OWs in the USA

Race Across The Sky

Since 1992, when the race was first hosted, the Leadville 100 is probably one of the most well-known endurance mountain bike races. Starting in the mining town of Leadville, high in the Rockies at 10,050ft above sea level, approximately 1,600 riders race over 104 miles and must finish in under 12 hours to officially finish. Finish in over 12 hours and it doesn’t count. The race crosses 11,000 feet three times with over 12,000 feet of elevation gain. At 12,000 feet there is a third less oxygen compared to sea level. It’s a beast. Lance Armstrong has won it and lost it once and the front of the race is typically a who’s who of professional road and mountain bike athletes.

After moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2010, to set up an office for a UK renewable energy company, I fell in love with the Rocky Mountains and realised that riding a bike up and down them was a lot faster than hiking. At 5,300 feet, at the foot of the Rockies and with miles of trails and mountain roads to be explored, Boulder is an obvious base for cyclists. If you want to ride bikes seriously and live in the U.S., Boulder is ground zero.

I had no experience of riding bikes; my WGS days were occupied with playing hockey with cameos at cricket and football.

After finishing my first Leadville Mountain Bike race I knew exactly how Steve Redgrave, one of the most successful British Olympians, felt when announcing retirement after winning Gold in Atlanta in 1996: “If you ever catch me near a boat again, shoot me”. I said pretty much the same thing. Finishing in 11 hours 50 minutes I was done, physically and mentally and my language was much more colourful. Two years later and nine months after breaking my tibia and fibula in, yes, a mountain bike crash, I was back. The body does an amazing job of erasing pain and this time I was aiming to break nine hours. Nine hours and 21 minutes after starting I threw up, collapsed and uttered the same expletives about never riding a bike again.

After my second attempt, and after swearing I would never do it again, I decided to have another go – this time with the goal of finishing in under nine hours - and committed to raising $3,000 for the Livestrong Cancer Foundation. I followed a rigorous diet for six months, to lose weight and help me gain power, and trained six times per week. I planned to take in 70 grams of carbohydrate an hour, fueling 5,000 calories to offset the 10,000 I would burn. Nine months of planning and training for nine hours (hopefully) of racing. Finally, eight hours and 47 minutes after starting I was one of three hundred people to break nine hours and finish the race under my target time. An amazing feeling.

Charles Purshouse (OW 1995) lives with his wife and two children in Boulder, Colorado. After leaving WGS he gained a BSc Marine Geography at Cardiff University, a MSc Environmental Technology (Energy Policy) at Imperial College, London and graduated with an Executive MBA from the University of Colorado in 2021.