On the ground: Leadville
What it’s like covering the Leadville 100
Keegan Swenson crossed the finish line on sixth street and was immediately surrounded by photographers and his support crew. After a few minutes, he was shuffled into the athlete recovery tent, gazed on by the watchful eye of photo and video cameras. After sitting there in a post-race daze for about 10 minutes, race officials moved him to the mixed zone, where he gave an interview to the PA announcer and answered questions from journalists like me.
Journalists covering any subject use a mix of official (PR people, press conferences) and less official (texting the athlete or finding them in the pits) to conduct interviews and reportage. North American mountain bike and gravel races—with Unbound attracting the most amount of media coverage—are decidedly laid back affairs. It’s relatively easy to gain access to the riders, especially compared to road cycling or other more professionalized sports.
I was one of two written journalists who attended Leadville (to my knowledge). This is nice as there is less competition—though more competition could lead to more stories and better coverage. It is interesting though that the majority of credentialed media at events like Leadville are photographers or videographers most often working for a specific athlete or brand. There are also the official race cameras, operated by a production studio on behalf of the organizer for their highlights and end of season docuseries.
Read on to find out how I covered the race; the majority of my articles can be found here. Feel free to email me any questions and I’d be happy to respond or write a post going into more details.
Thursday, August 8
The day began with picking up a camera from the editor of Escape Collective. I’m not a great photographer, but I managed to get some usable bike photos, which are always popular with readers.
After a stop at the grocery store, I loaded up my Subaru and drove the 4.5ish hours from Durango to Leadville. In drive entertainment included Today, Explained, The Adventure Stache, and Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak album.
I found a campsite a mile or two up a Forest Service road, just 15 minutes from town and a quarter mile from the course. With 2,000 athletes in town for the race, camping is the way to go to avoid inflated hotel prices that sell out weeks before the event. I set up camp—my inspiration for this article title. I reported on the ground AND slept on the ground. Get it?
I then headed over the expo to see what athletes I could find. I ended up taking bike photos of Michaela Thompson, Jack Odron, and Paige Onweller’s bikes. I also visited brands and friends, including CarbsFuel’s Gabe Multer and Velo journalist Betsy Welch.
Later in the day I made house calls to shoot Dylan Johnson’s bike and Sarah Sturm’s bike. After shooting Sturm’s bike and chatting with friends staying at their rental house, it was already 8 p.m. I opted for Taco Bell rather than trying to eat and write in the dark back at camp.
Friday, August 9
Sleeping at altitude is always a challenge. A windy night and a campsite at 9,600 feet led to not the best night’s sleep. After breakfast at camp, I went to a coffee shop for fast wifi, more coffee, and to write some articles.
It was then off the expo where I bumped into Cole Paton. After a brief chat, he scurried back to the Orange Seal tent where he poured pitchers of espresso and milk into fellow racers’ mouths. A frat party trick for the bike racer type.
Then I caught the Protect Our Winters panel with Sarah Sturm, Payson McElveen, ultrarunner Drew Peterson, and a member of Senator John Hickenlooper’s staff. Stay tuned for more on this topic from me.
A rainy afternoon combined with the past two days of work caught up to me, so I hid from the rain at the library and kept it chill in anticipation of a 5 am wake up for race day.
Saturday, August 10
The race started at 6:15 a.m. The racers definitely have it worse than the journalists, most of them waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. to eat their pre-race meals with time for the food to settle in their stomachs before the racing kicks off.
As I walked to the press room for coffee at about 5:45, I spotted Keegan Swenson warming up on rollers in the dark. He was set up on the edge of a parking lot just beside the start, but riders like Todd Wells and Brendan Johnston warmed up near the sidewalk among fans and spectators.
Leadville starts to the sound of a shotgun blast, which is way louder than it looks on camera.
I drove off to watch the leaders come down the steep, rutted Powerline descent about 80 minutes into the race. John Gaston was leading at this point, and Keegan Swenson was in third wheel with a flat tire. Lachlan Morton also rode the downhill with a flat. The women’s field was led by eventual winner Melisa Rollins, trailed shortly behind by podium finishers Sofia Gomez Villafane and Michaela Thompson.
I drove out to Twin Lakes to witness one of the main feed zones on course. I missed the men’s leaders coming through on their outbound trip, but watched the women’s field roll through. After the riders climbed Columbine, I saw Keegan Swenson roll back through with about a 10 minute gap at that point.
I then drove back to town to catch the finish. After interviewing the top 3 in each field and a few other riders, I had written four stories by about 4:30 p.m.
Torrential rain as I left town the next day reminded me that the weather on race day was damn near perfect. With that, many riders headed over to Breckenridge for the Breck Epic or Steamboat Springs for SBT GRVL, and my trip ended back in Durango.
Stay tuned for more On the Ground stories about my life as a journalist.