We woke up early (4am) and drove 3 hours to Leadville, CO to watch this year’s Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race. Lance Armstrong, having finished 2nd last year, was scheduled to participate in the race.

We parked on Hwy 5a, just outside Leadville CO. It was raining steadly and temperatures were just above 40 degrees. We got our umbrella and rain gear out and watched the race ride by.

I choose this spot from recomendations by people who have watched the race in the past. This location allowed us to watch the riders two times that day, as they passed us heading out and back in.

Once the race passed we had lunch and hiked up the trail to the base of the famous powerline climb. Our spot was close to the bottom, but allowed us to rush to the finish line and watch the finish of the race.

We heard race reports that morning that Lance Armstrong was defending a sizeable lead over the competition, including 5 time defending champion Dave Wien. As Lance entered the woods approaching the climb cow bells and screams echoed through the woods.

 

We raced to the finish and claimed out spot amongst the crowd. A police escort lead Armstrong to his record breaking Leadville 100 finish. We took dozens of photos and video of the race. Here is some of our favorites.