According to RoadRacingWorld.com, Lance Armstrong dropped out out the Mellow Johnny’s 6-Hour Classic mountain bike race this weekend after aggravating a previous knee injury. Eventual men’s solo winner, Ben Bostrom, even held Armstrong off for several laps before Armstrong bowed out. Race results show Armstrong completed 4 laps in 2 hours, 17 minutes, though technically he didn’t DNF (he just didn’t ride the entire 6 hours). I guess it wouldn’t have looked good for Lance to win his own race anyway – nobody likes a show-off.

The Mellow Johnny’s 6-Hour Classic mountain bike race was held at Juan Pelota Ranch in Dripping Springs, TX.

photo courtesy Race Across the Sky.

The Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race is happening this weekend so we thought we’d give you a preview of this year’s event. One of the most obvious changes to the race this year is the name, officially “The Life Time Fitness Leadville Trail 100.” Yep, race organizers were able to sell naming rights to the race and we don’t blame them for capitalizing on the event’s recent rise to national prominence.

Lance Armstrong is out this year which probably bummed the Life Time Fitness folks but there’s a slew of A-list competitors looking to smash Armstrong’s course record of 6:28:50. Of course local hero Dave Wiens will be there as will Lance’s Tour de France teammate Levi Leipheimer. Last year’s third place finisher, Matt Shriver will be racing as well along with Ned Overend, Jeremiah Bishop, and Todd Wells. Defending women’s champ Rebecca Rusch will be racing on the women’s side.

According to this press release, the Leadville race course is actually 104 miles, making it at least 4% more difficult than I imagined. We haven’t heard anything about a live, online feed of the race this year but that’s ok since last year’s coverage wasn’t that great. If you can’t make it up to Leadville to watch this weekend, grab a DVD copy of “Race Across the Sky” to get a taste of the Leadville experience!

Lance Armstrong’s Foundation, Livestrong, is hosting the first annual Ride 4 Yellow event in Steamboat Springs, CO August 8, 2010. The signature ride, the Divide Ride, covers 26-miles of singletrack flowing across the continental divide. Only 200 spots are available and registration is $100 PLUS an agreement to raise at least $500 toward the cause (77 spots were already taken at last check). Participants also get to attend a keynote address given by Lance’s mom in addition to feeling good about supporting the fight against cancer.

A less expensive option is the Mt. Werner Challenge ($75 registration, $100 minimum fund raise) where riders can bike up or ride the gondola for a sweet downhill ride. Both the Divide Ride and Mt. Werner Challenge are non-competitive with an emphasis on fun and fundraising. And if you’re looking for a bargain, for $27 you can ride the gondola up, eat lunch, and listen to Linda Armstrong’s keynote address.

Assuming most of the slots fill up, the Ride 4 Yellow should raise around $150,000 which is pretty incredible for a single day event. We know the American Lung Association has seen success with similar unique “challenge” events and we can’t help but imagine more MTB fundraisers like this in the future. Perhaps parks could open off limits “hiker only” trails to bikes once a year for a $100 per rider donation or groups could create indoor or urban bike circuits ala the Redbull Ride the Sky for regular Joes to ride.

It’s hard to put a price tag on unique mountain bike experiences and smart fundraisers recognize this. Mountain bikers tired of the same old trails will get a kick out of riding somewhere new – and deserving organizations can cash in.

In case you hadn’t heard yet, there’s an encore presentation of Race Across the Sky, the movie about Lance Armstrong’s epic battle with Dave Wiens in the Leadville 100 MTB race this year, on Thursday, Nov. 12 at theaters across the US. Check out our recap of the movie if you want to know more and buy your tickets online now!

OK, so I actually had a dream about this just a couple days ago before I even heard about the contest so I’m pretty sure I’m going to win. Go ahead and enter if you like but I’m just warning you: it’s my destiny

Seriously though, the contest runs through December 2, 2009 and all you have to do is become a fan of Clear2Go on Facebook and fill out an online entry form to enter the sweepstakes. You can even “earn” more entries by posting photos to the Facebook page. The press release I got mentioned the ride would take place in Austin but didn’t say what kind of bikes we’d be riding. When I win I’m hitting the mountain bike trail with Lance (Walnut Creek sounds like a good one) just like in my dream.

Here’s a brief description of the contest:

Lance Armstrong partnered with Clear2Go™ this past year to help design a water bottle that would be conducive to cycling and other endurance sports and wanted to give his fans the opportunity to not only test out the bottle but take a personal bike ride with him. Lance is an advocate for living a greener lifestyle and is fully supportive of this sweepstakes.

Who knew Lance was a product designer?

Last night I watched Race Across the Sky, the movie about this year’s Leadville 100 MTB race and I gotta say it was pretty awesome. I was surprised the see the movie theater auditorium mostly full and I’d estimate there were at least 200+ people at my showing. The movie started off a little weird with a panel discussion with the riders (Armstrong, Wiens, Brown, etc.) but once the movie started it was all about riding.

Although I already knew the outcome of the race after watching it live online, I still found myself surprised at many parts and there were definitely some interesting take-aways:

• Lance Armstrong is a boss. At the beginning of the film, Lance is on a MTB training ride with his coach, Chris Carmichael and you see the two grinding it out on a rocky doubletrack climb somewhere in Colorado. Following close behind is a guy on a dirt bike with two spare wheels and probably an entire bike tool kit on board. Must be nice to not worry about your equipment failing. Getting used to that level of support may just come back to haunt Lance in the race
• Travis Brown rode the entire 100 mile race on a mountain bike with drop bars. During the panel discussion afterward Brown said he’s convinced that’s the way to go and it sounds like he’ll do it again next year. It was also interesting to note that none of the top 5 riders rode 29ers.
• Dave Wiens is a super nice guy and you can see it throughout the movie.
• Armstrong makes the comment that no one has approached the Leadville 100 as a team race (yet). Will Lance’s pro cycling team assist him in breaking the 6 hour mark at Leadville in the future?
• I loved the old school rider from Denver who had probably the funniest line in the entire movie: “I’m riding the same bike I bought in the 1990s. Same front tire too.” (I’m paraphrasing)
• Second funniest moment: the overweight woman in the yellow shirt running beside Lance during his ascent of the powerline climb, trying to photograph herself with Lance.
• The third place finisher, Matt Shriver, had a pretty remarkable race. Yet another amazing rider from Ft. Lewis College in Durango.
• Saddest moment? Seeing riders stopped at the 4 hour cut-off and not being able to finish the race.
• Did anyone else notice that Lance just chucked the CO2 cartridge after attempting to fix his flat tire? I suppose a fan rushed over to pick it up and now it sits in a glass case in a rec room somewhere but still… pack it in, pack it out.

If you didn’t get to see Race Across the Sky last night, definitely put it on your to do list. It’s an inspirational film and I definitely left wanting to ride more and move back to Colorado. Stay tuned for word about an encore presentation in theaters and/or the DVD release date.

… or today, depending on when you read this

The movie is playing for one night only in movie theaters across the country and a quick check shows there are still plenty of tickets available. Surprising, especially since the movie features Mr. Dave Wiens himself (oh yeah, and also Lance Armstrong). My hope is that if this movie does well we’ll see more MTB short-run features in theaters. The Collective in IMAX? I can only dream…

I’ve got my tickets to watch the movie at Perimeter Point here in Atlanta at 8pm tomorrow in case anyone else is going. I’ll also post a quick review Friday for the Netflixers out there.

This week Lance Armstrong signed a 3-year deal to become spokesman for Michelob Ultra.  Here’s what the 1-time Leadville 100 MTB race winner had to say:

“I’m always making decisions that complement my active lifestyle, and this includes my beer choice when I want to enjoy a cold one with friends or when taking a break from training,” said Lance Armstrong.  “I’m excited about my association with Michelob ULTRA, a brand that supports cycling and running communities across the U.S. and is a favorite among active adults.”

Too bad the guys at New Belgium couldn’t afford a deal with Lance – it would have been great to see Armstrong pimping Fat Tire Beer. Oh well, maybe this means we’ll stop seeing so many annoying FRS ads with Lance asking “Tired of being tired?”. I’m just tired of that ad

Steve Peat. Photograph: Kathy Sessler / Santa Cruz Syndicate via Guardian.co.uk.

The LA Times just ran a two part article profiling mountain biker turned Tour de France dominator Levi Leipheimer. As you may recall there was some trash talk between Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong before the Leadville 100 this year but Levi crashed during the Tour de France and wasn’t able to compete. Here’s what Levi had to say to the LA Times about Lance and the Leadville 100:

“(The Leadville 100 is) basically a road race. It’s long and not that technical and it’s all above 10,000 feet. I think I need to challenge him (Lance Armstrong) to something more technical.”

That sounds like a throw down. Maybe these two should enter La Ruta to settle things once and for all

The Guardian published a profile of downhiller Steve Peat that’s a good read if you have some time. It seems Peat wants to dispel the myth that downhill mountain bikers are lazy because they rarely climb. Here’s what he had to say:

“You need to be fit to be a downhiller even though it looks as if you don’t do much work. You’re pedalling out of corners, pedalling into your line, the terrain is rough, the bikes are heavy so you need to train and be fit definitely. My bike comes in at around 37lbs and that’s on the lighter side.”

Finally, IMBA needs our help on several trail issues in Colorado including proposed changes at Apex Park in Golden (see this forum thread). There are also changes being proposed to wilderness and roadless areas in Colorado that could impact mountain bikers. Hit IMBA.com to see how you can help!

Lance Armstrong got his revenge at the Leadville Trail 100 today and set a new course record for the mountain bike race, finishing in a time of 6:28:50 (almost 20 minutes faster than last year). He rolled into the finish line with a flat tire and went right to his trailer without stopping to talk to the press so it’s hard to know how he felt at the end. Word is that he rode on that flat tire for the last 15 miles of the race! Whatsamatter Lance, you don’t know how to fix a flat mountain bike tire yourself?

Six-time winner and local favorite Dave Weins took second and finished the race about 20-30 minutes behind Lance. As he crossed the finish line the woman on the live webcast asked him “What slowed you down this year?” right off the bat and Weins looked a little insulted at the question (can you blame him?). He basically said he thought he did a pretty good job and that he gave it his all against the 7-time Tour de France champion.

Tinker Juarez had a mechanical issue early in the race (a broken seatpost clamp?) that forced him to exit the course.

Judging by the crowds in the webcast it looks like this was the largest turnout for the Leadville Trail 100 to date. According to race organizers more than 1,000 riders representing 47 states and 8 countries toed the start line this morning. After watching the webcast I think I need to start training for next year’s race right now

If you’re not heading up to Buffalo Creek for the IMBA trail work party tomorrow you definitely need to get to Leadville for the big race. I’m pretty pumped after reading CogandChain.com’s run down of the competitors and the stakes in tomorrow’s race. Lance may not have won in France but he certainly has a good chance in Leadville tomorrow!

Over at leadville100.com they’re offering a live webstream of the race for less than six bucks. If you can’t sit in front of the computer all day tomorrow you can pick up a DVD after the race instead for $20.

Send us a shout if you go to the race so we can share your pics on Monday!

While all eyes will be on Lance Armstrong and his comeback at this year’s Tour de France, the man himself seems to have something bigger on his mind: winning the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. In a Velonews interview talking about the Tour de France, Lance had this to say:

This is all a build up for Leadville. Honestly. Levi’s coming to Leadville. Levi (Leipheimer) talks more shit about Leadville than he does about the Tour. I’m like dude, you better step off me when it comes to Leadville. We gotta worry about Weins. I hear Weins is killing himself.

Of course “Weins” is Dave Weins, six time winner and course record holder for the Leadville 100 MTB race. You can watch the Lance Armstrong interview here for yourself and decide just how sarcastic he’s being (you’ll need to fast foward through some boring road racing news to hear it). In any event, from what I understand Lance will be racing at Leadville which is just a few weeks after the Tour ends – a grueling schedule for sure, even for a super athlete!