Happy hump day. I think we need to take a break in Baja and I want to talk about a little history after posting an old photo on FB from the Leadville trail 100 mountain bike race.
Leadville isn’t my thing, but it’s a right of passage that all cyclists want to attempt at some point in their cycling journey. I’ve done Leadville twice. One of those years was apparently 2005, thanks to Scot Banks. I thought it was 2004, but it was 2004 when I won my national single speed championship title. The more I think about those years, the more I realize and feel relieved that I lived them, and perhaps more importantly, who I shared them with. Big Jonny, Rubelt and many others I would consider the original DC team.
I would have only done Leadville once, but I shit my pants on Columbine on the first try, so Snake let me slip an exemption into his race entry and I entered, riding his coat tails for a second year. The event was big then, certainly nothing like what we see these days, with coverage and notoriety; but I guess we, with Wiens leading over the years, and Snake absolutely digging the deepest I’ve ever seen a guy dig, only to finish second (if I remember correctly, several times in a row), we are made history, as many have, for Leadville to become what it is today. It was an incredible privilege to be able to sit on the wheels of Dave and Jake, and many others, for half the race. Snake raced at Leadville at the highest level for ten years, but at the same time Wiens was the man of the hour.
I would finish my second attempt in 8:28 and change. Sufficient. I got the buckle and retired from Leadville happily ever after. I’m not sure, but I think the boys at the front-back were running under 7:20 times then. Imagine that and realize these days Keegan Swenson finishes around 5:50 p.m. Incredible progress in everything. I’m leaving.
In this photo, from left to right in yellow, each: Dave Wiens, Snake, Big Jonny, yours truly.