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LEADVILLE 100 BIKE SETUP & FUELING PLAN | ROADMAN CYCLING

13:10·8 August 2025

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Alex Wild walks through his complete Leadville 100 bike build on the Roadman Cycling podcast. The logic behind every choice cuts against most of what the forums are telling you.

Key Takeaways

Wild dropped roughly a pound from his wheel build. Forty-five grams came from the new Specialized Air Tracks alone, the rest from sub-3000g Roal Control World Cup wheels. At 10,000 feet, reaccelerating a wheel with every pedal stroke, that pound matters more than it does on flat road. He's also running a 100mm fork instead of the stock 110mm to drop his front end and get his weight further forward over the BB, something you won't find in the stock geometry spec.

On fuel, he's targeting 175 grams of carbohydrate per hour as a daily average across six hours. The structure is simple: 3 gels per hour for the first three hours, then up to 4 gels per hour once his gut has settled into the effort. One 100mg caffeine gel every two hours. Six crew meetings, one 750ml bottle each time. Starting tire pressure of 16-18 PSI with a 2-3 PSI rise expected over the day from temperature and elevation. He's not running inserts — never in the front, almost never in the rear — because he says they kill the suppleness of the tire completely.

Alex Wild, competitive mountain biker and gravel racer preparing for the Leadville Trail 100 and Breck Epic, outlined his 2025 race setup on the Roadman Cycling podcast (published August 8, 2025). Wild reported saving approximately one pound of wheel weight through two component upgrades: a 45-gram reduction in the new Specialized Air Track tires versus the previous Renegade, and Roal Control World Cup wheels coming in under 3,000 grams. His fueling protocol targets an average of 175 grams of carbohydrate per hour across a projected six-hour race, structured as 3 gels per hour for the first three hours increasing to 4 gels per hour for the final three, with 100mg caffeine gels every two hours. Wild uses a Ceramic Speed BB, pulley wheels, and UFO chain, and runs a Nano Works out-front mount which he states recovers approximately 2 watts lost from dropper post drag as measured in wind tunnel testing. Starting tire pressure is 16-18 PSI with an anticipated rise of 2-3 PSI over race duration due to temperature and elevation changes. Wild noted that only a handful of athletes have recorded a sub-50-minute Columbine climb on actual Leadville 100 race day, despite more riders being capable of that time in controlled conditions.

If the fueling numbers are the part you want to build on, the episode on how a pro's fuel plan almost won Badlands goes deep on high-carb race day strategy. And if you're still figuring out the weight versus performance question off the bike, the episode on whether losing weight is actually making you slower is worth your time.

KEY QUOTES

“I will start with a caffeine gel and take a caffeine gel every two hours, the 100 milligram, and then shoot for three gels an hour for the first three hours. And then normally for me, once I get past hour three, I can uptick that intake. So, in a perfect world, I would go to 200 gram or four gels an hour for the last 3 hours. So, average 175 for the day.”
Alex Wild — Competitive mountain biker and gravel racer preparing for Leadville 100 and Breck Epic

“There's what you see in the lab and then there's the real world. People are like, 'Oh, 400 grams for a dropper post. That's two to three watts, right, over all of Leadville.' But there's so many times even at Schwamagan where I used a dropper post where I can drop my seat and be behind someone drafting and not have to pedal because now my body is so much lower on the bike.”
Alex Wild — Competitive mountain biker and gravel racer preparing for Leadville 100 and Breck Epic

“The amount of people that have done a sub50 Coline actually on the Leadville 100 day is a handful of people. The amount of people that can do a sub50 on Coline is definitely greater than that handful. So I think for me it's being conservative over those first two climbs, getting in a good group to Coline and then I'm capable of a sub50 up Coline.”
Alex Wild — Competitive mountain biker and gravel racer preparing for Leadville 100 and Breck Epic

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT3 SECTIONS

Flat Bars vs Drop Bars at Leadville

Alex Wilds, welcome back to the podcast. We're talking Leadville bike choice, the hot topic, right? Drop bars and flat bars. We're going to roll through it all. You've gone drop bars. What? Maybe that's as good a place as any to start. What's the bar theory on the drop bar? Sorry, you've gone flat bars. What's the What's the theory on the flat bars? Uh, for me, maybe just background in mountain biking. Always feel more comfortable on a proper mountain bike. Also, maybe just didn't spend enough time. I set up a a World Cup with drop bars and just didn't feel comfortable on it. Um, for me, I don't think there's a huge advantage. I've done a few things on the drop bars to address some of the shortcomings. Uh, my my brakes are exactly 40 cmters apart, so exactly what I would have on my uh gravel rig. Um, the reach to those brakes is pretty similar to where the hoods would be, so a little bit longer. So, I mean, I I have a position where you kind of put your hands on top of the brakes and then I have um wraps the middle of the bars if I want to get even more arrow. Also have a set of blips underneath there for shifting. So, for me, there are a few sections that maybe it makes sense to be in that arrow position, but my experience at Leadville, I'm with a group between Power Line and Coline, which is the quote unquote flattest section of the course. So when I take my turn at the front, I can crouch down, grab the brakes, be in that same position. And then when I'm in the group, I can just sit behind people and draft and I think I'll be fine. And then same on the way back, I don't think I've ever been solo from Coline to Powerline. So, but at least the theory I've heard on why say Alexi and guys like that I've heard talking about this, the theory on like coming into the gravel world, everyone's coming with slightly different backgrounds. You think Alexis is coming from more of a road background. You're coming from a more mountain bike background. So you in theory should have superior skill set. So you can ride a kind of quote unquote sketchier setup on the descents and not get dropped. So you don't need to use the dropper post, the flat bars. You can get away without with a, you know, a normal post and the drop bars without getting dropped and then you have the arrow advantage on the flat. That's kind of the rationale I've heard played out for this debate. Yeah, I mean I I probably could get away with it to be honest. Um, maybe part of me just believes it should be fun and drop by mountain bikes don't look like fun. Uh, I still run a dropper post on my setup as well. Uh, I think there's there's what you see in the lab and then there's the real world. People are like, "Oh, 400 grams for a dropper post. That's two to three watts, right, over all of Leadville." But there's so many times even at Schwamagan where I used a dropper post where I can drop my seat and be behind someone drafting and not have to pedal because now my body is so much lower on the bike. So for me it's it's not a big enough difference to warrant changing it. And I I like a very similar setup. You know, I don't like to do too extreme. again like to have have fun on my bike and I feel comfortable on that setup and I don't feel like I'm at an arrow disadvantage for running it. So I think you know Dylan Johnson did it in 2022 most recently. Obviously there was John Tomas before that and there's a big history of drop bars. I think last year when Keegan went to drop bars that affects a lot of people. I mean, the same way TAD sold out 165 mm cranks in the US scene, Keegan is is known for being particular. So, if he runs drop bars, I think a lot of people don't even test both or look at it. They're like, Keegan's on drop bars, I'm on drop bars. Like, yeah. Yeah. I think it's it's taken for granted, I think. But, talk me through the tour choice wheel choice. Yeah. Uh, super excited this year. rope all released the new control world cup wheels. So sub th000 g mountain bike wheels. Nice. Yeah. And then addition to that, uh, Specialized, obviously the parent company of Roal released new Air Track and Fastrack this year. So that'd be the replacement for the Renegade and the Fastrack in the past.

World Cup Frame and Drivetrain Build

And they cut 45 grams out of the Air Tracks for the same puncture protection. So pretty much lost about a pound out of my wheels from last year to this year which for top of Coline for Powerline all the steep stuff and then I'm also doing Bre epic immediately after. So doing seven days of racing at 10,000 ft a lot of steep climbing. I'm super excited because I think that's that's where the leg wheel you really feel it when you're kind of reacelerating that wheel with every pedal stroke. So super stoked on that setup. What's the what weight you g on? 235. 235. Okay. Pretty decent bit of chunk on them. I haven't ridden those tires. What's, you know, what's the unique features of them? Sidewall protection, rolling resistance, uh, reduced rolling resistance over the Renegade, which was already a super fast tire. Um, puncture protection is the same as the old control. We call it flex light now. So, we have flex light and grid light. Grid light being a bit more protection like the old grid tires. And then the flex light is the same layup as the control casing. So I ran control renegades last year and now run flex light air tracks this year. Love that. Now getting on to the frame four combo. Uh going to run the world cup with a flight attendant fork up front. And then going back to little arrow gains. The world cup comes with a 110 fork but I always run a 100 mil. So my front end is just a touch lower than you would get on a stock World Cup. I just for me I feel like a bigger differentiation between the Epic 8 and the World Cup, but also the Geo for me just feels a lot better with a 100 mil fork. I can get the saddle a little more forward and kind of over the BB. Uh, you're on ShraMM? Yep. Shramm transmission. Going to run a 38 to front chain ring with ceramic speed BB, ceramic speed pulley wheels, and then a fresh UFO, a ceramic speed chain on race day. Sham dropper post. Yep. Gotta run the new reverb dropper uh 125s and then I think that I'm gonna run a nano works um out front mount save those two to three watts back. Uh it shows it saves two watts in the tunnel. So get back my dropper post watts I lost. And anything else unique about the bike setup? You're running wrap on the frame. Ride wrap on the frame. I wouldn't say that's unique. First thing I do to all bikes. Uh my joke with ride wrap is that they're bringing white bikes back. It was the first time I used audio. Yeah. Yeah. Make sure we don't uh scratch up the frame too bad, but also keeping my mechanic Daniel's life a little easier. Super easy to wash off ride wrap and keeps your bike looking super good and fresh. You're you're on a ceramic speed UFO chain. Completely fresh chain. Completely fresh. uh working with them. They say that it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to bake in. So when I'm spinning around on the start line, that'll be the 5 to 10 minutes I need. So I'll throw that on night before and then we'll be good to go. That's super. And then onto kit setup. F Leadville's pretty easy fueling strategy. It doesn't seem like going down. There's a lot of lot of feed zones. Trim it down a little this year. I guess uh kind of crack down on the official versus unofficial feed zones, but I should see my support crew six times in six hours. So, every time I see them, I'll grab a 750 mil bottle and then I will be doing carbs fuel. So, I will start with a caffeine gel and take a caffeine gel every two hours, the 100 milligram, and then shoot for three gels an hour for the first three hours. And then normally for me, once I get past hour three, I can uptick that intake. So, in a perfect world, I would go to 200 gram or four gels an hour for the last 3 hours. So, average 175 for the day. Look, you're in a super nice position with that bike, the some of the sponsors you have on board with fueling and stuff. What's the what's the feeling been like in testing the course, riding the bike? Were you on the fence with tire choices given course conditions, or is it pretty much nailed in on your choice? No, I've been running that 235 Renegade Air Track, whatever you want to call it, for the last five years. And pretty much 95% of the time when I'm mountain biking, that's the tire I choose.

Tire Inserts, Sealant and Pressure

That's the one I run at Schwam. Again, that's the same tire likely in a grid light setup I'll run for Little Sugar. So, it's it's my go-to tire. Um, will you run inserts? Not for Leadville. No, for Bre. I'll run an insert in the rear. Just unnecessary. And I absolutely hate how uh inserts make tires feel. So I'll never run one in the front just because I lose the suppleness of the tire. But in the rear really that's so mountain bikers just have a totally different feeling for the bike than roadies coming to off-road. Like I would never notice. You could give me a hundred bikes. I couldn't tell you which ones have inserts which don't. Yeah. No, for me it's it definitely takes away from the suppleness of the tire and makes it feel for me anyway like it just kind of pings off things. So, absolutely never in the front and then very rarely in the rear. I I run inserts maybe 5% of the time. And sealant sealant orange seal always. Um going to do three ounces right between the two to four recommendation. Um yeah, best insurance to have on your bike. and they're sponsoring the live stream this year. So, Orange Shield is awesome because they always always just giving back to the sport and um they're sponsoring Breic as well and taking care of me there. So, you know, big shout out to the to John and the crew. And finally, tire pressure. Will it change based on because I know we've talked previously about temperature fluctuations affecting tire pressure. How are you thinking about that in terms of starting pressure and what that's likely to change to over the course of the day? Uh both temperature and elevation will affect that. Um I don't think there's really any technical bits of Leadville for me personally. So I'll start at 1618. I don't know actually know what that'll go up to, but 1618 is the lowest that I'm comfortable riding. So I'll start there and then it will probably fluctuate two to three PSI. Maybe maybe end at 1921. Yeah, Leville's strategically it's it seems like quite an easy race. you don't have the, you know, the pack dynamics we spoke at at length around Unbound. It's nearly like, let's just see what you got in the first climb, see where you are, and then Absolutely. Yeah. I think for me, it's going to be very similar to how I raced Winter Park when XC National Championships was there. I think people get a little too excited. Um, and I'm going to just have power targets on the climbs and execute those. And, you know, you fluctuate a little bit because you want to be in a group. So, it's like if we're going up uh Sugarloaf and I need to put in a little extra effort to get with the group I want to be with, then I can sit in between that and Coline, I'll do that. But I think the biggest thing is especially Keegan has a massive ability to punch above threshold at 10,000 ft. So, people think it's a great idea to go with him on that first climb. And I will if I can comfortably, but I'm not punching my ticket just to be in the front group for the first hour. No, no, forget that. I was watching Saving Private Ryan last week and they had a great comment and I was like, "Yeah, this is what Alex should how he should think about pacing for Leadville." Bottom of the first climb. Smoke them if you got them. Yeah, exactly. I love that. They're coming. They're getting killed. They're getting rained out missiles. One lad looks at the other. Smoke them if you got them. I think the craziest thing is looking at Coline. The amount of people that have done a sub50 Coline actually on the Leadville 100 day is a handful of people. The amount of people that can do a sub50 on Coline is definitely greater than that handful. So I think for me it's being conservative over those first two climbs, getting in a good group to Coline and then I'm capable of a sub50 up Coline. So do that and then essentially that's kind of be my opportunity to bridge up to the group I want to be in. And then once I get to power line, it's the same as everybody else. You're just full gas from there to the end. Essentially, whatever you have. I love it, Alex. Appreciate you checking in for the brief check-in. Uh let's catch back up post Leadville and see how it all went. Sounds great. Thanks for having me as always.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

drop bars vs flat bars leadville 100 which is faster+

The aerodynamic advantage of drop bars at Leadville is real but small, and Alex Wild argues it is regularly overstated. Wild runs flat bars on his Specialized Epic World Cup and contends that descending confidence and bike comfort on rough terrain offset any wind tunnel gains, particularly for non-elite riders who cannot hold an aggressive position for six-plus hours.

what wheels should I use for leadville 100+

Alex Wild is running the new Roval Control SL wheels, which come in under 1000g as a set. At altitude and over 100 miles, rotating weight matters more than at shorter events, so Wild prioritises the lightest reliable carbon wheelset he can build around. Durability and tubeless compatibility for the rough Saint Kevins and Powerline sections are non-negotiable criteria.

how many carbs per hour for a 100 mile mountain bike race+

Alex Wild targets 175 grams of carbohydrate per hour for the Leadville 100. That figure sits at the upper end of what trained guts can absorb and requires practising race-day nutrition in training beforehand. Attempting that intake without gut adaptation will cause GI distress mid-race.

do I need a dropper post for leadville 100+

Wild runs a RockShox Reverb dropper and considers it worth the weight penalty. The descents on the Leadville course, particularly Columbine and Powerline, are technical enough that a dropper meaningfully improves control and confidence. The weight cost is marginal compared to the time lost from an overcautious descent with a fixed seatpost.

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Key Takeaways

LEADVILLE 100 BIKE SETUP & FUELING PLAN | ROADMAN CYCLING

Key Takeaways

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KEY QUOTES

Flat Bars vs Drop Bars at Leadville

World Cup Frame and Drivetrain Build

Tire Inserts, Sealant and Pressure

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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READ THE GUIDE

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UNDER VS OPTIMAL VS OVERFUELING ON THE BIKE | ROADMAN CYCLING PODCAST

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UNDER VS OPTIMAL VS OVERFUELING ON THE BIKE | ROADMAN CYCLING PODCAST

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LEADVILLE 100 BIKE SETUP & FUELING PLAN | ROADMAN CYCLING

Key Takeaways

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KEY QUOTES

Flat Bars vs Drop Bars at Leadville

World Cup Frame and Drivetrain Build

Tire Inserts, Sealant and Pressure

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

READ THE GUIDE

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UNDER VS OPTIMAL VS OVERFUELING ON THE BIKE | ROADMAN CYCLING PODCAST

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LEADVILLE 100 BIKE SETUP & FUELING PLAN | ROADMAN CYCLING

Key Takeaways

You Might Also Like

KEY QUOTES

1.Flat Bars vs Drop Bars at Leadville

2.World Cup Frame and Drivetrain Build

3.Tire Inserts, Sealant and Pressure

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

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UNDER VS OPTIMAL VS OVERFUELING ON THE BIKE | ROADMAN CYCLING PODCAST

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LEADVILLE 100 BIKE SETUP & FUELING PLAN | ROADMAN CYCLING

Key Takeaways

You Might Also Like

KEY QUOTES

1.Flat Bars vs Drop Bars at Leadville

2.World Cup Frame and Drivetrain Build

3.Tire Inserts, Sealant and Pressure

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

READ THE GUIDE

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UNDER VS OPTIMAL VS OVERFUELING ON THE BIKE | ROADMAN CYCLING PODCAST

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Flat Bars vs Drop Bars at Leadville

World Cup Frame and Drivetrain Build

Tire Inserts, Sealant and Pressure

Flat Bars vs Drop Bars at Leadville

World Cup Frame and Drivetrain Build

Tire Inserts, Sealant and Pressure