Leadville 100 is an iconic mountain bike race, sending riders high up into Colorado’s rarefied air to earn the nickname “Race Across the Sky.” Leading into the event’s 32nd year, that sky is looking a little smoky, as Colorado deals with a particularly heavy year of forest fires.
With some of those fires threatening the Leadville 100 course, Life Time, the new-ish owner of the classic event, are confirming that the route will be altered but that there is a way to run the event that keeps riders, spectators and the communities the event visits safe.
Leadville 100 will stick with its August 15 race date. But the course will be modified. Life Time says “The team has worked closely with the local authorities to develop a revised route that ensures riders can safely take on the historic race while avoiding areas impacted by the Willow Fire.”
Keegan Swenson will chase a sixth-straight win at Leadville, but on a new course.
2026 Leadville 100 route change
The new route will stick close to the original route, where possible. It will serve up 102.1 miles of racing with 9,916 ft of elevation gain. That is 164.3 km with a whopping 3,022m of elevation gain, for any visiting Canadian racers.
The race will start as usual, before diverting east around Turquoise Lake to avoid areas impacted by the Willow Fire.
That means Hagerman Pass Road, Sugarloaf Mountain and the iconic Powerline section will be cut from the route for 2026. Racers will rejoin the original course at the bottom of the Powerline Descent. The course then heads up Columbine climb before the usual out-and-back course.
While it is nice that racers will still get the opportunity to race, it does mean that any records set this year will carry an asterisk in the history books. With smoke adding further challenge to racers already dealing with thin air at elevation (the Leadville 100 high point is around 3,800m), it could be a challenging year to set any new records.