7. Leadville Trail 100

“It’s essentially a road race,” “it’s not technical”: Say what you will about the Leadville Trail 100, it ain’t easy no matter how it’s sliced. And like the last three years the weeks leading up to the 2010 LT 100 were abuzz: Is Lance racing? Why isn’t Lance racing? The final word was, no, Lance Armstrong wouldn’t be back to defend his record-setting LT100 of 2009.

Instead, his Radio Shack teammate Levi Leipheimer was the wild card. Unless, of course, you counted the other first-time LT 100 wild cards — Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Todd Wells and Jeremiah Bishop. Then there was the list of returning favorites, including six-time champ Dave Wiens, Matt Shriver and Alex Grant.

In other words, it was a stacked field even without Armstrong. After more than six hours on the bike it was roadie Leipheimer who proved to be the fastest in the thin air of the Colorado Rockies. At elevations of more than 10,000 for most of the race — and topping out at 13,000-plus — Leipheimer and second-place JHK crushed Armstrong’s record by 12 minutes and 3:30 respectively. Wells finished third just off Armstrong’s 2009 time.

The revelation on the day was that despite their accomplishments as elite cross-country racers, it was only JHK’s second 100-mile race and Wells’ first. For that matter, it was Leipheimer’s first mountain bike race — ever.

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