Out of six starts, Lachlan has finished on the podium three times at the 100-mile, high-altitude race across the Rocky Mountains, but he hasn’t won it. Lachlan still hasn’t had his ideal day up in the high alpine, racing across dirt roads, singletrack, and rocky Jeep trails, from Leadville out to Columbine Mine and back.

“It's one of those races that I think, maybe if you had a perfect day here, that would be enough,” Lachlan says.

“I'd still love to come back to Leadville to ride bikes, but I think if I nailed that perfect day here, I wouldn't need to put it on the calendar again. It's a hard race. It's not a fun race. Basically, as soon as you hit the first climb, St. Kevin's, which is maybe 15 minutes in, you’re just suffering until you come back again. The dream is to win the race, but that's not the only thing that brings me back. It’s nice to have a reference point in your year, so you can come back and test yourself again against the years before and hone in on it. I don't think you can ever really have that perfect day, so maybe it'll just keep going back on the calendar, because it's one I'm always excited for, because I know I can do well here, which is a good motivation.”

Lachy spent the past month up in the mountains, getting stoked for Leadville. He prepared for the race in his own style, riding alone and with friends high above the tree line. As his competitors dial in every detail of their training, Lachy is a big believer in a more free-spirited approach to performance. He’s been having fun getting fast.

“The best bit about Leadville is the preparation for it,” Lachlan says.

“You get to spend a month just doing long rides on a mountain bike in the mountains. That's actually the best preparation. You have this awesome month of July with Leadville as a nice goal. The thing I've worked out for this race is that the training's actually pretty simple. You need to go and ride long days on your mountain bike and go hard up hills, mainly just get out there and ride off-road and be in the mountains. That is nice, because it is the sort of riding I enjoy the most. The preparation doesn't feel like a hardcore training block. I've tried a lot of ways of preparing for this race, from the first time I did it seriously when we were getting ready for the Tour of Utah to doing it off the back of the Alt Tour. One time, I did almost a month in Leadville training and that wasn't it. Last year was probably the best I felt at this race, and I took a very relaxed approach. That is not to mean you're not working hard, but it was very relaxed. That is what I went for this year. I haven't used a power meter for three months, which has been sick. I've stopped using power meters or heart rate or any kind of measurement. I feel good now. I've had time to train. I feel good for this race.”

All of the mountain bikers in town are fuelling Lachy’s stoke for Leadville too. Thousands of riders made the journey up to the Rocky Mountains to take on the brutal 100-mile course across the sky. Their enthusiasm is infectious.

“You come up to the mountains, you get to Leadville, it's a small town, but there are a whole bunch of people here, so there's a real buzz,” Lachlan says.

“You see people showing up for the first time and the reality of what it all means for them to come up and qualify or get in the lottery or jump through the hoops just so they can come and do it with their partner or their parents or their kids crewing hits home. That gives you a lot of energy.”

So does the surrounding wilderness. Leadville is an old mining town, located over 3,000 meters up in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

“Leadville is one of the highest towns in America,” Lachlan says. “The town has a really long history, going all the way back to mining. It is the last place you would expect to be a bike-friendly Mecca, but it is that, and it's one of those places I'll keep coming back to forever, just to ride, to be here in the summer. It is surrounded by a bunch of 4000-plus-meter peaks and you can see all the way from Leadville to Columbine, if you know where to look. Basically, you can see what you're going to do, and then you're going to come back. It is a beautiful amphitheater for racing. It’s harsh. It's fast. It's brutal.”

Lachy expects Saturday’s race to be just that. His buddy Keegan Sweenson is the out and out favorite, but Lachy still thinks he can give him a run for his money on his day.

“Keegan is the best bike racer in North America at the moment and this is the best course for him. It's a hard ask, but I just want to give him a race,” Lachlan says. “I've been second and third. I've been in the top 10 a bunch of times. I could easily do a safe race and race for a top 10, but I'd rather try and give him a race. There are a bunch of other really strong people, but in this race, more than any other race, it doesn't matter at all, because you're going to get two-thirds of the way up Columbine, and then you have just got what you've got. It doesn't matter who you're next to from there. It's an individual effort. All of the noise fades out the second you hit St. Kevin’s. And some people have their hearts broken there.”

After a month riding mountain bikes with his buddies in the mountains, Lachlan’s heart is stronger than ever. Fuller too. Whatever happens at Leadville, Lachy’s heart won’t break. But he is sure as heck going to try to win.