Sunday Roundup

For detailed coverage of yesterday's Leadville 100 see "LEADVILLE".

Quote of the Day

"Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience."

News
It doesn't appear the one-legged Kenyan, Ibrahim Wafula, finished at Leadville, according to the official results. We haven't seen a word what happened to him. Landis will not take consolation in winning the Mens 30-year old class. Bruce Murray won the Men's 70-year-old class in 12:29:49, Dennis Kaiser the Men's 60-year old in 9:27:25, and Ann Gonzales the Female 40-year old in 9:09, just missing a belt buckle. Alison Watt, Female-50, was the last woman at 11:57, beating three younger guys who snuck in at 11:58.

Summit Daily has a good article on Leadville with lots of new reporting and quotes.

Wiens, 42, a Mountain Bike Hall of Fame member and former World Cup winner from Gunnison, had come within six seconds of Volk's record three years ago, so you could understand why he considered the mark within reach. However, to break it by such a wide margin required a little help, and he got it from last year's embattled Tour de France winner.

"Nothing's unbreakable," said Wiens, who stepped up his training when he learned Landis and Lance Armstrong (who later backed out) could be in the field. "It seemed pretty far-fetched, but it wouldn't have happened if Floyd wasn't behind me."

As in right behind him. For basically the entire race.

Landis suffered an ugly crash about 25 miles in that shredded his spandex shorts and left his hip, knee and elbow bloody for the rest of the day. But he responded with grit - and strategy, as he elected to mash on the flat sections to make up for Wiens' advantage on the steep, technical climbs.

"It worked out fine but at the end he just had more than me," Landis, 31, said of Wiens. "He's tough, man."

Landis' own post-crash fortitude didn't go unnoticed by his competition.

"He could've easily just pulled the plug but he rode tough," said Vail's Mike Kloser, another MTB Hall of Famer, who took third (7:10:24) in his first Leadville 100. "I think he wanted to make a statement that he's still got the legs in him."

The News Tribune runs yesterday's AP story with some additional pictures.

Yahoo has all the AP news pictures, and Yahoo Eurosport UK has a short review of yesterday's competition in Leadville.

The Chicago Sun Times' Carol Slezak wants to get out of the cesspool of "grand theft cheaters" in sports, and finds it hard to trust any great sports achievement now. One of the problems is that the athletes are treated with inconsistently both in their particular sporting event, and also by the fans who accept cheating behavior in some and not in others. She feels it a must that trust be rebuilt:

So what should we do? How about demanding that our pro leagues -- and, while we're at it, college sports programs, too -- get serious about reform? They would like us to think they already are, but we know better. If the leagues were serious about steroid reform, one positive test would result in an automatic lifetime ban, name stricken from the record book.

The Chicago Sun Times also asked where have all the sports heroes gone, and answers its' own question with a list of those who do good from local sports teams.

The CyclingNews notes that Cristian Moreni got a two year suspension for a positive control for testosterone discovered at this year's Tour de France.

IHT/Sam Abt goes over the Disco folding in a somewhat dispirited piece.

NWI Times talks with Mike Straubel, who runs a sports law clinic, and wrote a key article on anti-doping law.

"There's disagreement between some of the labs on how some of the results should read and what kind of threshold should be met before it constitutes a positive test, and as long as there is that kind of inconsistency I don't think criminal liability should be attached," Straubel said. "There has to be proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and right now that standard cannot be met."

The CyclingNews, in a later update, notes the demise of Disco and all that entails, and gives a review of the courageous Landis ride at Leadville yesterday while naturally mentioning the doping case and the length of time the results from the May USADA hearings are taking.

The Denver Post writes about Team Slipstream and the big name riders, such as Davis Millar, that they are singing. Millar's advice for cyclists who have tested positive for PEDs,such as Floyd Landis, is to be honest with yourself and tell the truth, it's not that bad. What if you are telling the truth already?

Blogs
This Just In, Bicyling's blog, reviews the excitement and drama of yesterday's Leadville 100 mountain bike race in which winner Dave Weins says having Floyd Landis as a competitor was inspiring and in some ways unpleasant:

Maybe it was Floyd Landis, the 2006 Tour de France winner battled climb for climb with Wiens to finish in second place less than two-minutes back. Maybe it was the fans, out in force. Or maybe it's that Dave Wiens, whose won the Hundred for the last four years, owns this race. Whatever it was, Wiens rode the course in a record 6 hours, 58 minutes, and 46 seconds, smashing the old record, which he set, by more than 6 minutes. "That was the hardest and the best mountain bike race of my life," said Wiens at the finish. "Mentally, physically, it was brutal. And having Floyd Landis behind you sucks."

Brad "the talent" Mullen did Leadville in 10:02, in good shape for his age group.

Floyd Landis raced and came in 2nd less than 2 minutes behind the winner. He passed me coming down the fire road from the 12,600 aid station at 10:22 am and finished over 3 hours faster than me. So, I finally got to race a Tour de France winner and got toasted by 3 hours in just 100 miles! How’s that for humble pie.

That's nuthin'. TBV has lost an hour on Landis going up the 9 miles of Palomar from the store. [The route is described here, by someone who ran into Gero, Arnie Baker's wife!]

Ultra Rob updates his picture post of yesterday with more great shots of Wiens and Landis

Spinnin' Wheel says Amber has nothing to worry about, but she is so in love with Floyd Landis right now after his impressive showing at Leadville yesterday.

PJ thinks that USADA must really be struggling with the Landis decision and and is trying desperately to save face. He gives us the unattributed quote below, and more black smoke.

Yana Ivey from Google was inspired by Floyd Landis' talk at her company in July to go out and find as many books about the Tour de France as she could. Her signed bike helmet is also pictured.

Lamepersonwantingattention rambles on about a lot of sports doping problems and works Floyd Landis into the mix.

Steve Lavey is sad and disillusioned by the demise of Disco and cycling in general.

Khabar Bike runs a short rehash of Leadville.

The Lunatic Fringe asks when "will these athletes ever stop cheating?" after having done so in his own research by calling Landis an "EPO fraud"

Branden McNamee did some casual MTB riding yesterday, and managed to miss the leaders finish at Leadville, nevertheless,

We settled in on the last hill after a dejected walk around the finish line in search of a cold beer. Good thing we came prepare. We then provided our services for the next 2.5 hours cheering on the finishers as they worked so hard on their last mile. It was a good time, and I would like to think our positive outlook on life and bikes provided inspiration for some to carry on up that hill and meet their goals at the bottom of the other side.

Yup, beer on a nice day will do that.

Those Responsible feel that Floyd Landis didn't suffer the lack of French podium girls yesterday in Leadville.

Cycling Fans Anonymous cribs the AP report from yesterday.

Finger Food revisits some of the weekend's sporting events, including yesterday's great ride by Floyd Landis in Leadville. Yes indeed Floyd is "one tough bitch". Thanks for the plug btw.

A Cycling Life says Floyd Landis was gettin' it done yesterday.

Time Blog has the top ten sports moments from the past year, "Floyd's fall" is no. 5.

Afric Pepperbird thinks that even Lance Armstrong has bailed on cycling.

Aurora Colorado blurbs the Denver Post story on yesterday's moral victory for Floyd Landis at Leadville.

Rant was impressed that Floyd Landis WAS trying hard enough yesterday to crash. Everyone racing against Floyd seemed pretty impressed too. Rant also speaks further about the demise of Disco.

Masterslacker seems to have had a pretty busy week running and walking, and even found the time to watch the end of the Leadville 100 yesterday seeing Dave Wiens come in first with a blood caked Floyd Landis taking second.

Glendora Mountain Road recaps yesterday's events at Leadville with colorful descriptions of what happened during the race itself and at the awards ceremony that evening. Floyd Landis skipped the awards, but was enthusiastically applauded when mentioned at them. Floyd did however return to the race finish line after getting cleaned up and signed autographs "incognito". Thanks so much to GMR for the great coverage of this year's Leadville 100.

YourRunning was inspired by bits of Positively False, and explains how he used it to will himself to an age group win in a running race. He also gives us a plug.