Wow, cool ride James. I want to join you next year on a 26er guni. Of course I don’t actually have a 26er guni, nor do I live nearby, but anything is possible!
Ro
Like they said…You are my hero.
Maybe I’ll join next year.
Leadville has a great winter MTB series as well.
Good Job!
So close, yet so far away. NICE EFFORT though James. I applied in 05’ or 06’ can’t remember exactly, and chickened out at the last minute. I knew I could not make the time limit. The Rocky Mountains can be brutal, and the organizers have this event figured out pretty well. Good luck next year. 25 MUni miles even with a GUni in that terrain is a nice effort.
Thanks Kris.
Yeah, at the start a lot of people thought the unicycle was just “my toy” and that I wasn’t actually using it in the race, but in the first 10 miles of the race, I had passed quite a few bikes, and the looks on their faces were amazing. I missed the halfway cutoff, but definitely earned a lot of respect from the bicyclists there when they saw me descending Ball Mountain and not walking down the technical sections like most of the bikes.
Yeah, you should definitely come out! Spend a few days in Leadville to get used to the altitude…I was doing high altitude training, but I still felt the elevation at 12,000 feet. They have a new race as of this year, 24 hours of leadville, it would be cool to get a uni team together for that next year (probably too early to get a team together this year, and too early for me to set up the ideal uni for it).
Thanks, you should join Mark, Mike, and I when we ride the monarch crest trail in a few weeks. It would be cool to meet you.
Yeah, I knew I was going to be cutting it close to the cut off time based on my training runs, but I didn’t account for the slow start and delay and I didn’t see the hardest section of the ride (ball mountain). The geared hub didn’t help that much in this race, but there are a few sections that benefit from it greatly. Hopefully I will have figured out the ideal set up for next year.
Wow, what a race!! Sounds very tough. I have a secret weapon for you for next year: show up 1-2 days (at least 2 nights) early. Sleep as high as possible those two nights. It will make a huge difference. Do NOT wake up on the day of a race like this and drive 5000’ up to the start. Your body needs acclimatization.
Good work though - keep on spreading the word of the uni!
—Nathan
That was originally the plan, but unfortunately I am taking off a week of work next week for my sister’s wedding, and I had no more paid time off days to use. I can’t imagine going directly from sea level to leadville and racing, at least I live in the mile high city, but even that is far too low. I also wanted to at least drive up the night before, but all the motels and campgrounds were booked far in advance.
Next year I will try to save a vacation day or two to get up there earlier.
Up here we call Denver “the Mile LOWER City”
It’s been a weird busy summer for me so I haven’t muni’d much at all. I really hope to join you guys on the Monarch Crest, one of my 2do for sure. Please keep me informed of the dates.
I may have to disagree with Nathan on the acclimatization theory though. The third day at altitude is usually the worst day.
NFL teams used to do that when visiting the Broncos, now they sometimes show up day of the game. You get a little “window” for 12-18 hours where you don’t notice altitude effects so much.
Oxygen will always be thin at 13,000’, not much you can do.
Theoretically you are supposed to only go 1000’ per day. So take six days to drive to Leadville from Denver and you’ll be fine.
I have the rule of “three” when it comes to altitude.
It gets better after 3 days,
then after 3 weeks your body is mostly acclimatized.
But it’s not till after 3 years that you are truely acclimatized and really don’t even notice.
Hope to ride with you soon!
EDIT: …and you are welcome to come to 9600’ and stay the night anytime!
I actually speak from some experience, having climbed above 14000’ more than 50 times, above 18000 several times and up to 21300. I have felt 16000 feel like sea level after proper acclimatization. Many times, I have been completely comfortable and acclimatized to 12000 although it does take nearly a week.
Everyone’s body is different in how it responds to high altitude, but for mine anyway, 2 nights up high does the trick, especially if you climb up as high as possible in the intervening day. You’re right that you will feel even better with more time, and I like that rule of 3s. I had spent 3 weeks at altitude when we did tests at 16000 and felt completely normal.
Especially for this race, going up over 12000, you don’t want to have your body’s base be 5000’. People actually die when going from sea-level to that altitude. Racing is very different from just riding and just riding is very different from being sedentary. I once drove up Pikes Peak (over 14000) and felt perfect walking around. Try some uphill riding like in this race and it’s a way different story.
Yeah, I thought it was odd that I didn’t feel the altitude at 14,000 feet at Mt. Evans, but 12,000 at Leadville felt MUCH worse. It must have just been the level of exertion, riding on the road is always easier than pumping up a rough trail.
The worst I ever had altitude sickness was when I did a bicycle tour in Colorado last summer with some friends, and I flew into Denver (from sea level in DC) late at night and the next morning we rode up Berthoud Pass (over 11,000 feet up). I was literally lying on the side of the highway to catch my breath and the back of my head was pounding nonstop. After that day, I had an awful headache for the next afternoon, but after that I had no more issues the entire tour even though we went up higher passes.
Sorry for the slight threadjack, but it is sort of relevant to the discussion:
You people who’ve been up high mountains, how high do you reckon you need to go before the thinner air becomes noticeable? 10,000 ft? More? Is it a gradual thing, or do you feel completely normal up to a point where our bodies just can’t cope and you suddenly feel bad?
The highest I’ve ever been is about 8,000 ft over one of the passes in the French Alps on a tandem, and I don’t think I felt anything abnormal - although it’s hard to tell exactly because we were quite tired anyway after riding up the pass. I’ve not been higher than that (apart from flying!)
Just interested.
Rob (lives at 1500ft, rarely goes much higher)
Here is a table that gives air pressure as a function of altitude:
Note that at sea level, the pressure is 14.7 PSI. At 10,000 feet it is only 10.1 PSI, so the available oxygen is only about 2/3 of that at sea level. 
Scott
Interesting - thanks. So it’s a linear change with height, which suggests I should have been able to notice some effect at 8,000 ft. As I said, hard to say because of the climb. I should have done some flat sprints at the top to test things out!
Rob
Hmmm…
…or perhaps not!
Caveat this is running related
I’m a flat lander from Alabama (elevation ~600ft) I’ve done numerous high altitude mountain races (i.e. average elevation 11,500’ or higher) and have competed reasonably well by just showing up as close to the start time as possible (often just the day before). The key, for me at least, is to come into the event being in as good of physical shape as you can, if you’re sick you’ll probably be toast! Also you can’t possibly drink enough fluids so keep on it! Also lower your expectations, I know I won’t be able to race at 100% of what I could at sea-level so I just go and have fun and try to finish well, often in the top 50% despite coming from the flat lands and against the local acclimated folks. I know it’s often impossible to do, but if you truly want to give yourself the best shot at an altitude event and your coming from non-elevation (personally I don’t even think 5000’ Denver is really all that high, not really much of an advantage) you must arrive at least a week or more in advance, the more time the better really. Competitors at the Hardrock 100 (Silverton, Colorado) will show up about 10 days in advance and the effects are noticable. My best Hardrock unacclimated was 37h 50m (26th o.a. of 56 finishers), after two weeks at 9000’+ (and training up to 14,000+ feet) I ran over 4 hours faster in 33h 36m and finished 10th o.a.!
With riding and racing quite often, IMHO, you’re working a lot harder than a runner/hiker would, especially on the climbs so it’s even more important to acclimate. Granted you can rest more on the level and down sections than a runner, but if you’re racing at elevation i.e. Colorado chances are there isn’t much flat and it’s either up or down with the downs requiring quite a bit of concentration!
Now if you live at elevation, or have easy access to high places, then get out there and train at elevation! Train high, sleep low! No excuses then!
Another flatlander here. I spend a fair amount of time traveling to the Rockies for skiing, both resort and backcountry. I’m fairly fit, previously ran ultras for “fun”, and even when my fitness level was at it’s best, acclimation did not come after a single week, not ever. Acclimation is a long process, different for each person, physiologiclaly it takes weeks to months for a comlpete adjustment. I can vouch for your experience with altitude adjustment, I have had my fair share of suffering 
It’s a great effort regardless of performance, them’s some serious climbs to do at altitude even with acclimation!
I exclusively ride a 26" x 2.5" (Intense DH) and 165 Moments. I found that after some adjustment from having been riding a 26" x 3", that the narrower tire is much faster and easier to ride. I weigh 200#, so I doubt I could get by with a lighter weight, non 2ply tire, but some lighter folks could easilly ride a lightweight MTB tire and relaly save some energy.
Great ride, great effort, the whole time thing is just that, a thing 
Imagine how you could do if you had a month or two in Colorado to acclimate and train!
I’ve been here since November of last year =]
I did a ton of training above 7/8,000 feet, significant amount of training above 10,000 feet, and a few rides up mt evans to 14,000 feet, and did the actual course(10-12,000 feet) (minus the highest/hardest point) twice before (not the FULL course, but I did sections that I wanted to check out).
I felt the altitude during my training runs in Leadville, but not to the same extent as I did during the race. I was just pushing it harder to make the time and didn’t know the highest point of ball mountain was going to be so steep and technical, the elevation profile didn’t really seem like that would be the hardest bit, but it killed me.
Oops, my bad. Talk about poor reading comprehension 
Maybe you’re getting old 
Honestly, not that I’ve been riding all that long, but after the stuff you described, it’s had to figure how you could do better except to increase your hill climbing.
I do have a wish: a three speed hub, low, normal, high. I don’t have as much need for a high gear, but there are times when a low gear would be nice.
I suppose I could get a 24", but I really like the way a 26" rides and oh but I have so many tire choices
Yeah, riding only for fitness will get you only so far. Throw some running, especially trail running on hilly terrain (i.e. the same type of terrain you plan to ride) and you’ll see some added cardiovascular benefits (at least I have, of course I’m coming at this sport from being a long time runner). Still, climbing mountains whether on foot or uni is still no joke and will never be “easy” for anybody unless you’ve got a last name like “Carpenter” or “Armstrong” ha!
I just now found a picture of me from the race, I will probably order the print, it is pretty awesome. I have never looked as determined in my life haha.
What an awesome picture of you in action…I really like the shallow dof.