Jeff Schleppy Leadville MTB100 Race Pacing Plan

QT2 Systems • 2026 Leadville MTB100

Jeff Schleppy

Your strength is experience. Your risk is using that experience to justify riding harder than your current bike-specific durability can support. Use your course knowledge to be efficient, not aggressive.

Threshold HR

160 bpm

St. Kevyn's Recon

220 W / 135 bpm

Expected Race Duration

8:00–8:45

Race Strategy at a Glance

You know this course very well and have raced Leadville several times. That is an advantage. But your current bike-specific training load is modest, so this race needs to be paced around durability preservation more than around what you remember being able to do in stronger cycling shape.

Use your experience to execute the course—not to justify early aggression.

Your Best Current Pacing Anchor

We do not have a trustworthy Critical Power setting, so we are not going to invent one. Your recent St. Kevyn's recon is more useful: approximately 220 W at 135 bpm and RPE 6.5 while thinking about whether you could sustain race effort for another 90 miles.

Recon Power220 W

Recon HR135 bpm

Recon RPE6.5 / 10

Threshold HR160 bpm

Interpretation: 220 W is a useful upper reference for an opening climb when fresh. It is not an all-day target.

Your Control System

Because your current bike durability is the question mark, your race should be governed by heart rate, RPE, and the St. Kevyn's field anchor together.

Early race: HR 130–138, RPE 5–6. Mid-race climbing: HR 138–146, RPE 6–7. 150+: use selectively. 160: not a race target.

Section-by-Section Pacing Plan

1. Start → Carter Summit / St. Kevyn's

Approx. 0–10.6 mi

Power

200–210 W

Heart Rate

130–136 bpm

RPE

5–6 / 10

Your job: Be deliberately underwhelming.

You already know 220 W / 135 bpm feels reasonable here. Race day is not the time to prove it again.
Cap the climb below recon effort and let other riders go.
If you arrive at Carter thinking “that was too easy,” you did it correctly.

Fuel cue: Start fueling immediately. Do not wait for the race to feel hard.

2. Carter Summit → Outward Bound

Approx. 10.6–22.3 mi

Power

Terrain dictated

Heart Rate

120s–low 130s

Priority

Use skill for free speed

Use course knowledge to save energy and time.
Stay smooth, carry momentum, and avoid unnecessary braking and re-acceleration.
Do not chase average power.

Fuel cue: Eat and drink while the terrain allows it.

3. Outward Bound → Twin Lakes

Approx. 22.3–38.2 mi

Steady Power

170–195 W

Short Rises

195–210 W

Heart Rate

128–138 bpm

Use groups and terrain knowledge to move quickly without spending heavily.
If a wheel requires repeated hard accelerations, let it go.
The best version of this section feels smooth, not heroic.

Fuel cue: Keep the schedule. Your late-race legs depend on what you take in now.

4. Twin Lakes → Base of Columbine

Approx. 38.2–44 mi

Power

175–195 W

Heart Rate

132–140 bpm

RPE

~6 / 10

Prepare to climb; do not pre-race the climb.
Fuel before the terrain becomes more demanding.
Begin Columbine with the legs still feeling mechanically good.

Fuel cue: Take calories before Columbine becomes the only thing you are thinking about.

5. Columbine

Primary controlled expenditure

Here, HR and RPE become more important than chasing a specific wattage.

Lower Columbine

Power

190–205 W

Heart Rate

138–144 bpm

RPE

6–6.5 / 10

Settle in. Do not allow race position to dictate effort.

Middle Columbine

Power

185–200 W

Heart Rate

142–147 bpm

RPE

6.5–7 / 10

If power begins to cost noticeably more HR or leg tension, let power fall.

Upper Columbine / Goat Path

Power

Whatever HR/RPE allows

Heart Rate

145–150 bpm

Warning Zone

152+ bpm

Do not turn upper Columbine into a threshold effort just because you know exactly how much farther it is.

150 bpm is already meaningful work.
152–155 means you are writing a larger check; use only if there is a clear reason.
160 is not where you should be riding a long climb in this race.
Walk where walking is efficient.

Fuel cue: Continue taking calories whenever terrain allows.

6. Columbine → Twin Lakes Inbound

Approx. 50–61.2 mi

Power

Terrain dictated

Heart Rate

Let it fall into 130s

Priority

Recover without losing momentum

Use your course knowledge for free speed.
Do not turn the descent into repeated sprinting out of corners.
Reset before Twin Lakes inbound.

Fuel cue: Resume fueling as soon as it is safe.

7. Twin Lakes Inbound → Outward Bound

Approx. 61.2–77.1 mi

Steady Power

170–195 W

Heart Rate

132–142 bpm

RPE

6–7 / 10

This is where your bike-specific durability starts getting tested.

If your HR is fine but your legs are starting to feel loaded, reduce power.
Do not mistake ultra-running endurance for unlimited cycling durability.
If you feel great, preserve it. The decisive section is still ahead.

Fuel cue: Keep fueling on schedule even if you still feel strong.

8. Outward Bound → Carter Summit

Approx. 77.1–88.8 mi

Climbing Power

180–200 W initially

Heart Rate

138–147 bpm

If Strong Late

200–210 W / ~150 bpm

This is the section you protected all day for.

If your legs are still functioning well, begin spending gradually.
If muscular fatigue is prominent, do not force watts simply because HR is low.
Do not turn one good five-minute patch into a 20-minute mistake.

Fuel cue: Keep calories coming. Do not stop eating because the finish feels closer.

9. Carter Summit → Finish

Final section

Power

185–205 W, then build

Heart Rate

142–150+, as available

Priority

Progressively race

Do not unload everything immediately after Carter.
Increase effort as remaining race duration decreases.
When the race is truly short, the governor comes off.

Fuel cue: Keep eating and drinking until the finish is actually close.

Late-Race Decision Tree

You feel greatStay disciplined through Twin Lakes inbound. Begin increasing effort after Outward Bound, not before.

You feel normalHold the plan. Smooth power, controlled HR, consistent fueling, no unnecessary surges.

Your legs are fadingReduce power before HR forces you to. Use terrain efficiently, keep fueling, and prioritize uninterrupted forward movement.

Your Experience Rule

You know what Leadville feels like. You do not need to prove that knowledge in the first half.

Use your previous finishes for line choice, descending, terrain anticipation, and knowing where to stay calm. Do not pace according to what you remember being able to do in better bike-specific shape.

Quick-Reference Race Card

Section	Power	HR	RPE / Cue
Start → Carter	200–210 W	130–136	5–6. Be deliberately easy.
Carter → Outward Bound	Terrain dictated	120s–low 130s	Use skill for free speed.
Outward Bound → Twin Lakes	170–195 W; rises 195–210	128–138	Smooth, economical.
Twin Lakes → Columbine	175–195 W	132–140	Prepare, don't pre-race.
Lower Columbine	190–205 W	138–144	RPE 6–6.5.
Middle Columbine	185–200 W	142–147	RPE 6.5–7.
Upper Columbine	HR/RPE governed	145–150	152+ = warning.
Columbine → Twin Lakes	Terrain dictated	Let HR fall	Recover without losing speed.
Twin Lakes → Outward Bound	170–195 W	132–142	Durability test begins.
Outward Bound → Carter	180–200 W; 200–210 if strong	138–147	Begin spending gradually.
Carter → Finish	185–205 W, then build	142–150+	Progressively race.

All-day reminder: experience saves energy. Excitement spends it.