away at every.
When fatigue, pace differentials, and opposing visitors converge, security is dependent upon minimizing variability throughout fields. Flat bars do this. Drop bars don’t. In probably the most chaotic and consequential descent of the race, standardisation shouldn’t be about limiting efficiency. It’s about decreasing threat when riders have the least capability to handle it.
Pipeline return and Powerline: fatigue exposes the whole lot
Powerline doesn’t care what bars you select. It solely asks whether or not you revered the primary 80 miles.
The ultimate pavement drag: the place the argument comes again
Should you’re solo, exhausted, and using right into a headwind, aero isn’t theoretical. It’s survival. Drop bars save watts. Flat bars price them. That’s physics.
So, do drop bars provide a bonus? Typically. In particular locations. For particular riders.
Easier resolution for flat bars
What is the easy resolution if Leadville actually desires riders to only use flat bars? Add extra singletrack.
Add technical sections favouring mountain bike dealing with. When terrain makes drop bars unattractive, there is no such thing as a have to ban them.
We adapt our bikes to the course. If we would like Leadville to be a real mountain bike race, then the course has to demand mountain bike gear. Proper now, Leadville invitations optimization, then acts shocked when athletes optimize.
Drop bars didn’t break Leadville. They uncovered it.
They uncovered a race that wishes the soul of mountain biking, the pace of gravel, and the mass-participation of a gran fondo – all of sudden. That stress is not going to disappear with the rule change. It simply strikes to the subsequent piece of apparatus somebody decides is “an excessive amount of”.
Payson is true about security. Cecily is true about voice. Alexis is true about perspective.
The handlebar debate isn’t actually about handlebars. It’s about whether or not programs dictate our gear decisions on race day or the race organizers set forth an opaque set of opinion guidelines.
Till that query is answered, this gained’t be the final time we argue about what belongs on a motorcycle on the Race Throughout the Sky or some other race that exists exactly as a result of it isn’t regulated by an official governing physique.
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