The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Then there’s Lee Cannon, 66 years young, though you wouldn’t know from looking at him. Cannon completed his seventh Leadville 100 with a time of 10:03:31 coming in 8th place in his age class and finishing in the top 30-percent despite being the third oldest guy in the race. Not only that, but Cannon is nothing if not consistent with his times the last three years all within one minute. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention town of Crested Butte attorney John Belkin. In the midst of all of the MSEOTH, Belkin lined up for, and finished, his 10th Leadville 100 and continued his tradition of hitting up K’s Dairy Delite both before and after the race. The Leadville 100 mountain bike race is an entirely different beast these days. While the course may be the same, the competition has reached a new level as the race has grown over the past several years and winning times are downright insane. “The competition is ridiculously crazy,” says Smith. “My time this year would have won multiple races up until three or four years ago.” Course conditions always play a part, and this year had its issues. Rain in the weeks prior to the race followed by dry weather left the top of the course loose. Adding insult to injury, riders were met with a pretty stiff wind on the way back to town. Plus, there’s the altitude. The lowest point of the race is 9,200 feet above sea level but spends most of the time above 10,000 feet and tops out at 12,424 feet. “It becomes this real test of how fast you can go at that altitude,” says Smith. “The pace and effort and speed you go above 10,000 feet is really hard.” It was Smith’s third time racing in the Leadville 100 placing fourth and fifth the other two times. Smith admits that while she’s seen some success at the race, it definitely does not suit her style. Smith excels on trails, both climbing and descending, and while it is a mountain bike race, it has a serious road racing aspect to it. “I’m a little bit of a round peg in a square hole with this race,” says Smith. “Half of the race suits me and half of the race doesn’t.” Neverthless, Smith had no issues in her race and rode smart enough to hit her stride three-fourths of the way into the slog. After a brief stint in sixth place, Smith started climbing her way up on the way to the Columbine Mine turnaround point. “I just started out knowing I needed to pace pretty comfortably,” explains Smith. By the time she started to ascend the Columbine Mine road, Smith was in second place and realized that was her goal, to finish in second place. One of the biggest challenges to the out and back format, is avoiding the constant stream of riders heading up to Columbine Mine while descending. The uphill, and downhill, above treeline is a loose and rocky road stuffed with two-way rider traffic. “It’s so dangerous, I just picked my way down that,” says Smith. The race then became a test of holding onto second place and while her gap on third and fourth was comfortable, anything can happen. Fortunately for Smith, as the race miles continued, she got stronger making for a powerful ride to the finish line. “At 75 miles I really did start to click,” says Smith. “It was time to get racing, hold onto second and I raced the hardest the final 25 miles.” Smith crossed comfortably in second place, the best finish of her Leadville 100 career. “I’m stoked with second place,” says Smith. “Of course it would be fantastic to win.” Smith will close out the summer racing season Labor Day weekend at the Grand Junction Off-Road race for “40 miles of full suspension.”
