The Leadville 100 mountain bike is a special race. Six of the last 8 years I’ve lined up early on a Saturday morning in August with hundreds of other mountain bikers. The 2 years I didn’t race myself, I was there to crew and spectate.
I finished the last 5 times I raced the Leadville 100. Some years I was fast and other years I was slow. This year I was in no shape to be fast but I thought I still had a good chance at finishing. Instead of finishing this year, I was sick from a stomach bug or something I ate the day before and dropped out after only 16 miles.
While I was having my issues near the back of the race, the lead group of riders was flying toward the Columbine Climb. It’s the longest climb of the race and tops out in thin air at 12,600 feet. Lance, taking a page out of his road racing, brought 4 late entries to help pace him to the bottom.
By the start of the climb only one rider was left with Lance. Six time winner Dave Wiens was just behind since he had made a quick stop at the Twin Lakes aid station which is just before the Columbine Climb. Lance was concerned about riding alone the rest of the way but was cold from the freezing rain so he went hard to warm up.
I arrived at the bottom of Columbine in plenty of time to see Lance come flying down. It was nearly 10 minutes before Wiens was down and another 7 minutes for 3rd place.
Next spot for spectating was the bottom of Powerline. Although the Powerline climb isn’t as long as Columbine, the very bottom is very steep and comes about mile 80 so it really hurts.
Between Lance being so fast and all the cars getting to the Powerline, I was still down close to the road and hadn’t gotten up to the steep part when he came through. It was amazing seeing a few hundred people lined up on the Powerline to see Lance. He said in some ways it was like the climbs in the Tour.
I was told, not surprisingly, that Lance rode up the steep part. I was on the steep part when Dave Wiens came through and he walked part of it. Very few people ride all of it and most that do don’t go any faster than those that are walking.
Rather than go from the Powerline to the finish line, I stopped just outside of town where the Boulevard comes out to the pavement. I knew there was a big crowd at the finish line and I’d probably not get any where close.
From the Powerline to the finish, Lance kept extending his lead. He got a leak in his rear tire a few miles out. He put air in it but it went flat again. He said he’s terrible at changing tires so he just kept riding.
Lance won in 6:28:50. This smashed the record of 6:45:45 that Dave Wiens set last year. Wiens came in for 2nd place with a time of 6:57:02
Wiens didn’t win but he said, “He’s Lance Armstrong. And he’s just off of the Tour,” Wiens said after the race. “Last year he was just off of the couch. That made it a pretty fair fight for he and I. This year I rode fantastic today. I’m happy.”
Lance said at the awards ceremony that he loves the race and plans to be back next year. I also plan to be next year and to finish for my 6th time.
I have some Leadville 100 photos uploaded. Superhuman magazine has once again created a great Leadville 100 video.
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