Van Life in America's Highest City (training for the Leadville 100)

Welcome to Leadville, Colorado, the highest incorporated city in the US and one of our favorite places.

This is going to be home base for the next two weeks as I finish training for one of the hardest 100 mile ultramarathons in the world. Ah. This is the section of trail where I always feel like I'm gonna get eaten by a bear.

Like I really don't even know which way he's supposed to be coming from.

Cara and Rick are nowhere to be found. Truly, it doesn't get worse than this.

In case you missed our big announcement, in less than two weeks, Nate going to be running the Leadville 100. It still kind of blows my mind saying that. And just in case you're new to this ultra running world like we are, there's so much more that goes into 100 mile race than just Nate running.

It requires help and spreadsheets and planning and a lot of training that I've never done before. Even though we've done a lot of crazy challenges in the past, this is the first one that I've ever devoted a substantial amount of time to training for.

So in most big races like this, the athlete has a crew, which I'm a part of. It's a very big job. So this week I'm going to be practicing my crew abilities. Making sure he's getting enough food in his body, meeting him at the aid stations. We're going to be like driving the.

Course this week here to crew Kara, who's crewing Nate.

We're all crewing each other, just trying to really dial it all in because.

After this week, nothing left to do except for run. So in this video, I'm going to complete my last two big training runs. Kara's going to practice crewing.

I'm so sorry. We're coming.

And then together we're going to be crewing our friend Rick as he attempts the Leadville 100 bike. So the week before Big Run, there's a bike race on the same course and Rick is going to be attempting to complete that in 12 hours. So one thing that you may not know about our friend Rick and you may not believe because of all the adventures that you've seen him do with us, is that he essentially only has one lung. There was this accident like 20 years ago. He should be dead.

We're so glad he's not. But it makes what he is going to accomplish this weekend even crazier. So we hope you'll stick around till the end, hear his insane story and help tears on through your screen. It's going to be crazy.

I'm gonna fix that today.

Looks like I'm gonna fix all the drawers today.

The problem is I have fixed that twice. I've put in the time.

What are you trying to say?

You haven't even tried to fix the drawers.

So in 12 days, I'm attempting to run the Leadville 100. And someone who finished in the top 10 last year just sent me a document that is a crew plan. So there will be somewhere around 10 aid stations throughout the course, and Kara, Rick, Beck, Dusty, and Sarah will be my crew throughout the race. And this is way more intense than I realized.

You're just now realizing how intense it's gonna be?

This guy says only the crew chief talks to the rudder. So, like, if you're not the crew chief and you want to tell me something, you have to tell the crew chief. And then the crew chief tells me.

Am I the crew chief?

Are you gonna be sad if you're not the crew chief?

Maybe.

I feel like the crew chief needs, like, a nice, calming presence. I can feel my dusty vibes.

Are you serious?

If I come in, I'm not gonna.

Talk to you for 30 hours?

No, I don't. I don't like that rule. All right, this last is my favorite. It says it can get weird. You may need to treat your runner like a toddler or a drunk college student. Be kind but firm.

My gosh. Well, I was a preschool teacher.

You were?

I'm pretty good at telling toddlers what to do. Kindly and firmly asking you if you need to go potty.

We have a lot to figure out over the next two weeks.

Okay, so the plan for today is to run mile 12 and a half to 40 of the course. In between those points are the two big aid stations on the outbound part of the course. So the course is just an out and back. So it's 50 miles out, 50 miles back on the exact same course. We'll be able to meet up at both of those aid stations, and we'll both get a little practice. I'll get one of my last big runs in, and Kara will get more familiar with where the aid stations are and practice feeding me. I think the other interesting thing about this is the furthest I've ever run is 30 miles. And I did that in training a few weeks ago because when you're running 100 miles, like, you don't go do, like, a practice 100 mile run to see if you can do it. It's just too detrimental to your body.

At Some point, it just switches over from your physical ability to your mental toughness. Like, there's just only so much physical training you can do.

I don't know.

Maybe we're doing it all wrong. Shut up. How you feeling?

I'm excited and kind of sad. Honestly, I've enjoyed the training phases so much.

It is gonna be weird when our world doesn't revol. Lose your train. Like, what are we gonna do with all of our time?

Try that.

It's actually not bad. I thought it was gonna be way thicker.

Really?

Yeah. Like, it's still super liquid.

How am I doing?

Great. Okay, I'm gonna go. Okay.

Okay. I'll see you at the aid station in 3 hours and 13 minutes. Sorry.

Don't panic.

Okay.

If I'm not there all the time.

Okay.

We've been doing some training around here, like, weeks before leading up to it, and we have a very fun panic story that we will share with you tomorrow coming up. All right, I'm out of here.

Love you. Good.

I love you.

Okay. At this point, I'm 12 and a half miles into the race. Maybe the sun's starting to come up. And now I'm going to run the next 24ish.

I love you. Have fun.

So not only is the day my last training run, but I'm also testing out all the gear that I'm going to be wearing during the race. I've got the poles, the vest, the goofy transition lens, glasses, because it helps when you're coming in and out of the shade on the trails. The hat to protect my ears from the sun. I think this is exactly what I'm going to be wearing. All right, say.

So. At this point, Nate has done the whole Leadville 100 trail in small sections, But I think the reason today feels different. I mean, one, it's just. It's getting closer every day. So, like, the pressure is building. Up to this point, it feels like all of his training runs have been, like, really casual. We're just figuring it out. But this week, we're really paying attention to those small details. Like, we're meeting at actual aid stations. We're paying attention to all of the food that he's putting in his body. We want what he's eating this week to be exactly what he's eating during the hundred. We just don't want any surprises during the race.

I feel this intense amount of pressure on today's run, more than any training run ever before, because I know I shouldn't, but I will associate how this run goes with how I think I'm going to perform during the race since it's my last long one again. I know I shouldn't do that, but, like, if today goes really well and I feel good, I'll have a lot more confidence going in to the race in 12 days. But if today's really hard, it's definitely gonna be a little scary.

So right now I'm gonna drive back to Leadville and wait for Nate to get his miles in, and then I'll pick up Rick and Beck and we're gonna meet Nate at the next aid station.

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna. It's calling for an 80% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon, but I just can't put these long runs off anymore. I won't have enough time to recover before the race, and it might be good to get a little practice running in the rain because you never know what it's going to do on race day.

I don't want to make this about me, but I also want to make it 100% clear that devoting our summer to Nate training for the level 100 has in no way been a sacrifice for me. In fact, it has been the complete opposite of a sacrifice. I've had to change the dose of the medicine that I've been prescribed for epilepsy three times at this point. Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago, I had a few more of my dizzy spells slash vocal seizures, so I've had to up the dose again. And to just have the, like, excuse to spend our whole summer one in my favorite state, but most importantly, just in one spot, in one bed, just staying still, getting rest every night has been huge for me, and I can't imagine a better way to spend our summer while I.

Good. I might as well say it. I'm only two miles into today's run, but I feel amazing. I'm just so happy to be out here. My favorite part of signing up for this race, it's just been the excuse that I have to go into the mountains pretty much every day. I know this race is going to be hard and I'm going to suffer a lot, but I have not looked forward to anything more than Leadville 100. If anyone was wondering what the footing is like on this trail, it's a hiking trail with lots of rocks and you constantly got to be watching your feet.

Also, I want to take this time to brag on Nate for just a sec. I'm so proud of him. Honestly, training for this event might be harder than the event Itself in a lot of ways, he has not let a day go by without training in some way either. Physically, mentally, spreadsheet planning. And his attitude has been so good. He has trained in Knoxville, running around.

The LA airport, trash of a tree. I almost stepped on that. Amsterdam, mid June at 11,000ft in the mountains. Oh, my gosh, it just went up to my knee.

He was running at Dollywood with our nieces. He got up and ran like 10 miles or something crazy. Less than 48 hours after finishing the march, I was still like planning my route to the bathroom and back to the bed at this point. And he chose to go running. And every time he comes back, I expect him to say something like, this is so hard, or, I'm so tired, I wish I would have slept in. And every time he comes back smiling, it's just blown me away.

Something that I didn't realize when I learned about people running these 100 mile races is that nobody, except maybe the people who are finishing in the top 10, actually run the whole hundred miles, especially when you're going up and into the mountains. It's a mix of running or really slow jogging and then power hiking. I should be able to run this whole section. But the goal here on race day will be to conserve as much energy as possible for the end because I'm not trying to finish in any certain time except for under 30 hours, which is the cutoff to get the belt buckle at the end. And so these early miles, as in the first 40, really are all going to be about just keeping a fast enough pace that I can still finish while also conserving as much energy as possible.

Just made a quick pit stop at the grocery store. I kid you not. I think I eat more than Nate in our normal life. Since he has been training, I can't keep him full. I sure hope the rain isn't going to slow him down too much. I mean, it is dark over there.

So there are two other main things that we're trying to dial in over the next two days. The first one is my food consumption, because over the course of 30 hours, I need to be able to eat about 7,000 calories. So right now I've got with me two Pop Tarts, which is like 370 calories. And then in this water bottle, it's something called scratch. It's what care was filling up in the van. 400 calories, 100 carbs. So basically, over the next 14 miles, my goal is to eat 800 calories. Today I'm trying to Put more calories in my body than I have been in the past just to see kind of like what my limit is and where I start to feel sick. So see how this goes.

Look at this. Nate is literally there.

That doesn't sound good. And then the other thing that I'm trying to figure out today is my pacing. There's been almost nothing that we've done in the past that's had a cutoff time for the finish. And this has something like nine cutoffs, which means I have to be pretty strategic about timing my run. So basically, the goal for these first four sections is to do, on average, somewhere around 13 minutes per mile. So if I'm feeling good, I can make slightly better time at the end of the race. But the one thing I really want to avoid doing is just going out too fast.

Shoot.

That little parking lot that you can see right down there, that's where I started. I also feel like you're going to be struck by lightning at any moment. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.

It's pouring. Good chance to test out. Running in a rain jacket. A little too warm to put this on right now, but I'm gonna try it out. All right. I just got to the top of the first big climb. Let's run down in the rain.

Oh, man. To add to the drama of the storm, I just realized that I don't have Nate's location for this run. I think he forgot to start his watch, and he must not have service on his phone because I can't see his by my iPhone location. So, yeah, try not to worry. But Nate is in a thunderstorm with lightning and rain, and I have no idea where he is. So I'm just going to eat, head to our meeting spot soon, and hope he shows up.

This is actually crazy.

All right.

Walking the hills. I just saw some lightning off that way. I'm glad I'm not the only crazy one out here. Oh, no. She thought that was funny.

Oh, man.

I feel so helpless.

I'm very much looking forward to going down.

This is one of those times where I feel like crewing is slightly more difficult than being the athlete. Like, Nate just doesn't worry. It's not his, like, default. If rolls were reversed, he'd be chilling. At least he has his pop tarts.

This is so much fun. I'm kind of hoping it rains on race day. Just feel like a kid out here in the rain in the mud. Real quick. Want to say a big thank you to surfshark for sponsoring this video and continuing to support our channel for years now. And also for keeping our online identity safe, even though we make our lives super public. If you've never heard of surfshark, it's a VPN which stands for virtual Private network and it encrypts all the data sent between your computer and the Internet so that no one can steal your sensitive information. Not only do Karen, I make our life super public, but we also live life on the edge by logging into all different types of public WI FI networks. When we're in the van like we are now, we end up going into coffee shops to upload videos or logging into public WI fi there. And we're staying in hotels, going through airports. And surfshark is the thing we credit with keeping our online identity safe. Because a VPN allows you to change the virtual location of your computer, which basically makes your browsing anonymous so that people can't track you and also that people can't steal your very important information like your Social Security. We have had friends that have had their social media accounts hacked and we have also been on a trip with a guy who got his identity stolen while we were on the trip. Being close to these people who have had this stuff happen, it was a nightmare and I would not wish it on my worst enemy. And using a VPN is the easiest thing that you can do to add an extra layer of security between you and the hackers. So if you don't already have a vpn, we highly recommend surfshark. And the other benefit of being able to change the virtual location of your computer is that it also gives you access to new content library so you can watch some of your favorite shows that you might not be able to otherwise get a VPN for the online security, that's the important part. But just also know that there's a fun aspect to it as well. So if you don't have a vpn, sign up for Surfshark. It's the best because it offers one account for unlimited devices. Plus, if you use our code, Cara and Nate, you are going to get four months for free. We'll leave a link in the description below. There will also be a QR code here on the screen. Thanks for listening. Now back to the video.

We might win a bail today. We'll see how he feels.

Yeah, I mean I can see him.

Either being like, just let's do it.

So pumped that like this is so hardcore.

Or yeah.

Maybe we just drive a little bit in front of him so that he wishes he could get to the van, but we don't let him in and just force him to dig really deep.

Just hang like some cookies out the window.

So we can actually get to about four miles before where we were going to go. There's a place where he'll come out on the road. Let's go straight to that and just wait till we see him there and then if he seems all good, we'll drive up to the original meeting spot.

If Nate asked, this was your idea, not mine. Just see him earlier.

Yeah, I. I'll definitely tell him.

I don't think Rick and B need an introduction, but just in case they are local lead billions and the whole reason that this place is a magnet for us. We met them a very long time ago in Nepal, drove our van to Leadville to say hi for one day, became best friends and now we're here multiple times a year taking over their driveway or their house.

And we love having them around.

The reason Rick has been sitting in a hypoxic tent all afternoon is because he is doing the Leadville 100 bike race. Let's go, baby. Looking strong, looking strong. You got this. Which is this week. Nate's doing the Level 100 run next weekend, so we're going to be crewing each other.

Just crewing this race is something that I think a lot of runners and teams in general, if it's their first year, they probably underestimate. Not only are they out there running for close to 30 hours, but the crew has to be awake for that same amount of time. It's a big job for the crew too. We're here to crew Kara, who's crewing Nate.

We're all crewing each other. All right. So we just parked on the side of the road. Break suggested we walk down this trail a little bit just to like have some empathy for what he has to go through. It's a pretty steep, muddy gravel surface currently.

Check out these views. The pointy one right over there, that's Mount Albert. One of the first years we were up here in Leadville. Frick took us to climate in January when it was -17 degree. Running on this road right now is definitely way easier than that. It's just fun to have so many memories from a place. And that's why I like climbing to the the top of of stuff like this, especially the places that I'm going to be returning to. Cuz I love to be able to look up at it and say I stood right there on top of that mountain. Not sure if you can see that road disappearing into the trees over there. But basically running to that tree line, up into the trees, and then over that little hill, and then Hope passes that big mountain race. So basically those big mountains that you can see in the background, I have to go up and over those and then come all the way back.

Well, listen to that.

Wow.

As if the dirt road's not terrifying enough. And steep. You have electricity just overhead, vibrating the entire time like you're gonna get hit by lightning.

Fall goes as planned. We should see him coming down here pretty soon if he's on pace. Rain may have slowed him down a little bit. So that's 21. But he didn't do the first.

No, he started at 12. 4 miles an hour. Surely it's either taking him off almost three hours to go. Eight miles.

I am so glad I'm not alone. We've waited long enough that we're questioning everything. Like, did we miss him? Has he already passed this location and he's waiting for us at our meeting spot. Did he wait for an hour under a tree trying to avoid getting struck by lightning? Did he take an alternate route? Did he get lost? Is this found dead? If I was alone, I would be going crazy. But they're helping me keep calm. We're a good team.

I made pretty good time, feel great. Been 15 miles. This is our plan meetup spot. And Kara and Rick are nowhere to be found.

Hello? Hey.

Hi. Where are you?

I think I'm where we're supposed to be meeting.

Oh, we're coming.

We'll be there.

What? We'll be there in just a minute. We're at the end of power line.

I'm so sorry. We're coming.

You had one job.

It wasn't my fault. We'll explain everything.

All right. I'll wait here. See you soon.

It was my fault.

All right.

I cannot believe this.

We'll still get there at three, right? Although you got there a little faster than three.

He changed the plans, not us. 17 miles in three hours.

Wow.

Through a lightning storm, up and over power line, which is a tough part of the course for sure.

All right.

It's a good thing we're practicing. We totally messed that up. You got here really fast.

I honestly was so surprised that you especially weren't there to pick me up when it was lightning. I was like, I guess I'm just gonna run across this open hill with all this lightning. If Kara's not scared, I'm not scared. I think my goal is to do this section in three hours and 13 minutes, and it took me three. Oh, wow.

Let's go.

Yeah.

Something about getting handed food by Kara and talking to you makes me feel like I'm back on the bike.

We've learned on past trips that potatoes hit the spot when you're doing something hard. So we're starting with potatoes. We're gonna see how we feel. Okay. Nate. I know what you like when you're normal Nate, but what is hungry running Nate like on his wraps? Do greens? You want lemon?

Do you want to put that on that side?

Yep. Sweet.

All right, so I'm seeing how some new things set. This is avocado tofu, and cashew cream. And apparently, this is supposed to be, like, a superpower. Well, it's a lot of food. I'll be interested to see how I feel after this.

Yeah, I might be overdoing it.

As the chief chef in this operation, I've drawn inspiration from Harvey Lewis, who is an insanely cool ultra runner. He's totally plant based, and he usually eats real food, stuff like this. So I took this out of his playbook. And then we met a guy yesterday who's done some ultras who said, do not try new food for the first time on race day, because you never know how it's gonna agree with your body.

Love you.

All right, good luck. Good job.

All right, thanks. See y'.

All. Bye.

Looking good, right?

See you in a couple hours.

Who's that sexy ultra runner? I can't believe he's still going.

All right, it's been about three miles since I met up with the van. We've got some blue sky coming out, and so far, the wrapping, the potatoes are sitting nicely. I don't feel like I'm gonna vomit, which is a win.

Okay, so we're en route to Twin Lakes now, which both today and on race day is the next time we're gonna see Nate. And we're not gonna be late this time.

All right, I've just hit mile 20 for the day, which means I have seven or eight to go until we get to Twin Lakes. And by we, I guess I mean me. Hey, babe. Hey, babe. This is the section of trail where I always feel like I'm gonna get eaten by a bear. We're just pretty remote, not really close to anything, and the brush starts to get pretty thick on both sides of the trail, so I use a lot of oxygen going, hey, babe. I think I was told to do that at some point in my life, so you don't sneak up on them, but, yeah, it's weird being out here by yourself all alone.

Town of Twin Lakes is so cute. So on actual race day, this will be the second place that we meet him. And he'll be 30.

Something miles in. It's very quiet right now, but on race day, this is just gonna be nuts. This is where tons of people come and set up huge. Like 10 by 10, 10, us included. There's gonna be spectators everywhere. It's gonna be wild.

This is probably my favorite part of the entire course. Just surrounded by an aspen grove, it's downhill, and the rocks and roots are few and far between.

Phew.

Nate's gonna be so happy waiting with drinks and snacks. He's not gonna have to wait on us at all. And he's very close. This will be the end of his training today. Then he'll have one more big day tomorrow. I have three different types of na. Some more coke. He likes these tea things. We got some more salt. Party time.

They're the lakes. Just a couple more miles. It's getting steep.

Look at him go.

He's looking good.

Let's go.

The crazy thing is I will run 40 miles up to this point on race day, and then I have to go up and over that mountain over there and spend eight hours alone with no crew.

I just feel like to wait here.

A lot of things are going to go on inside my head over the course of those eight hours.

Mine too.

You look totally fine. Like. Like you haven't even run.

All right. One big happy family driving back to Leadville. We did it, team. I feel so accomplished.

Free to save pretzels and drink fake beer.

Thanks for today.

Oh, I just can't believe how well it went.

I'm glad you feel that way. Are you so happy.

Feels so ridiculous having these giant boots in the van, but it is so good. We first discovered these after we did 29 or 29. They had these in, like, their recovery station. It is genuinely the best feeling ever. Like those massage guns. That's a chore to do. Like, it hurts when you're doing it, but you know you're gonna feel better later. This feels amazing in the moment and you feel better later.

We're just gonna let him relax while I make us a nutritious dinner. Van. Life doesn't really get better than this.

For dinner tonight, I'm making right with lion's mane mushroom. We just discovered these, and they are so good. So just a quick overview. Sauteing some ginger and garlic, some instant jasmine rice. Because Van Life soy sauce.

Yum. Okay. While the rice is just sitting there heating up for a minute, I'm gonna prep the lights Me, which is super easy. You just rinse it out and cut off off the little hard butts. I just threw in some leftover tofu from earlier for some extra protein. I'm gonna go ahead and plate the rice into the bowls, because these literally take five seconds to cook, and I only want to use one pot. Now I'm just gonna put a little more oil in this pan and literally just throw them in there, add some salt. Of course, once they get a little brown and beautiful like this, I add just a splash of soy sauce, give.

Them that extra flavor.

Flavor.

It's lava hot. Wow.

It looks lava hot, but it looks amazing.

Mmm.

So good.

All right, so then I just laid the mushrooms on top of the fried rice, and if y' all have ever watched me cook, then you know I don't make anything without topping it with cilantro and about a million other things. Tonight we have homemade pickled onions, toasted sesame seeds, and tahini and chili flakes. Eggs, of course.

Wow. Best day ever.

How is it?

Great.

Out of ten?

I'll do it like a 8.75.

I'll take it.

I give it a nine.

You don't have to lie.

Maybe a nine and a half. No, it's really good.

We can't go from an 8.5 to a nine and a half.

NoS, it was a 8.75.

I'm gonna fix those tomorrow.

All right, it is 10:30. Alarms are set for 5:30, and tomorrow's my last big training day.

The last big day.

Crazy. And I have 10 days to recover before the race. Rick rides on Saturday. Such a fun two weeks. All right, see you too early in the morning.

Love you. Love you.

You turn the light out on me.

Okay. I'm kidding.

I can't.

You've literally done everything today.

It.

I figure Kara's gonna do everything else for me today. The least I could do is make our coffee.

Good to be back in the van. This is crazy. I just put in windfill, which is the turnaround spot on the 100, and it is filled 54 minutes away. It's just crazy to think that I could run somewhere that would take an hour to drive to and then turn.

Around and come back.

So the plan for today is to drive to the turnaround point at the course and do the hardest climb of the entire course. It's called Hope pass. It is 35,000ft up and over a mountain. But because it's an out back. That means I have to do it twice. I don't know if that made any sense.

Also said 35,000ft.

Oh, it's a big one. People don't know about this one, but it's bigger than Mount Everest.

Wow. Last big run. I cannot believe that the training phase is coming to an end because this is. This has been my life for the last two months. Crazy. Also, how beautiful is this place? I'm literally going like basically up and over this mountain. The next five miles are just climbing.

Have you.

Don't panic.

Bye bye.

Have fun.

I'm so proud of you. There it goes. All right, it's time for a quick story time. Let me just start this story by saying I'm not proud of it. Okay. It's dramatic. Hey, Nate.

Oh, gosh, I feel so bad for this version of me. I'm just watching some videos I took to remind myself of the whole horror. Now that I've had a little refresh, let me start from the beginning. This is actually my second time to Winfield. The first time, Nate was doing pretty much this exact training run, but in the opposite direction. So we get to Twin Lakes, he's about to leave and he says, I'll be at WINFIELD probably around 6:00'. Clock. And I thought, great. He's going to go up and over the mountain. I'm going to drive around. I'll wait for him in the cute little town. I'll have a fun little day. And then, then he'll meet me here and we'll drive home. It's not what happened. About 30 minutes before getting to this town, like you saw this morning, I hit this dirt road. It's super bumpy, super muddy. And I lose service as soon as I get to it. Which means I couldn't see Nate's location anymore. No big deal. We had a plan. I was just gonna wait for him here. I just wouldn't know exactly where he was. A few minutes later, I look up at the mountain and there is a massive storm. A lot like yesterday actually. Nate is running in that, but still no big deal. So I get here to Winfield around 5 o'. Clock. It's a really cool town. It's an old kind of like abandoned mining town. There used to be all kinds of buildings here that are just gone now. But they've preserved this little old schoolhouse circa 1880, really cute. Still has like the little desk in there. All the rules that the women used to have to follow. You will not marry during your contract. Must not loiter downtown in ice cream stores. What the heck? Can't ride in a carriage with men unless he's your father or brother. Golly, that's ridiculous. There's this little cabin, so I'm having a great time exploring.

I bet there are a hundred mosquitoes on me right now. Surely it doesn't get worse than this brutal.

5:30 rolls around and I'm like, okay, maybe I'll see him, like, coming down the mountain at some point. So I'm looking. I can't even see where the trail is. I have no idea which direction he's coming from. And I'm the only one here with no service. Still no panicking, though. Then it's six and I'm like, okay, he should be here any minute. Still looking. 6, 36, 45, 7. Nate's nowhere to be found. Obviously. I start to panic. I'm really starting to worry. I'm sure I'll get used to this training thing eventually, but right now I really hate it. I don't know if I should stay here at the van or if I should start hiking. Like, I really don't even know which way he's supposed to be coming from because these signs, like, none of them say Hope Pass. I just don't know what to do now. I'm questioning if I'm even in the right place. Like, I'm in Winfield. But is there a different part where the actual trail is? Is he looking for me? Thankfully, about that time, a hiker walks by. And so I went up to him and I was like, do you have any idea which one of these mountains is Hope Pass? Do you know where the trail is? I'm waiting for my husband to tell him everything. He has no idea. And he keeps walking. I was like, okay, great. So my mind is just. Next thing I know, about 7:15, the sweet man comes walking towards me with a local who lives here. She's one of, like, three people who live in this little town. He had gone to ask her because I think he could tell I was in a panicked state. She comes over and she says, you know, there was a big storm today. It can be pretty brutal coming down when it's all muddy. Like, that definitely slowed him down. If he was up there during the storm, I wouldn't start panicking for another hour. About 8:30 is when maybe you should start to worry. So now I have an hour to just try not to worry. But she did say, if you want to go to the trailhead, I can point you in the right direction. So I Thought, great, I'm gonna go to the trailhead. It's way better than just the sitting here waiting. So I immediately start walking. At this point, the sunset is at, like, 8:45. It's 7:30, and I'm on a mission. I just walked about a half mile up this trail, and I found where the Hope Pass trail meets this main trail and goes down to Winfield. I guess I'll keep going. I would just rather see him than stand here, you know, like any minute that I'm walking towards him is another minute that I don't have to worry. And I'm still trying to think positively here. You know, like, you just got slowed down. I'm just gonna start hiking. I could use the exercise. All right. I've walked over a mile now. Still no sign of Nate. It's raining again. Oh, this is not fun. And every step that I didn't find him, my mind was just, Was he struck by lightning? Did he get eaten by a bear? Did he get lost? Does he have frostbite? Anything is possible. I was not in a good place. So I start shouting his name. Hey, Nate. Hey, Nate. I'm also scared of wildlife. Some thick woods. All of a sudden, it's about 8:40, and the sun is setting, and I just did not know what to do. I had no service. I didn't have his location. And it's getting dark, and now we're both on a dark mountain alone.

Okay, so I'll give you my side of the story. Kara's van, when I get down, is parked right here. I am so excited to see the van. I might thank goodness my longest, hardest training run is over. And I get to the van, and no one's there. And as you can see, like, there's not much out here. But I figured Kara's just wandering around looking for me somewhere close by. So I'm like, kara. Kara. And then all of a sudden, a lady comes out of this cabin right here, and she's like, you must be the guy that she's looking for. And I was like, sounds like me. And so she said, I sent her up the road to the trailhead to wait on you.

At mile three, after about an hour of running up this mountain, I decided it was best if I turned around and I got off the mountain. So nothing bad happened to me. My gut is telling me to turn around. Gosh, I hate this. My plan was to come back to the van and drive to service and see if I could at least find his location, which I should have done in the first place. But, you know, hindsight.

So the lady drives me about a mile off the road. We get to the trailhead right here, and Kara is nowhere to be found. But he's like, well, I guess she went up the trail. Best bet is to try to catch her. So after running 26 miles, I take off running up this trail, trying to find Kara before it gets dark. And it's funny, because at the end of those 26 miles, I felt like I could barely run anymore. But knowing that Kara was out here in the woods and it was getting dark, I got this new burst of energy, and it was no problem to run these next two miles.

So I'm running down the mountain, and I'm in a full panic. It's raining, it's dark. I'm scared. I'm about halfway down, and all of a sudden, I hear Nate's voice. Where have you been? But he was in front of me, like, I was walking towards him.

Where did you go?

The lady drove me up to the trail. I went down to the road, took the road to Windfield. I'm so, so sorry. You can't do that.

I figured you were on the trail.

This is where the big mistake happened. I was coming down this trail off Hope Pass, Saw this sign. It obviously says Winfield that way. Didn't think about it for two seconds and just started running. And then I got, like, 45 minutes down the trail, and I thought, there's no way Winfield is supposed to be this far away. I must have read the sign wrong. So I turned around and I ran back. I got to this sign so that I'd obviously gone the right way. And then basically what happened was I knew that Sheep Gulch would lead me down to the road, so I just ran down to the road and then walked up to the van. And that's how we missed each other.

He was coming to rescue me while I was trying to rescue him. I don't know what we would have done without that lady. What a precious, precious woman. We just are so grateful for her. Then we get back to the town. She was about to call search and rescue for both of us. All this to say we both learned a valuable lesson. I'm not gonna panic anymore. From now on, when we have a meeting point, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna stay. End of story. All right, I'm sorry again, Nate. I'm gonna be at Twin Lakes today waiting for you at our meeting point. No questions asked. Don't you worry about.

Wow. Check out this view. We Drove in over there. Kara's van's parked somewhere over there. What a beautiful morning. The rain is supposed to set in around 12. I should be able to make it a bit over the past no later than 11, so hopefully I'll be at no risk of getting struck by lightning today.

Okie dokie.

Goodbye, Winfield. Chances are I will never be back here again during the race. Crew is not allowed to drive back here now. I have this long bumpy dirt road back to the main road and then I should be back at Twin Lakes in maybe an hour or so. Hopefully Nate's uphill isn't too brutal.

I just ran the nice flat first three miles of the trail and now it is officially time to start climbing Hope Pass. It's basically like doing a StairMaster for a few hours.

Life is good and it's still blue skies and sunny. I think it's gonna be a great last training day.

This is actually as fast as I plan to walk during the hundred. If I can stay on pace in the first 50 miles, I should be able to hike up doing around 30 minute miles, which is basically just putting one front foot in front of the other and not stopping. It's definitely a little concerning just how hard this is. Being on completely fresh legs and thinking that at this point in the course I'm going to be 56 miles in.

Hello to when they.

What a gorgeous day.

Okay, now that I've made it mostly above tree line, you can kind of see where I'm going. The mountain all the way up there. The pass is somewhere over here to the left of it. So at this point I probably have at least a thousand more feet of climbing left to go.

How good is this?

Look familiar? This is the exact spot that we picked Nate up yesterday. We're waiting here in the rain. Not today.

The Tava Hope Pass. So I came from somewhere in that valley down there. And then you can see Twin Lakes where I'm going down there. I'm gonna see how some potatoes sit on the way down. I don't know that anything will sit good on the way down, but we'll give it a try. All right, time to head down the other side. Well, I gotta tight. My hat is blowing away.

It's so crazy to know that this is the last time I'm going to be here until night's actually running 100 miles. Very happy to report that today there is a porta Potty, so I don't have to use our potty. There's nothing wrong with our potty, but I enjoy using other ones so I don't have to dump this one as often. So, that being said, if you'll excuse me.

Okay, I'm almost at the bottom. So far, this section of trail has been so much better than it was the first time. When I did this a few weeks ago, it was earlier in the season. I guess there's more mosquitoes then, because even though it was super hot, I had to cover myself head to toe. And even then, I had to just wave my hand across my face, like, every five seconds because I had so many mosquitoes landing on me. There are mosquitoes everywhere. Surely it doesn't get worse than this. My knees are sore, but I am feeling good.

Exciting times.

I have Internet. I have Nate's location. I can see exactly where he is, and he's flying. Like, I think he's gonna be here in less than an hour, which is nuts. So guess who's not panicking? This girl. So I think I should continue my job as chief chef. I'm gonna make us something yummy to eat for when he gets here.

I'm thinking sandwiches section over there looks pretty shallow.

Oh, wow. The fun part about this section of the course is that they make you cross a river, which right now feels amazing, but it sets you up for damp feet going 24 miles up and back over that mountain. That felt good. I kind of want to stand in that for a minute. Wow, that feels good. Ah.

Oh, okay. Too long.

They're frozen.

Oh.

Just a couple more flat miles, and then I'll be back at the van.

Okay. I'm a little confused. Not worried. It's gonna be fine. I'm just confused. So he's got his, like, root highlighted in purple, and it kind of looks like he's gone off the route. Like, he's still coming this way, and I just wonder if he knows, you know, either way, he's coming in hot, so we will know shortly.

There's the van coming in 30 minutes under my goal time. Feels like a good place to call training quits, rest up, and hope I can put it all together on race day.

Welcome home. Did you take the shortcut?

No. Shortcut over Hope ass.

Nate.

Yeah. That was, like, 30 minutes faster than what I was hoping to do today and, like, an hour faster than I need to do on race day. I was fresh. I'll be 60 miles in, so. But still, yeah, I felt good. Except my knees. Really, if one thing gives out on me during the race, it's going to be my knees running downhill.

Oh, no.

I took the slightly longer way. Not by much, but that field, it's just like wet cow poop that I did the first time. I skipped it this time.

Nice. Guess who didn't worry one bit.

Nice. Helps her to make it on time.

I did notice you went off course, so I was a little nervous about that. But just like, you know, making sure you were doing the right course. But now it makes sense with the cow poop. Bon appetit. Wow.

Spoiled once again.

It's doing my job.

Too hard to eat for race day, but it's delicious.

Okay. We still have seven days until the run starts, but this morning is kicking off the 100 mile bike race here in Leadville, which Rick is riding. So we're going to be spending the day supporting him and some other people. Made it just in time be wrong for Rick to do a bike race and all of us not to be be here for him. Wow. The energy this morning is crazy.

Talking about my narwhal energy, I think.

You'Re just gonna be nervous for the next seven days. The man of the hour. Let's do it. Got this, Rick.

Thank you, guys.

3, 2, 1. So cute.

I love the narwhal outfit.

Yeah, I've gotten some looks this morning.

Let's go.

Let's go.

There he goes. He's up.

Let's go, Rick.

Oh, my gosh. I can't believe it.

What's your dad's time either?

Like 11:30. 11, 11:22. Rick. See you there.

A nice number. I'm going for last pass.

What is it?

Last. Over the past. You get an award for that?

Might as well.

And he gets on the podium.

You get on the awards stage.

So I'm kind of like.

That would kind of be sweet.

If you're not first, you might as well be last. You're not last. Cut off is 12 hours. So what everybody's saying is he's gonna make it by a few minutes.

He's gonna make it.

All right. Time to go find Rick on the course. Wow. So much energy this morning.

Did you cry? A little. No, you didn't, did you? Of course. Oh, my gosh, I'm sweating from that narwhal suit. I don't know how you can be at that starting line and hear the national anthem and see the faces of all of these athletes who have been devoting their life to this day.

That is.

And not cry like, are you a robot?

That is one thing that I've realized is just what a massive commitment. Commitment. Stuff like this is like The. Just the training commitment alone. Everyone out here has devoted half of their year to training for this.

No one just shows up to something.

Like, this is the day where you see if it was all worth it.

I mean, I can't even fathom the finish line. I've never seen the finish line. I'm gonna be a total mess. Break is honestly the most, like, optimistic, positive, supportive, joyful person. And to see him having worked so hard for this and be so nervous, I almost feel like a proud mom. Rick is special in many ways, but there's also so much more to his story than you can see from the outside. He is not your average athlete out there on his bike right now.

He looks like it. And you would think that he was based on all the things we've done together in the past.

Yeah. Compared to us, he is like a superhero, ultra athlete. But he's had to work really, really hard to get to where he is. And it's all because many, many years ago, he was in a terrible freak accident that he should be dead. Changed his life forever.

I think after the race, we'll let him fill you in on it.

So I've been telling myself, you know, I should write this down. There's some. Some pretty powerful emotions and memories that have happened over these last couple days. I want to capture it somehow.

Okay. Sorry. From the beginning, I want to get a little bit of backstory.

Yeah.

Do you mind explaining to me why every doctor you've talked to has told you you shouldn't do this race?

I had an injury a long time ago, 23 years ago, where I cut my phrenic nerve, which controls my diaphragm, which means when I take a breath in, I get about half as much oxygen that goes down into my lungs as a normal person.

Pause. Rick just kind of brushed over the fact that he basically has one lung. And it's a pretty traumatic story, so I think we should hear it. Will you tell us what happened?

Yeah, I'd be glad to tell you what happened. So When I was 20, 21 years old, which is now 25 years ago, I fell through a glass window, cut my neck. Barely made it to a hospital. I basically had a pool of blood form at my feet. Got very faint, fell backwards, kind of remember the whole world just slowly getting smaller. And the last thing I saw was my friend Andy staring over me and telling me, you're gonna be okay. Stay with us. Stay with us. Stay with us. And then woke up in a hospital in Windsor, Canada. The doctors initially thought I Had severed just a small nerve. And they fixed it up and sent me on my way, sent me home, back to college in Ohio. And then probably three weeks later, this small nick was the size of a football and it was throbbing. And so my mom came around to check on me and she immediately said, something's wrong, we gotta go to the hospital. We went to the hospital and we discovered that I'd cut a number of nerves, including my phrenic nerve, my. One of my carotid arteries, my vertebral artery. It's the one that no one expected me to cut because literally a piece of glass had to go all the way through the length of my neck and go between two vertebrae in my spine to cut it. And so that was the one that the doctors just left kind of bleeding in there. They couldn't have imagined that had been cut. So a number of surgeries took place. Initially it was just to stop the bleeding. So they, they clamped my vertebra artery. The hardest one was actually one of the smaller ones in the front of my chest, because there's only one way to get into it. And that was, well, two ways. Either they could cut my chest plate in half and go in and put a clamp in there, or they could use a new sort of experimental process where they put a small stent like they use in heart attack victims to stop the blood flow. But to do that, they had to run a catheter up through my vascular system and release this little coil in there. To do that, I had to be conscious because they do something called an angiogram that lights up your vascular system and they inject a dye. You take a deep breath, they can see everything and they run this coil and they were, I don't know what the percentages were, 50, 50, 60, 40. This was one of the larger arteries that had been severed like this in a traumatic action that they had ever used one of these coils for. But the alternative was the chest plate operation, which would have meant I couldn't use my arms for like a good year. At the time, I was a relatively healthy, fit, you know, 20 year old. It just seemed like a very drastic way. And I felt confident enough that we should try this other procedure, so we did. Parents came in and stood over me. I remember it was a couple days before Christmas. They kind of didn't say goodbye, but they said, you're going to be alright. In a way that I knew this could be, you know, a lot worse. And it was, we love you, son. You've been A great son, meant the world to us. All these sorts of things. I remember as they left thinking like, Jesus took a very serious tone, went through the procedure and I had actually stared a screen that lit up my vascular system. And I watched this tube go up and up and up. And I could see like a thing, looked like white light at the end of this tube where they were going to release this thing. If this thing didn't hold this coil, I would have had a. A very huge stroke, would have possibly killed me, give me major brain damage. At the, at the least, the very least. At one point, I remember the doctor had come in, he liked to listen to music while he did these surgeries. And he puts on some Christmas music. It was like the Charlie Brown Christmas story. Just as very light hearted. It's Christmas music. I'm thinking, there's no way I can die during the Charlie Brown Christmas music. Like, it's just. No human being in the history of the earth has like met their fate listening to a light hearted song like this just before Christmas. So it gave me some confidence going into the surgery, had the surgery, it took. And I stayed in the hospital for another few weeks. And then after I got home, I was bedridden for about a month, another month, and then I could ease back into things over the next couple months.

Okay, so we've just made it to the first aid station where we're going to be seeing Rick. This is actually where they were supposed to pick me up the other day that they didn't quite make it to in time.

I'm so sorry we're coming.

But I'm pretty sure we're here before Rick this morning, which is the important thing because today is the big day. Go Rick.

Go Rick. You got this. Who needs two ones anyway?

Smoke him if you got them, baby.

He's probably going to be going so fast he's not going to be able to read him. But I feel better having something.

I have nerve damage, permanent nerve damage in my arm. I cut my C7 nerve root. My tricep on this side doesn't work. My pec on this side doesn't work. It also resulted in the cut of my phrenic nerve, which controls my diaphragm. And the diaphragm is kind of like. It's almost like a syringe where you pull it down, it draws fluid. That's what your diaphragms do on each side of your lung. They, they drop down, they suck air into your lungs. And I only had one of these that Actually worked. And so for most of my life, I just tried to go on and act like nothing had happened. I try to live as normal of a life as possible. It's called a paralyzed diaphragm. It's severely debilitating to most people that have it. Most people that have this have trouble walking around the block, doing their own grocery shopping. Some of them have goals as simple as being able to have conversations with their grandkids that consist of more than like, a sentence at a time. And I think some of that becomes self fulfilling. If you are told that this is something that can impact your life like that, you start to maybe believe that and you start to act like that for a long time. I had no idea. For whatever reason, when I moved to level Colorado 10 years ago, I see this bike race, and it's like, it's at 10,000ft. It's 12,000ft of climbing through some of the most rugged mountainous terrain in Colorado. And it just started to represent, like, this one thing that was something someone like me should not do. Someone like me should have a real big problem doing this. It's a race. So exerting yourself, like, really heavily at high altitude, altitude with these huge climbs, on paper, it was like the worst possible scenario for someone who can't get enough air in with each breath. And I thought for a long time, it's just something I couldn't do. And then as time wore on and I realized that, you know, I can keep up with some of these guys for shorter rides. I have friends that have done the race, a lot of friends that have done the race. It slowly started to cement itself in my mind. Is this one thing that I have to try to do to prove to myself that this injury that happened 24 years ago in my life, that it wasn't really affecting me that much at all, and that for the first time, maybe I could tell myself that I was in control of it and it wasn't in control of me. And I got it. I got to dictate how it affected my life and not the other way around.

What's on your chest?

Oh, we decided we would just have a spare everything. Anything can happen. He's very prepared. But if he needs water or a snack or home. New vest. We got you, Rick. We got you. But fingers crossed, he's all good. And we see him for about 0.3 seconds as he flies by. He's getting closer. Let's go, Rick. Oh, it's tied up right now. Go, Rick. Go, Rick. Why should we do this to all the bikers. Go, bikers.

How long have you lived in Leadville, and how many of your friends have done the hundred?

I've been in level almost exactly 10 years now. Every one of my friends that I mountain bike with in these kind of more social rides, like, I literally think every single one of them has done the lead 100 at some point. And knowing that I shouldn't do it just made me want to do it even more. Like, it just seemed like this thing that all the doctors were saying, not a great idea, not possible. You can't push yourself that long in altitude. And you can only hear that so many times before. You're like, I don't know. Maybe I can do it. You know, like, I have signed up for this race three different times. The last. Last two times for different reasons. It became obvious that I just was not gonna be able to do it. Once was some travel stuff. Once was when I found out just the impact that this breathing thing was having. And we learned about a surgery that could maybe open up a little more room in my. My bad lung for oxygen to get down into it. And I was doing the training splits, and I was, like, light years off being able to complete this at all. And so this. The surgery became a thing. Like, maybe it can give me this extra 10 or 15%. So I did that, and then all of a sudden, those dreams started kind of reappearing, like, maybe I can do it. I didn't really plan on signing up for the race when I had the surgery. I mean, I thought maybe, but it just wasn't like, okay, I'll do that, then that it was just. I had the surgery, and I realized, like, yeah, maybe I do have, like, 10% more lung capacity. And I feel like I was kind of close before. If I can just get through a few of those cutoffs, I know I can hang in there and fight longer than most people. And let's see what happens if that all comes together just right.

We just got an update for Beck. He's so, so close to us. So we're getting ready. We're getting in position. We got our signs, clearing our throws, and we're just gonna attack him with love from all angles. Let's go, baby. Looking strong, looking strong. You got this.

He's looking good.

Oh, my gosh. Let's keep going. Don't follow it. I can't believe he's already gone.

That was fast. Yeah, he was looking good. He's out of pace. Well, I had.

Oh, he is. Come on, Rick. We all knew you could do it. Let's go. And he was smiling, he was screaming. I didn't even turn on my camera. I just started.

Walk me through where you were mentally when you came flying by us at the pipeline aid station. That was the first time we saw you.

At that point, it already had seemed like a series of miracles that occurred. I know what I can do. The first 12 miles of this race course in the fastest time I had ever, ever done. And this was with, like, a tailwind when I felt great and whatever. All the circumstances were so perfect. The fastest I'd ever done that in was an hour and 10 minutes. I did it in an hour that day. The moment I did that, I was like, something's happening. I don't know how this is happening. I feel like when I go out there and train, I train as hard as I possibly, possibly can. So to shave any time would have been amazing. To shave 10 minutes, I don't know what that is. In percent. 15%. That just seemed impossible, but. But it happened. So then next thing you know, you're like, well, dang, I've never been here this fast. The next cutoff for the next time that I'm aware of is about 24 miles in, and the fastest I'd ever been to that point after dozens of times trying was like, 2 hours and 20 minutes. And next thing you know, 2 hours and 6 minutes later, I'm there. So there was just, like, this confidence slowly building through the day where things. Things that never, like, I ever thought was possible was happening, but, like, knowing I had friends at mile 30, you know, pipeline area, that made a huge difference because it was like, I was feeling really good. I was crushing all these times, and I had these people that I knew were going to be at a point on this course that I could get to and see for a minute. That's something you don't get in training. That's something you don't get on the spreadsheet. That's something that doesn't exist in the data. The mo. That feeling of, like, having someone to get to and look forward to.

All right, stop number two.

All right, we're back on the road. We're heading to the next aid station.

Let's go. You got this. Come on. You're looking strong. Come on.

We're, like, riding basically on the course right now. So all these bikers are passing us, going on in the opposite direction.

Let's go. You got this. Keep it going.

Go back.

Loving it. Loving it.

I think I feel really inspired to, like, you can do it. You got this. Support people, like, emotionally, because every single, like, cheer and clap and you got this counts. Like, when I felt like I couldn't go on anymore at the four Day march, one person would make eye contact. Let's go. Keep pushing. You're looking strong. You got this. Let's go. You got it.

Wow. Rick is ahead of so many people.

I'm so proud.

I think I might have done at the side of the van with my ring.

Wow. I'm on such a high right now. Seeing Rick for that short time. I just can't come down.

So sad that he passed so quickly. I just wanted to, like, check in on him.

It's a miracle that anything in this band still works. This must be the most important aid station because, guys, this is way more crowded.

Looks like we only lost a carton of milk.

Hello. Hello. Hey. How's it going yourselves? Good. Awesome.

Best place.

Park parallel along the road down to the right. Perfect. Thank you.

Oh, gosh, man.

I'm surprised some of these cars made it back here.

I'm going to go back there, make sure things don't fall on break.

I'm hoping that was the worst of it.

I can just see things literally fall. Falling out of the cabin right now.

All right, we've made it to the next aid station. This is where the family's been hanging out all day because this is the aid station that Rick felt like was most important, so they've been here to make sure they don't miss him. We've just gotten to run around and do all the fun stuff. I think he's actually planning on stopping here.

Let's go.

Let's go.

He is crushing it.

He's crushing it. I just hope he's not blowing himself up.

Evie, what's the plan?

So I'm gonna take the trash out of his food bag, which is on his bike frame, dump this in here so that when he opens it, he can just go. Now he's gonna swap out his water bottles with his empty one. Frankie's gonna give him potato salad and coke and give him his. His energy stuff.

Nice. What's in the this? Yeah.

Gummies and waffle and cookies. Nice. Perfect, champions.

Perfect.

He's almost here.

And it's all about this climb now for me.

Let's go. You look good.

Wow.

What a crew.

You guys are awesome. Oh, yeah. Hey, you look good.

I feel good.

I mean, up till now.

I mean, it all comes down to this. Thanks.

You're my hero, Rick. Way Ahead of time.

You don't even look tired. I feel.

So now I feel great.

What did it feel like coming into the Lost Canyon aid station and seeing your fanfic for the first time?

I mean, Lost Canyon aid station. Like, at this point, I'm. I'm just. I'm trying to focus on the race. I'm trying not to break down in tears. Like, I. That's how it felt. I realized I'm going to make that cut off. And, you know, you think about these crew stops as like a refueling station. It's food and water.

Right.

Right at its core. That's kind of what it is on paper, on the spreadsheet. What you don't realize is that there's like, these people that love you, that care about you, that cheering for you, that you look forward to getting to see.

Don't know, like, until the day, how much power that gives you. And you're pedaling, your pace picks up a little bit. It's not like you do it intentionally. It just happened. And so you. You get to them quicker. And then once you see them and they're screaming and they're holding signs and, I mean, the feeling is, like, overwhelming. It really is. It's just this energy just spills up inside you. So, yeah, there's food and water, but there's this other thing that isn't on the spreadsheet that you never know until that day comes how that's gonna feel. And I've left that aid station. I left that crew stop both times. Like, with just all of a sudden, my pace was 2 or 3 miles per hour faster than it had been even up to that point. And that you start to add up all the effects of that over the course of 105 miles. That takes a lot of time off your normal, normal times. But you can't expect any of that to happen. I've never done anything like that. I had no idea that that's how that was gonna feel. I would look down at my little computer and I'm like, my legs are just doing what I thought they had been doing, but they're just going 3 miles per hour faster, which is quite a bit faster when you're. I mean, I'm going for like 10 to 13 miles per hour. And I did that for 30 or 40 minutes after I saw the crew. And then I knew that once I got to a point and turned around, I was gonna see them all again. And it was just like this magic moment of this energy pulling me in like a magnet. It to the crew stop and then this burst of energy just shooting me out of there like a cannon back.

How long do we have until we see him again? Two hours.

Wow. Schedule is 2 hours, 45 minutes.

So now we wait. He's going up the biggest climb of the entire course, turning around and then doing the whole course in reverse. And if he's on pace, we'll see him again soon.

While we're waiting for Ra Rick to come back, I thought I would explain the biggest difference between the bike and the run, besides the obvious. The bike cutoff time is 12 hours. The run is 30 hours. So Rick is basically doing a 12 hour sprint. You saw how he didn't even stop first at the first aid station. He was only here for three minutes, which was his goal. He'll barely stop on the way back and then sprint again to the finish. So that's why these aid station are so chaotic and exciting, because there's no time to waste. No one is stopping for more than a few minutes. It's nuts. Like, I think Nate's going to, like, sit down, we'll massage his feet, we'll give him some ramen. Totally different vibes.

Oh, wow.

All right, this is what's going on. While Rick's riding up Columbine.

Crowing is hard work.

I will say today is giving me a massive appreciation for how hard the crew works. Yeah, I almost feel bad that they're going to have to be out here for 30 hours with me. All right, so you left Lost Canyon. We didn't see you for two hours. You have to go up the biggest climb of the course, come back down. Anything interesting happen out there?

The. The big climb like that was always this huge mental barrier for me because two times in training, you know, all my friends think I'm sandbagging at this point because of what happened. But like two times in training, I have tried to ride that first part of the course. Climb up Columbia line, which is 3200 foot, just ascent. There is literally no part of that that goes down. It takes a couple hours. And every single time I've tried to ride the first part of that course and do that, I have absolutely blown up to where I cannot lift my legs. I've had to call Beck two times to come pick me up a third the way up that road or I would roll back down and I'm nearly in tears. Just like. It's just. I can't do it. The lactic acid would build up. I couldn't breathe. My oxygen levels had been really Low for probably a long time. At that point, that was all in the back of my head on Racetown. Like, I've never. What I'm about to go try to do, I've never done. There was nothing even giving me any hope that it was possible. It just kind of felt like being led to the slaughter. But I paid the entry fee. Everybody already rearranged their schedules to come see me do it, and I didn't want my kids to think I was a quitter. So I was at least going to start and see what happened. And then that day, I got there, and I realized a third of the way up that climb, like, that feeling's not coming. That heaviness isn't really setting in. I was tired for sure, but the legs could keep moving. At that point, so many great things were already happening that I'm like, I don't know. Anything's possible at this point, But I got halfway up it, and I was like, you know, there's every possibility that I'm just gonna completely crash, sit on the side of the road, roll back down and say, guys, I gave it my best, but instead, I just kept going closer and closer and closer. And then you realize, like, you're halfway up. That feeling hasn't set in.

We lost Rick's location for a few minutes. We were all feeling a little down, sleepy after my massage, but we just got word that he's coming.

Okay, so Rich just spent his last two and a half hours going up this road, climbing up this mountain, over it, and now he's coming back down.

You got it. Let's go, brad. Today.

This is lots of caffeine. You need caffeine. Coca Cola.

Talk about a picture.

When I left Lost Canyon the second time, oh, my God. I don't know what came over me. I was doing, like, 22 miles per hour across that dirt field. It felt like I was having an E bike or something. It was wild. And I wasn't breathing hard. At least it didn't seem like it. And I was just tearing across the field, and it was just like looking down at your legs. Like, what is happening to me right now? That's how it felt like.

It's just.

I've never experienced that. You don't get that in training spreadsheet. You can't capture that in any way. And it's just the cumulative effect of all those moments just. I mean, it took. I don't know. Seemed like it took a good hour or so off my. Off my fastest times ever.

All right. Heading back to where we started.

Cannot believe it.

Not the. Not the finish line, but the first aid station that we stopped at. Rick's gonna be coming back through in a couple hours, maybe less.

So excited.

The wind has shifted. He has a tailwind. It's raining a little bit, which is probably really nice. Cooling him off. A lot of things are looking good.

He's like 30 minutes ahead of his pace that he wanted to keep.

I just, like, genuinely am so happy for him. Like, I couldn't contain my emotions. I just had to run beside his bike.

Yes. I can't believe it. I mean, this is just so fun.

It's so emotional.

Such a special time, and I feel.

So lucky to be a part of it.

And just knowing how devoted he's been to, like, finishing the day, and he's doing it.

Well.

The rain and the wind has gotten pretty intense. The van is currently getting blown off the road. So we can only hope that this wind is blowing in the right direction direct.

It doesn't look like it's crazy how quickly the weather can change. Hopefully it leaves as soon as it came, you know.

All right, we are back at power Line.

He looks like he's digging deep.

Let's go.

All right. So you come back through Lost Canyon. Things are looking good. You're on a high. You're pedaling at 22 miles an hour.

Yeah.

The next time we see you is a pipeline, and we're all standing there expecting you to fly by like you did the very first time.

Yeah.

See you for half a second and just give you a cheer.

Yep.

And then all of a sudden, you stop in front of us.

Yeah. That stop was like, at this point, everything was going so much better than I ever expected. And, you know, I've obviously asked everyone a lot of questions about the strategy, what I should do. I didn't think I'd even ever get to this point in the race, but all of a sudden, around mile, like 75, just something hit me. Like, you know, just this. This wall, the heaviness that I was so worried about happening in my legs, I started to feel that a little bit. I actually started to get a bit dizzy. Little woozy, almost like the auditory sounds kind of were echoey. I never really felt like I was going to faint, but I felt like a faint ish, you know, like just dizzy, and it was like, shoot. This is like, you know, what people talk about, the, you know, hitting the wall. I've obviously either didn't take enough salt or sugar or carbs or I don't know, you get a lot different when you do a race like this. Everyone's telling you different things. But it was clear that my body was running out of something important, and it was affecting how I was pedaling. So when I pulled up, honestly, at that point, there wasn't a lot of planning. Mile 70 in, because I didn't think I was gonna be there. So this was all just like, I don't know what to do now. Let's just see what happened. But I knew my body was just completely running out of what seemed like salt. I was getting a little bit of cramping and the dizziness. And I've just had a lot of friends say salt tablets are key salt ski. And so in my mind, I. I'm like, that's probably what I need. Let me try that. And that's when I asked you guys, like, salt an element or something maybe? And you had some of those elements in the van. You ran out and gave, made a cup of that stuff, which has a ton of sodium. And it was like, I felt like. Like I was saying the Beck. I feel like that Gatorade commercial where they turn, like, a color when they drank it. I could just feel it, like, soaking in every pore of my body. Those little cramping things in the back of my hamstrings. Like, I could literally feel it, like, releasing the tension in them with the within minutes. And then still a little dizzy, but I started pedaling slowly. And 10 or 15 minutes later, that fog that it just kind of set in out of nowhere, slowly started to lift, and that dizziness feeling went away. In the back of my mind, I had Pipeline coming, which is, without a doubt the most mentally challenging part of that race. It's the steepest climb. It comes at, like, really late in the race where you're already worn out. It's hard when you're on fresh legs. It's nearly impossible at mile 80. And I knew all that was was about to come, and I'm like, I'm feeling the worst I've felt all day. I got the hardest thing coming. So I was. I was nervous about getting through Pipeline, but luckily, right as I got to the base of that, I was just starting to kind of come good from all that salt that I drink.

Let's go, Rick. You got this.

That was definitely the most chaotic aid station yet.

That was exciting.

I had to go out of film mode and into crew mode. Rick was supposed to just fly through, but apparently he's been cramping, and he needed some Electrolytes. So I had to. We had to go dig those out the van.

We just, like, rummaged through every drawer within, like 0.5 seconds to find the element.

We have like 10,000 element packs in this van. And I felt like I couldn't find it anywhere. I was like, where is it?

It's like everywhere. It's everywhere. Just open your eyes. It's still all over the floor.

Those are literally ripping things out of cabinets.

You can tell who organizes things around here.

And if we're lucky, we might pass them on the road out here.

Let's go, Rick.

Go, Rick. Go, Rick. Let's go.

Nothing to do now but wait three more hours to see if he can do the final two climbs fast enough to finish.

Our only job left to do is cheer him over that finish line like we've never cheered before.

Hopefully to have severe pizza waiting for him at the end.

You come off St. Kens, you get down to the railroad tracks, you ride up the dirt road, you're home free with the flat tires. Cuz now it's just you in the pavement. Yeah.

Yeah.

The rest of the way. You've got an hour to finish and you can push your bike that far if you needed to. Yeah. And that feeling that like, I'm actually.

Gonna finish starts, it starts sinking in now all of a sudden. The only math is there's an hour and I've got to go three miles. And I know that terrain is real easy, so it's like I can pop both tires and walk my bike to the finish line. And then you realize, like, the only thing I hadn't really prepared for mentally was crossing a finish line. I. That just wasn't on the cards. I showed up to show my kids not to be quitters at the start line. I never thought that eleven and a half hours later I was going to be crossing the finish line. So it starts to dawn on you like, this is. This is going to happen. And I would just like, keep pedaling, keep pedaling. And then start choking up with tears and try to hold him back in. Compose yourself. Keep pedaling. You know, it's like 20 more minutes to the finish line. And two or three times I just nearly broke down in tears because I wasn't sure how I was going to. To feel crossing that finish line. Seeing my family, seeing my friends, seeing all of you, feeling it inside myself that I had actually done it. I didn't want to, like, completely break down in front of everybody. So I was like, trying to process some of these emotions And I let a little bit out for sure on that last climb up the boulevard. I cried a couple times. And eventually you hit the pavement, you come up to the crest, and once you get to the little crest on 6th street, you look down, you can see everybody screaming and cheering. You can sit, you know, it's whatever. It's a corporate quarter mile or something. Almost all downhill right to the finish. And you see everyone down there. And I'm looking and it's like, I still have 35 minutes or something. It was almost intimidating inside.

Actually.

I gotta go down through that finish line now. Like, oh, my God. I don't know how this is gonna feel emotionally. I just gotta. Yeah, I thought I was gonna completely break down. I think having shed a few tears along the boulevard maybe kept me from being a sobbing mess at the finish.

To cross the finish line. Congratulations.

Here comes another one of our great Leadville locals. Rick New. Welcome home.

Keep moving, riders. Keep on moving.

Let's go.

Oh, my God. You guys have no idea how much.

I don't.

I can't believe this is real life.

I've never seen Ricky. His speech. He did it.

He did it. He did it.

Well, pressure's all for me to do it next week.

You know, to this day, I still. None of it makes sense, honestly. It's the energy that you get from your friends, from your community. That thing to look forward to in those stops, that energy they give you when you left those stops. I'll have it with me for forever. Like that. That feeling will never go away. And now, knowing you've got your big race this weekend, it's magical because I want you to be able to sit here and hold back tears and freaking. Have to do.

All right, next week.

Yes.

All right. What was your race day motto?

Burn the spreadsheets. Burn the spreadsheets.

My spreadsheets are looking pretty good, though, so I think we'll keep those. Yeah.

Yeah. Thanks, man. Oh, Glad I didn't cry. Trying not to.

To.

Thanks for letting me capture that.

Okay. I probably. Why is my butt all wet?

No.

So there's some bullet points on tips, and these last two are my favorite. It says, know what? Boost your runner up. Do they like hugs and kisses or.

Do they want to be touched at all?

What would you guess? You think 60? That's what I'm going to want? Yeah.

I don't think you like them. When you're. When you're broken, you think Dusty will give you hugs and kisses?

I'm thinking I'm going to order this narwhal onesie. I've heard, especially at night at the crew stations, it can be hard to find your crew or your runner. But if I'm wearing a bright blue narwhal onesie with a yellow horn sticking out, there's no way you'll miss it. Yeah, don't worry about his sorry bag. Hold on, hold on.