Leadville

NJ-XC-Justin

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
NBC Universal or Versus needs to air this shit. This thing is starting to get HUGE. Lance twitters about the race every third minute and has said he's gunning for under 6 hrs, which is probably just an attempt to mess with his competitors heads. Weins has shown time and time again he deserves to be the favorite, even being 40-something, but with Tinker also apparently racing this year (Bishop is out after cracking some vertebrae), making this hella interesting. Hopefully JHK too.

The bike race will be streamed online on the Leadville100 web site by the way.

340,000 feet of elevation gain. holy freeholies.

Oh, and Lance is riding a top fuel, not a Superfly:
http://twitpic.com/cmtmn
(though money says the Bontragers are just for the photos and he'll swap them for Stans with crows at the last minute)
 
You sure about that 340,000 feet? That's like a 64% grade...
 
Total gain is around 10,000 feet, though it starts out at 10,500' above sea level. It's basically a road race on dirt roads.
 
Norm said:
You sure about that 340,000 feet? That's like a 64% grade...
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14,000 feet of elevation gain. not sure why the piece I read said that huge number -- they probably came up with that by multiplying it by the high start point (per ryderx).

shame bishop can't race because he could have pushed them. oh well -- go dave!!
 
RyderX is going to take down Lance!

I believe I heard him throw down a predicted 5:45 finish time 😀
 
If this race is so HUGE. Then why are the top mtn bike ultra endurance riders heading to Ga for the Fools Gold? Hmm.... The only reason this is getting so much publicity is because of Lance. But the true mtn bike endurance racers will be in Ga. That is where my interests will lie.
 
ibike73 said:
If this race is so HUGE. Then why are the top mtn bike ultra endurance riders heading to Ga for the Fools Gold? Hmm.... The only reason this is getting so much publicity is because of Lance. But the true mtn bike endurance racers will be in Ga. That is where my interests will lie.
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So Wiens isn't a top endurance racer? JHK just won the US Marathon Nationals- he's not a top endurance racer?

Lance racing Leadville is huge- the biggest thing that's happened to mountain bike racing in years. Here's a guy who single-handedly increased Versus' TdF viewership year-over-year by 100% (a quarter million viewers). He is pure marketing gold for mountain biking. Hating on him or Leadville is pretty crappy (and not just for Lance's sake- Leadville's a classic race with a long history).

As far as the Bontys go, I wouldn't count on him swapping them. He did that last year, but this year Bonty has super-pimp and insanely light carbon fiber wheels ($2k retail a pair) and some super-fast tubeless ready racing treads, too. They're ready for him this year.

And Lance has talked about bringing a team to Leadville- that would be INSANE to watch him paceline it off the start with an all-star squad pulling for him. Even better if that all-star squad was made up of other Trek/Fisher racers like JHK, Eatough and Schalk (although Eatough and Schalk have to race the NUE for the points, I guess).
 
jbogner said:
And Lance has talked about bringing a team to Leadville- that would be INSANE to watch him paceline it off the start with an all-star squad pulling for him. Even better if that all-star squad was made up of other Trek/Fisher racers like JHK, Eatough and Schalk (although Eatough and Schalk have to race the NUE for the points, I guess).
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IMO that would be pretty weak if he were to do that. I'm very interested in the race this year for sure. But it's simply not fair to play with that kind of advantage.
 
Norm said:
IMO that would be pretty weak if he were to do that. I'm very interested in the race this year for sure. But it's simply not fair to play with that kind of advantage.
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Why? In a road peloton, the team that rides the front of the peloton is not the only one who benefits from that. Wiens, Landis and any other contenders would just ride along with that train as long as they could hold the wheel.

It's not like endurance racing is an every-man-for-himself enterprise. I went out and watched the pros come through the 60 mile point at the W101 last weekend, and Schalk and Eatough were DEFINITELY working together at that point. I don't see a problem with Lance bringing a few honches with him to tow the lead group up for a while...
 
jbogner said:
Even better if that all-star squad was made up of other Trek/Fisher racers like JHK, Eatough and Schalk (although Eatough and Schalk have to race the NUE for the points, I guess).
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You guess. How do you think they get sponsors to give them money? By racing in a series and finish near the top of that series. If Lance is so great, then why does he do a race that the top NUE riders are not going to be at? Why is he not going to Ga?

I am in no way taking away from the man in what he has done in his life. But you want to get races televised, how about follow the riders that put themselves out there every week. Not just televise because some guy shows up for a single race.
 
ibike73 said:
...If Lance is so great, then why does he do a race that the top NUE riders are not going to be at? Why is he not going to Ga?
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Perhaps because the Leadville 100 is not a NUE series race. They tried to make it one but the lottery situation made it too hard to allow the NUE riders the opportunity to do it.

You have to admit Lance is bringing attention to MTB and that can only be good.
 
I'd say Lance is the one to beat, road or mountain. They have to come to him, not the other way around.
 
2 days away. Like most others, Im betting on Lance, but rooting for Dave.
 
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ibike73 said:
You guess. How do you think they get sponsors to give them money? By racing in a series and finish near the top of that series. If Lance is so great, then why does he do a race that the top NUE riders are not going to be at? Why is he not going to Ga?

I am in no way taking away from the man in what he has done in his life. But you want to get races televised, how about follow the riders that put themselves out there every week. Not just televise because some guy shows up for a single race.
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But I knew about the Leadville 100 long before I ever heard of the NUE series so don't sell it short. It has a mystique of its own and a 7 time winner (see the connection there?) that makes it more interesting to watch this weekend.
 
ibike73 said:
If Lance is so great, then why does he do a race that the top NUE riders are not going to be at? Why is he not going to Ga?
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You've got a bizarre angle on this whole thing man. I'm no Lance fanboy (my sig testifies to that), but if Lance pees in the direction of a MTB race, it's good for the sport. Why bag on which particular race he's doing? Even if his motivation is to win and not compete in the toughest race -- which I disagree with since he tried like hell last year at this race and got whooped -- it's still nothing but good news for mountain biking and indirectly the NUE. Hopefully he'll get beat again tomorrow and he'll keep coming back again and again to prove he's immortal and the best, and we'll use him like a 10-dollar whore for our own gains.
 
I guess I'm in the minority, but I hope he kicks ass tomorrow. Kinda interesting, since I was never much of a Lance fan until this year.
 
We need Lance to show up with the TV coverage and the cancer society. His fan-base goes way beyond cyclists. That is awesome exposure for MTB and the ultra-distance discipline. Without lance, this event will be covered by the A/V high school class. 🙄

The catch is that we need him to LOOSE. His fan-base, especially the non-cyclists think he is GOD. They don't care about bicycle racing. They just want to see their #1 cancer survivor overcome the disease and whoop ass. They think bike racing is like an MS bike tour and Lance is the fastest. 🙄

If he shows up and spanks everyone, his followers will pump their fists, turn away, and move on. They will NOT have gained a respect for the sport, event, or the other participants.

We need people to beat him. Show his fans that these events are so difficult that even Lance struggles. They will have come to see Lance. They leave knowing that there are many other people that are just as good as Lance. They train, sacrifice, and overcome their own challenges just like Lance. Maybe then the events will find better success.

On a more personal level, I don't care who wins. I just want to read about an epic battle involving more than just two guys.
 
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