The 2010 Leadville 100 mountain bike race is now behind us, and by all accounts it was another great event this past weekend. In fact, I’d say that it was so good that no one really missed Lance Armstrong being there, although I’m sure plenty of us would have enjoyed seeing him go head to head with the winner who ended up being Levi Leipheimer, Lance’s teammate on Radioshack.
Levi ran such a good race he even broke Lance’s course record set just last year. The winning time for the 2010 event was 6 hours, 16 minutes, and 37 seconds – 12 minutes faster than Lance was last year. Second place went to Jeremy Horgan, who finished in 6 hours and 25 minutes, which would also have bested Lance’s time last year, and Todd Wells completed the podium, with a 6 hour and 30 minute time. Six time champ Dave Wiens finished 4th another three minutes back.
The men weren’t the only ones burning up the course. Defending women’s champ Rebecca Rusch set a new course record as well, shaving a half-hour off the previous record by coming in at 7 hours, 47 minutes and 35 seconds. Second place went to Amanda Carey with a time of 8 hours, 12 minutes, 54 seconds.
These fast times are really interesting. Even Wiens improved on his previous best times. It seems that the Leadville 100 has gone from relative obscurity to being completely on the radar for some of the top riders in the world. Just a few years back, it was barely a blip on the radar of sports fans, outside of those of us who follow these kinds of events, and now, it is attracting a very deep field of riders. The race has one man to thank for that, and that is Lance Armstrong, who elected to enter the race a couple of years back while he was in retirement 1.0, and that brought a ton of attention to the classic mountain biking competition.
Just how big has the race become? Large enough to attract a new national owner. Just before this year’s race was run, it was announced that Lifetime Fitness had bought the race, and will take over management of the event in the years ahead. I suspect that “Race Across the Sky” is just starting to hit its stride.
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Times will keep dropping–I'm pretty sure it will go sub-6 hours, perhaps even next year. Keep in mind that this is a road race with a significant amount of pavement and almost no singletrack. It's ideal for roadies as Levi just proved.
If they were smart, they'd make it a 2 day event with amateurs riding on Saturday and the pros and Cat 3 on up on Sunday. With 1600 people this year, it's already too crowded.
Good suggestions Clyde, and I agree that those would be great changes to the race. The Pros are really starting to muscle out the amateurs at this point, and it's only going to get more crowded. The 1600 entrants were sold out in hours as well, so the popularity of the race is only on the rise.
And you're right, it isn't a very technical course at all. When they're not on pavement, they're often on jeep roads, and singletrack is at a minimum.
Agreed on all points. Except the parts that are technical, really are! Coming down Powerline on the way out, when the T level is higher than the skill level of the riders around you, is insane.
Smooth sections or not, these still are very fast times. I won Citizens Masters first time I did it, and have zero chance at matching that ever again.
Good point Buzz. The really technical aspects are probably greatly exasperated by the crowds, which are getting to be insane for this race.
I'm glad that it is getting the attention and exposure that it deserves, but I hope they do find a way to keep it accessible for amateur riders.
I wouldn't call Pipeline very technical since you never have to dismount and there are multiple lines. It's just heinously rutted. The crowds have thinned out by the time you get there (it's after the first two climbs).
I missed the time cut at Twin Lake by about 5 minutes, which almost the time it took me to reach the start line after the mass start. Probably a couple hundred were behind me at that point as well. Of course, I should of gone harder but I didn't want to blow up early so I ended up holding back too much…didn't help that I'd never seen the course.
In retrospect, the Leadville bike race is a bit overrated, much like the Imogene Pass trail run. Sure they are a good challenge but neither has great scenery or what I'd call fun terrain. Lots of better options in this state. I won't bother with either again but encourage all the hordes to do them and leave the better stuff alone–ski Vail too!
Hi Guys, what 100 mile MTB race would you recommend for someone coming from outside the US if not Leadville?
Hey Luke. Good question. UltraRob has a nice list of the 100 mile mountain bike races that are being run in 2010 here in the States, and most of these are annual events. You can check out the list here.
I have heard good things about the Shenandoah races in the past and I know someone who rode the Crested Butte race as well. He had nothing but rave reviews for the event. Perhaps this will give you a good place to start.