"Leadville's 10,200 feet of 5,000 tough people." "The first people that came here, you can see the mine dumps around here, those people had to come here with ability, drive, determination to dig deep." "And that's what this mountain bike race is all about." "To complete that race in under twelve hours, you got to dig deep." "You know you're better than you think you are, you can do more than you think you can." "You know, it ain't killed anybody yet, but you might be the first." "Leadville Colorado sits at 10,200 feet above sea level and began life as a mining town." "But when the mines closed, most of the townspeople found themselves without work, including Race Across the Sky founder Ken Chlouber." "He realized the riches lay above ground, way above ground, and began the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race in 1994." "Welcome to the Leadville Trail 100!" "Let me introduce to you your race director, Merilee." "Woo hoo!" "God, isn't this something fun?" "You have accepted the most grueling, tough mountain bike race." "Lt is gonna be so incredibly... torturous tomorrow." "Yeah, you're gonna leave that starting line at 10,200 feet, and you're gonna go up and up." "You're gonna be sucking that air that has absolutely no oxygen in it at all." "Oh, oh, is it gonna hurt, but you know the reward?" "The reward is when you cross that finish line." "Woo hoo!" "The one that pulled our heartstrings." "The one that we are in love with, the one that we say is the Leadville Trail 100 champion, and that is Dave Wiens." "Dave, where are you?" "Dave?" "You got 1 ,300 people in there rooting for Dave." "Lt doesn't matter if he wins or loses, or comes in last or DNFs, he's gonna be our champion forever, you know." "Six years ago today it was a lot different, this race." "A lot of things haven't changed." "We're still in this gym, which is pretty cool, and it's still an outback format, and it's the heart and soul of the race, which is you people." "There's a race at the front, and that's where there's a lot of attention, but it's everybody else, so..." "What a champion!" "What a champion!" "Dave Wiens is a mountain bike legend." "A Colorado native, he's called Gunnison his home for the last 20 years." "And although he's won national championships, today he's best known as the most prolific winner in Leadville history, with six wins in a row." "Along the way he's vanquished two Tour de France champions," "Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong, but the toughest ultra endurance race in the world, which has come to define Wiens, wasn't exactly easy for him to get into." "L'd done some bike races in Leadville, the Mosquito Pass Challenge back in '87." "L think my first pro win of my career came in the Mosquito Pass Challenge." "When I tried to get into the race in the mid nineties, I didn't go through the lottery process." "Called the office, I believe I talked to Merilee, told her yeah, I know the race is closed, but I'm a pro mountain biker and blah blah blah, and she said, I don't, I don't care," "you're not racing because that just isn't the way it works." "Rejection always hurts in some fashion, but then there was this, this respect I have for that, too, and I sent my card in the way everybody else did, and I got my check mailed back to me." "Sorry, you didn't make it, and for me that was just darn it, I didn't make it." "L guess I'll try next year, and in 2003 I sent the card in with my check, and I got my card back, "you're in."" "He is such a special young man." "He really is." "He is so unassuming, so real." "He's a homeboy." "He's not only a homeboy, he's down home." "Lance Armstrong's career has inspired millions of cancer survivors the world over, but retiring from sport is a challenge for all great champions." "Ln retirement, Lance has been equally prolific promoting his global cancer initiative." "Running the occasional marathon has kept Lance fit, but a little mountain bike race in Colorado may have sown the seeds for his spectacular return to the pinnacle of cycling." "L think Leadville is a special place." "L mean, if you go back a year ago and look at really what it started in terms of coming back and racing again." "Lance gives us, gives our race credit for his comeback in cycling." "Lt was his coach, Chris Carmichael, a good friend of ours, that I guess originally talked him into it." "Carmichael's been holding on so much..." "Chris walks around like this." "Permanently." "And then when it comes time to buy lunch, he's like this." "L can't reach it." "Lance asked me about the race, and I was telling him about it and he was just, "Man, that sounds so cool."" "The Leadville Trail 100 experience ignited those competitive juices within him, ignited that fire, and it's burning hot now." "L've done two training camps this year." "L did one in Italy and one in France." "L might, I might be ready." "Yeah, we heard that you had Tour de France training for the Leadville Trail 100." "How cool is that?" "This is the race that created the comeback." "This is the lady that really runs the race right here, Merilee." "Lf Ken and Merilee did not have the Leadville 100," "Lance may not have made this comeback." "Dave Wiens is coming." "He's the guy that's defeated two Tour de France champions." " Wow." " Yeah." "As far as all the hype, yeah, it's crazy to be involved with it when I think back on on why I got involved with the race." "Yeah, this is his race." "L mean, he's the man here, and..." "He's got an immense amount of respect for Dave and his accomplishments, but he doesn't like finishing second." "He's just a diesel." "Last year he just rode away very slowly, and that was it, you never came back." "He'll be good, I mean, he's certainly the man to beat." "The motivation was to come back and, you know, to win." "L like racing and I like being competitive like I am now, but you know, you got to have a cold one every evening I think, just to keep keep myself sane." "We've got one more thing to discuss, and that's who this race is about." "You've seen our hero Dave Wiens, and you're gonna see Lance Armstrong." "Let me tell you, this race isn't about Dave." "This race isn't about Lance." "This race is about you." "We didn't do all this work so you can get out there and be a crybaby." "We did this for one reason-- to get you across the finish line." "Are you gonna finish?" "Tell me that." "L won't quit, I commit." "L won't quit." "Would you stand up and say that so I'll know you believe me." "L commit... I commit... I won't quit!" "L won't quit!" "L'll see you at the finish line, every one of you." "Check-in." "Anyone need to check in?" "Okay, 1035, 1-0-3-5." "So I had to get up this morning and soak my water bottles in a hot puddle in the sink to defrost them." "That was kind of nice." "And yeah, just getting ready to go out there and survive for a day." " Perfect." " Thank you." "The Leadville Trail 100 race course begins and ends in Leadville at 10,200 feet." "Lt's a mass start out of town where the road quickly turns into dirt." "There begins a big climb up St. Kevins." "Then the trail intersects the pavement around Turquoise Lake where there's a fast ascent." "Racers continue up Sugarloaf Pass, another tough climb over 11 ,000 feet." "From there the riders ascend down to the Powerline and then on to the Pipeline before heading to the Twin Lakes feed station." "Here the racers begin the torturous 3,000-foot climb to the summit of Columbine mine at 12,570 feet." "Now all you have to do is retrace your steps back into Leadville, and if you finish in under twelve hours the coveted Leadville 100 belt buckle is yours." "Good morning!" "Welcome to Leadville, everyone." "Thank you so much for coming and being a part of our Leadville Trail 100 family." "Lt's a little tense right now, especially up front with the Lance effect, it gets a little more, uh, a little more exciting." "Leadville is a special place, and it's got this buzz about it." "Lt built over time, and now it's one of these things that, almost like the New York City Marathon or the Ironman, where people say, God, one day I want to do that." "Lt's the purest level of passion that you can get." "There's a whole different ambience around the Leadville 100, and I think it's partially the fact that you're lining up with everybody." "Lt's not just an elite race of the best bike racers in the world." "The six-time former champion has just arrived." "Say hi, Dave." "Dave!" "Dave!" "Dave!" "Dave!" "Dave!" "Dave!" "Dave!" "Dave!" "Bring us two very peaceful guys, the Austin Assassin and the Gunnison Gunslinger." "This year I don't know what Lance's strategy's gonna be." "Ls it gonna be to sit back like we did last year and kind of let the race unfold in front of us?" "Ls it gonna be to attack hard from the beginning?" "This is gonna be the race of a lifetime." "Ladies and gentlemen, get your motors running." "This bike race is on." "And the man in black has drawn thousands of spectators and provided a once-in-a-lifetime thrill for the 1 ,400 competitors in this year's field." "Have a ball!" "We'll see you back here in a few hours!" "For the riders, the race begins with a neutral procession to the town limit." "This neutralized start gives the riders a chance to catch a glimpse of six-time winner Dave Wiens and maybe steal a quick, nervous glance at Lance Armstrong, who looks fearsomely fit after finishing the Tour de France only three weeks prior." "The early miles still on pavement see a huge peloton led by Fort Lewis College's Matt Shriver." "The compact field includes such luminaries as national champion Tinker Juarez and Travis Brown." "The Leadville 100 to me does seem like kind of a combination of a mountain bike race and a road race." "A lot of open road, a lot of fire road, even a lot of pavement and a course that suits a road rider." "And as the road turns to dirt, this grueling adventure is about to begin." "Things that make this race so difficult are its length." "A hundred miles for a mountain bike race is a very, very long race, and the altitude, where we start at 10,000 feet, and the high point of this race is over 12,000 feet, and the amount of climbing from the start to the finish is significant, too." "And the Lance effect can be seen immediately." "The Leadville 100 has never seen such a blistering tempo set at the beginning." "Leadville just has this really interesting combination of surfaces and hills, and the whole package makes it a really compelling race." "Ln the Leadville 100, if the expected obstacles aren't challenging enough, you can always order yourself one side of beef on the hoof." "St. Kevins is the first big climb and has very few passing opportunities." "The battle for position is critical." "Lt is still in the tree line, and this early in the morning it is wet, muddy, cold and rewards riders staying at the front." "Nobody's come in and approached it from a team perspective." "L think you could, and I think this race becomes really fast then." "The climb at St. Kevins is gonna be a key point in the race." "Going into that you're gonna have to be in good position." "That's where the first selection of the elite group of riders is gonna be made." "Positioning in this race will be more important than in like a traditional mountain bike race." "L think it'll be a little bit more tactical." "There will definitely be a lot of fireworks on that first climb." "Shriver's vicious tempo has drawn out Lance Armstrong and put daylight between those two and the field." "L've done it every year they've had it, 15 years in a row." "And I show up to the race, you know, I got this bike that I bought in the early nineties, and I'm still riding it." "L've even got the same front tire." "For Dave Wiens, is it a question of pacing during a long race or being in trouble already?" "The danger of going out this quickly in a race so long is that when you blow to the moon, you never come back." "At the top of St. Kevins, cooler heads have prevailed." "Seven men have come to the front as the race course goes back out on the road." "The seven riders in the lead pack negotiate a fast, sweeping descent on pavement around Turquoise Lake before the beginning of the next climb." "Matt Shriver continues to do the work, keeping the pace high and conferring with Lance Armstrong as to exactly what tactics should be employed." "Dave Wiens is content to follow the wheels of the leaders on the fastest section of the course, biding his time for the grueling climbs to come." "Lance Armstrong is renowned for his quick pedaling cadence and it is on full display on this descent." "Still early in the morning, cold and foggy, the pack heads up to the summit of Sugarloaf, which is over 11 ,000 feet and way above the tree line." "At mile 15 the pavement yields to dirt once again as the Sugarloaf climb begins." "The wicked pace has tattered the field, and only these seven men are still in the front." "The lead pack still led by Matt Shriver also contains Alex Grant, Dave Wiens, Lance Armstrong," "Tinker Juarez is there, Len Zanni and Brian Alders." "A little bit further down the race course, climbing at his own tempo, is Travis Brown on the Sugarloaf climb." "Ln the last two years the excitement surrounding this event has blown up so much that I had an opportunity to come this year, and I just couldn't pass it up." "Last time I got to ride with my brother and my dad, which was an awesome experience." "L started the race, and I was with Floyd and Dave, and I knew I didn't have it in me, so I kind of held back and waited for my dad and brother, and we all rode across the line together," "which was the coolest experience I've had." "Next on the list of obstacles for the racers is the infamous Powerline descent." "Lt is spooky fast, technical, loose, rutted and has been the scene of many a nasty crash in the past." "Rocky, sandy, rutted, it looks like it, you know, when it rains, there's tons of waters coming down this hill." "You can hear the sizzle of the power lines overhead." "Lt's crazy-looking." "This is gonna be the most exciting part of the race, probably." "One of the best descenders in all of mountain biking is Dave Wiens." "He leads the front group down the Powerline descent." "The rain has begun to fall, making a dangerous descent that much more treacherous." "David Wiens riding smooth with Lance Armstrong on his wheel." "Matt Shriver taking a rare respite, sitting in third position as our leaders go down the Powerline descent." "Leaders have passed, leaders have passed." "One of the finest descenders in all of mountain biking is Travis Brown, and even though he is riding on drop bars more common to a road bike, he's making good time on the Powerline descent." "All right, so what happened?" "L cut my tire." "You cut your tire." "L couldn't get a boot to hold, um..." "Oh, well." "Can't win 'em all, right?" "Yeah." "David Wiens, still leading, knows this course like the back of his hand, and he finds perhaps the only dry crossing of this creek bed, and Lance Armstrong astutely follows Wiens' wheel." "The rest of the field not so lucky to have a guide like David Wiens." "Right behind you, right behind you, right behind you, right behind you." "The world's best endurance mountain bike racer for women is Rebecca Rusch." "She finds her own way around that creek crossing surrounded by a pack of guys." "She's used to that." "She's usually in the front." "L got 15 stickers on my helmet." "You know, it's one of those old school Beta shell helmets that I bought brand new." "Now, you know, it's like totally retro." "Go, Ricky." "But it wasn't when I bought it, so..." "Go, Rick!" "You got a long shot down the Pipeline." "Make up time here." "This is where the guys ride Tour de France style, and they're flying." "Back out onto Pipeline Road with Lance Armstrong leading." "This is a less technical and much flatter section of the race course." "The leaders blow right through this aid station, but most will stop for some much needed refreshment." "Between Twin Lakes and the Powerline climb you've got this section of sort of forest and sagebrush, which there's a lot of flats, there's a lot of small little hills and little poppers, so it's got a completely different character than other parts of the course," "so riders typically that excel at Leadville aren't just pure climbers." "You've got to be able to motor on the flats as well because there's a good bit of that in the course." "This section links the technical Powerline descent with Twin Lakes, and we see some more traditional road tactics in play." "The Leadville 100 is a unique race in that there are several sections in between the climbs where the road is flat and it is mostly road, even though some of it's really rough, and it's straight enough that you can actually ride as a group" "and improve your efficiency as a group by drafting much like you can in a road race, so I think in this race you'll see definitely as the race progresses and evolves, people are gonna find their people." "And there are gonna be groups of people riding together because there's an advantage in this event, unlike some mountain bike events, to being with other people." "The wind, I think, can be a factor, and you don't want to be alone, and you don't want to be in a position where you're fighting the wind and losing that battle." "Lt's very conducive to group racing to where the race will stay together and early on, this year might be different, but I'm not sure anybody wants to go out on their own for 90 miles or even 80 miles," "whereas you want to stay with the protection of the group, and that group usually lasts through the Twin Lakes speed zone at about mile 40, and then then things start to break up and the race blows up somewhat," "but this year with a much stronger field at the front we can see a bigger group stay together for a longer distance." "L just like to roll down the road with four or five guys versus going down the road with what starts out as 200 and then goes to 100 and then goes to 50 and then goes to five." "L mean, in many ways this is harder because it's more of a time trial than a road race, and if you think about road cycling, you would never consider a six-hour time trial." "Essentially that's what this ends up being." "Forty miles into the Leadville 100, conventional wisdom dictates a quick stop at the Twin Lakes aid station, but Lance Armstrong has a style all his own." "Len Zanni does stop and grabs his musette, while Dave Wiens opts for a full dismount, and with the help of his wife Susan DeMattei, he collects what he will need for the rest of this bike race." "Susan herself is an Olympic medalist in mountain biking and knows full well the support needed to stay at the top." "My life today is..." "is fantastic." "We live where we want to live, we've got these three fantastic boys." "L've got an amazing wife." "We have a lot of fun together, but everything that I have, from Susan to the boys, to where l live, is a result of mountain biking because at whatever point during the journey of my life" "where l went down that mountain bike road, that's what led me to this girl named Susan DeMattei who I eventually married, and, you know, we had a family together, and I wouldn't want to, I wouldn't want to trade that for anything." "The first Leadville he did, I think these guys were all really young, and I mean like toddler young, and I remember thinking I thought you were retired, um, that's great, go race a hundred miles," "and I will just be here taking care of the kids, that'll be perfect, and when he won, I thought that's great, now, you know, this guy needs a diaper change, basically." "L kind of had that attitude for the first one." "This year I'm really kind of fired up." "My support crew these last few years have been Susan." "She's the best support crew out there." "Wiens has collected his nutrition and gets back out on the race course." "As the hours pass, the course tightens its noose around the riders, and the pack dynamic disintegrates into a more individual effort." "Having worked so hard early in the race," "Shriver finds Armstrong's pace a daunting prospect to follow, but he gamely stays ahead of Wiens, who took full advantage of his stop to refuel." "A quick look over the shoulder gives Shriver a chance to assess Dave Wiens' position out on the race course." "Lance also glances back to see the damage his relentless pace has done to the field." "And formerly the lead group is whittled now down to just one man." "Lt looks as if Lance is trying to put as much distance between himself and his rivals before the long Columbine climb begins." " Yeah, Lance!" " Let's go, Lance!" "We all have a special role." "L'm a hydration specialist, he's a sunscreen specialist." " Swedish fish." " She's the magical one." "L'm "slap the butt as hard as you can" specialist." "We gotcha." "L love my daughter!" "All right." "And I love my wife." "He was supposed to be here 15 minutes ago, so we'll see." "We're having fun now." "Who's passing me?" "Lt's been a little bit wet." "You'll be good." "And we're having fun." " Good." " That's important." "Somehow." "All right, good job." "You don't have to be smart to ride a bike." "That's the good news." "Thank you so much." "See you, guys." "He's got Lance in his sights." "L love you." "Thanks, babe." "L think I'm thawed almost, a couple toes left." "You're gonna do it this time, you're gonna crush it." " You're gonna do it, Mom." " She's a finisher!" "How far is Dad up there?" "Ten minutes." "Go get him!" "Now the big climb." "Good luck, Daddy!" "We love you!" "All right." "See you guys on the return." "All right." "Good luck, man." "Keep it up, buddy, keep it up." "Columbine Mine is a brutal 3,000-foot climb that quickly begins to wind its way above the tree line." "The highest point of the race is reached at its 12,570-foot summit." "This is the halfway point and where the long death march for home begins." "Lance Armstrong's engine is legendary." "His cardiovascular system and pedaling efficiency have made mole hills out of mountains." "And riders the world over have felt the sting of his ceaseless strangulation in the most stratospheric of cycling environments." "He's on pace to break six hours." " Who is it?" " Lt's Lance." " Lt's got to be Lance." " Lance, hopefully." "Yeah, there he comes right over the top." "There he is, black jersey." "L think it's Lance." "L see white forks and a black jersey." "To race across the sky is to see a man as close to flying as is humanly possible." "Way to go!" "Way to go!" "Farther down the race course but now into second place is Dave Wiens." "He is deep into his long climb, but seeing your rival descending while you still have some climbing left is a serious blow to the morale." "Lance has tasted blood." "He can measure what he knows he has left against what he can see in Wiens' eyes." "Thanks for helping, you guys!" "Our second rider behind Lance was Dave Wiens, and he came in at a time of 10:03, which was ten minutes behind Lance." "Most certainly the climb has given Armstrong wings, but mountain biking is not just about climbing." "Lt's also about having the technical skills required to avoid all the pitfalls this descent provides." "Elevation that high, you just have to be very careful with your efforts." "You have to know that, you know, above 10,000 feet there's no recovery." "Going up to 12,000 feet in the race, you feel it." "Everybody reacts differently to the altitude." "Lt's a major factor in the race." "As compelling as these 3,000 feet of climbing are, what makes the Leadville 100 truly epic is the 14,000 feet of total elevation gain, all taken at over 9,000 feet above sea level." "Since it's an out and back, when we're coming down Columbine everybody gets to see the leaders come by." "A lot of times, you know, saying hi, good job, go." "Lance got into that last year where, you know, he was cheering people on as we came down the mountain, and it was pretty cool." "Go, Lance!" "Unlike anything else I've ever done." "Everybody is encouraging everybody else." "You just don't, obviously don't see that in the Tour, and I've never seen it in anything else, and so really, really special to see that last year, and one of the best memories I have," "and it's almost a bummer when you get to the last person and then you're all alone." "You don't have anybody encouraging you that's on their way out." "Having safely negotiated that long descent," "Lance comes warping past Twin lakes again cheered on by Anna Hansen and Max Armstrong, perhaps Lance's biggest fans at this year's race." "How you feeling at the top of the world here?" "Not so on top." "L'm too cold." "Travis Brown negotiating his descent of the Columbine Mine while Rebecca Rusch, the leading woman, way ahead of her field, gets near the top of the summit." "Dave Wiens coming through Twin Lakes once again chasing Lance Armstrong." "This should be really, should be it." "Lf after four hours of racing you haven't made the first passage of Twin Lakes aid station, you are pulled from the event." "This is to avoid the prolonged agony of Columbine Mine and the real potential for danger." "Oh, God, cut-off time." "Go, Ed!" "Lt's my husband!" "Go, Ed!" "Come on!" "You're cut off." "Am I the first one?" "Oh!" "Oh, oh..." "Sorry." "Good job out there." "L gave it a shot." "Oh, shit." "Shutting me down?" "Yeah, we are." "Unfortunately." "Way to go out there." "Four flats will do that to you." "L'm sorry to get your band, too." "L'm actually kind of grateful." "Thanks for being out here." "All right?" "Lt's okay." "Here he comes." "Hubby?" "That's okay." "Stop." "Come back." "Come this way." "You're getting cut off." "That's all right." "We're good." "You did so good." "Lt's okay." "Lt's all right, thank you." "You're okay?" "We're very proud of him." "He'll do it again next year." "L just wanted him to be safe, and that's all." "He'll finish it next year." "He knows it." "Lt's tough, it's tough." "Lt's hard to train that hard to come up just that short." "Thank you for sparing me my misery." "Yay!" "L don't have to hang around." "L gave it all." "L know you did." "You always do." "We had to cut a good friend off at four hours on Twin Lakes outbound." "He gave it his all." "L hate seeing you like this." "L know, I hate seeing you like this, too." "Aw, man." "Lf you call me this winter, I'm gonna shoot you." "Let's go." "As the trail of destruction in Lance's wake gets inexorably longer with each pedal stroke," "Lance deftly grabs his feed bag, which contains the life-giving fuel he will need to carry him to the finish line." "Adding insult to agony, some nasty weather has moved in, further compounding the course's brutality for the majority of the riders." "They say there is no rest for the wicked." "They say there is a place where there's no pain or sorrow or toil." "This is not it." "This is what makes the Leadville 100 so challenging and a true honor for all who finish." "Good job, rider!" "Lt's sleeting, and it hurts." "L don't know how they're riding in it." "Go get 'em, man." "Still leading the women's field is Rebecca Rusch." "She is greeted by hailstones at the top of the Columbine Mine." "L think you're pretty much, you're not gonna make the cut-off on this thing." "L'd like to get you down to St. Vincent's and see if we can just see the screen, okay?" "Okay." "All right, here." "Just listen." "We want to just get him to St. Vincent's." "Big poke." "Okay." "A great champion recognizes the events that capture the imagination." "Lt's probably around 11, isn't it?" " Lt's 11: 11 right now." " Lt's 11: 11 right now." "After seeing this race course in 2008," "Lance vowed to never approach it again without being able to ride at record pace." "On the return to Leadville, at the base of the Powerline climb, you are approximately 80 miles into this race, and now you must face a long, heinous, loose, and technical climb." "Lt goes from up to straight up to way up." "With resolve-pulverizing fatigue creeping into your arms and legs, very few riders are able to clean this grueling sting in the tail." "No bike race is complete without the lunacy of the screaming fans just inches away from the competitors." "Life may well be like a box of chocolates, but the Columbine Mine and Powerline climbs are not." "And while the cheers from the hoi polloi are most welcome, for Lance Armstrong there are still many miles to go." "The off-camber double track is where most riders have to dismount and hike a bike." "L'm racing with the people." "L'm, you know, competing just against what I've done, what I can do." "Lt's, you know, it's just a lot of fun." "A challenge." "For Roxanne Hall, it's a life-affirming accomplishment just to be in this year's race." "L was on a training ride with my friend." "L wasn't riding that day;" "it was just her and one of her girlfriends, Michelle." "L was hit by a car." "The car was going between 50 and 60 miles an hour." "Lt sent me back out into the middle of the highway." "That's all I remember." "L got in the car and raced up to the scene, and when I came up and found her lying in the middle of the road, I just had just a horrible, horrible... feeling." "We went down to the Frisco trauma center, and then they started to tell me all the things that were wrong." "A doctor came in and said that my back was broken in five places." "L had a lacerated liver and pancreas and had bruised lungs, a concussion, a severed ACL, torn MCL of my left knee." "L tore my gluteus maximus muscle." "No one could tell me if anything..." "or if it was gonna be okay." "And it didn't matter if we ever rode a bike again." "L just wanted to take her home and for everything to be okay." "My recovery really started when I was in the icu." "L just really wanted to... prove to myself that... I would get to do this wonderful sport and race again." "To see her only months later in her turtle shell cast and in her knee brace and she's sitting on her wind trainer, and I keep that on my bike for every time I think, you know, I got it bad." "The Leadville 100 for some reason has become this huge part of my life." "Even if I had to, you know, walk up all the hills." "L'm gonna finish it." "You feeling it?" "Lt's beautiful up here." "A little muddy, a bit of hail, a bit of wind, a bit a rain, everything, it's awesome, yeah." "Yeah, we got some pretty gnarly hail coming up the way here." "Lt was really stinging pretty badly." "Lt was just like coming in the vents of my helmet, ow, ow, ow." "Do you have a Coke up here?" "Yeah, we got Coke." "You want a Coke?" "Can I pee right here?" "Yep." "L'll take a Coke when I get back." "Just don't pee into the wind." "Hey, whatever, whatever they need, you know, change of tires, anything." "A little gas in the engine." "Oxygen." "We're giving it to 'em." "Yeah, chicken soup." "How are the conditions out there?" "Cold." "Lt's good, though." "L just got to try to eat." "Get off of here before I freeze." "L'm just gonna have a picnic, I'm in no hurry." "All right, no problem." "The guys that are feeling good are already gone." "The rest of us feel like crap." "L must have had a small air bubble in the brakes." "Air expanded, I have no brakes." "You have no brakes?" "L can't go down until I get it fixed." "You know what, they could have handed me a brick or something and I'd have eaten that 'cause, 'cause that's a big hill." "L was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1980." "Wow." "Yeah." "Young girl." "Lt's never gotten in my way." "L'm living my dream." "But I tell you what's gonna get in my way is this altitude." "Yeah, you're gonna have to keep pumping 'em." "Come over, that's perfect, that'll hold it." "Thank you." "My hands are numb." "You guys rock." "For most of the riders, the Powerline climb comes after so many miles that walking is the best way to ascend." "Dave Wiens is no exception to this, and the strain of chasing Lance Armstrong throughout the day is beginning to show." "Go, go, go, go!" "Great job, Dave." "Way to do it, Dave." "Lt's just steam, it's just steam." "Thanks, though." "Way to go, Lance!" "To win Leadville six times, the word surrender must be missing from your vocabulary." "And for Dave Wiens the closing miles of this year's race are an opportunity to soldier on and never surrender." "L got a couple flats, three." "So I'm working my way up, but I've blown up maybe probably three times, too." "Oh, man." "So trying to catch up." "Here you go." "L'm still going." "You are." "Man, this is a hard race." "There's no shame in walking when everyone else is walking." "Except maybe Lance and Dave." "Way to go, riders!" "Way to work it." "Good job, sir." "Would you like a push?" "You know, you come up here, and you see old friends that you haven't seen for a year." "Okay, Fred, you're looking good this year." "Looking good every year." "Way to go, Fred." "You meet people that know you that you pass on the trail that you say hi to year after year and you've never met." "L met a guy just here that has done all 15 of 'em that I had never talked to before, so, you know, it's kind of fun." "Lt's like coming home." "Sir, would you like a push?" "Yep." "Okay." "L got you." "Good job!" "This is our fifth year up here." "We call it our unofficial Powerline aid station." "We give the guys, Coke, water, Bud Light, some kind of salty crackers to help 'em out." "Mike and Ikes, and more importantly, moral support and cheering." "Good job, brother." "Even Lance Armstrong's coach, Chris Carmichael, is struggling up this Powerline climb." "Buddies again." "Yep." "Blow it up." "L didn't have it to blow up with." "Things that that freak me out are the rooty courses that are in the trees and never really dry out, and it's hard for anybody to find a line on that stuff." "With clear sailing and a hero's welcome waiting, what could possibly go wrong for Lance Armstrong?" "L got a flat." "Oh, boy." "The only thing that can go wrong just has." "A flat tire with seven miles to go." "His nervousness is compounded by not knowing exactly how far Dave Wiens is behind." "L think this has got some..." "some goo." "Think it's good?" "An unsatisfactory change, and Lance is back to the original CO2 cartridge." "L'm gonna try to ride it." "The futility is obvious, and Lance decides to carry on and finish up on a flat tire." "You got it, buddy." "Looking good, looking good." "Downhill, buddy." "What should have been for Lance Armstrong a triumphant procession into Leadville and the finish turned into a rather desperate struggle against the charging Dave Wiens and the fading flat tire to the rear." "Man, you're all over the road." "Lance Armstrong will not let this deter him from his goal." "Good job!" "Crank it!" "There you go!" "Go, go, go!" "The return to Leadville in the lead of the race is sweet indeed for Lance Armstrong." "And his only answer to adversity has always been to meet it head on with everything he has." "A great champion once again defined by an epic event." "A little icing on the cake, a new course record-- 6 hours, 28 minutes and 17 seconds, absolutely obliterating the previous record set just a year ago." "Ln 2006, in 2007, and in 2008..." "For Dave Wiens, the 2009 Leadville 100 would not bring his seventh victory." "Ha ha ha!" "Nice." "But to lose to Lance Armstrong is not the end of the world... and Dave Wiens looks very satisfied to be coming back to Leadville second place on the day, but greeted by his family." "A great ride by a true champion." "Lt was really hard from the beginning, so my legs were were what I call wrecked almost immediately." "L was cooked on the first climb." "L wasn't sure I was gonna be able to finish the race because St. Kevins, the very first climb was so hard, with those guys driving at the front." "L mean, he's Lance Armstrong, he's just off of the Tour." "Last year he was just off of the couch." "L rode fantastic today." "L'm happy." "Having set the early tempo for Lance Armstrong to break the record," "Matt Shriver faded a bit to fifth, but in the closing miles of the race he was able to gather up his strength and wound up third." "Definitely one of the hardest races I've ever had, and at the end here you're totally blown, and we were just battling it." "L mean, I was in fifth place at the bottom of the climb." "L felt pretty good on the last and saved a little bit." "Good job, Alex." "L'm blown away." "Lt was pretty cool riding with Lance and Dave, you know." "Two legends, I mean, it was an awesome day and awesome experience." "L was in third almost all day, and I bombed at the end." "L started losing it around that, that long dirt road." "Just came unglued, bombed and then Matt got by me." "Matt Shriver, and there was a guy right on my heels, but I managed to hold him off." "Travis Brown, welcome back." "And here is the top ten of the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race." "Winning the Leadville 100 is reserved for a very select few, but for every competitor reaching the finish line is just as gratifying, and the joy is clearly evident on the faces of all the finishers." "And the first place woman, the irrepressible Rebecca Rusch." "Yes!" "Ah, ha ha!" "Awesome!" "Woo!" "Aah, great day." "Thanks, bud." "Woo!" "Yeah, I felt good all day and, but I never really got any time splits so I was kind of running scared." "L didn't know how close the next woman was, and I still don't know." "Even coming down this road I'm looking behind me, and I just kept pretending like the guys in front of me were women and kind of playing my own little game that way and trying to pick 'em off, yeah." "You're the man, you were like my brain for me." "He rode out ahead of time the whole race course for me, time splits, 'cause I didn't know anything." "He's done it like ten times, so." "And then she goes and beat me, kicks my ass." "Aw." "On another day I wouldn't." "Thanks, buddy." "Really, today if I finished no matter what time would be a big celebration." "L had some doubts." "L thought, man, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to finish." "Then I just kept going." "L'm still weak." "L feel like I'm still healing, so maybe next year." "L've told people it's not my body that's stronger, it's my spirit." "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "...six, five, four, three, two, one!" "L was more nervous before yesterday's start than I was before the Tour this year." "L just, I didn't want to mess it up, and I ran like hell from Dave Wiens yesterday." "L don't know who was giving me time splits, but they need to be fired." "L can't fix a flat to save my life." "L wanted to win this race more than anything, and he's gonna pass me with a flat tire." "Lt's special to have an out and back course and to see everybody and get the words of encouragement." "Leadville taught me that it's okay if you don't win." "There are a lot more things that are a lot more important." "We're racing for an ore cart trophy." "There's no money, it's this trophy, and it's a mining cart, and it's heavy, it's filled with rocks." "Lt's a little bit dangerous 'cause it tips over a lot." "L want Dave Wiens up here to share this moment with Lance." "The volunteers and the city of Leadville, the people of Leadville, here's to you." "Thank you very much." "Very meaningful to a lot of people, this community."