Leaded Lance

So Lance won Leadville this year. Everyone says it is "good for the sport", but I don't know. Now I've never ridden it, so take what I'm about to say with a huge grain of salt, but somehow the Leadville course just doesn't inspire me as an MTB rider the way some of the other courses do. Several years ago Lance did a Norba national after one of his TDF wins, and he did not win that race. In fact I think he crashed 3 times. And that is how it should be.

On some of the MTB courses this year, Burke Swindlehurst raced but did not just roll out and completely crush us, presumably because his off-roading skills were a little rusty and he didn't want to risk an injury. Throw Lance to the PCPP or some other single-track heavy course and then everyone can see mountain biking at its best -- adventure, skill, challenge, and like Leadville, endurance. More than just road racing on dirt roads. Don't get me wrong - I'm guessing Lance is fast pretty much everywhere. It is just that Leadville got a huge shot of performance enhancing something when guys like Lance and Landis started showing up. May as well pump the sport on terrain that will get people thinking "Cool."

I will admit it doesn't seem like many people who actually do the race think it is boring, so maybe I should just keep quiet till I try it.