2025 Leadville Trail 100 MTB | Keegan Swenson vs. Average Rider | Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 544
Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad
TrainerRoad
4.9 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 August 2025
⏱️ 75 minutes
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Summary
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// TOPICS COVERED
(00:00:00) Welcome!
(00:00:26) Keegan's Race Strategy and Goals
(00:02:20) Bike Setup and Equipment Choices
(00:16:15) Nutrition and Hydration Strategies
(00:26:06) Power and Performance Analysis
(00:38:33) Powerline to Columbine: Group Dynamics and Aerodynamics
(00:39:23) Conquering Columbine: Climb Strategies and Challenges
(00:42:51) Navigating the Descent: Techniques and Obstacles
(00:51:40) Powerline Climb: Mental and Physical Endurance
(01:03:40) Final Push: Turquoise Lake and the Boulevard
In this episode, Coach Jonathan Lee and Keegan Swensen dissect their performances at the 2025 Leadville 100 endurance mountain bike race. Jonathan compares his own finish to Keegan's winning ride, delving into their time splits, power outputs, nutritional strategies, equipment setups, and race day experiences. Learn about Keegan's impressive 5 hours and 45 minutes finish, how he strategically pushed his limits, and Jonathan’s approach to meet his goals. Tune in for valuable insights on race pacing, preparation, and the challenges of competing at high elevation.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | How different is the Leadville 100 when it's raced by the person that won the race? |
| 0:04.3 | Keegan Swenson, who's with us and then compared to an average racer like myself. We're going to dig into it. Compare Keegan's finish at the 2025 Leaville 100 where he won and wasn't far off the course record on a really rough day. And then we're going to look at what I did. Let's just run straight into it. Kegan, first of all, good to have you and good job on the race. |
| 0:02.8 | So to be here. |
| 0:03.5 | Thank you. |
| 0:03.8 | You too. |
| 0:04.4 | Yeah, man. |
| 0:25.1 | Thank you. Appreciate it. My goal was to go sub eight and I thought like 749 if possible was like |
| 0:31.8 | a really like a hard goal to reach for and I was hoping to achieve that. Your goal was to win, right? Keegan, it wasn't necessarily to set the course record, but how does that work for you? Like it's always there. I assume you want it, but. Yeah, I mean, it's a bit of both, you know, like I've already got the course record, but of course always want to go faster and see what I can actually, what I'm actually fully capable of on the right day |
| 0:54.8 | with the right set up and every year, like you're learning things. But, you know, in the end, |
| 0:59.2 | the goal is always to win the race. That's like priority number one. And then, uh, record kind of |
| 1:04.7 | becomes priority number two. But, uh, you can kind of, if you go, if you are going for the record then hopefully you win the race |
| 1:12.8 | because you're going to push and you're going to go fast and you have everything lined up ready to go |
| 1:16.7 | you know so yeah and yeah should we just spoil it right now so kegan won he did it in five hours |
| 1:23.3 | 45 minutes and 35 seconds within three minutes of the course record, which is pretty crazy, |
| 1:30.0 | considering it was windy, it was rough, it was dry, it was not exactly fast conditions. |
| 1:35.1 | So super impressive. |
| 1:36.8 | And I beat my goal. |
| 1:38.1 | I did 743-39. |
| 1:40.7 | So really, really stoked on that. |
| 1:43.4 | It's 34% slower than your time, Keegan, which is just crazy when you think of that. |
| 1:50.0 | We're going to go into how that all shook out and how it went out that way. |
| 1:54.1 | I'm coach Jonathan Lee from Trainer Road, by the way, if you're watching this and you're new to it. |
... |
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