Sonoma resident Brad Day has pedaled his way to the top of one of the country’s most storied mountain bike races winning his age group at the grueling Leadville Trail 100 MTB in Colorado.
“I managed to get a little gap before the final climb and tried to hold it to the finish,” Day, 47, said. “I put my head down and didn’t allow myself to look back for the last hour.”
Held Aug. 9, the race, which is also known as the “Race Across the Sky,” is one of the most demanding mountain bike endurance events in the U.S.
The course spans more than 105 miles of mixed terrain in Leadville, Colorado — Forest Service roads, high alpine two-track paths, and a smattering of single-track trails.
Riders begin at 10,152 feet in elevation, climbing above 12,500 feet at Columbine Mine. Heading higher and higher up the mountain, they endure more than 12,300 feet of elevation gain throughout the duration of the race. The lowest point on the course is about 9,180 feet.
With over 1,700 riders competing and more than 400 in his age group, Day – who has been mountain biking competitively for about three years – crossed the finish line in 7:17:34, claiming first in the men’s 40 to 49 category and placing eighth among non-professionals.
That time also put him well under the threshold for the Big Buckle – awarded to finishers who complete the race in under nine hours. The cutoff for qualifying for the Small Buckle is 12 hours.
Day’s race wasn’t without drama. On the ascent to Columbine Mine, he got a flat tire on his Epic Model mountain bike from brand Specialized.
“You try to be quick and composed, which is harder than it sounds,” he said. “I think it took me two or three minutes to figure it out, and then I was back on the trail.”
He quickly used a CO₂ cartridge to make the repair, rejoined the chasing pack, and found himself among the top three in his age group as the course flattened out in the rolling sections before the final climbs.
He won by 33 seconds.
Day’s win marks an impressive comeback after he had a devastating crash in 2022 at Skyline Park in Napa, where he shattered his femur and hip and had to be airlifted out. He underwent surgery to insert a titanium rod in his leg and then spent months in physical therapy learning to walk again.
“The first time I got back on the bike, I was terrified,” Day said. “It was traumatizing at first but time and support helped me push through. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been possible without Holly. Having a supportive spouse is absolutely huge.”
During Leadville, Brad’s wife, Holly Kulak, served as his race crew — an indispensable role to ensure competitors’ success. Crews are only allowed in four designated locations along the course, each could be visited twice.
At aid stations and crew zones, Kulak stockpiled food, fluids, spare parts and anything Day might need — making split-second decisions about when to offer support and where to hold back.
At Twin Lakes Dam, one of the major aid and crew points, she made sure Day had what he needed to push through the second half of the course.
“The atmosphere is amazing — kids, families, cowbells, people cheering,” Kulak said. “But you’re also watching the clock. If you miss your rider at the right moment, that’s it.”
When an exhausted Day finally crossed the finish line, he got off his bike and sprawled out on the pavement. It was Kulak who gave him the happy news.
“I saw him from the other side of the fence with tears in my eyes and said, ‘You got first!’” she recalled.
For Kulak, thar moment wasn’t just about a result on the leaderboard, it was about all the training, all the sacrifice, all the discipline Day endured to get to that point.
“It’s really just a cool feeling, because you see how hard someone works, and, like, getting up really early before work and going after work, or going on lunch breaks,” said Kulak. “When Brad puts his mind to something, he’s really gonna do well at it. But I mean, he could have got 20th, I wouldn’t have cared.”
Beyond just the long distance of the race, it’s factors like altitude, terrain, and the climate that define Leadville’s challenge.
Riders contend with high-elevation starts, thinning air, steep climbs to over 12,500 feet, technical descents, and sometimes volatile mountain weather – ranging from hot sun to hail, cold and high wind speeds.
Day said his preparation for Leadville began in earnest in June of this year, after qualifying at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey in the spring.
From that point forward, his weeks were built around long weekend rides and interval sessions designed to replicate the effort of the Colorado climbs.
“With cycling, especially for something like Leadville, it’s all about volume,” Day said. “Doing a couple of two-hour rides isn’t going to cut it. You have to get your body used to being on the bike for hours at a time.”
In addition to endurance rides, Day focused on structured intensity work during the week.
“I’d do intervals – 20 minutes hard, 10 minutes rest, repeated several times – to get used to sustained efforts on climbs,” he said. “It’s about building confidence that you can go hard for six or seven hours and still have something left.”
Training in Sonoma gave him a natural advantage. The steep backroads, long grades and variable terrain mirrored much of what he faced in the Rockies, even if the altitude was impossible to simulate.
“We’re really fortunate here,” Day said. “Cavedale, Trinity, Oakville – they’re beautiful places to ride and great for training. The only thing you can’t replicate is the thin air at 12,000 feet.”
Day credits those long rides, plus his regular involvement in local series like the Northern California Grasshopper Adventure Series, with giving him both the physical capacity and the race craft – pacing, nutrition, mindset – to execute when it mattered most.
Beyond the podium, Day says it’s the human stories that make Leadville special – riders struggling to make cutoffs, crews waiting in the cold pre-dawn hours, locals coming out to cheer at remote points, friendships forged in suffering and shared mountain vistas.
Kulak agreed: “Leadville is about community, camaraderie, being part of something bigger. I’d love more Sonoma cyclists to try it – either to race or to crew. It’s intimidating, but if you put in the work, it really is possible.”
And after that final push over the last climb, that gap held. Brad Day became not just a winner in his age group – he earned a place in the lore of Leadville
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