Update: he didn’t race in 2007 but Lance Armstrong has entered for 2008. In 2007 Landis finished 2nd.
As I posted a couple days ago, everything was pointing to Lance doing the Leadville 100 on August 11th. Yesterday Bicycling published an article that basically confirms it. I doubt Lance or Landis will be at the top form of the careers but it should still make for an interesting race. Hopefully it won’t make things too crazy for crews to get between aid stations.
Update: Lance didn’t race in 2007 but did in 2008. See videos of Lance and Dave Wiens.
There’s no official word yet but everything points to Lance Armstrong racing the Leadville 100 mountain bike race on August 11th. In December he said he had a scheduling conflict and bailed on doing the race.
In April my doctor told me that a Leadville local had told him that Lance was doing the race on a new Trek bike. A little over a week ago he rode 45 miles of the Leadville 100 course with Chris Carmichael. From what I can tell, they started in Leadville and rode to the bottom of the Powerline or a little farther and then rode back.
Today someone posted to the Leadville 100 Yahoo group, that Lance was going to be here in Colorado Springs 2 days before the race for a charity event. I tracked down that he’ll doing a fundraiser for Kids on Bikes at the Broadmoor Hotel the evening of August 9th after doing 2 kid’s bike rides in the afternoon. The timing of the fundraiser here is perfect for him to be in Leadville for the race. We’re less than a 3 hour drive away from Leadville.
Floyd Landis still says he’s still racing the Leadville 100. Unless he’s in a lot better shape than he was at the Vail Teva Mountain games he won’t be a threat to Lance for the win. I have my doubts that Lance is in the kind of shape either to win over Dave Wiens but it seems we have a good chance at finding out.
Update: A Bicycling article says Lance is doing Leadville.
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Update: he didn’t race in 2007 but Lance Armstrong has entered for 2008.
On July 1st, Lance Armstrong rode 45 miles of the Leadville 100 mountain bike course with his long time coach, Chris Carmichael. Carmichael says that Lance is looking fit and riding well off-road.
Lance bailed on doing the race and claimed he had a scheduling conflict just after Floyd Landis said he was also doing the race. A couple months ago my doctor said that he had heard Lance was still doing the Leadville 100. Here’s what Carmichael had to say about it.
Of course, now that he’s ridden part of the course, everyone wants to know if he’s going to race the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race on August 11. I don’t know, yet. He liked what he saw and was impressed by how hard some of the climbs are, but his schedule is pretty packed. He originally had to cancel his plans to do Leadville because of a schedule conflict, and it remains to be seen whether he’d be able to squeeze it in somehow. I’ll keep you posted.
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In an rticle in the Rocky Mountain News today, Floyd Landis says he still plans on racing the Leadville 100 mountain bike race on August 11th. He hopes to hopes to be better at Leadville than he did Teva Mountain Games earlier this month in Vail.
Ken Chlouber confirmed that he runs that race as a NORBA sanctioned event because of the insurance they provide. He says if Landis is suspended and can’t race NORBA he’ll drop NORBA and get insurance elsewhere. Now the question is, will Lance show up too?
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Update: he didn’t race in 2007 but Lance Armstrong has entered for 2008.
In November Lance Armstrong said he was going to race the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race this year. Then in mid December Floyd Landis said he was also doing the Leadville 100. The end of December Lance claimed to have a scheduling conflict and wasn’t going to be able to race the Leadville 100.
When the entrant list for this year’s Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race was released in February, neither Floyd nor Lance were on the list. Floyd has the Leadville 100 logo on his blog (no longer active). The April 16th VeloNews has an article about Floyd and it says he is still doing the Leadville 100.
Friday I went in to my doctor because my back was hurting from the SI join in my hip being locked up. He has a place in Leadville and goes up there quite a bit. The last time he was up there he was talking to his friend that lives there and is racing the Leadville 100 this year. His friend said that Lance is planning to race the Leadville 100 this year. Trek has some new bike that they want him to ride. My doctor didn’t know what bike it is and whether it’s one that’s already available.
I still think it would be really cool if both Floyd and Lance would race this year. There’s the issue of Floyd’s doping case and I haven’t been able to find anything anywhere else to confirm that Lance is planning to race. Also having two big names there could certainly impact the great atmosphere of the race.
Update: Lance didn’t race but Floyd Landis finished 2nd
Related Links: 2007 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike pictures | 2006 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike pictures | Views from the Top of Columbine Climb
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I was checking that I had linked correctly from my previous post to the 2007 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race Entrant list. One of the Google Ads on the page was for finding a psychiatrist. Somebody must think Leadville 100 racers are a bunch of crazies.
Word from the local Bicycle Village is that Floyd Landis will be having a Town Hall Q&A; sometime in May. The date is still being worked out. My guess is it’ll be similar to the one they did at their Westminster store.
By the way, the Leadville 100 logo is on Floyd’s blog even though he isn’t on the 2007 Leadville 100 entrant list.
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The list of people that made it through the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike lottery has been posted on the Leadville 100 website. The only problem is it’s an Excel file embeded into the web page. If you don’t have Excel or something that can read Excel files, you can’t view it. Even if you have Excel you’ll probably get a security warning. I’ve converted the entrant list and put it on my website so it’s a regular web page.
There are 927 racers on the list. I think that is about 100 more than they’ve let in the last couple years. The interesting thing is that Floyd Landis isn’t on the list. Are they reserving a spot for him if his doping charges are cleared up or is he not in? It does say the list is preliminary.
Ingrid on the Yahoo LT100 Bike group went through and figured out how many got in from each state, their ages and gender. The youngest is 22 and the oldest is 71. 808 men are entered and 119 are women. 38.66% of women are between 40-45 and 24% of the men are 40-45. See her post if you want the detailed stats.
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There’s only a week left to get into the lottery for this year’s Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race. I’ve decided not to try to get in since I haven’t figured out what I’m doing this year. Even before I got injured, I was really out of shape and had gained 25 pounds since RAAM. I hope to be in race shape before the Leadville 100 but there’s plenty of other races I want to do that don’t require me to put in money on the line until shortly before the race. I plan to do Leadville again in the future but this year doesn’t seem the right year.
If you want to get in your entry must be received not just mailed by January 31st. Exactly how the lottery works is a bit of a mystery but over the years I’ve learned some things about it. Some racers automatically get in. I’ve known that the few racers that have raced every year get in. Also those that are super-human or crazy enough to also do the run get in. Ken Clouber, the race promoter, always says you get preferential treatment the following year if you volunteer for one of the races. Everybody I’ve talked to that has volunteered had gotten in the next year.
I’ve also heard that if you’ve not been picked for 2 years in a row that you’ll get in the next year if you try. I didn’t get in the first 2 years I tried. The first time was the year before they started the lottery. I also volunteered the 2nd year I didn’t get in so the fact I got in the third year probably doesn’t prove that theory.
Now with all the attention the Leadville 100 has gotten because of Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, I’ve learned a couple more things. In an article in the Herald Democrat on January 4th, Ken says there’s always been a lottery exemption for sponsored racers. He doesn’t say what the definition of a sponsored racer is and I’m sure it doesn’t include guys sponsored by their local bike shop. I think the sponsored athletes still have to have their entry in on time because I’ve heard that Dave Wiens didn’t get to race the first year he wanted to but he tried getting in after the deadline.
He also says the defending champion is automatically in which only makes sense. Another sure way to get in is to move to Leadville because locals don’t have to go through the lottery. Also those that have raced more than 5 years and are going for the 1,000 mile giant buckle. I had noticed that guys I know that have done Leadville several times always get back in so it was pretty obvious there was this exemption but I wasn’t sure how many years were needed. I did it 4 years in a row but haven’t done it the last couple years. It looks like that I will have to race one more year to automatically get in. Or is that 2 more since he said more than 5 years?
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I’ve been wondering whether Floyd Landis will be able to race the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race if he doesn’t win his fight against the doping charge from last year’s Tour de France. Yesterday Ed posted on the Yahoo LT100Bike Group about his conversation with Ken, the Leadville 100 race organizer, when he dropped off his entry form. A portion of it is below and you can read the rest of the post here although I think you have to sign in.
I asked if he was concerned that NORBA wouldn’t allow Landis to compete. Wrong question. I mean, really wrong question. I found out that Ken “doesn’t give a flyin’ f**k what NORBA thinks, it’s his d**n race and if Landis wants to ride, he’s in.” (I guess the lottery thing isn’t 100% for everybody huh?)
Then, and I quote, “And one more thing. If NORBA’s supposed to be connected with USA cycling, then why the hell wasn’t the people in charge of USA cycling standing by a USA cyclist who was being framed by the f****n’ French? Bunch of pissant p**sies.”
That was just for starters. Before long he really got going.
“What a bunch of crazy bulls**t—are they all out of their minds?
Sayin’ that testosterone could make you win a d**n race. Hell, if that s**t worked, I’d have won ever d**n race I ever entered. I take a bath in that crap ever’ single mornin’!” (That I don’t doubt!)
I should have guessed that would be his attitude. After doing the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race 4 times, the Silver Rush 3 times, crewing for the MTB race, and volunteering for the 100 mile run and the 10k, I’ve had a several interactions with him and don’t find it hard to believe he’d say that.
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