Big Wheel Racing

The Leadville 100 is one of those races you just have to do once in your life if your into the endro mountain bike racing scene, sort of like the Boston Marathon if your a runner. Adding to the excitement this year was the fact that Lance Armstrong raced it. This year I took on the challenge along with several other Big Wheel Racing members (Lenny, Doug and John.) Conditions for the race were nearly perfect with cool weather that remained dry for most of the day. The course had some paved sections, lots of dirt road and double track and consisted of fast descents, elongated flat sections and lots of climbing on an out-and-back course. Since it had rained the day before, the course was packed and tacky. Running the Maxxis Crossmark on the rear worked really well in these conditions. For this length of a race, having the ability to shift hand positions was important and the Ergon GX2 grips, with their small bar ends, did the trick nicely. When bombing down the rougher sections of the course, the Ti King Cages held my bottles snugly.

Aside from the fun had while bombing down the fast descents, there were a few highlights. While climbing Columbine, seeing Dave Wiens and Lance Armstrong battling for the lead on their descent from the Columbine Mine had a surreal feel to it. Imagine, for about a second, seeing two world class athletes blasting down a hill only centimeters from each other while heading right at you. It’s pretty amazing. It’s hard to appreciate how good it was to see our supporting volunteers Claudia, Amy and Lindsey after missing the 2nd water stop just before starting the climb up Columbine. Without that bottle of fluid I would have had problems making it to the water stop at the top of the climb! After riding in the cold afternoon rain and being on the bike for 102 miles, I was elated to finish the race.

Thanks Claudia, Amy and Lindsey for the support on the course. Also thanks to our sponsors for their support (Ergon, Maxxis, High Desert Bicycles, Sock Guy…)

-Mike

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 8:40 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.