By Lennard Zinn
Lennard with Chris and his custom Zinn hardtail mountain bike
Chris Lloyd fits the profile of the median Zinn Cycles customer in stature but definitely not in his usage of his Zinn bikes. Where he takes his 6’6”, 220-pounds under his own power is so far out of the ordinary, it boggles the mind. He bought his 5th Zinn bike for his 60th birthday, to be pedaled, like all its predecessors, an incredible number of miles at very high altitude.
You see, Lloyd’s way of celebrating being on this earth for 60 years in 2022 was to suffer on his feet and on his new Zinn custom carbon hardtail mountain bike for eight weeks. It’s the same way he has been suffering during the prior 20 summers – on his feet and on his prior custom Zinn mountain bikes, first full-suspension aluminum ones, followed by a titanium hardtail. From “BaseCamp”, his second home in Leadville, CO, he has done the Leadville Trail 100-mile mountain bike race for 20 straight years. That is extreme (some would argue even crazy), yet those races comprise only a small percentage of the extreme high-altitude races he has done every year since 2003, the first year of the “” series.
Leadville, at 10,152 feet above sea level, is the highest incorporated city in North America, with Colorado’s two tallest peaks, 14,433-foot Mt. Elbert and 14,421-foot Mt. Massive, as well as seven other fourteeners, towering above it. Lloyd has raced in over 100 Leadman ultra races at the dizzying altitudes above Leadville as well as in over 100 marathons!
The Leadman races that comprise the Lead Challenge, consist of five races contested over an 8-week period from late June to late August, namely the Leadville Trail Marathon, the Silver Rush 50 Run and Silver Rush 50 MTB (on consecutive days), the Leadville Trail 100 MTB, the Leadville 10K Run, and the Leadville Trail 100 Run. At no point do any of them dip below 10,000 feet altitude, and some go many thousands of feet higher.
In 2018, by completing the Leadville marathon, Lloyd completed his 100th marathon as well as his 100th Leadville Race Series event. And in 2022, at age 60, he stood head and shoulders above all other Leadmen, both literally and figuratively, by competing in the entire Leadman series for the 20th straight year. He also became a Silver King for the 15th time, which requires running the Silver Rush 50 Run on Saturday, and the next day, riding the Silver Rush 50 MTB and finishing both events within the allotted time. This is also the 8th year of the Leadville MTB Stage Race, and Chris has done all eight. Nobody else is even close to Lloyd’s Leadman record, and he’s doing it all again this year. He says, “Last year marked 20 consecutive years, but 2023 is the official 20th consecutive year, since the Covid year was unofficial, even though we still did all of the races, self-supported.” He did this year’s Leadville Trail Marathon, on June 17th, 2023, in a whiteout snowstorm. See his videos!
Lloyd has piles of the legendary belt buckles that finishers under a certain time threshold in these events earn. For instance, to get the small Leadville Trail 100 Run belt buckle, a runner must complete the 100 miles in under 30 hours, and earning the big buckle requires running those 100 high-altitude miles in under 25 hours! Chris has a pair of buckles way too big to hold up pants that nobody else has, for 100 marathons and for 100 Leadman events.
Chris Lloyd exhibits an extreme level of humility about his extreme athletic accomplishments, keeping his family (he has four children) first and never blowing his own horn. He gives back by helping guide the LT100 run camp and LT100 bike camp. He says, “I have a simple mantra that I use for ultra events: ‘Stay dialed in. Stick to the task at hand. Put one foot in front of the other.’ It’s important to stay dialed into what you are doing and what you need to do in order to finish the race. Hydration and nutrition are super-critical to stay ahead of. Stay focused on your goals, and don’t worry about what others are doing. Be prepared for all types of weather conditions. Familiarize yourself with the course and spend time on the difficult parts. Mentally have the race whipped before you get out on it on race day. Whether running or biking, keep moving and don’t spend time at the aid stations. If you keep moving, you will usually work out any aches or pains that arise during the race…and they will arise.”
We can all take inspiration from Chris.
Silver King
