I have never been so disappointed while also so proud of myself for getting 4th. I just never thought that was how my race would go. Not just the cow tossing me off my bike (I’ll get to that). I did something new this year, I admitted to myself that I not only wanted to win Leadville 100, but that I had a good chance of doing it! The fight wasn’t against the other women, the terrain or outside elements, it was against myself. My body did something that’s never happened before, one hour I felt fine and the next was trying to keep any food or drink mix down. Then I was racing in a caloric deficit for 70 miles. I thought about stopping one fafillion times. I did a few times to get down some sips of water but I told myself to just keep going and see if I could finish. I’d let go of wanting to do “well” at that point and I just wanted to cross the line. Racing 100 miles mostly above 10,000ft and climbing for 12,000ft is a tough day at your best, and if you have anything that sets you back it becomes REAL epic real fast. Towards the finish, after being alone most of the day, I found myself riding with a friend when leg cramps separated me from their group. Alone again, cruising down one of the last descents. I yelled at some cows that were standing across the road and they scooted to the side. I flew past them and then all of a sudden my face was pressing into the side of a furry wall. Another cow had come sprinting across the entire field. I couldn’t believe I was crashing into a COW! We collided, my bike slipped under, I flew somewhere to the side and the cow kept running. I collected my bottles, Wahoo, glasses that had all gone flying. I twisted my bars sort of straight and hopped back on. Then it hit me, not another cow but the reality of what’d just occurred. A rider came past me as shocked as I was as to what’d happened and asked if I was okay, I was except for my poor derailleur was stuck in one gear. My dream of racing Leadville on a single speed had come true! So I, once more, kept on pedaling to that damn finish line! Photos: 1,2 @avery_stumm 3, @andrewfitts 4, @photowil 5, @sparkymoir More on this in my newsletter, you can sign up for it, link in bio!