# Levi won Leadville, new record time..



## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)

http://singletrack.competitor.com/live
http://twitter.com/ltrail100

12:44 - Singletrack.com: official time is 6:14 he is close
12:46 - Singletrack.com: hes approaching finish
12:47 - Singletrack.com: 6:16:37
12:47 - Singletrack.com: LEVI SETS A NEW LEADVILLE RECORD 

Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski - 6:25:21 - 2nd place


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## Ventruck (Mar 9, 2009)

Honestly some nice news imo.

I'm not a big Levi fan, think he "deserves it", "needs a win" or consider him super 1337 to easily take Leadville, but it's nice for his record books - winning and setting the new record. Keeping himself involved and competitive.Great.


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## zosocane (Aug 29, 2004)

Nice news indeed. Levi didn't have the greatest TdF and then his former manager at Gerolsteiner (Michael Holczer) throws mud his way. :mad2: Good for Levi.


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## ptfmb71 (May 16, 2007)

He said he had never suffered like that before...wow
my MTB racing buddy did it but don't see his name as a finisher yet.


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## roadie92 (Jan 21, 2008)

Great ride by levi!!


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## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)

1. Levi Leipheimer @ 6:16:37.2 (1st in his division)
2. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski @ 6:25:21.4 (2nd in his division) **
3. Todd Wells @ 6:30:31.1 (3rd in his division)
4. Dave Wiens @ 6:33:54.1 (1st in his division)
5. Jeremiah Bishop @ 6:33:54.4 (4th in his division) 

**2nd place finisher Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski also beat Armstrong's 2009 time (6:28:50)


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## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)




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## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)




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## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)




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## varian72 (Jul 18, 2006)

100 miles on a hardtail...damn


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

varian72 said:


> 100 miles on a hardtail...damn


Definitely not nearly as "easy" as on a road bike, although most of my friends have suggested that Leadville requires full suspension.


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## cruso414 (Feb 20, 2004)

who's the dude in the last pic?


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## MisterC (May 26, 2007)

Leadville most certainly does not require full suspension.


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## ptfmb71 (May 16, 2007)

Leadville is not considered to be technical (it's the altitude and climbing that makes it difficult), but anytime you are on a trail for 6+hrs a FS will feel better. I would consider this a HT type race


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

MisterC said:


> Leadville most certainly does not require full suspension.


Good to know, I guess. Never been there and not a mountain biker.


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## Mootsie (Feb 4, 2004)

cruso414 said:


> who's the dude in the last pic?


Ah.... that's the Female winner..... I think.....


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## avalnch33 (Jul 19, 2006)

cruso414 said:


> who's the dude in the last pic?


Women's winner and record setter Rebecca Rusch


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## rydbyk (Feb 17, 2010)

spade2you said:


> Definitely not nearly as "easy" as on a road bike, although most of my friends have suggested that Leadville requires full suspension.



Lots of racers use 29er hardtails now for endurance events. Riding tubless with sub 20lb pressure in 29" tires + carbon or ti post + compliant frame = pretty darn comfy w/no rear suspension. Plus, Leadville is not a techy/rough trail overall, so HT is perfectly fine for this one. Full squishy is going to still be more comfy, but you give up a bit of weight and climbing performance...

I ride/race on a Lynskey 29er ti hardtail w/tubeless setup in case you were wondering:thumbsup: I am on my 4th 29er and this one is the best so far.. I prefer my 29er for most endurance events (12 hour etc) but prefer a 26" ht for anything 2 hours or less...

Oh...and great job Levi! Hmmm..


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## cruso414 (Feb 20, 2004)

avalnch33 said:


> Women's winner and record setter Rebecca Rusch


Thats a MAN baby!


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## The Weasel (Jul 20, 2006)

rydbyk said:


> Lots of racers use 29er hardtails now for endurance events. Riding tubless with sub 20lb pressure in 29" tires + carbon or ti post + compliant frame = pretty darn comfy w/no rear suspension. Plus, Leadville is not a techy/rough trail overall, so HT is perfectly fine for this one. Full squishy is going to still be more comfy, but you give up a bit of weight and climbing performance...
> 
> I race a Lynskey 29er ti hardtail w/tubeless setup in case you were wondering:thumbsup: I am on my 4th 29er and this one is the best so far..


I'm not a 'racer' but I did the Wilderness 101 two weeks ago on a rigid 1X9 29er. There definitely some techy down hills that had me shaking my wrists out.


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## Greg Smalter (Jul 16, 2005)

spade2you said:


> Definitely not nearly as "easy" as on a road bike, although most of my friends have suggested that Leadville requires full suspension.


Based on the pictures here, I don't understand why you even need a mountain bike. Seems like a cross bike would be fine, and faster.


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## rydbyk (Feb 17, 2010)

The Weasel said:


> I'm not a 'racer' but I did the Wilderness 101 two weeks ago on a rigid 1X9 29er. There definitely some techy down hills that had me shaking my wrists out.



tubeless?

psi?

frame material?

ht?

front fork travel/make?

tire size?

1 X 9 has nothing to do with having to "shake your wrists out" after some techy descents. I am sure you know this already. How did you do otherwise?


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## The Weasel (Jul 20, 2006)

rydbyk said:


> tubeless?
> 
> psi?
> 
> ...


regular tubes

about 45 psi - I tend to run high, 2.2 Bontrager Jones X (hate it as front tire)

Yes, hardtail, steel frame and fork (Wily). It wasn't the 1X9 that had me shaking my wrists, it was the fact I had no suspension, thus the 'rigid' comment. I converted my singlespeed.

Here I am in cyclingnews (I thought this was funny I could make any cycling site ) I am the first picture on the right (yellow Wily)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/national-ultra-endurance-nue-series-5-wilderness-100-ne/results

Results are posted there too. I finished 4:22 (10:55) behind the winner and 134 out of 184 in my category. There really are some tremendous riders out there!


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## rydbyk (Feb 17, 2010)

The Weasel said:


> regular tubes
> 
> about 45 psi - I tend to run high, 2.2 Bontrager Jones X (hate it as front tire)
> 
> ...


Nice pic! You look like you are mtb'n thru a Lord of the Rings set! As far as your bike is set up...holly cow! I have raced events like Sea Otter full rigid WITH tubes and got beat up pretty good.

If you have not tried a Stans No Tubes set up, I highly recommend...especially if running rigid up front!! I have raced at as low as 17 psi....great traction...no flats...no more rolling resistance than a tube w/ 45 psi either...AND you drop a bit of rot. weight..

PS...I missed the word "rigid" in that post...sorry..


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## 88 rex (Mar 18, 2008)

Greg Smalter said:


> Based on the pictures here, I don't understand why you even need a mountain bike. Seems like a cross bike would be fine, and faster.



I'm not saying you couldn't ride it with a CX bike, but I definitely wouldn't want to bomb down washed out powerline trails on a CX bike. Powerline trails in general, IME, seem to be sketchier than meets the eye.


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## cheddarlove (Oct 17, 2005)

She looks like a world champion to me! :thumbsup: 
Gee, the stripes give it away! 

http://www.rebeccarusch.com/bio/


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## JohnHenry (Aug 9, 2006)

This cements LL as a real loser and obvious wheelsucker.


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## moonmoth (Nov 8, 2008)

I like to see riders competing in other disciplines, to see where they stack up. Cross is interesting in that way, because it often pits roadies vs. MTB'ers, although neither parties are usually world class. Yes, you don't have to tell me that Leadville is not real MTB'ing, that the course is not technical, and that 100 miles is way longer than any real MTB course. And yeah, I know that the elite MTB'ers are all in Europe and that the best USA MTB'ers like Horgan-Kobelski are second tier. But it's still interesting that someone like Leipheimer can drop in, win the race, and set the course record among the MTBers.

Given the success of MTB'ers like Cadel Evans, and Ryder Hesjedal, I've often wondered if Dave Wiens or Horgan-Kobelski could have competed on the road? Or perhaps more significant, could perennial French world champ MTB'er Julian Absalon have given the France something to cheer about in the TdF? How about the other way: would Contador have a chance in a race with knobby-tired bikes?


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## ewarnerusa (Oct 11, 2007)

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He looks and acts beat down.


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## nayr497 (Nov 8, 2008)

Uh...maybe it has been mentioned, but what is Leipheimer's training/background in MTB? Don't think he started as one, did he?


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## rydbyk (Feb 17, 2010)

moonmoth said:


> I like to see riders competing in other disciplines, to see where they stack up. Cross is interesting in that way, because it often pits roadies vs. MTB'ers, although neither parties are usually world class. Yes, you don't have to tell me that Leadville is not real MTB'ing, that the course is not technical, and that 100 miles is way longer than any real MTB course. And yeah, I know that the elite MTB'ers are all in Europe and that the best USA MTB'ers like Horgan-Kobelski are second tier. But it's still interesting that someone like Leipheimer can drop in, win the race, and set the course record among the MTBers.
> 
> Given the success of MTB'ers like Cadel Evans, and Ryder Hesjedal, I've often wondered if Dave Wiens or Horgan-Kobelski could have competed on the road? Or perhaps more significant, could perennial French world champ MTB'er Julian Absalon have given the France something to cheer about in the TdF? How about the other way: would Contador have a chance in a race with knobby-tired bikes?


Yes, yes and yes again. Like Levi said, he has NEVER suffered like this before. Endurance (100+ miles/12hour/24hour events) CC Mtb'rs develop a pain threshold that possibly many roadies (road only riders) will never understand or be exposed to. Am I saying that roadies don't endure a heck of a ton of pain?......nope. I have spent plenty of hours doing both and I get a lot more thrashed from 5+ hours on ANY mountain bike vs. road 5+ hours..

It CAN go the other way around too...Lance is quite fast mtb last time I checked.... I always wished that Tinker Juarez had focused MORE on the road. He has dabbled, but never excelled at an elite level. So....I guess this would/could contradict what I said in my first paragraph....for Tinker at least...


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## bolandjd (Sep 12, 2008)

Lance last year. Levi this year. Are the roadies fixing to take over Leadville? Is the Leadville course that much rougher and mountainy than a "road" course like Paris-Roubaix? It seems like Leadville could become an American version of the European fall classics - a high profile event for the guys who didn't podium at Le Tour to get a shot at some glory.


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## AdamM (Jul 9, 2008)

Didn't last year Armstrong have a crew from Trek that worked as domestiques to ride tempo? I'm just saying if Levi had the same set-up, comparing times from years past, isn't exactly apples to apples, although no doubt Levi rode a heck of a race.


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## ptfmb71 (May 16, 2007)

rydbyk said:


> Yes, yes and yes again. Like Levi said, he has NEVER suffered like this before. Endurance (100+ miles/12hour/24hour events) CC Mtb'rs develop a pain threshold that possibly many roadies (road only riders) will never understand or be exposed to. Am I saying that roadies don't endure a heck of a ton of pain?......nope. I have spent plenty of hours doing both and I get a lot more thrashed from 5+ hours on ANY mountain bike vs. road 5+ hours..
> 
> It CAN go the other way around too...Lance is quite fast mtb last time I checked.... I always wished that Tinker Juarez had focused MORE on the road. He has dabbled, but never excelled at an elite level. So....I guess this would/could contradict what I said in my first paragraph....for Tinker at least...


Tinker at 50+ still does most of the endurance races in SoCal. He also holds the record (did it in 2005) on a timed century called the Mulholland Challenge 116mi 13,000+ ft of climbing (6.5hrs and it toolk me 8+hrs...LOL). In his prime it's possible he could have been at the elite level of Road.
Some other top level CX riders have won endurance MTB events.....Most top level cyclist do quite a bit of MTB riding and vice versa. All my MTB racing friends (including myself) probably put more hrs on the road than on the trails.


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## SlowMo (Apr 18, 2006)

The Weasel said:


> regular tubes
> 
> about 45 psi - I tend to run high, 2.2 Bontrager Jones X (hate it as front tire)
> 
> ...


Question about your bladder....(water bladder that is). Is that a waiste pack with the longer hose you're using, or am I seeing things in that picture? 

I'm curious, as I've been racing mountain bikes this year (again) and noticed a couple of guys using those over a camelback. I use water bottles only, but doing a 60 mile bike race in October and not sure what I want to use for that.


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## LyncStar (May 1, 2005)

Greg Smalter said:


> Based on the pictures here, I don't understand why you even need a mountain bike. Seems like a cross bike would be fine, and faster.


Why don't you give it a whirl and then provide us with a ride report.


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## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

WeakMite said:


> http://singletrack.competitor.com/live
> http://twitter.com/ltrail100
> 
> 12:44 - Singletrack.com: official time is 6:14 he is close
> ...


Did Levi have a tailwind?


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## LyncStar (May 1, 2005)

bas said:


> Did Levi have a tailwind?


There was a damn headwind that day!!!! He did have JHK to trade pulls with for most of the day though!


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