Mineral Belt Mayhem!

Saturday was a beautiful day and a great time to hold the 3rd Leadville winter mountain biking series race, the Mineral Belt Mayhem! Marni was very happy not to be sick this race and she and I headed up along with Dave Nice for some sun and snow action.
I checked out the beginning of the course a few minutes before the start and made some tires pressure adjustments accordingly on the Pugs. It was well groomed but still soft in a few places and I made sure the front was aired down so I could descend faster.
Dave was rocking his 29er fixie as usual, this time sporting a monster hangover.
Marni and I were happy to be racing together finally.
The race itself went well. I didn't stuff myself too full of pancakes and bacon so the inital jump off the line wasn't too painful. I immediately got a gap which was fine by me since I was racing Mark again who beat me in race #1 and I expected a challenge from him. I steadily pulled away until I could no longer see anyone behind me and enjoyed the views in front of me on the rest of the course. I only had a couple dabs with the Pugs and overall the groomed snow was plenty fast. I even used my big ring at times which I almost never do on the snowbike. Before long I was climbing the last long gradual hill and the finish line came into sight. I crossed the line, chatted briefly with the people watching, dug out my camera, checked the GPS and began to reverse the course to take pictures and mostly find Marni to make sure she was doing okay in her first snow race. Race time 51:20 for 11 miles and just under 1400 ft of climbing.
Mark finishing just a few minutes after me.
Nice Leadville scenery.
Another racer coming up the hill.
Then Sterling I think.
Followed by Jim(?) sprinting after him
Up to the finish they all go.
Keep on truckin...
Another SSer...
Isn't riding on snow grand :)
Another racer,
and another.
There goes TomP on his single up the trail.
Here is the huge divot I made when I accidently stepped off the trail.
Another racer.
Lots of old cabins and stuff along the trail.
Headed home for another racer.
Ah the Pugs loves the snow and sun
Fat boy tires rollin along.
Here comes a fixed gear I think.
Yep it's Dave!
Then I found Marni. She was doing great!
Racing to the finish.
Catching up to Dave ahead.
Go aero bunny :)
Dave feeling the hangover quite a bit at this point.
Here comes our lead woman!
Yay for a sucessful first snow bike race.
Here comes Dave
Dave tired :)
There's is me standing around getting sunburned.
The crew posing for a picture with Dave's snowcone.
Huge thanks to Sterling and anyone else who was involved putting on the series. It has been awesome and so much fun.
Yay prizes too! Melanzana, Stranahan's, Smartwool, score! The Golden Burro and High Mountain Pies for good eats too, can't beat it. What an awesome series. If you aren't coming up to race, you're definitely missing out.
Course profile and elevation chart for those who care.