Alpine Odyssey set to roll this Sunday

It’s not too late to join the “fun”

Attention local endurance bike riders: It’s not too late to get in on the Alpine Odyssey on Sunday, July 31, the third of three stops as part of the Leadville Qualifying Series (LQS).
Just wake up, scoop out a heaping serving of chamois butter, slap it on, and start riding at 6:30 a.m.
Place well and you could be rewarded with an entry spot into the Leadville 100, another wonderfully long bike race in the Colorado high country.
How hard can it be?
Most of the course is on dirt road and there’s not one section of technical single track climbing or descending the entire time.
Oh, right, there’s the Slate d’Huez, a grueling stretch of switchbacks maxing out at an incline of 16 percent and topping out in Paradise Divide at an elevation of 11,287 feet.
Well, once you’re done with that, you’re pretty much good to go as you roll out the Gothic corridor toward Crested Butte Mountain.
Then again, there is the three-mile climb out of the town of Gothic and the single track climb up Meander and the descent down to the base area via Painter Boy, Columbine and Warming House Hill.
Now that you’re more than halfway done, it’s time to head back up into the hills.
All you have to do is climb back up Washington Gulch Road, including the Elkton wall, returning to an elevation of 11,287 feet before riding around the backside of Mt. Baldy again and then on down the Gothic corridor.
Then it’s just a walk to the finish. Well, there is the climb back up Meander and ride back down Painter Boy, Columbine and Warming House to the finish line at the base area.
Again, how hard can it be?
In the end, competitors will climb more than 8,000 feet total on the 60-mile course. Six-time Leadville 100 winner and LQS technical director Dave Wiens puts it this way.
“It’s going to be a tough course,” says Wiens. “You’re either prepared for those climbs or you’re not. And those climbs on the mountain can kill your spirit. At the end of the day, it’s still 60 miles of off road riding. It’s going to be a great test.”
Race organizers will have three neutral aid stations set up on the course, including one at the top of Paradise Divide. Competitors can set up their own support teams as well on-course, but organizers insist that car traffic be kept to a minimum.
“It’s a bike-in situation,” says race director Dave Ochs. “The main thing is to support a safe course and not have cars out there. For the aid stations, we’re planning on making them super sweet… It won’t just be your GU packets, we’ll have other snacks and goodies, and Acli-Mate will be doing aid stations as well, so it’s cool to have that local connection.”
According to Ochs, the course has improved over the past week.
“It’s in sick shape,” says Ochs.
After plodding through as many as six snow fields on his initial ride a week ago, Ochs says the only snow that remains on the course now is the “Gothic plug,” near the top of Schofield Pass.
Ochs pre-ran the course this past weekend in six hours, explaining, “I was moving, but I wasn’t racing.”
Wiens has been at the other two LQS races and has a rough estimate on when the top riders should finish the Odyssey.
“Given the mileage, I’d have to say the winning time will be around four hours,” says Wiens. “But I could be way off.”
Speaking of top riders, some of the premier endurance mountain bike racers in the nation will be saddling up for the Alpine Odyssey.
On the women’s side of things there will be 2010 singletrack.com mountain biker of the year and two-time Leadville 100 champion Rebecca Rusch. Giant Factory Team rider Kelli Emmett will line up on Sunday as will Gunnison’s own Jennifer Smith of Team Alpine Orthopaedics. Smith is a pre-race favorite to win.
The men’s race has a gaggle of local iron lungs slated to line up on Sunday, gunning for a spot in the prestigious Leadville 100.
As of press time, the Alpine Odyssey has 275 riders signed up and they’re expecting to top out around 350. Online registration can be done at leadvillequalifiers.com and closes midnight, July 29. Riders can also register at the Crested Butte Mountain Resort ticket office on Saturday, July 29 from noon to 4 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. There is no day-of registration.
The event is one of three qualifiers for the Leadville event. The other two are in the books already so the Alpine Odyssey is the last chance to get in. One hundred riders from the Alpine Odyssey will qualify for the Leadville 100. Fifty spots go to the top finishers in age groups across the board and 50 more spots will be handed out through a lottery of all participants.
“The cool thing about this course is where it goes,” adds Wiens. “While people are suffering they’re going to be looking around and their minds will be blown.”