Leipheimer charges into Mt. Crested Butte for win

“Ouch”

Nathan Lacy ushered the riders into Crested Butte Tuesday afternoon on horseback, riding alongside the peloton as they passed Lacy Ranch. From then on it was all Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.
The day actually began at 5:30 a.m. with Crested Butte Mountain Resort lift mechanics Mike Martin, Josh Schumacher, Gavin Sollberger and Dave Faulk joining Dave Wiens to haul satellite repeater hardware (think antennae and dishes) to the saddle just below the peak of Crested Butte Mountain.
Had they not done that, no one would have seen the race because, as I understand it, those repeaters worked to feed the video and audio signals from a plane circling all day at 18,000 feet to the helicopter following the race to some spot in Mt. Crested Butte. Or something like that.
And that’s just a small but significant piece of the entire local pie that greeted some of the top cyclists in the world.
While the competitors made their way out of Salida and over Monarch Pass, the locals came out for the Townie Crit, a short course race through downtown Crested Butte that included a section through the Talk of the Town.
JJ Reimer was flying off the start line and making a bid for the title. Town of Crested Butte mayor Leah Williams was spinning through town in her finest royal regalia. Scott Gilman charged around on a tandem, a gorilla chased a banana, etc., etc., you get the picture.
As the race wore on, the rules were set in place that would favor those that paced themselves.
According to race organizers, “For the first 30 minutes there are no rules, then it’s the first to finish three laps.”
Torrey Carroll carried the Alpine Orthopaedics name to the win, making his move on the final “official” two laps to take it.
“Those are your winners, unofficially of course,” said emcee and US Handcycling executive director Ian Lawless. “But I think the whole race is unofficial.”
That was soon followed by an incredible handcycling criterium race, also in downtown Crested Butte, but as the day wore on, eyes turned to the Jumbotrons at the post office and in Mt. Crested Butte—or Great Crested Butte as commentators Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin called it.
When the field of riders 136 strong turned onto Whiterock, they were met with a variety of painted signs on the street but the one, or two, that stuck out the most were on First Street and the top of Elk Avenue.
Scrawled in big white letters captured nearly perfectly by the helicopter above was the name BAMBERG. A biking fan to the core.
Then, as the riders made the turn onto Elk for the sprint, they were greeted by another big white painted sign, WELCOME accompanied by some sort of leaf, perhaps an indigenous herb.
Once that was done, and it was done quick, it was go time as riders turned up the mountain for the lone uphill finish of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
Again the painted signs were out, scrawled across Gothic Road on the climb to the finish. RASTAS was in big print, FLUFFHEAD as well and the ubiquitous Steal Your Face was painted into the asphalt. In addition to some stoke notes giving the riders some last words of encouragement.
Whether or not the pack saw it is anyone’s guess. One thing was for sure, the top riders in the world were all there vying for the win on the final climb of the first stage.
Schleck, Evans, Leipheimer were all charging up the hill,  waiting to see who would make the move.
As they passed Pitchfork, it was Leipheimer who stepped on the gas. A couple of riders matched it but by the time the leaders came around the bend to the finish line, Leipheimer was all alone. Not even the pink bunny, who did his or her best to keep pace but dropped after 20 yards of running. Leipheimer would carry the lead through the last stretch under the walking bridge, past the Grand Lodge and through the crowd pasted to the fencing along the final 200 yards.
Leipheimer, riding for Radio Shack, would finish four seconds ahead of Sergio Luis Henao (COL) of Gobernacion de Antioquia by four seconds and Frank Schleck (LUX) of team Leopard-Trek by seven seconds and take the yellow jersey.
As the racers made their way to their team buses following the finish, I saw Jens Voigt, one of the most recognizable riders in the world, sitting alone at the Welcome to Mt. Crested Butte sign sipping on an orange Fanta.
Leipheimer got the usual prizes for the cycling win—flowers, kisses from super models and the yellow jersey for the overall lead—and acknowledged “the love” from the crowd on the course. But it didn’t stop there, as the Weinberg brothers, Caleb and Morgan, also tossed in a reminder of where he won, a pair of ROMP Skis with an image of Crested Butte Mountain on the top sheet taken by local photographer JC Leacock.
Bradley White, who has a strong Colorado connection and led for most of the stage before succumbing to the peloton, joined Schleck for a post-race press conference.
White proclaimed Crested Butte his favorite town in Colorado and recalled his experience racing in the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse and winning the 25-kilometer race in the Alley Loop one year.
“Are you racing or are you skiing?” asked Schleck.
“Skiing,” responded White. “Well, both actually.”
Word of the Queen Stage over Cottonwood and Independence Pass came up and Schleck quipped, “Ouch.”
When asked if he was familiar with the course, Schleck admitted he has been distracted.
“I got here three days before the race and spent time on the rivers fly fishing,” said Schleck.
The two days of racing in the Gunnison Valley reached a climax Wednesday afternoon on Cottonwood Pass. The local citizens lined the upper course becoming a rabid, flesh mass of insanity.
The bunny was there. The gorilla and banana were there. Cookie Monster and Chewbacca were spotted at the top. All made their way from Crested Butte to Cottonwood to usher the athletes out of the valley in true local form, no doubt leaving a lasting impression.