Swiss mountain biker Christoph Sauser placed third at the 2015 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race. Having multiple world titles and an Olympic Bronze medal, Sauser is a seasoned veteran who knows what it takes to win at the highest level. Here, we take a look at his power file from the race to break down his effort and show just how hard Sauser pushed his body.
View Sauser’s full ROTOR power file.
- The average elevation for the race was 10,169 ft., and many of Sauser’s big efforts were at 11,000 ft. or higher. His highest recorded altitude was 12,360 ft. On average, we see a 1% reduction in a rider’s power output for every 1,000 ft. of elevation. This means that Sauser was racing at approximately 90% of his full capacity.
- Sauser started the race hard. His first hour of racing was at 268 Average Watts.
- On the climb up Columbine, Sauser averaged 326 watts, or 4.67 w/kg and 74rpm for 53 minutes. His W/kg is higher than what we typically see from a World Tour rider during a major climb during the Tour de France.
- Descending Columbine, Sauser averaged 28.7mph and hit a peak speed of 39.9mph. His power for this section was only 126 watts, allowing him some recovery before pushing to the finish.
- 4.5 hours into the race, on the steep ascent up Powerline, Sauser held 302 watts, or 4.32w/kg and 73 rpm.
- Sauser had a sprint finish against American Jeremiah Bishop. He hit 1060 watts and 27.6mph to nip Bishop by one second for third place.
- Over the full 6 hours, Sauser averaged 256 watts, or 3.66w/kg., had an average speed of 17.2mph and burned 5545 calories.
