The Leadville 100 is a very, very big deal. A lonely little mining town in Colorado blew up to become one of the most famous races in America. Lance Armstrong made the Leadville 100 world famous by showing up in 2008 during his second retirement and getting beat by Colorado native Dave Wiens. Fueled by the defeat, Armstrong came back and beat Wiens in 2009 and slapped down a new course record in the process. Then, in 2010, Armstrong brought crony Levi Leipheimer to Leadville only to withdraw from the event just a few days before the race. Leipheimer took on some of mountain biking’s best to win and break Armstrong’s record. The 2011 edition lacked both Lance and Levi, but returned to its role as establishing who is the top mountain biker. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Todd Wells and some of the best US cyclists took on the 100 mile race without the burden of chasing down roadies.

Check out the Specialized video recap of the race with Todd Wells…