Lance Armstrong battles to Alpine Odyssey win

“It hurt the whole time, full body cramp”

Who would’ve thunk it.
Old damn Lance Armstrong decided last-minute to make the trip over the Elk Mountains from Aspen and jump into the inaugural Alpine Odyssey, the third and final stop of the Leadville Qualifier Series.

“My buddy Len Zanni was going to come over and do it and yesterday we were riding and we thought, just spur of the moment, let’s go over and check it out,” said Armstrong.
And while he admits he hasn’t been training and is “retired,” Armstrong had enough in him to ride the 60-mile course in a time of 4:32:21 for the men’s Alpine Odyssey title.
Two-time Leadville 100 winner and Leadville course women’s record holder Rebecca Rusch took the women’s title in a time of 4:51:37.
Local team Alpine Orthopaedics (AO) had the largest presence, both on course and in the results, on Sunday with the blue/green jerseys littering the field of riders.
Team AO riders Travis Scheefer and Jennifer Smith were the top local finishers overall with Scheefer coming in third place in a time of 4:33:48 and Smith taking second among women, ninth place overall, posting a time of 4:54:39.
Close to 300 riders lined up at the base of Crested Butte Mountain Sunday morning for a shot at qualifying for the Leadville 100. After a neutral start/parade lap down Gothic Road through downtown Crested Butte, they turned onto the Slate River Road and the race was on.
One lone rider led the initial charge up the Slate d’Huez with Scheefer less than a minute behind and Armstrong firmly glued to Scheefer’s rear wheel.
“It seemed like Lance was working pretty hard behind me and I felt great,” said Scheefer. “I could hear him back there breathing and he asked me how far to the top.”
Scheefer and Armstrong then teamed up with eventual second-place finisher Greg Krause to ride out of Gothic and when they turned to the trails on Crested Butte Mountain, Scheefer jumped in front.
“I figured I’d be faster,” said Scheefer.
The three riders then headed up Washington Gulch together and when the climbing really started, Scheefer admits it wasn’t easy.
“As soon as we started climbing I could feel it in my legs,” says Scheefer.
At that point, Armstrong put it out there to the other two riders.
“Lance said, ‘Are you guys feeling this?’” said Scheefer.
While Scheefer spoke up and said yes, Krause didn’t say a word and took that as a sign to push it, pulling away from Armstrong and Scheefer.
Armstrong asked Scheefer how close to keep Krause so they could catch him on the single track and Scheefer suggested a minute gap would suffice.
With that in mind, Armstrong started pushing, charging through the flats of Gothic Road by Rustlers Gulch and up out of the town of Gothic.
“He started to push it up the road and I was ready to let him go,” said Scheefer. “I was starting to suffer.”
Realizing he was losing Scheefer, Armstrong let up a bit to bring Scheefer back in so they could work together to pull up to Krause.
“He said we should work together,” said Scheefer. “I just put my head down and suffered. I knew if I didn’t stick on Lance’s wheel I would lose minutes.”
The two riders closed the gap down to 25 seconds but when they turned onto the single track, Scheefer was done.
“The first steep section my legs locked up,” said Scheefer. “But I wasn’t going to walk because I thought I could maybe catch them on the downhill if something happened to them. There just wasn’t enough descending to catch them.”
Armstrong managed to reel Krause in and pass him coming down Columbine and Warming House Hill with a slim lead to take the win just three seconds ahead of Krause. Scheefer came across just over a minute behind them.
“I was just going by feel. I haven’t been riding that much so I was a little worried that I went out too hard,” explained Armstrong. “I surprised myself. I’ve been slacking off so maybe this will inspire me to start training a little more.”
While Armstrong has seven Tour de France titles to his name as well as a Leadville 100 title, the Alpine Odyssey still put the hurt on him.
“It hurt the whole time,” admitted Armstrong. “Full body cramp.”
“The first 40 to 50 miles I was pretty comfortable,” added Scheefer, “but the last 10 miles I was suffering. It was pretty unique to get to ride with Lance for over four hours.”
Jenny Smith is headed to the Leadville 100 and decided to test herself in the Alpine Odyssey to see what she could do.
“I really just wanted to see how hard I could go,” said Smith.
Smith took the women’s lead from the start and charged up the Slate d’Huez with a comfortable gap over Rusch.
Some initial cramping set in as she headed out of Gothic on the first lap but she kept pushing with the relief of single track on the near horizon.
“I was starting to fade but knew once I got to the trails on the mountain, I would be fine,” said Smith.
She carried her lead back up Washington Gulch and a glance back on the switchback above Elkton gave her an idea of where Rusch was.
“I got a visual on Rebecca and thought if I wanted this race, I’m going to have to make it mine,” said Smith.
Smith charged over Schofield Pass and down the Gothic valley, reeled in her teammate Jeff Irwin and was on top of the world until a group of six riders, including Rusch, pulled right in behind them.
“That just crushed me,” admitted Smith.
While Smith was working by herself through the Gothic Valley, Rusch found five other riders to share the burden and take turns pulling out of the valley.
Drained from her solo effort, Smith couldn’t latch onto the group and Rusch pulled away to build a lead for the final stretch up and over the trails of Crested Butte Mountain.
“I wouldn’t have done anything differently,” said Smith. “It was a good learning experience.”
It wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns for Rusch either. While she passed Smith on the climb out of Gothic, she couldn’t let up until the finish line, keeping the throttle punched all the way to the end.
“She’s a really fast descender so I was kind of running scared,” said Rusch. “It was a rough day at the office. The length of the climbs and the altitude kind of kick you in the butt. It’s a really good precursor to Leadville.”
Race director Dave Ochs says the day went off with only a few minor hitches and the feedback from competitors was stellar.
“Perfect day, perfect flowers, really couldn’t have gone better,” said Ochs. “The best support, that’s what makes it for me, great volunteers. And sick cooperation from everyone. Everyone wanted to see it happen and it did.”
Both Smith and Scheefer are headed to the Leadville 100 in two weeks.
Armstrong, on the other hand, says he’s done.
“I’m too old, I’m retired,” said Armstrong.