We’ll have a shooter this weekend at the Leadville 100 event and will post a gallery after the race. Any predictions on who is going to win it this year? Will Dave Wiens Defend?
Link to the coverage:
Will Dave Wiens Defend?
Not a chance. And Lance will crush the course record set by Wiens last year, probably by another 20-30 minutes.
You know Dave Weins is in his ealy 40’s and he beat Armstrong and Landis at Leadville.
Dave also works full time and actually looks after his kids on a daily basis…
You know Dave Weins is in his ealy 40’s and he beat Armstrong and Landis at Leadville.
Dave also works full time and actually looks after his kids on a daily basis…
Yup. What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
IIRC, in 2008, Wiens pulled away from Lance with 5 miles to go and put a bit over 2 minutes into him. Judging by Lance’s form at the Tour Down Under a few months later in comparison with his 3rd place ride at the Tour de France last month, I don’t see how Wiens can compete.
Which is not to say that he is a bad father or a lousy rider, just that he doesn’t stand a chance to win Leadville this year. And he has conceded as much in interviews this week.
rooting for Tinker…
Road and dirt are completely different races. You don’t get the team tactics and strategies that are necessary to win a road race. You can win a mountain bike race all on your own (if you’re strong enough and good enough at handling). This is Wiens home course. I’ve said previously, Lance may beat Wiens, but I don’t think he’ll crush him.
Also St’er Mark Rinaldi is racing. Keeping my fingers crossed that he makes the cutoffs. Looks like one tough ride.
I am an unabashed Lance groupie, and I want to see him do very well … but I would not be disappointed to see Weins take it again.
Road and dirt are completely different races.
completely
I do no think it means what you think it means!
I agree, it’s hard not to root for a guy like Dave Weins. I don’t think he can beat Lance this year though.
Tinker is my fave, I watched him and Tomac go at it in Deer valley a hundred years ago and he pushes a HUGE gear compared to everyone else. No comment on Lance, if you cant say anything nice.
You don’t get the team tactics and strategies that are necessary to win a road race.
Yeah, and Trek has just happened to specially request late entries for a couple guys for shits and giggles.
Even at the pointy end of the racers, the cool-guy to asshat ratio is much higher in MTB than road. Could be that Lance is getting his cool-guy personae fed a lot more in the last few years. 
Any race that Lance is in will automatically have a higher ASS to cool-guy ratio.
Although leadville is a course that lets you have team tactics and a draft pack. 90+ percent of it is on fire roads or double track, so there is really no tech skills at all there. Say verses the old e100 course in Utah that was 90+ percent single track.
Leadville is a bit of an oddball race it’s probably the most well known ultra MTB race, it’s also the one the hardcore ultra guys care least about.
If Lance entered a World Cup Mtn bike race he would have his ass handed to him, no doubt about that.
He is closer to 45 
.
If Lance entered a World Cup Mtn bike race he would have his ass handed to him, no doubt about that.
And what if the World Cup mtn bikers enter the Tour de France, how would they do?
Or what if the guy down the hall from accounting went to work down in the legal department, how would he do there?
They would do quite well, Landis, Rasmussen, Cadel Evans and Ryder Hesjedal all made the jump from being sucessful on the dirt to the Road.
Road riding takes much less technical skills
Point taken. 100 miles of true technical riding would be brutal.