The New Leadville-Mobile Gets a Heart Transplant
Those of you that know me, know that I used to drive a green 1996 Ford Aerostar. I bought it to use for camping and training while preparing for the Leadville 100. It worked great for that and acted as the crew vehicle during my 2011 finish. Well, my brother Todd's car broke down and he needed a new mode of transportation so I passed the Green Beast on to him (he's already gone camping in it a few times so it's not missing the mountains). In exchange, my dad gave me his 1994 Toyota Previa van. This would be my new Leadville-mobile as I prepare for the 2012 race. Todd and I went down to our parents' house in Rio Rancho New Mexico to pick up the Toyota. We picked up the van and headed home to Colorado. Everything was going great until about 20 miles north of Rio Rancho when the engine blew!
This wouldn't do, I obviously needed a car. We weighed all the different options and finally came to the conclusion that the best choice was to put a new engine in the Previa. We had it shipped to my house in Colorado, I ordered the engine, and Todd came down for the weekend to help me perform the swap. In total, the entire engine swap took about 30 hours. The Previa is back on the road and doing great. It has many nights in the mountains around Leadville ahead of it.
You Think You’re a Badass on The Incline? Watch This.
"Ed Baxter, 58, of Colorado Springs, completed 13 rounds trips on the Manitou Incline on Sunday in 13 hours, 15 minutes. Baxter climbed a total of 26,143 feet and traveled 26.52 miles, a little longer than a marathon. He stopped near the top on his ninth trip up to take a 45 minute nap.
The Manitou Incline is an abandoned railway bed consisting of railroad ties that form a rugged staircase rising about 1.1 miles and 2,011 feet. The Incline begins near the Cog Railway station in Manitou Springs.
Though there are no official records for the number of climbs in a day, it is a good bet that that Baxter has the record. It's difficult for seasoned runners to complete one trip up the Incline in a day.
A carpenter and a regular user of the Incline, he was the only entry in the first "Inclinathon," a suffer-fest cooked up by ultra runner Brandon Stapanowich of Colorado Springs."
Link: http://youtu.be/lT-4wLj1h8s
Leadville, I’m Watching You
I'm not sure I never came across this before, but I just stumbled upon a live webcam of downtown Leadville, CO. I was searching for webcams in the area to see what the snow levels look like and came across it. Now you can keep tabs on your favorite mountain town as well:
The embedded image below is live. Click HERE for the hosting site (you can refresh at will)
My ‘secret’ Fueling Weapon

When preparing for Leadville last year, I brought every kind of food I could think of--various flavors of gels, sandwiches, potatoes, chips, and on and on and on. I know that my stomach can only handle four or five gels before it starts getting angry so I'd need another fuel source to complete the 100 miles. Mid-race I discovered that the only thing I could eat endless amounts of, and not upset my stomach, was something I never even intended to eat during the race in the first place--applesauce.
I brought a huge amount of individual applesauce cups to snack on during the week before the race when I was camping in the woods around Leadville acclimating to the altitude, mentally preparing for the race, and exploring the area. I never intended on eating it during the race--I had so much other food for that. But, at one of the aid stations during the race (I can't remember which one) my wife ran down the list of available foods asking me what sounded appetizing. It went something like this:
Her: "How about some potatoes?"
Me: "No"
Her: "Chips?"
Me: "No"
Her: "Gel?"
Me: "No"
Her: "A sandwich?"
Me: "No"
Her: "Some cantaloupe?"
Me: "No"
Her: "jesus...Applesause?"
Me: "...hmmmm I'll try it"
And, it worked. It was the right amount of sweetness without being overbearing and the perfect consistency. I ate two cups and went on my way. I think I ate at least one cup at almost every aid station until the end of the race.
After the race I started wondering how I could make applesauce portable so I could take it with me on long runs. I came up with all sorts of random ideas but none of them really worked well. Then, standing in the checkout line at Old Navy of all places, I saw it. Applesauce in a pouch!!! What?!?! How did I not know about this?! I bought a box of pouches at Costco (around $8 for 16 pouches) and started taking them with me on longer runs. So far it's worked out great. I still carry gels but they're much easier to stomach with an applesauce break in-between. I know that some people's stomachs don't react well to fructose when they're running; but, for some reason, mine has no problem (despite the fact that it reacts poorly to nearly everything else).
The applesauce pouches are only 60 calories vs. appx. 90 calories per gel and the applesauce doesn't have any electrolytes so I combine them with electrolyte capsules. But, they've been a welcome addition to my fueling regime. The pouches are bulkier than gels--I can only fit one in the pocket of my handheld water bottle where I can typically fit 2-4 gels--so I'm still conjuring up ideas on how to make it more portable....
If you're looking for something to break the monotony of gels during a run, try some sauce.













