LT100 MTB race

Today was the Leadville Trail 100 mile mountain bike race. It seemed like every car in town had a bike rack. I thought about signing up for it when I first moved here until I found out how big it was.

The cycling fans among you may recognize the guy in black in the center of the picture

Lance Armstrong was here for the second year in a row. This is the race where he started his cycling comeback with a second place finish last year. The next picture gives you a better idea of the size of the race.

At this point Lance is about a mile into the race and the last people haven’t even crossed the start line yet.
I spent most of the day working at one of the aid stations. Occasionally you would see someone with a slight mechanical problem:

I also got to see the racers close up. Here is Lance at mile 76. At this point he had a 16 minute lead over the next closest guy (the guy who beat him last year, I guess that little ride he did over in France is good training)

Lance ended up breaking the old course record by over 15 minutes. I heard he ended up riding in on a flat tire, so he could have been even faster. You can read more details about the race here. It sounds like he’s coming back next year, so it looks like that’s my best chance to beat him