UltraRob's Adventures

Last night was the showing of the Race Across the Sky which is about the 2009 Leadville 100 mountain bike race. The movie was sold out in many locations across the country. It was planned as a one night showing but because of it's popularity, there is going to be an encore on November 12th, 2009.

There were 1400 racers entered in the Leadville 100 mountain bike race with some racers taking over 12 hours to finish. That makes for lots of interesting stories to be condensed down to about an hour and a half. Not surprisingly the focus of the movie was on Lance Armstrong, Dave Wiens and a few of the other top racers.

In typical Dave Wiens style, he thanked the volunteers at the top of the Columbine Climb as he went by. It was entertaining to watch Lance Armstrong trying to fix his flat late in the race. In the short panel discussion shown before and after the race, he admits he can't fix a flat to save his life. At the finish line, Dave Wiens said, "Last year Lance was just off the couch, this year he was just off the Tour de France."

Although the movie focused on the leaders, there were shots of average riders throughout the movie. Riders farther back were shown suffering as they pushed their bikes up the Columbine climb. There was an emotional scene as riders that were too slow missed the time cut-off at the Twin Lakes aid station and were forced to stop racing.

The emotional and inspirational story of Roxanne Hall was highlighted. Last year she was hit by a car while training for the Leadville 100. Her back was broken in several places and she had many other life threatening injuries. Not only did she fight back from her injuries but she raced this year.

Grace Ragland chatted briefly as she hike-a-biked up the Columbine Climb. She was diagnosed with MS 20 years ago if I remember correctly.

I saw about a a dozen racers that I know. One was Ricky McDonald. He's one of a handful of racers that have finished the Leadville 100 MTB all 16 years. We used to race shorter NORBA races together back in the '90s. He's still riding the same bike and riding in his Team Huffy Fred shirt.

Overall I thought the movie was great. It gives family and friends a glimpse into our experience that we have when we race it. Sure it doesn't give the full feeling of being there racing or crewing but it would be impossible to portray it all in a movie.

There were some complaints about the video and audio quality and the soundtrack on the Yahoo Leadville 100 list. I thought the video was plenty good although there were some water drops on the lens a couple times and occasional video shaking on the rough roads. I'm not a good judge of music. It would have to be really terrible for it to bother me. There were also some complaints about focusing too much on the leaders.

Maybe I'm not enough of a movie critic, but I enjoyed the Race Across the Sky for what it was. My biggest complaint would be that it doesn't show how steep and tough the climbs are. I was with a group of 16 people and I only heard talk about it being great and no complaints.

Don't Go to the Encore If ...

• You're looking for a compelling story line
• You don't want the movie to be about Lance Armstrong and Dave Wiens
• You don't like to hear Bob Roll's wild descriptive phrases
• You want it to be about your Leadville 100 experience
• You expect Hollywood quality filming

If none of the above apply and you missed the movie last night, you should go see it on November 12th. Locations aren't listed yet but check the Race Across the Sky encore info page soon for details.

- UltraRob

Related Links

• Leadville 100 Mountain Bike FAQ
• 2009 Leadville 100 Photos
• Full 2009 Leadville 100 Results

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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

Update 9/25/09: Leadville 100 mountain bike movie tickets are now on sale

Last week Citizen Pictures posted the trailer for the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike movie they're producing. It shows some of the awesome views you get during the race. Not that I notice much during the race but I know them well from training rides. Since they had a helicopter, they show a great bird's eye view of the Columbine Climb.

The movie is to be in theaters next month. I haven't found any info yet on when and where. I certainly hope it'll be here but I'd drive to Denver to see it. I talked to them briefly the day before the race but didn't get any more info than to keep checking the website.

I'll post more info once I get it.

- UltraRob

Related Links

• Leadville 100 Mountain Bike FAQ
• 2009 Leadville 100 Photos
• Full 2009 Leadville 100 Results

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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

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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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

With Lance Armstrong fresh off his 3rd place at the Tour de France, lots of people think he'll win easily over Dave Wiens at this year's Leadville 100. I agree Lance seems in much better shape than last year. It also seems that finishing 2nd last year got under his skin so he's motivated.

Dave Wiens has won the Leadville 100 six years in a row and holds the course record. He knows better than anyone how to race the Leadville 100. He has also been training hard this summer. I put together a fun list for MTBR of the top 10 reasons Dave Wiens will beat Lance Armstrong this Saturday.

10.) Twin Lakes is going to have its annual Coloradoans vs Texans tomato war a couple weeks early. It won’t go well for Lance.

9.) Dave won’t crash in the creek crossing at the bottom of Powerline like Lance did in a Winter Park race in 1999.

8.) Dave is from Colorado and not a transplant from Texas

7.) Dave has figured out how to use the electricity on Powerline to climb faster.

6.) The Tour de France wasn’t a good way to train for the Leadville 100

Go see the article on MTBR to see the rest of the top 10 reasons Dave Wiens will beat Lance Armstrong in the 2009 Leadville 100.

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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100

This Saturday morning well over a 1,000 mountain bikers will line up on 6th street in Leadville. It will still be dark and very chilly when they show up to secure their starting position for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race.

Many of the racers will be attempting to finish in under 9 hours to receive the coveted "big buckle". Many more will be there just hoping to finish under the 12 hour cut-off. At the front will be a handful attempting to beat 7 time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

Dave Wiens, 6 time Leadville 100 winner, has the best shot at beating Lance Armstrong. He accomplished it last year by just under 2 minutes. This year though Lance has been back racing in the Pro road peloton so I expect Wiens will have to ride faster to keep his winning streak alive. Tinker Juarez should also do well.

So with all the buzz from Lance racing the Leadville 100 for the 2nd time, you might be wondering how you can watch the Leadville 100. I don't know of any race day TV coverage although Citizen Pictures is planning a television show.

There will be a live webcast with 4 segments throughout the day. It will cost $5.95 for all 4 shows.

If you live close enough, you can view some great mountain bike racing and Colorado scenery. There are 3 good spots for watching the race. They are the Start/Finish, bottom of Powerline and on County Road 10. Another great place to watch would be at timberline on the Columbine Climb but the road is closed on race day since it's the course.

I have a Leadville 100 course map that'll give you an overview of the course. There are camera icons on it. Clicking on the icons will pop up a photo of that part of the course. It's a live Google Map so you can zoom in and pan around.

Start/Finish

The Leadville 100 starts at the corner of 6th Street and Harrison Avenue. Harrison is also Highway 24 and the main route through Leadville. Harrison is closed the morning of the race. Near race time it's hard to find parking within a few blocks.

The race starts at 6:30 AM. It's interesting to hang out and see everyone getting ready. A little before the start, I recommend walking about 5 blocks down 6th Street so you're up on a little hill and can see the racers stretched out for blocks when the start.

If Lance breaks 6 hours like he thinks is possible, he'll be back to the finish a little before 12:30. I doubt it'll be much before 1:00 but you never know. The largest number of finishers will probably be coming in around 4-5 PM. The last riders will be rolling across the line as late as 7:30 PM.

Here are slideshows of Leadville 100 pre-race and start and finish in 2008.

Bottom of Powerline

Directions and Larger Maps

The bottom of Powerline is a flying descent on the way out and a brutal climb headed back toward the finish. There's also a small creek crossing at the bottom that can be an entertaining spot to watch.

The Google Map above marks the dirt road that cuts back to the Powerline. The big cut running straight up the mountain is the Powerline. The paved road past the dirt road to the Powerline is closed race day because it's part of the course. Park along the road before that and walk in. Pay attention and stay out of the way of the racers.

The lead riders should be coming down Powerline just before 8 AM and be heading back up around 11:15. The last riders inbound will be a little after 3:30 PM.

Here are slideshows of racers coming down Powerline and of them heading up Powerline.

County Road 10

Directions and Larger Map

County Road 10 is about 8 miles south of Leadville on US 24. It's then almost 2 miles to the intersection of County Road 24A. This is where the racers will be coming off the new singletrack and onto the road.

I expect the lead riders will be through around 8:30 AM outbound and coming back around 10:45. Likely there will be a few racers still headed outbound when the leaders return. The last riders will be back through around 3:00 PM.

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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

Twitter has become popular in the last few months. Lance Armstrong has been using it for quite a while and tweeting regularly. This year there are several riders, crew and commentators tweeting from the Tour de France.

I decided this weekend to put a page together that updates with the latest Tour de France riders, staff and commentators tweets. I'm intentionally not getting twitter search results for #tdf because of the large number of tweets.

Bookmark the page and get the insiders view of the Tour de France. If you have suggestions on improving the page or other feedback, leave a comment below.

Below is a sample of some recent tweets. Go here for the latest tweets.

http://twitter.com/tourfrance Tour-Armstrong has rendezvous with Contador in the Alps (Reuters) http://ow.ly/15Hxip

lancearmstrong Oops, sorry. This is the video link. http://tinyurl.com/nmcn9o

lancearmstrong On the plane to Limoges. It's about 120 degrees in here. Hotter than donut grease. Haha.

LeviLeipheimer The crowd on the Tourmalet was RIDICULOUS!! It was awesome! Thanks to everyone who journeyed their way up there

CadelOfficial http://twitpic.com/a4no4 - We're looking after our young Matt Lloyd as best we can....

CadelOfficial I got mooned racing through Lourdes today.... Err....enlighten me.... is that special?

mickrogers Stage went much better today. Back felt 100% better than yesterday :-) On the way to the airport to catch the TdF charter plane

LizKreutz http://twitpic.com/a4aol - Holy crap! Descending Tourmalet with French TV (since they have a green sticker and can be in the middle of t ...

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Labels: cycling, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

In an interview on VeloNews, Lance Armstrong says he is bringing Levi Leipheimer to the Leadville 100 in August. He says the Tour de France and his other races are just a build up to Leadville. He says "seriously" and then he gives a big smile. This years race is August 15th.

He thinks with a strong group of racers they can bring the record down close to 6 hours. Dave Wiens set the record last year at 6:45 with Lance at 6:47. In 2007 Wiens set the old record of 6:58 with Floyd Landis pushing him. My personal record is 8:18.

Dave Wiens has won the last 6 years. He's a Colorado native and is a huge favorite of the racers and fans. I'm sure he'll come in top form and I hope he makes it win #7.

I'm sure I'll just get glimpse of the top riders on their way down as I start my crawl up the Columbine Climb. I'll be going to my 6th Leadville finish.

Related Links: Leadville 100 FAQ | Preliminary 2009 Leadville 100 Entrants | 2008 Wiens and Lance Leadville 100 Videos | 2007 Leadville 100 Photos

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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100

Today a video was posted on LiveStrong.com with Lance confirming he plans to come back and win an 8th Tour de France. The Vanity Fair article that VeloNews said was to announce his comeback has also been posted online.

In the Vanity Fair article he says he had an epiphany at the Leadville 100. Even before that he must have been thinking about a comeback because he had already asked to be put back in the out-of-competition testing pool.

The impetus to come back, he says, sprang upon him quite unexpectedly over the summer, in Colorado. Armstrong had an epiphany on August 9 after placing second at the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain-Bike Race—a 100-mile “Race Across the Sky,” which climbs to more than 14,000 feet. That ascent, cycling upward in a crosscurrent, tripped something primal in him. “It wasn’t a lightbulb going off,” he says, but a realization, combined with a gradual frustration “with the rhetoric coming out of the Tour de France. Not just the Tour on TV but the domestic press, the international press, the pace, the speeds at which participants rode. It’s not a secret. I mean, the pace was slow.

“Then Leadville, this kind of obscure bike race, totally kick-started my engine. For me it’s always been about the process.… The process of getting there is the best part. You start the season a little out of shape, a little heavy. You get in better shape. You lose some weight. I mean you’re just crafting this perfect program. For several weeks I [had] trained [for Leadville] and went riding by myself. Obviously beautiful territory and fresh air, just feeling fit, losing weight, getting strong—living a very healthy lifestyle. I thought, This might be fun to try again.”

One correction to that quote from the Vanity Fair article is that the high point of the Leadville 100 is 12,600 feet instead of over 14,000 feet. The 14,000 number was also in articles when it was announced he was racing at the Leadville 100. It could be referring to the cumulative climbing during the race. I think there's about 13,000 feet of climbing but I've also heard numbers higher than 14,000.

The Vanity Fair article addresses the question of why he's coming back. He says it's all about increasing cancer awareness and funding. He will announce an international LIVESTRONG strategy on September 24th in New York City at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Those close to him at the Lance Armstrong Foundation also realize it's a huge risk. Even if he wins the Tour, it may not be a big deal to a lot of people. If he doesn't win, people may use that to say he doped in the past to win.

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Labels: cycling, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

Nate Whitman Leads Lance Armstrong at the 2008 Leadville 100

Update: Lance has confirmed he plans to win the Tour de France again.

Lance Armstrong may have raced in the Leadville 100 to test himself for something bigger. Today VeloNews published the rumor that Lance Armstrong may come out of retirement and race in the 2009 Tour de France.

My initial reaction when I saw the headline was that it had to be a joke. The article seems serious though. Although I can understand him missing competition, he went out at the top of his sport and I'm not sure what he has to gain by coming back. Doing something like the Leadville 100 allows him to compete but not be compared to when he was at the height of his career.

According to the article, he would race for Astana for no salary or bonuses. Interestingly Astana is sponsored by Trek and Johan Bruyneel is the team manager. He would have the same bike sponsor and team manager as in his 7 Tour wins.

In addition to the Tour de France, he may do

• Tour of California
• Paris-Nice
• Tour de Georgia
• Dauphine-Libere

Related Links: Lance Armstrong and Dave Wiens Leadville Videos | Lance Armstrong's Leadville 100 Bike | Leadville 100 MTB FAQ | 2007 Leadville 100 MTB pictures

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Labels: cycling, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 for the 2008 Leadville 100

Update: Lance posted this photo of his 2009 Leadville 100 bike.

Before the Leadville 100 mountain bike race, there was some buzz about Lance Armstrong's sweet bike after VeloNews had a short article on it. It's full suspension and was under 22 pounds without bottle cages, computer and seat pack. Even with those is was still under 23 pounds.

I got a close look at it the afternoon before the race. The engine is more important but I sure wouldn't complain if I had his bike. Here are the specs for Lance's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 for the 2008 Leadville 100 according to Ben Coates post on the Trek blog and the info he provided to VeloNews.

• 19.5 inch Trek Top Fuel 9.8 frame with long seat cap
• SID World Cup fork w/handlebar lockout
• DT Swiss rear shock w/handlebar lockout
• Avid Juicy Ultimates with 140mm rear Stan’s rotor
• Bontrager Race X Lite wheels
• Bontrager Jones XR Team Issue Tubeless Ready Tires
• Bontrager XXX Lite Riser Bar
• 120 mm Bontrager X Lite Stem
• Bontrager Race X Lite Carbon Bottle Cage
• Shimano XTR Cranks
• Shimano XTR Derailleur (rapid rise on rear)
• Shimano XTR Cassette
• Shimano XTR Shifters
• Shimano XTR Chain
• Shimano XTR Pedals (VeloNews listed Crankbrothers 4 Ti Candy pedals)
• Nokon cable housing
• Bontrager Race Lite lock on grips
• Bontrager Inform saddle

For those of you that want to drool a bit more, here are some closer pictures of the components.

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Drive Train and Rear Shock

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Handlebar

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Fork and Front Tire

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Front Disc Rotor


Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Saddle

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Crankset and Rear Shock

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Cassette and Rear Derailleur

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Rear Tire

Lance Armstrong's Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Suspension Linkage

Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop Sticker


Related Links: Lance Armstrong and Dave Wiens Leadville Videos | Leadville 100 MTB FAQ | 2007 Leadville 100 MTB pictures

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Labels: Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

August 9th, 2008, Lance Armstrong competed in the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. Even most non-cyclists know who Lance is. Five time defending Leadville 100 champ, Dave Wiens, is less well known.

Even though Dave Wiens is less well known than Lance, he had a very successful mountain bike career. He won 2 World Cup races and numerous NORBA races. Dave was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2000.

During the early 90s, I saw Dave at many races in Colorado. Before mountain biking grew in popularity, often the Pros and Experts would start together and I'd be close to him on the start line.

Dave's wife, Susan DeMattei, was also a top pro mountain biker. In 1996 she won a bronze medal at the Olympics in Atlanta. In 1994 she won the silver medal at Worlds. She was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1997.

Here are several videos of what became a race between Dave Wiens and Lance. Course conditions were great from rain leading up to the race. With the good course conditions and by working together they shattered the course record Wiens set in 2007 when Floyd Landis raced.

Note: I've had trouble with YouTube video stopping after 2 seconds with FireFox. Upgrading to Flash 10 beta seems to have fixed it.


Lance Armstrong and David Wiens talking at the pre-race meeting.


Closer view of Lance Armstrong at the pre-race meeting.


Closer view of Dave Wiens at the pre-race meeting.


Great summary video of the 2008 Leadville 100.


Another good summary video that shows some different spots.


Good video of that start that shows just how many racers there are. The race is so popular that there's a lottery to do it.


Another video of the start.


Lead riders go through the Pipeline aid station outbound.


Dave Wiens and Lance Armstrong hike-a-bike up the "North Face".


Dave Wiens and Lance Armstrong come into the Pipeline aid station on the way back.


Dave Wiens wins his 6th Leadville 100 with a new record of 6:45:45!


Lance finishes the 2008 Leadville 100 almost 2 minutes behind Dave Wiens.


Lance after he finished. It looks like he's in the medical tent and shows his bloody elbow from his crash.


Lance calls Dave Wiens a stud at the awards ceremony and also mentions he may race Leadville again in 2009.


Lance gives a few thoughts on the race.


This video isn't of Dave Wiens or Lance Armstrong but shows more of the course from a flip video camera on one of the racers.

Related Links: Lance Armstrong Pre-Leadville Videos | Leadville 100 MTB FAQ

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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

Update: Watch videos of Dave Wiens and Lance Armstrong at the 2008 Leadville 100 | Complete unofficial 2008 Leadville 100 mountain bike results


Dave Wiens won the Leadville 100 mountain bike race yesterday. Lance Armstrong hung with him until about 10 miles to go.

Even though I'm 35 lbs over my race weight and only started training 6 weeks ago, I managed to finish in 11:21. That's over 3 hours longer than my best time.

It was a long, painful day for me. It certainly wasn't fitness that got me through the race. I just kept crawling along and probably was stopped less than 5 minutes the whole race.

Usually aid station splits are updated during the race and finish times posted and racers finish. They don't seem to be posted this year except for unofficial results for the top 24.

1 Dave Wiens 6:45:45
2 Lance Armstrong 6:47:41
3 Manuel Prado 7:20:52 
4 Ethan Passant 7:27:54
5 Jonathan Scholnick 7:30:16
6 Max Taam 7:32:26
7 Nate Whitman 7:39:14
8 Jim Lehman 7:39:35
9 Kevin Andrews 7:42:18  
10 Kimo Seymour 7:43:31
11 Jake Rubelt 7:44:31
12 Chuck Gibson 7:44:31
13 Dax Massey 7:45:54
14 Garth Prosser 7:48:52
15 Jim Silverman 7:49:21
16 Ted MacBlane 7:49:37
17 Joel Mischke 7:51:27
18 Kent McNeill 7:56:17
19 Keith Collins 7:56:18
20 Bill MacFarlane 7:57:02
21 Yuki Saito 7:58:10
22 Paul Gorbold 7:59:03
23 Jeff Wardell 7:59:51
24 Ryan Hamilton 8:00:31

Related Links: Leadville 100 MTB FAQ | 2007 Leadville 100 MTB pictures | 2006 Leadville 100 MTB pictures | Views from the Top of the Columbine Climb

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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

The Leadville 100 starts in the morning. I'm about to find out if I can finish when I'm 35 lbs over my race and only trained for 6 weeks. I'm still giving myself a 50/50 chance of finishing.

Both Dave Wiens and Lance Armstrong talked a bit at the racer meeting today. Dave talked about how he's been coming to Leadville since he was young. One of his first races was the Mosquito Pass race here.

Lance downplayed how well he'll do. He said he'll be happy to be within an hour of Dave. Somehow I don't believe that. He did say he'll be showered and had meal by the time Chris Carmichael finishes. He rode the Columbine climb last week and said it was really tough.

One of the Trek guys had Lance's bike out near the start. It is one sweet bike. Of course it's more the engine than the bike.

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Labels: Colorado, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

Here are a couple videos of Lance Armstrong when he was at Leadville last week pre-riding part of the Leadville 100 course. When I got some parts at Colorado Cyclist on Saturday, I talked to a guy whose roommate had gone up with the Carmichael Training Sytems group to ride with Lance. He said Lance was looking fit.

The 2nd video is of Lance and a couple other guys starting up the Columbine Climb. I recognize the spot at the end where the dog is barking and it isn't very far up. At that point you're close to the lowest point on the course around 9,000 feet and from there you climb to the high point at 12,600 feet.

Update: Lance Armstrong and Dave Wiens race videos





Related Links: Race Videos of Dave Wiens and Lance | Will Lance Show at the 2008 Leadville 100? | Leadville 100 MTB FAQ | 2007 Leadville 100 MTB pictures | 2006 Leadville 100 MTB pictures | Views from the Top of the Columbine Climb

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Labels: Colorado, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

Update: Lance finished 2nd in the 2008 Leadville 100. See videos of Lance and Dave Wiens at the Leadville 100.

In January Lance Armstrong did the Miles of Discomfort mountain bike race. He dropped out from cramps 43 miles into the 52 mile race. The word was that he was training for the the Leadville 100.

In March Biking Bis reported that Chris Carmichael, Lance's long time coach, said Lance was planning to do the Leadville 100. Since then I haven't been able to find anything about Lance doing the Leadville 100 until today.

Today Ken Chlouber announced that Lance has entered the Leadville 100. Early last year, it appeared there would be a battle between Lance and Floyd Landis. Soon after Landis announced he'd be racing, Lance said he had a scheduling conflict. In July Lance rode part of the course and it seemed he would be racing. In the end Lance didn't show but Landis did race and finished 2nd to Dave Wiens.

Ricky, one of the very few that have finished every Leadville 100 MTB race, has posted on the Leadville 100 Yahoo group that Ken had also told him about Lance racing. Lance told Ken he wasn't in that good of shape but thought he could still finish in the top 10. Of course he'll have to actually show up.

I doubt we'll see a race between Lance and Landis this year. Although Landis was going to be racing the National Ultra-Endurance Series this year, he hasn't done any of them since CAS ruled against him in his 2006 Tour de France doping case.

Related Links: Leadville 100 MTB FAQ | 2007 Leadville 100 MTB pictures | 2006 Leadville 100 MTB pictures | Views from the Top of the Columbine Climb

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Labels: Colorado, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

Greg LeMond spoke at a fundraiser at the Air Force Academy last night. It was only $15 for USA Cycling members. I was considering going but with everything else I have going on I decided not to.

Did anyone else go? The only thing I've found about it was an opinion column in The Gazette.

I used to be a big fan of LeMond. When he was winning the Tour de France, was when I was really getting into cycling. I dreamed of becoming like him.

The last few years, LeMond seems to have become bitter. He's squabbled with Lance Armstrong and accused him of doping. He accused Floyd Landis of doping. LeMond tries making it sound like he won everything clean. Cycling has a long history of doping even much farther back than LeMond. I'd like to think he won clean just like I'd like to think Armstrong and Landis were clean. Unfortunately with all the doping scandals of the last few years, I don't think many if any top pros raced clean. There's also the fight between LeMond and Trek.

LeMond was in town training and checking out the velodrome for a possible hour record. I think it was 1991. My friend figured out he was staying at the Broadmoor hotel. He saw him leave on his bike mid morning one day. The next day we just happened to be casually riding around the hotel about the same time.

LeMond came out and headed out for a ride. He kept messing with his shoes and we caught up to him and never let on we knew who he was. After riding with him for to the edge of town, he explained that the he was going to use the motorcycle in front of us to do some motor pacing. He said he'd be going very fast and would be riding very close to the motorcycle. He asked us to not stay with him.

Later that day, we found him at the velodrome. After he was finished training, I was able to get a picture with him. I haven't seen it in a while. He also autographed my foam helmet. I still have the helmet in a box.

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Labels: cycling, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

It seems that Lance Armstrong has turned his back on cycling. He has better things to do now. When asked about the Landis doping decision, he said

"I'd love to answer the question but unfortunately I'm out of that business. I'm here to fight cancer. I haven't looked online. I still love the bike and ride all the time but on the competitive side I'm just not engaged." Found via Biking Bis

I agree fighting cancer is more important than cycling but it gave him the platform to fight cancer. A lot of the LAF fund-raisers involve cycling. He isn't at the top end of competition but that's what partly feeds recreational cycling. He should use his champion status to help the sport but he's not.

He's not out of that business. He just doesn't want to answer the tough questions about the state the sport is in. Several of his teammates have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. He used a doctor that was associated with doping. I believe there are doping issues but as we've seen with the Landis case, the anti-doping bureaucracy is also corrupt. Cycling isn't the only sport with doping problems, other sports have them too.

Update: Lance has now made a comment on the Landis verdict.

"When you are giving someone the death penalty, which they essentially did, you cannot tolerate shoddy work, which they clearly did. I don't understand that type of rationale. I don't understand the verdict.

More about his comments at Biking Bis.

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Labels: cycling, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong

Last Thursday night Lance Armstrong was in town for a fundraiser for Kids on Bikes. Our local paper had an article about his visit. Why did Lance start riding a bike? He said, “I didn’t really learn how to ride it until the girl next door who was the same age as me learned how to ride it. That day, I rode.”

Lance went to high school here in town for a couple years in the late 1980's while he was on the U.S. junior team. I'm only a year older than him and I rode some with the junior team but I think it was probably after Lance was here.

Local sports columnist and fitness trainer, Milo Bryant, wrote that he thinks Lance should save cycling. I always like reading Milo's articles since he isn't afraid to say what he thinks. He also tries getting people to be more active instead of sitting in front of the TV.

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Labels: Colorado Springs, cycling, Lance Armstrong, mountain biking

Update: he didn't race in 2007 but Lance Armstrong has entered for 2008.

A few weeks ago I posted the reasons it seemed that Lance Armstrong was still going to race the Leadville 100 this year. A Bicycling article the next day basically confirmed it. Since then a post on the LT100Bike group said that someone that had ridden with Lance at RAGBRAI had asked him about the Leadville 100. According to the poster, Lance said he wasn't doing this year but he wants to race and win it next year.

Someone also posted a link to a VeloNews article. In it Mark Higgins, Armstrong's spokesperson, was quoted saying that Lance still has a scheduling conflict and won't be doing it this year. Joe Polk also posted today on MTBCast that he had talked to Ken Clouber this morning and Ken hasn't heard anything from Lance. Ken did confirm that he has Floyd Landis's race application

With him being here in town Thursday night, it really seemed like he was planning on racing. We're only a 2 1/2 hour drive away. It's possible he just doesn't want people to know he'll be there. That seems unlikely since there was a lot of publicity about him doing RAGBRAI and the New York Marathon. Ken should also have heard from him.

Related Links: Floyd Landis Sightings | Leadville 100 Mountain Bike 2006 pictures | Views from the Top of Columbine Climb | Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race Lottery | Leadville 100 MTB Entrant List

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Labels: cycling, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

Just because a bike or component has a company's logo on it doesn't mean that's who made it. Over the years top pro riders have used custom bikes painted to look like bikes from the team bike sponsor. Lance Armstrong at times used a Litespeed painted to look like a Trek. There's a good article on cyclingnews.com that details some of the customized bikes or re-labeled components at this year's Tour de France.

Even when I was on the Schwinn/Grand West Outfitters mountain bike development team, we had bikes that weren't what they appeared to be. When Schwinn came out with their Homegrown frame, they wanted us racing it but demand was greater than their production capacity. The had the .1 frame that had the same geometry but I believe was made in Taiwan instead of the US. It also was a different aluminum and the frame weighed slightly more than the Homegrown. The color was also different.

As I remember they shipped the frames unpainted to the US where they were painted like a Homegrown. When we got them the decals weren't even on. We spent an evening at Grand West applying decals and building up the bikes. Some of us considered putting the decals on in unique ways but I think they all ended up where they were supposed to. I got asked several times at races how I liked my Homegrown.

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Labels: cycling, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

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.

Labels: cycling, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

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.

Related Links: Leadville 100 FAQ | Leadville 100 Mountain Bike 2006 pictures | Views from the Top of Columbine Climb | Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race Lottery | Leadville 100 MTB Entrant List

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Labels: Colorado Springs, cycling, Dave Wiens, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

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.

Related Links: 2007 Leadville 100 Entrant List | Leadville 100 Mountain Bike 2006 pictures | Views from the Top of Columbine Climb

Labels: cycling, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

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. 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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Labels: cycling, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

A press release today confirms that Floyd Landis plans to race the Leadville 100 in 2007. It says that race directory Ken Chlouber invited him to do the race. I'm still not sure what will happen if his doping issues aren't cleared up by then since it is a NORBA sanctioned race.

My money is on Floyd Landis winning the race but I'm sure this will make Lance train harder. See my previous post about Lance's attempts at mountain biking in 1999 after his first Tour de France win. Although I don't consider Leadville to be technical, handling skills will still be a small factor. Landis started his career as a mountain biker and made the switch to the road in 1998. Armstrong has done a few races off-road and has better skills than most roadies but he won't be able to hang with Landis going down the Powerline or Columbine. Plus when was the last time Lance did something on his own? Even at the New York Marathon he had other runners to pace him.

Thanks to Biking Bis for tracking down the press release.

Labels: cycling, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

The Leadville Chronicle has an article about Lance Armstrong doing the Leadville 100 next year. In my post a couple days ago, I said I didn't think Ken and Merilee would let him in just because he's a celebrity. Based on Ken's comments in the article, it sounds like I may have been wrong about that.

Labels: Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking

After Lance Armstrong ran the New York Marathon, he made mentioned being interested in doing the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race. There was some speculation on the LT100Bike Yahoo group but I don't think very many thought he was serious. Bicycling has posted an article based on a question and answer session last week at the opening of his new Lance Armstrong 24 Hours Of Fitness in Austin, TX. It says that he has a bet with Chris Carmichael about doing it. There's also an article on the Carmichael Training Systems website.

Before he can do the the Leadville 100, he'll have to make the lottery. I doubt Ken and Merilee will just let him in for being a celebrity although they certainly give preferential treatment to volunteers and some others in the lottery. If he keeps talking about doing it, I'll guess a lot more people will enter the lottery which will mean a reduced chance of getting in. If he really wants a challenge he should try the Durango 100 or Montezuma's Revenge.

My first job out of college, I worked with a girl that thought Lance was the greatest. That was before he had cancer and I always told her how arrogant he was and I didn't care that he could ride fast. She was dating Carmichael and probably could have figured out a way for me to meet him. She was to one of his birthday parties. Now she and Carmichael are married.

The only time I was close enough to talk to him I nearly made a complete fool of myself. It was in 1999 and I was finishing warming up for the Tipperary Creek MTB race near Winter Park. There was this guy in full Postal kit riding slow near the start finish area and messing with his shoes. He was in my way and wasn't exactly riding a straight line. I just about said, "Why don't you poser stay out of the way while you adjust your shoes." Instead I just rode around him. Just after that I realized he was the real Lance.

There's a pretty good creek crossing that is barely rideable when the water isn't too high. That year the water was high. I think even if the creek bed had been smooth the current would have pushed anybody over that tried riding. My wife was standing there when Lance came through and he tried riding it. His bike got swept out from under him and he and the bike started going downstream. My wife had a camera but she wasn't fast enough to get a picture. I was very disappointed that she didn't. If I recall correctly, he finished 2nd in that race. I know he didn't win.

He was training for the Mercury Tour the following weekend near Steamboat Springs. I've ridden the trails where the race was held. They are single track and a bit rocky but not what I'd call really technical. He crashed a couple times and dropped out. I think Dave Weins could beat him unless he's mountain bike skills have improved and is really focused on training for it. A long mountain bike is really different than staying at a moderate intensity for most of a Tour stage and then going all out for the last 20 minutes for a mountain top finish. To do well in a mountain bike race you don't have to have quite as much top end but you need to be able to sustain a really hard pace to the entire time.

Update: Lance wimped out of racing the Leadville 100.
See all my posts on the Leadville 100.

Labels: Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking