Leadville Trail 100

By Eddie Clark  

(August 13, 2011) LEADVILLE, Colo.—Loving life at 10,000 feet is the town motto for Leadville residents, and also the mantra for the Leadville Trail 100’s new champions Todd Wells and Rebecca Rusch.  Both Specialized Team riders emptied their tanks with impressive rides that left the star-studded field scrambling in a vain attempt to catch them after 6 long hours in the saddle.

On yet another perfect Rocky Mountain day in the high mountains of Colorado, a record number of mountain bikers blasted off from the sleepy mining town to contest one of the highest profile 100 mile mountain bike races held.  “This is exciting, we’ve got a full moon, and we’re ready to go. We’ve got the fastest of the fast lined up here”, said event promoter Ken Choubler prior to the start of the race.   

With a 10 second count down from the crowd and police sirens blaring, over 1600 racers rolled down 6th Street at 6:30am with numerous former World, National and Olympic champions leading the charge.  As the top favorites reached the west end of Torquoise Lake, Topeak / Ergon’s Marathon World Champion ringer Albon Lakata flatted leaving a fast group containing Todd Wells (Specialized), Alex Grant (Canondale), Jay Henry (Tokyo Joe’s) and Greg Krause (Juwi Solar/First Solar) to distance the field. 

It took nearly half the race for Lakata to close the gap, which he did in stunning fashion while climbing up Columbine.  Jay Henry noted, “He (Alban) was motoring up Columbine, and he went by me like I was standing still.  At that point we were at 11,200 feet and he was just crushing it.”

Notably the effort on Columbine must have cut into Lakata.  On the return leg Lakata was just seconds behind Wells as they hit the last big climb up Powerline, but it would not be for long.  Burning his last matches, Wells set a pace up Powerline that Lakata couldn’t match, and in doing so opened up a gap of several minutes which increased to 4:19 at the finish. 

“I spent some time in Durango and Silverton getting acclimated and putting in some big rides to get ready for this event.  With what I have the ability to do, I felt like I did everything I could.  The tank is empty.” said Wells of his preparation and winning ride.

In the pro women’s race, Pua Mata (Sho-Air/Specialized) appeared to be on some excellent form as she held a gap of nearly 4:30 over eventual and former winner Rebecca Rusch (Specialized).  However, this was not the year for Mata at the Leadville as several mechanicals set her back significantly so that she finished 6:04 down and in third place.  Like Mata, Leadville rookie, Kelli Emmett (Giant) was also on a fine ride until a crash in the Twin Lakes feedzone snapped her bars and ended her race leaving Gretchen Reeves (Tokyo Joe’s) to lead the women up the Columbine climb.

With an exceptional ride previous winner and women’s record time holder Rebecca Rush put her diesel motor to work to slowly reel in her competitors.  Her motor was indeed well tuned as she went on to set a new women’s record time at 7:31:36.  Friend, competitor, and also previous Leadville 100 women’s champion, Gretchen Reeves took second place with a time of 7:35:38, which is the second fastest women’s time for the Leadville Trail 100.

Bonus Gallery: From the Top of Columbine. Images by Brian Riepe