LANCE ARMSTRONG BESTS JAY HENRY FOR COLORADO STATE XC CHAMPIONSHIP

What do this guy and Lance Armstrong have in common?
Nothing.

photo Alex Mitling

Lance wins the Colorado State XC Championship in Snowmass, Colorado

photos Aspen Times

While warming up today in Snowmass, Colorado for an attempt at my own age classification State Championship, despite a battered body, I was rolling into the start area when yeah, Lance Armstrong rides by all of us spinning up the pave for a quick warm-up before the start of the Blast the Mass Mountain States Cup race. My train of thought quickly became don't let this guy Armstrong humilate me by lapping me on my first lap while he is on his second, the laps were long and difficult for most of us, but I managed to accomplish my goal. Jay Henry rode like a rockstar and finished only three minutes behind podium boy from the latest Tour for second place, kudos to Jay on battling one of the all time greats head to head.

Lance Armstrong moves to the front quickly on the first climb of the Snowmass, Colorado race today, he quickly opened a gap and held it.
photo Alex Mitling
Lance crosses the bridge coming into the start finish area

Again on the first climb, Lance puts the tour legs to the test, and drops the field early.
photo alex Mitling
My day went well all things considered, and my podium dissappeared when this happened somewhere along the route after the last climb. I HAD been battling for second when misfortune struck, the ensuing clusterfuck which I basically created for myself knocked me back one spot shy of the podium in fourth.Lance Armstrong appears ready to rip the Leadville 100 next weekend. I'll steal some pictures of Lance when I get the chance.

BLUE RIVER FLY FISHIN, GIANT BICYCLES BASH AT KEYSTONE

Giant Bicycles some how managed to get ahold of me to both DJ and announce at their pump track which was built for their yearly sales meetings which were held at Keystone this year. The full line of their 2010 bikes were unveiled to their dealers from all over the country. This of course led me back to my roots of guiding fly fishing on the Blue River during the day, and workin the Giant gig at night..

One of my old honey holes on the blue

Find this bridge and you are there..

Then madness under the lights at the Keystone stables and the pump track

Giant bikes everywhere

Beer everywhere

Shhhhhh, don't tell anybody

Pump track extroidinaire Lee McCormack from leelikesbikes.com

BEAVER CREEK BLAST FINISHES OFF VAIL REC DISTRICT RACE SEASON

Not as many racers who should have finished off the VRD race series last night on a hot eve as they threw down at the Beaver Creek Blast. Hopefully they learned something this year and realize that races that are $35 are not very attractive to the majority of locals. The Summit county series is $20 and ASPEN, that's right ASPEN, charges $10 for their races as they do not fleece their locals and try to be profitable, but instead focus on what it should be, a good time for as many people who would like to race.

GOT AN EXTRA $7800 LAYING AROUND

YOU CAN GET THIS FOR ALL THAT MULA...21.8 lbs. without pedals, probably for the small or medium build.

Seems pretty damn silly to me, the Giant Full Carbon Anthem X Advanced...seems it would be easier to call it the X.

RANDOMNESS FROM THE WEEKEND...

Looky here, a dawg that never gets bored....

Willie Warren, Kona's Colorado/Utah rep was in the "hot seat" for a while in the downhill finals as the race leader, but was dethroned not too far afterwards by faster riders. Willie gettin some air below..

A QUICK SQUIRT ATHLETE UPDATE

Squirt's latest "field tester" and racer is five time defending National Cyclocross Champion (also a bronze and silver medalist at worlds!) Katie Compton, who along with husband Mark Legg Compton have been using Squirt Lube for the past few weeks. Katie placed 6th in her first World Cup event last week and reported the Squirt held up fantastic in the mud and rain of the demanding conditions. Look for Katie to slowly ramp it up as she begins her assault on another World Championship attempt.

Squirt Lube athletes continue to dominate their respective disciplines as this past week saw Seth Wealing and Nico Labrun take the top two spots at an Xterra event in Valle de Bravo, Mexico

Greg Krause warms up in his Squirt cycling cap before finishing third at the national Time Trial Championships..

LEADVILLE 100 APPROACHING QUICKLY....

With the Leadville 100 quickly approaching in just 11 days, there is talk of breaking the course record by BIG margins, and with Lance, Levi and Wiens in the house, who is gonna say it won't happen? Now back to Big Sloppy. Ortiz is seen here with the inconspicuous "eye absorption" method of steroid intake, his doc told him it would help him see the ball better rumor has it.

Seems there have been some ruffled feathers out there from Boston Yankee (New York Red Sox?) fans about the fact that he's a cheater, and that cyclists get caught all the time, to which I respond sooooo true, cyclists that are caught serve a severe punishment which virtually ends their careers as a professional athlete, baseball cheaters on the other hand, continue to go play, cheat, sign autographs to little kids, cheat, remain gamefully employed, cheat some more, have all their records remain acknowledged, cheat a little bit more, keep their trophies and awards, continue to receive bonuses for results acquired through cheating. Whilc cyclists do and will continue to dope, they receive a career death sentence for their efforts. Big Sloppy and others continue to roll on right through it all despite being a douche bag cheat. Look at the career numbers ladies and gent, they say it all. One of the side effects of steroid intake is an oversized "fat looking" head, I rest my case.

CRANKWORX SLOPESTYLE DROP IN 2009

One of the requirements of the 2009 Crankworx Slopestyle at Winter Park, Colorado, was that each racer sign a waiver stating he would not shit his pants and all over the starting ramp of this years course while dropping in...


This is the rider's first look as they roll "blind" over the egde of the first rock drop. Then shut it down speed wise and negotiate this little beaut, those planks get narrow on a bike.
A good shot of the drop into the "corkscrew". One rider did not make this move, and paid.A look back at what you just survived..

Hit this bad boy and get 40 feet of air, then you are finally on course and starting your slopestyle run.

Then right into this monster step up

Which drops you again into another big air kicker

And then sends you on your way through a maze of dirt and wood features to the bottom, by now 99.99% of you would be dead on this course if you gave it a go.