Fatty, Hottie, Melisa & Nate are back for a full race day debrief. Melisa Rollins went down hard in a pileup just minutes into the women's race, got run over, and found herself in last place heading into St. Kevens. She tells her story in incredible detail here. Nate Whitman recaps his 24th finish and a podium in the 50+ category, Fatty shares the honest reality of racing on limited training, and Hottie breaks down feed zone logistics. The crew also compares the 2026 course to the traditional route, discusses safety improvements in the feed zones, and shares their thoughts on what made this year's race one of the most entertaining in memory.

A wildfire reshaped the 2026 Leadville 100. Hottie and Fatty break down the reroute with 23-time finisher Nate Whitman and 2024 champ Melisa Rollins. We talk about the new section, the new descent, gear and pacing questions, and the return of the old-school Columbine turnaround. None of us have raced it. All of us are excited. After listening to this episode, we think you will be too.

Dusty conditions. Gusty Winds. Record Times. New Tech. This Leadville Trail 100 MTB had a lot to remember it by. We cover it all and then some in our annual Race Recap Show.

We kick things off by checking in with racers at the startline. Were there nerves? Yes. Was there optimism? Sure.

We then go out on course and out to Twin Lakes Alternate which was the busiest it's ever been. Fatty talks about his new, duo bladder system that provides water and energy gel. We also hear from a racer who got Siri involved in his feed zone strategy.

Drop bars were a big topic that get addressed both from a rider's perspective and from an industry expert.

There was a new dream chaser on course and we talked to him and his day of passing the masses.

Finally we wrap things up by highlighting the finish times and stories of the racers who have played a part in this show.

We're out of time for the big gains. The training is done. But between now and race day we can find ways to save time on the Leadville course. One of those ways is to maintain your momentum even when the course tries to slow you down. In this episode we will emphasize some basic mountain biking skills and overlay them onto some crucial spots of the Leadville course: The top of Kevins, the Pipeline Switchbacks, the Columbine descent through the trees and that hard left at the bottom of the Blvd climb. To guide us through these sections and to talk about the skills needed, we have invited back Leadville veteran Nate Whitman. Nate is going for his 23rd finish this year. Nate has four top tens and three sub-7 hour finishes. But he also knows this race as a 10+hour finisher. And he has helped dozens of others - including our own Hottie - get involved with and get to know the Leadville Trail 100. In addition to finding us some speed on course, Nate is also on hand to answer some listener submitted questions.

There's a lot to training for an event like Leadville: The miles, the intervals, the weeks of wondering if you're getting it right. But what about those last couple weeks. For this year we're talking about the days between July 26th and August 9th. This is the time most coaches will outline a training taper. The idea sounds straight foward: back off all the miles, keep some intensity, and allow your body to reap the benefits of all that training. Yet it's so easy to get it wrong and go to the line with something less than what we are truly capable of. Well to help us get it right we have called back Season 5 coach Cody Waite who is going to spell out how to Nail Your Taper for Leadville. As always, thanks for listening and we will see you at the Start Line!

Coach Cody is at:

waiteendurance.com

When it comes to the Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race, tires are the most hotly debated tech topic. The participants' page and other forums are littered with discussions on what tire to run, what tire is best, what tire is the lightest, and so on. These discussions can be somewhat beneficial but what most of them lack is real data. Well we found one tech head who is putting XC tires to the test to come up with actual numbers that characterize a tires' rolling performance.

John Karrasch of Cahaba Cycles is our guest and expert for this episode. John has been on a quest to find the fastest off-road tires. Some of the tires he's been testing are gravel tires but most are the kinds of tires a Leadville Racer would run: XC mountain bike tires. The Vittoria Peyote, the Continental Race King and Dubnital, and the Maxxis Aspen and Aspen ST are all tires John has tested in the field. He's been feeding GPS, power, speed, weight, and wind resistance data into a program to come up with rolling resistance figures.

We're not gonna lie, this is pretty heady stuff. But by the end of the interview we boil it down to the tires that roll the fastest and hopefully point Leadville racers to a handful that will do best at Leadville.

Mentions in this episode:

John's Instagram - flexfitbyjohn

Rolling resistance effect on power and speed - gribble.org

After 190 episodes of the show that breaks down, builds up, gets you ready, and freaks you out for the highest and hardest one day mountain bike race in the country, we've reached our red carpet, our 6th and Harrison. We want to wrap up by talking about other places you can learn about this race, our top advice, and our favorite episodes.

Everyone, we've loved doing this show and are grateful for our extraordinary audience. We'll see you at the starting line!

Two of the big, recurring themes on this show have been fueling and hydration. It's an eating and drinking contest disguised as a bicycle race after all. In this interview, Hottie is joined by Andy Blow of Precision Fuel to take a sweat test and get some insights into the hydration equation.