100

I talked to a few people about Leadville, and we discussed the technicality of the ride, or more importantly the lack of technicality. I am not an expert by any means, and I have never ridden the course, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express. My knowledge extent of Leadville is that of the "movie" that came out last year.

So, last two years Lance, who has some MTB experience finished second and first, and set a new course record. This year Levi blew it up, I'm not sure what his MTB skills are, but nowhere near that of Weins, Wells, Overend, JHK, and the likes of Bishop, all of which he was able to dispatch handily.

What does this say about Leadville? Is it a Roadie course? Is a in "Tour shape" rider that much better than the best MTB rider out there? How is it that someone can come off the roads of France come to the super high country of Colorado and rule?

I don't know much about Wells, Weins et al... how they train or the hours they put in, but one would think that Wells would spank Levi when it came to fat tires, dirt and rocks. Wells would surly take Levi to school on a short track XC, right?

With everything that we know, you have to think Leadville is 95% fitness, about 2% handling, and 3% b'dassness.