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Hey folks, welcome to the single tracks podcast.

My name is Matt, and I'm the managing editor for single tracks and the author and narrator

of the podcast today.

We're trying something a little different for the pod and publishing an audio version of

a short news story.

This is about why cross-country athlete Dylan Johnson chose to outfit his hardtail with a set of

drop bars for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. We hope you like it. The Leadville Trail 100 is one of the

most difficult mountain bike races on the planet. The race starts at over 10,000 feet in elevation

and reaches a peak of 12,600 feet.

Trying to maintain energy, oxygen, and composure for over 8 to 12 hours and 100 miles

results in a notable amount of DNFs or did not finish every year.

Leadville also happens to be one of the least technical mountain bike races out there.

The climbs can be steep and endless, but much of the course is made up of dirt road and

double track with a small amount of actual single track.

In Leadville, the athlete's bike can make a huge difference in their result.

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