Rusch crushes her former time and sets a course record to retain her reign as women’s champ

Leadville, CO – August 14, 2010 – Rebecca Rusch, the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 Women’s Champ and three-time 24 Hour Solo Mountain Biking World Champion, has scored another high-profile victory – taking top female honors at the 2010 Life Time Fitness Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race for the second year in a row. Finishing the grueling 100-mile race with a time of 7:47:35, Rusch beat her 2009 time by almost 30 minutes, and broke the course record set in 1997 by 11 minutes.

After a chilly early morning start, Rusch says the blue bird skies and temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s were a stark change over last year’s freezing conditions.

She spent most of the first half of the race trying to shake second place finisher Amanda Carey.  Rusch finally gained a sizeable gap at the Columbine climb.

“I just said it’s now or never,” said Rusch.  “I just knew it had to happen then.  And I just put the screws to her and it worked.”

Rusch battled through leg cramps during the last stretch of the race to cross the finish line 25 minutes before Carey and an hour before the 3^rd & 4^th place female finishers.

“Another win at Leadville is a huge. This race is just unreal,” said Rusch. “I’ve been training with this being my main goal all year. Still, I surprised myself.  I wanted the course record, but I didn’t expect to beat it by 11 minutes. This was the most painful day I had on a bike, but it was worth it.”

The Life Time Fitness Leadville Trail 100 is one of the most high-profile mountain bike races in the sport, as well as one of the most punishing, with steep climbs and harrowing descents totaling approximately 14,000 feet in elevation gain.  This year the race had more than 1,500 riders from 48 states and 21 countries.  The race covers 100 miles of peaks and valleys all above 9,000 feet in elevation in Leadville, CO.  It draws some of the top names in the sport, and at least 20,000 spectators.  The race is an out-and-back course; 50 miles to the highest point on the course, the Columbine Mine Aid Station at 12,600’.  90-percent of the race is on back-country dirt roads, with some short sections of paved road.

Since becoming a pro adventure racer and endurance athlete  in 2001, Rebecca Rusch, residing in Ketchum, ID, has proven to the world she has what it takes to execute any of the above even after going beyond her limits in far flung places like Kyrgyzstan and Tibet. She added 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike racing to her résumé five years ago and proceeded to dominate the sport.  She is currently the three-time 24 hr Solo World Champion, two-time Leadville Trail 100 Champion. Rusch’s blog about her adventures and training can be found at www.rebeccarusch.com. www.twitter.com/thequeenofpain

Floyd Landis has frequently been described as a dirtbag, but that’s on his better days. Personally, I really don’t care who has been doping when it comes to road racing. But I read an article like this one, on Velonation, and I have to wonder one thing - who would believe Floyd in the first place? He spent so much time denying his drug use, then came out and claims that everyone else did it too. Why is it that when he was obviously lying, no one believed him, but now that he’s admitted to lying, and there is a reason to question his motives, suddenly folks are starting to listen?

Please explain.

I really liked his “Performance” video. This one is equally good. As cyclists, we ought to not take ourselves too seriously. This certainly helps in that regard…

Over the past six years, I have been involved with at least that many different cycling forums. On some of those sites, I would post for a bit, then maybe come back every once in a while to check things out, but I never felt like a “member”. I’ve been the administrator on two sites, one of which now has over 180,000 “members”, yet still has less than 15,000 active users. While that’s great for drawing ad revenue, it does little to foster a sense of community. As a side note, the site’s search function rarely, if ever, actually works, so it’s not even a viable resource for cycling information, unless what you’re looking for gets indexed by the Goog’, and you find it that way.

Which brings me to TwoSpoke.com. I was approached by the admin of that site when I was wrapping up my contract with another forum. He was interested in trading links, and I offered to help out with his new forum any way I could. (Best advice? Don’t hire me to do anything. ) So I put up a link, joined the site, and offered my two cents when I had something of value to suggest. Nearly a year later, they’re still going strong, and have perpetuated that sense of community that none of the larger sites have been able to hold on to. And the owner (an actual cyclist) has been extremely proactive in maintaining the quality of the site, both on the server side, and the user end. While the site has been growing at a steady pace, it’s still held onto that sense of familiarity, where all the regulars not only know each other, but treat each other with respect, and welcome new members in a gracious manner.

If you haven’t already checked out the site, go have a look. You might even stay for a while.

[Note: this was written a while ago, but got saved rather than published while I was in the middle of sorting out some hosting issues. Happily, I have a new, reliable web host]

It’s been a while since my last post about the Wabi Classic, and I’ve made a few changes to it, so this is as good a time as any for an update.

First, I’m still in love with this bike. Even non-cyclists comment on what a sexy looking ride it is. With nearly non-existent graphics, and only minimal cabling, (front and rear brakes) it looks sleek and fast even when I’m going slow. And after doing a few “upgrades”, I’ve come to appreciate the stock component selection even more. When I got fitted for a tuxedo a few months back, I realized that I’m not quite the same chest size I was twenty years ago, so I replaced the original bars with some slightly wider Ritchey Pro bars. This necessitated a new stem, and a friend offered up a Thomson at a price I couldn’t refuse. At this point, I was thinking it would look better with a black seatpost and headset. Well, talk about being half wrong. The headset looks fine, but I ended up not using the seatpost, as silver just looks right after all. While I was at it, I figured it was silly to have those sweet Tektro Campy-style levers, but not have Campagnolo brakes. So off came the stock brakes, and on went a new set of Campys.

A couple hundred bucks into “upgrades”, and I have a bike that feels exactly like the stock bike, with probably no weight benefit, other than a slightly lighter wallet. Lesson learned. Richard Snook has plenty of experience not just riding and racing, but sourcing components too. Unless you like spending money for the sake of spending money, the only thing your Wabi really needs is a set of pedals. Save the upgrades for that day when something actually needs to be replaced. Given that this bike is so enjoyable to ride, that will most likely be the tires. I’m hard pressed to suggest swapping anything else, other than the seat, should you have a personal preference.

My only complaint to date is that I would have preferred a standard headset. Not that there is anything wrong with the integrated one, it’s just a personal choice. The bike has such an old school look to it, the headset is a bit out of place.