Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

a viewpoint on Leadville

3K views 42 replies 12 participants last post by  cstem 
#1 ·
"Here a big screw you to Levi Leipheimer: he said in his post race report that he couldn't believe how hard it was and he wished it was over from within 2 hrs in.

Hey levi thanks for wishing something that some people spend a year training for was over before you started and won it. If you didn't know what you were getting into try riding an f-ing mountain bike before you show up and desecrate a race with your TDF fitness.

Just cause you are fast and you win does not make you one of us and you took a real victory from a well deserved group of actual mountain bikers. Poser. GTFO.

Any last respect I had for you is now erased."



I just don't agree.
 
#2 ·
yetisurly said:
"Here a big screw you to Levi Leipheimer: he said in his post race report that he couldn't believe how hard it was and he wished it was over from within 2 hrs in.

Hey levi thanks for wishing something that some people spend a year training for was over before you started and won it. If you didn't know what you were getting into try riding an f-ing mountain bike before you show up and desecrate a race with your TDF fitness.

Just cause you are fast and you win does not make you one of us and you took a real victory from a well deserved group of actual mountain bikers. Poser. GTFO.

Any last respect I had for you is now erased."

I just don't agree.
PERSONAL ATTACK!!!!!
 
#6 ·
yetisurly said:
"Here a big screw you to Levi Leipheimer: he said in his post race report that he couldn't believe how hard it was and he wished it was over from within 2 hrs in.

Hey levi thanks for wishing something that some people spend a year training for was over before you started and won it. If you didn't know what you were getting into try riding an f-ing mountain bike before you show up and desecrate a race with your TDF fitness.

Just cause you are fast and you win does not make you one of us and you took a real victory from a well deserved group of actual mountain bikers. Poser. GTFO.

Any last respect I had for you is now erased."

I just don't agree.
at least have the balls to quote me on that.

Since he won't post it himself for some reason here is a link to the thread.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=643235
 
#8 ·
Wow! And to think I got to watch a few TdF stages sitting on a couch in Levi's brothers shop in Butte, Montana this year, surrounded by a bunch of Levi's framed jerseys (I actually got to tough a real yellow jersey from the TdF and his Olympic kit). It was pretty damn cool to say the least. Oh, and there sure were lots of pics of Levi racing and riding MTB in there too. Must have been photoshop...Jealousy, it's whats for dinner!
 
#12 ·
holy jeepers you where in the same room as his jerseys and there were pictures of him? Wow.

But seriously since that initial thread was so long and involved I took full responsibility for my actions and apologized for my initial reaction here:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=7232558&postcount=8

so there you go not that I really give a honker about opinions on the internet but if you are going to make something of something I said then you should probably know the extenuating circumstances.

Actually this forum would be a lot more tolerable and less volatile if a lot of users would actually just fess up to their motivations and then realize how inane it is to argue, attack and be negative on the internet much less in our own little community.

and in the interest of full disclosure I have not nor have i ever had the desire to do that race in any way shape or form. I am generally and have always been against paying a lot of money so I can ride public trails for a long duration with a bunch of other people who have done the same. I can do that at home for free whenever I want.
 
#13 ·
I definitely think i'm missing something in this thread....but feel free to continue on....are you guys complaining about the race or levi, or something entirely different....better yet, don't tell me and let me come to my own entertaining conclusions....carry on..
 
#14 ·
rockcrusher said:
holy jeepers you where in the same room as his jerseys and there were pictures of him? Wow.

But seriously since that initial thread was so long and involved I took full responsibility for my actions and apologized for my initial reaction here:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=7232558&postcount=8

so there you go not that I really give a honker about opinions on the internet but if you are going to make something of something I said then you should probably know the extenuating circumstances.

Actually this forum would be a lot more tolerable and less volatile if a lot of users would actually just fess up to their motivations and then realize how inane it is to argue, attack and be negative on the internet much less in our own little community.

and in the interest of full disclosure I have not nor have i ever had the desire to do that race in any way shape or form. I am generally and have always been against paying a lot of money so I can ride public trails for a long duration with a bunch of other people who have done the same. I can do that at home for free whenever I want.
what exactly are you trying to say?
 
#15 ·
bigdudecycling said:
I definitely think i'm missing something in this thread....but feel free to continue on....are you guys complaining about the race or levi, or something entirely different....better yet, don't tell me and let me come to my own entertaining conclusions....carry on..
You and me both bro. I'm not sure if he was mad a Levi for apparently belittling the race, for taking a podium spot of a "real" mountain biker, and calling the race "easy." I guess it's easy to be critical after the fact.
 
#16 ·
skinny-tire said:
You and me both bro. I'm not sure if he was mad a Levi for apparently belittling the race, for taking a podium spot of a "real" mountain biker, and calling the race "easy." I guess it's easy to be critical after the fact.
I'm inclined to think that the OP can say one thing and then apologize without any sort of rebuttal.

Do as I say, not as I do kind of thing.
 
#17 ·
yetisurly said:
what exactly are you trying to say?
I will break it down:

holy jeepers you where in the same room as his jerseys and there were pictures of him? Wow.
Sarcasm.

But seriously since that initial thread was so long and involved I took full responsibility for my actions and apologized for my initial reaction here:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?...58&postcount=8
Explanation that the original post where I ranted about Levi and the Leadville was long and then a link to my explanations for my actions which were more wrought out of frustration at not having been out on my mountain bike in ages, having a 8 month pregnant wife, hot humid summer temps keeping indoors, etc.

so there you go not that I really give a honker about opinions on the internet but if you are going to make something of something I said then you should probably know the extenuating circumstances.
stating that if you are going to judge me on what I said then it makes sense that your judgment is based on all the available information. Which I too was guilty of in taking a quote/sound bite from Levi and attributing it to his lack of desire to be at a race he won and his, seemingly obvious to me from the quote, lack of mountain bike awesomeness.

Actually this forum would be a lot more tolerable and less volatile if a lot of users would actually just fess up to their motivations and then realize how inane it is to argue, attack and be negative on the internet much less in our own little community.
there seems to be a lot of differently motivated individuals on here. Some seem to have an ulterior motive to their actions. Obviously your actions are driven by being surly but others, that may read this are less obvious.

and in the interest of full disclosure I have not nor have i ever had the desire to do that race in any way shape or form. I am generally and have always been against paying a lot of money so I can ride public trails for a long duration with a bunch of other people who have done the same. I can do that at home for free whenever I want.
I am not interested in riding leadville or the whiskey or the breck epic, cascade creampuff, continental divide, soul ride, etc. as I don't really like paying money to ride my bike for long distances on jeep roads etc.

Hope that clears that up.
 
#18 ·
rockcrusher said:
I am not interested in riding leadville or the whiskey or the breck epic, cascade creampuff, continental divide, soul ride, etc. as I don't really like paying money to ride my bike for long distances on jeep roads etc.
But you do the 24HITOP?

Not sure if you realize this, but you're still belittling those who take Leadville and all the other races you mention above seriously (including Levi).

Yea, we all get riled up. Some things are better left unsaid.
 
#19 ·
yetisurly said:
I'm inclined to think that the OP can say one thing and then apologize without any sort of rebuttal.

Do as I say, not as I do kind of thing.
actually I accept all the rebuttals in kind, the original thread is still active in the forums and is currently active in here.

I kinda wanted to make a statement on how easy it is to misconstrue a sound bite from a professional cyclist by the general public of whom the majority base their opinions on AP feed sound bites but it came off as a rant against Levi.

But I still feel the same way, the sports section article about Levi and the Leadville quotes him as saying he didn't want to be there, then goes on about landis, a explanation about why lance wasn't there, allegations against Lance by Landis and then about allegations against Levi by Landis.

I feel the cycling doesn't get a fair shake in the US because it is portrayed much like soccer is, as a European sport with shin grabbing "babies" who bail out at the most inopportune times, complain about unfair officiating or courses or just complain in general.

And just as soccer it will never get a fair shake until there is less coverage on the broom wagons, less *****ing and whining about stuff and, my god please, less comments about doping when actually reporting about the sport. I mean this article was 20% Levi at leadville, 30% Lance who didn't even race then 50% doping. Plus it totally missed the local angle which I am sure that there was more than one person from Tucson at Leadville.

So I know Levi couldn't control what the sound bite was wrapped with but that is the reason I was initially cheesed off, had he said "that was the hardest race I have ever done but also the most fun I had in race ever" or something like that even if he was lying, the average arm chair joe would have seen fun and been less inclined to think he won the race cause he doped.

Or something like that.
 
#20 ·
rockcrusher said:
actually I accept all the rebuttals in kind, the original thread is still active in the forums and is currently active in here.

I kinda wanted to make a statement on how easy it is to misconstrue a sound bite from a professional cyclist by the general public of whom the majority base their opinions on AP feed sound bites but it came off as a rant against Levi.

But I still feel the same way, the sports section article about Levi and the Leadville quotes him as saying he didn't want to be there, then goes on about landis, a explanation about why lance wasn't there, allegations against Lance by Landis and then about allegations against Levi by Landis.

I feel the cycling doesn't get a fair shake in the US because it is portrayed much like soccer is, as a European sport with shin grabbing "babies" who bail out at the most inopportune times, complain about unfair officiating or courses or just complain in general.

And just as soccer it will never get a fair shake until there is less coverage on the broom wagons, less *****ing and whining about stuff and, my god please, less comments about doping when actually reporting about the sport. I mean this article was 20% Levi at leadville, 30% Lance who didn't even race then 50% doping. Plus it totally missed the local angle which I am sure that there was more than one person from Tucson at Leadville.

So I know Levi couldn't control what the sound bite was wrapped with but that is the reason I was initially cheesed off, had he said "that was the hardest race I have ever done but also the most fun I had in race ever" or something like that even if he was lying, the average arm chair joe would have seen fun and been less inclined to think he won the race cause he doped.

Or something like that.
yeah. something like that.
 
#21 ·
rockcrusher said:
But I still feel the same way, the sports section article about Levi and the Leadville quotes him as saying he didn't want to be there, then goes on about landis, a explanation about why lance wasn't there, allegations against Lance by Landis and then about allegations against Levi by Landis.
Do you have a link to this article, or where you read it? If you're referring to the original comment about how he realized two hours in, he didn't want to be riding, I'd venture to say that 99% of those who read that quote read it as "this was a damn hard race."

rockcrusher said:
I feel the cycling doesn't get a fair shake in the US because it is portrayed much like soccer is, as a European sport with shin grabbing "babies" who bail out at the most inopportune times, complain about unfair officiating or courses or just complain in general.
It doesnt' get a fair shake in the U.S. because 1) it's boring as well to actually watch, and 2) all of the doping scandals. Combine the two, and there you go...

rockcrusher said:
And just as soccer it will never get a fair shake until there is less coverage on the broom wagons, less *****ing and whining about stuff and, my god please, less comments about doping when actually reporting about the sport. I mean this article was 20% Levi at leadville, 30% Lance who didn't even race then 50% doping. Plus it totally missed the local angle which I am sure that there was more than one person from Tucson at Leadville.

So I know Levi couldn't control what the sound bite was wrapped with but that is the reason I was initially cheesed off, had he said "that was the hardest race I have ever done but also the most fun I had in race ever" or something like that even if he was lying, the average arm chair joe would have seen fun and been less inclined to think he won the race cause he doped.

Or something like that.
Well, can you blame the uninformed? I mean, how many former TdF and finishers have been accused, banned, and suspended for doping?
 
#22 ·
skinny-tire said:
But you do the 24HITOP?

Not sure if you realize this, but you're still belittling those who take Leadville and all the other races you mention above seriously (including Levi).

Yea, we all get riled up. Some things are better left unsaid.
if it was belittling it wasn't meant to be. Just my opinion I don't think I implied anything about anyone that does those. I just like to ride for free. I have done the 24hrITOP, night riding for free is less of a joy for me, the option of airlift medical support etc at night is worth a few bucks.

I still chafe at how much a weekend at the 24hrITOP costs for me. I have tried to whittle it down to a minimum so that I can financially justify it and I am getting closer. But paying something on the magnitude of $300 for 24hrs of riding my bike 100 miles or so is tough for my personal finances to handle even when it is surrounded by my friends and a bike festival atmosphere.

There is a reason I ride a single speed rigid bike and it isn't because I think it is necessarily cool. It is cheap. Belittling me because I can't afford to do these awesome grassroots events seems fairly judgmental on your end as well, whether I take them seriously or not I can't afford to do one of them.
 
#23 ·
LEADVILLE, Colo. - Levi Leipheimer didn't get the chance to race against defending champ Lance Armstrong in the Life Time Fitness Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race Saturday.

So, he did the next best thing - he broke Armstrong's record.

With his RadioShack teammate Armstrong sitting this one out because of a sore hip from his crash-filled Tour de France finale, Leipheimer won the nation's highest-altitude endurance test in a lung-searing six hours, 16 minutes, 37 seconds.

Armstrong's old mark of 6:28:50 also was bested Saturday by runner-up Jeremy "JHK" Horgan-Kobelski, of Boulder, a 2008 Olympic mountain biker who finished in 6:25:21.

"This is ridiculously hard," Leipheimer, of Santa Rosa, Calif., said after crossing the finish line and getting a silver medal placed around his neck to go with the silver-and-gold belt buckle he'll receive today.

There is no prize money here, just pride.

And exhaustion.

"It's hard to describe the pain and torture that you go through on a ride like that," Leipheimer said. "It's not what I'm used to. It's like a six-hour time trial. There's no sitting in. There's no draft. ... I just couldn't wait for it to be over."

The race started at 10,500 feet and climbed another 2,000.

Leipheimer was torn about wishing Armstrong had been here.

"It would have been great to have him here because he would have been in the mix," Leipheimer said. "It would have hurt that much more, though."

Armstrong spokesman Mark Higgins said Tuesday that the cyclist was skipping this year's "Race Across the Sky" because he's still feeling lingering effects of a hip injury suffered in a crash early in the Tour de France and wanted to spend time with his family before his children start school.

Armstrong also has been dealing with renewed questions about drug use during his career since ex-teammate Floyd Landis made allegations against him and other riders this spring. Federal investigators have been looking at lawsuits containing old accusations against Armstrong and have reached out to question his sponsors.

Leipheimer, who is among at least 16 people besides Armstrong whom Landis has implicated in various doping acts, declined to discuss the investigation Saturday.


You know it is funny how I search out this particular AP thread and all the other AP threads had no mention of Landis, Doping or Cyclings negatives at all. Yet Tucson, the Outside Magazines Best City for Road Biking managed to add that and removal all the actual cycling information from the article.

AZ daily star
 
#24 ·
rockcrusher said:
Belittling me because I can't afford to do these awesome grassroots events seems fairly judgmental on your end as well, whether I take them seriously or not I can't afford to do one of them.
We all have our reasons for not wanting to do certain events (and you might be surprised to know that I actually agree with you...to a certain extent), and I'm not judging anybody for those reasons. I'm sure money is number one on that list for most.

But I'm also not going to judge somebody for reasons they *do* those events too.

Your comment about "paying to ride a jeep road" just came across as being critical of those who have chosen to do the race. Sorry if I misread that.

On a sidenote, I have absolutely no idea what is involved in putting these events on, but I'd venture to say that Todd or whoever is not rolling in the money. I agree it would be hella nice if we could do an event that attracts 3,000 racers and specators, some world-class riders (and former Olympians and World Champs), a nice vending area, and a free Tecate at the end of the race for free. But that ain't ever going to happen.
 
#25 ·
rockcrusher said:
LEADVILLE, Colo. - Levi Leipheimer didn't get the chance to race against defending champ Lance Armstrong in the Life Time Fitness Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race Saturday.

So, he did the next best thing - he broke Armstrong's record.

With his RadioShack teammate Armstrong sitting this one out because of a sore hip from his crash-filled Tour de France finale, Leipheimer won the nation's highest-altitude endurance test in a lung-searing six hours, 16 minutes, 37 seconds.

Armstrong's old mark of 6:28:50 also was bested Saturday by runner-up Jeremy "JHK" Horgan-Kobelski, of Boulder, a 2008 Olympic mountain biker who finished in 6:25:21.

"This is ridiculously hard," Leipheimer, of Santa Rosa, Calif., said after crossing the finish line and getting a silver medal placed around his neck to go with the silver-and-gold belt buckle he'll receive today.

There is no prize money here, just pride.

And exhaustion.

"It's hard to describe the pain and torture that you go through on a ride like that," Leipheimer said. "It's not what I'm used to. It's like a six-hour time trial. There's no sitting in. There's no draft. ... I just couldn't wait for it to be over."

The race started at 10,500 feet and climbed another 2,000.

Leipheimer was torn about wishing Armstrong had been here.

"It would have been great to have him here because he would have been in the mix," Leipheimer said. "It would have hurt that much more, though."

Armstrong spokesman Mark Higgins said Tuesday that the cyclist was skipping this year's "Race Across the Sky" because he's still feeling lingering effects of a hip injury suffered in a crash early in the Tour de France and wanted to spend time with his family before his children start school.

Armstrong also has been dealing with renewed questions about drug use during his career since ex-teammate Floyd Landis made allegations against him and other riders this spring. Federal investigators have been looking at lawsuits containing old accusations against Armstrong and have reached out to question his sponsors.

Leipheimer, who is among at least 16 people besides Armstrong whom Landis has implicated in various doping acts, declined to discuss the investigation Saturday.


You know it is funny how I search out this particular AP thread and all the other AP threads had no mention of Landis, Doping or Cyclings negatives at all. Yet Tucson, the Outside Magazines Best City for Road Biking managed to add that and removal all the actual cycling information from the article.

AZ daily star
So, was it this quote you orginally took offense to?

"It's hard to describe the pain and torture that you go through on a ride like that," Leipheimer said. "It's not what I'm used to. It's like a six-hour time trial. There's no sitting in. There's no draft. ... I just couldn't wait for it to be over."

Just to repeat, I'd venture to say that 99% who read that read it as a tribute to the race's difficulty, not to Levi's disdain for the race.
 
#26 ·
skinny-tire said:
, and a free Tecate at the end of the race for free. But that ain't ever going to happen.
Did they have free Tecate at the finish this year! Nice! I didn't get no free beer when I did it in 2008...and Coors was a sponsor that year....then again, I didn't actually finish either, so I had to buy my condolence beer myself regardless:sad:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top