Since you're in CA already you should do the Tahoe Trail 100K in July in Lake Tahoe as a long training day. There is also the High Cascades 100 the weekend after Tahoe if you want to drive a little longer. Learn to like climbing, a lot.

ride your mountain bike. a LOT. barn burner is not technical, but it'll be 5-6+ hours on a bike most people aren't used to riding 5-6+ hours.

am also considering this myself. my training would revolve primarily around long - but not technical - mountain bike rides. so i'd ride to a trail (on the road), do the trail, and then ride back (on the road). i live at ~2500ft so the altitude in flag would present a new variable as well.

Well I'm living at sea level so I guess you at least have me by a bit on that. Right now in thinking 3 rides during week on my road bike, I can ride from my house or on my trainer to make it happen with work and everything else. And have one long mountain bike ride on the weekends?

whats up, this is my first post here but thought I'd chime in on this race. I used to do this on a rigid single speed and was only training at about 1k elevation and never had any issues but that kind of depends on the person i suppose. Biggest items for me were the jarring downhill section and the dust... and well, trying to save enough energy to party afterwards. You'll love the race.

I did it in 2016 and had a house in Flagstaff for a long time about five miles from the BB course, so I've ridden that area a lot. Even with that, it was very, very hard for me. I started training in May and did about 150 miles per week or riding, including as many hills as possible, the BB loop itself a few times, mountain climbs in Flagstaff etc. Long road rides, long Mtb rides, you name it. Still.. it killed me. Harder that Ironman. I'll admit I'm not the best cyclist, but the last 30 miles or so were pretty brutal for me. I generally rode once during the week on the road (hilly), trainer 3~4 times during the week, then a good weekend long ride.

However, it was probably the best event I've done, or surely ranks in the top three of all time on my list. Great course, it's hilly, but it's deceiving.. lots of steady grades, a few really short and steep climbs that are fun (in a difficult way). Lots of people on the course at all times and a great atmosphere. Very, very fun course. There are a few technical downhill parts that definitely require concentration. A full day on a hard tail 29er was pretty brutal.

I think in total it was around 9,000ft of elevation gain over the 100 miles. The 7500ft local elevation wasn't too bad.. riding in Flagstaff is much easier than running, so I wouldn't stress that too much. What is interesting is how the weather changes. Flagstaff in the fall can be 80 and sunny, 35 and raining, 50 and overcast or all three within the course of a race that long.. so be prepared with gear for every occasion. Storms roll in there very quickly, and are very nasty. If the weather in the days leading up is fine, the course will be hard packed, pretty dusty. If it rains though, it can get very muddy in some parts.

Anyways, I could ramble on forever. I'm signed up for 2019 for the 100 mile race. Definitely an epic event that should be on everyone's list. There are a lot of Leadville spots up for grabs. The top few in each AG get entry to Leadville, plus they have a random lottery at the very end for anyone who finished under 11hrs... they throw your names in a hat, then pull them out one by one and there were like 25 spots given away. The odds are pretty good of getting one.

I just remember being around mile 80.. no one in front or behind me, I was pretty loopy and could hardly see straight. It had been a long day. I stopped for a second and pulled out the Coke bottle I was holding onto as a last resort. I'm standing there waiting for the sugar to kick in and trying not to get too worked up about the remaining 20 miles, and suddenly this giant WOLF walks out onto the trail about 100 yards ahead of me. I've been in Arizona for 24 years and seen plenty of coyotes, but never a wolf. I didn't know if I was just delirious from the day, or if this thing was for real. It was massive. We make eye contact and I debate turning around and going back.. then I consider raising my bike over my head to try and scare it off. Eventually it walks back into the bushes while I nervously ride by as fast as I can, hoping it wouldn't jump out at me. It was an epic day. Beer and BBQ at the finish. Good times.

Great info and insight. Thanks for posting!

I did it as part of a 4 person relay a few years ago, and it can be a tough course especially solo. It's a lot of forest service access road, so for the most part fairly smooth and open. There were a few descents that were hairy for me, as there were a lot of rocks, but keep in mind I was/am a fairly inexperienced MTB rider. I wasn't totally shelled, but it was a pretty grueling track.

Camelback worked well for me, I saw quite a few water bottles that had popped out on descents. Definitely have spare tubes/repair kit along, IIRC lights were required before/after certain times.

John

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I forgot about that part. I was one of the "slower" finishers, so going into the final loop I had to put a head light on.. although it was never dark outside. Weird.