[leadville trail 100] Moments after reaching the 50-mile turnaround at Columbine, Dave Wiens focuses on the return trip to Leadville.
change the outcome of this race. Had the pace been slower at the beginning, more like last year, the winner would have been no different. Lance was far and away the strongest guy in the race and was going to win, regardless of how it went down. My only thought was that not a single person with the knowledge of the sport of cycling was surprised about the outcome of the race. Once we hit the Twin Lakes aid station at mile 40, it was every man for himself: time for the 60-mile time trial. Lance was able to carry on at an amazing pace and, even being slowed by tire issues, he was able to crush the record he helped me set last year. I’m pretty sure the rest of us out there were crippled 58
by the fast start; I know I was. But that’s not saying my finish time would have been much different with a more pedestrian beginning to the race. Five or 10 minutes, perhaps, but maybe not. The same can be said for Shriver, Alex Grant and Zanni, the riders who ultimately filled out the top five. In fact, without spending himself in the beginning, I’m pretty certain that Shriver was the second strongest guy out there. He rode at the front for nearly half the race, had some technical issues that slowed him down and was just 10 minutes behind me at the finish. A very good ride, indeed! Next year? I guess you never want to say never, but with lots of athletes oscillating on being done or not and getting plenty of heat for it, you’ve at least got to be a little careful with what you say. Higher priority goals for me now will be working to promote healthy, trail-based exercise and fitness through the nonprofit I founded in 2006, Gunnison Trails. One of our most ambitious goals is to build an epic singletrack connecting Crested Butte and Gunnison. We have tons of citizen support but gaining approval for a trail like this makes winning the Leadville 100 look like a kiddy car ride. With that in mind, I’ll say that my days of trying to win the Leadville 100 are behind me. Conjuring up the kind of fitness it takes to be competitive, especially at 45 years of age, is really difficult, and this says nothing of the time it takes away from my family and other pursuits. Right now, and this could certainly change, I see myself picking up my No. 2 plate next August and taking my position on the front row. I’ll race the 2010 Leadville 100 with whatever fitness I happen to have, but I won’t be “training” for it. I’ll be camping with the family, hopefully bagging some fourteeners, not planning or tracking what I’m doing on the bike, not worrying about even riding my bike if it doesn’t fit into our plans. With all that being said, I still love riding my bike and while I wouldn’t be going out and doing intervals, Brian Riepe structured training or the TransAlp Stage Race like I did this year, I will hopefully still be logging plenty of saddle time, doing epic rides, morning rides, evening rides, family rides. Some things just won’t change. If I’m in good shape and feeling confident, this might mean a fairly serious race, perhaps gunning for a top 10. A fairly serious race means going as hard as my fitness will allow the whole way; racing with whoever happens to be close, likely a few notches below what I have been doing. If I’m not in great shape, I’ll be looking to just finish the race. That’ll mean taking my time, looking around and riding within myself. And I’ll finally be able to answer this nagging question that I’ve had all these years: is there really an omelet chef at the Twin Lakes aid station?