Our man in the field, UltraRob ( www.ultrarob.com/blog/ ) survived illness, a hard drive crash, and dodgy internet reception to provide us with this glimpse at the Lanceville, I mean, Leadville 100.

Hope you feel better soon, Rob, and thanks for the pix!

Lance on Powerline:

Packed Racer Meeting:

FatCyclist and UltraRob (for a truly inspirational story, please check out: www.fatcyclist.com )

More photos>>

Dave had a tough time with the Powerline climb this year:

Lance up Powerline - Powerline - Yuki Saito

Near the finish:

Here is Rob’s Race Report:

2009 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race

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.

Even 8 years ago the Leadville 100 was popular enough that there was a lottery to get a spot in the race. That was before 7 time Tour de France Lance Armstrong became interested in it.

Lance first raced the Leadville 100 last year. That brought a lot of publicity. Then with him returning to full time racing and the Tour de France this year, there was even more interest in the Leadville 100. I heard that over 4,000 entries received and a record 1300+ were accepted.

So what is so special about the Leadville 100? For me it’s not the course. I like racing on singletrack. There’s hardly any of it at Leadville. It’s nearly all on dirt roads and jeep roads. It’s the race organizers, Ken and Merilee, and the racers that make it special.

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 7minutes 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.

From the Powerline to the finish, Lance kept extending his lead. He got a leak in his 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. I was at the edge of town when he came in and could hear he was hitting the rim.

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

“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.