It has been nearly a week and I'm just now coming down enough to try to put the experience into words. I'll cut to the chase. I had one of the best races of my life. I improved my time from last year by 27 minutes. I broke the longstanding women's course record by 11 minutes. I was first in the women's field and 22nd overall. My time was 7:47.35. Average speed was 12.8. I was 1:30 behind Levi Leiphiemer's record breaking time. I honestly surprised myself. I went as hard as I possibly could last year and my time was 8:14. I knew Laurie Brandt's course record of 7:58.56 had stood for more than 10 years. Before the race, I was trying to imagine how I could cut over 20 minutes off my 2009 time. Looking back, I know the difference was focused preparation, sprinkled with a little bit of luck.

The 2009 LT100 was icing on the cake of an already fantastic season. I had come to Leadville just 3 weeks after defending my 3rd 24 Hour Solo World Championship title. I arrived two days before the race, did not know the course, the scene or much about the event. I was blown away last year by the magnitude of the race and the spirit of cycling and endurance racing that hovers over the town. I had a blast last year and got lucky enough to pull off a win. That intoxicating experience laid the groundwork for my 2010 season.

This year, I approached the season differently. 24 Hour Worlds got moved to October, so that left me to focus 100% on the Leadville Trail 100 as my "A" race. My coach, Matthew , designed a very different training approach that focused on racing fast for 8 hours instead of 24. 8 hours might sound like a long race for most people, but for me, it is short and fast. I had to work on speed. I packed in four multi day stage races before summer rolled around, raced XC, and then stacked on multiple 50 and 100 milers in the 6 weeks leading up to Leadville. I won't tell you all the training secrets, but I will tell you that Matthew broke me down hard and I was very doubtful about my performance in the middle of all that hard training.

I also went to Leadville 10 days early this year so I could ride the course and acclimatize. I was there alone hanging out in town, riding my bike and with plenty of time to think about the race, my nutrition, my bike, what to wear, the weather. Some days, there was too much time to think, but mostly the lack of distraction just before the race was a great way to focus. By the time all the Specialized riders, crew and posse showed up, I was like a horse kicking in her stall.

This year, Specialized jumped on as the official bike sponsor of the LT100. Once again, company owner, Mike Sinyard showed up with the goal of bettering his time. Also on the team roster was newly crowned XC and ST National Champ, Todd Wells, the legend Ned Overend, Anthony Sinyard, plus a host of other Specialized employees and dealers. It was really great to see the big red truck roll into town and to see so many Specialized kits out on the course. I am normally at many of my races as the sole Specialized athlete, so it was a huge treat to have the team there.

Race morning dawned super early. Since I won last year, I got a great line up on the front row next to Dave Wiens. It was warmer than last year, so I started the race in my regular kit, plus arm warmers and a Buff under my helmet. I knew the course this year and had the key time splits memorized, so I did not have to tape a course profile to my top tube this year. I knew Amanda Carey had peaked for this race as well and would be stiff competition. I did not know about the rest of the field and was really just trying to focus on my race instead of reacting to other athletes. The gun went off and we were soon climbing the first hill up St. Kevin's. Amanda was stuck to me like glue. I tried to shake her a few times up that hill with no success. She sat in with a group of about 5 other guys until the next climb. I pushed again and we shook some of the guys. I got a small gap on Amanda, but she clawed right back up before the Powerline descent. I relaxed a bit on the descent in order to get through safely. The next road section through Pipeline Aid Station and all the way to Twin Lakes Aid station found us together playing a bit of cat and mouse. I ate, drank, relaxed and mentally prepared myself for the 3200 ft Columbine ascent. At mile 40 Amanda and I were still together pushing each other to a record breaking time.

Greg was my official crew for feeds and time splits and was ripping between aid stations on his motorcycle. He'd gone out the day before and scoped all the aid stations and agreed where he'd be for hand offs. We practiced with musette bags to keep the feeds fast and rolling. I had never used a musette, but it worked great. LT100 is definitely a mountain bike race with road tactics mixed in. This year I was experiencing that first hand with the feeds and with a group of riders sitting in for the first 40 miles. I actually enjoyed the strategy and tactics and was ready to hit the big climb hard to see if I could open a gap there.

I punched hard at the bottom of Columbine and did not look back. Well, I looked back a little to see where Amanda was. I lost sight of her due to the switchbacks in the trees, but kept pushing, focusing on a good spin and keeping the odometer rolling. I started catching a few guys and moved up into the 20's for placing. I felt as if this was the decisive place in the race and treated it as a bit of a time trial. Near the steepest part on the top, I was starting to cramp a bit and kept hammering Endurolytes, drinking and trying to keep on top of nutrition. The top of the climb is still just the 1/2 way point, so it's a fine line between pushing hard and burying yourself too deep in the cave. At the turnaround, I looked at my Suunto. I was 8 minutes ahead of record breaking pace. I could not believe it. I began to calculate the time until I saw Amanda again. I calculated that I had put about 5 or 6 minutes into her on the climb. I did not take chances on the descent with uphill traffic, loose gravely corners and 50 miles to go. At the Twin Lakes Aid station, Greg was there again and I could see the excitement in his eyes when he realized I was alone and had finally shaken Amanda.

I am forever the pessimist and would not settle for the 10 minute gap I had opened. Twin Lakes to Pipeline is the really windy part of the course. It was a headwind, of course. I found one other lonely rider out there. Well, I had to pin it for about 20 minutes to finally catch up to him. We got to ride together for about 20 more minutes, which doesn't seem like much, but it was really nice to have company out there. You really feel alone in your suffering, so just having someone else there suffering too takes a bit of the edge off. I had seen Ned Overend ascending just after I turned around at the top of Columbine. I was confused as to why he was behind me, but also excited that he would probably catch me and we could ride together.

I waited and looked behind me. Ned never came. The back story is that in the first 45 minutes of the race, Ned was with the top 5 guys including Todd Wells and Levi. Todd and Levi got tangled up and Todd flatted and broke 6 spokes. Ned, the ultimate teammate, gave Todd his wheel and rode 15 miles on a broken wheel. He made it to the Pipeline aid and the only wheels in the Specialized crew area were mine. Ned took my wheel, then waited for me to roll through to make sure I would not need it. He gets my vote for the Gentleman's Award for this race. The even better part is that he spent the rest of the race trying to catch up to me, but could not. So I did not truly beat Ned Overend fair and square, but I did gap him on the 2nd half of the course!

Back to the race, heading up Powerline at mile 80 was pretty torturous for me. I had been flirting with cramps since Columbine and digging really, really deep. Powerline is very, very steep at the bottom. I started to power the pedals and felt the cramps coming again. I decided to play it safe and get off my bike. I did not want to end up with full blown cramps writhing on the side of the trail. I put my ego aside and my adventure racing skills to use. I walked up Powerline, but I walked hard and tried to open up my stride in order to keep a decent pace. It held off the cramps and I was able to drink while walking. Back on the bike, I was in the home stretch, but still with over an hour to go. I had my eye on the watch trying to calculate the record time. I must have been too stupid from lack of oxygen because I couldn't really figure out how much time I had left.

I was on my own at the top of the last big climb. I needed water and there was a mini aid station coming up. I had to step off the bike to fill my bottle and as soon as I put my foot on the ground, my calf fully seized! I fell over with my bike on top of me. The aid station volunteers stared at me in disbelief as I rubbed the cramp away. I asked for electrolytes and after a brief shuffling of items, they presented me with a salt shaker. Well, not exactly what I was looking for, but it couldn't hurt. I cocked my head back and took a few big shakes straight into my mouth. I should have tossed a bit over my shoulder for good luck as well! I got back on the bike and began the last sketchy descent. This is the place where many weary riders get lazy and end up flatting on the rocky descent. It felt great to go downhill and I carefully hopped the rocks and ruts and got through clean.

The mind numbing Boulevard section back into town was all that was left. The race is actually 103 miles and let me tell you, those extra three feel like an eternity. I stole another glance backwards on the road before turning onto the last grinder hill. No one in sight. You can smell the barn at this point, but it still seems to take forever to get there. The film crew moto was with me at this point and I could not muster a smile, comment or even a glance. I had my head down, there was snot all over my top tube and I was completely spent. It wasn't pretty, but I wanted that record. I stared at my odometer and kept glancing at my Suunto to check the race time. I knew the record was within reach, but did not want to let up at all.

As I crested the very last hill and turned onto 5th street, a bunch of high school girls started running next to me screaming and yelling. It was the Malone Cross Country team and they were going crazy for me. I wanted to say something back, but no words would come. All I could muster was a big smile. I hope they realized how they helped push me over that last hill. I could finally see it now. 6th and Harrison with the red carpet and the finish banner. It still looked really far away. The film guy on the moto said, "come on Rebecca, only 6 more blocks." Head down, shift to a bigger gear and go. I had ridden this finishing stretch multiple times visualizing this moment. A crowd was there waiting, the time was ticking and I felt like I was going so,so slowly. I knew I had the win and the record and as I rolled over the carpet, I was so spent I could not even raise my arms in victory. I hope the huge smile on my face was enough to show my utter elation.

Greg was the first one to approach me and give me a hug as i slumped over my handle bars. Being able to share the day with him was incredible. He's a 24 hour world champ as well and we race together all the time. He knows from the look on my face how I'm feeling. He knew I was digging deep and I think he might have burned more calories than I did during the race. Thank you, Greg!

As I sit back and think about the day, I was super prepared in every way. My training, my bike, my course preparation, mental preparation were all dialed for this one day. However, when people say, "I knew you would win," I have to laugh. I did not know I would win. I knew I had prepared myself to the best of my ability, but that does not take into account the preparation that other athletes do, the mechanicals that can happen, the crashes, the wind, getting sick, etc. I was absolutely ready for this race and it came together on the right day. I attribute the record and the win to great preparation, but also a little bit of luck and a whole lot of suffering.

Thanks to everyone for sharing the experience with me. It was an awesome day that will be etched in my mind for a very long time. Let's hope that 7:47.35 record stays etched in the books for a good long while as well!

And many thanks for the video experience that Specialized put together too!