It’s Saturday morning, the weather’s not exceptionally nice and I seem to be stuck in front of the computer instead of out running or riding.  There’s a lot going on this morning that I ‘need’ to follow.  Primal Quest started early yesterday morning in the Badlands.  Unfortunately our team is not there this year due to a bad bike accident a few weeks ago however many friends are racing.  It appears that Team Salomon Crested Butte and OrionHealth.com are battling it out so far.  From the sounds of it, Crested Butte took a chance to get some rest last night and now are back on the heels of the New Zealanders after about 24 hours of racing.

Len Zanni leading Lance Armstrong & Jay Henry up the first climb in Snowmass a few weeks ago.

Primal Quest is about 600 miles and will go on for at least 3 or 4 more days so I have been more obsessed with the Leadville 100.  Of course the big thing with Leadville this year is Lance vs. Wiens and breaking the 6-hour mark.  Lance has become somewhat of a local in the Roaring Fork Valley and Wiens has been a friend for several years after adventure racing together.  So who  have I been cheering for this morning?  Len Zanni of course.  Len from Honey Stinger and Big Agnes is my dark horse to either be on the podium or take a surprise win.  Although Len works full time and has two young kids, he is strong, has been training with Lance and has been having an amazing season.   Of course I’m cheering for Dave and Lance and everyone else, but really we are just hoping Len can keep up the pace he is racing at currently and that he has no mechanicals or crashes.

My new shoes! Imogene, Wildcat & Fireblade

L to R: Imogene, Wilcat, Fireblade

What I really should be doing is deciding which of my new La Sportiva trail shoes I should put on and try out on the trail.  All three shoes look great and I’m having a hard time deciding which pair to try first:  Fireblade, Imogene, or Wildcat.  I guess it will depend on how much more rain falls this morning and how long I get to run for.  Tough decisions.  Although I’m no longer racing in the TransRockies (more on that another day), I’m looking forward to putting lots of miles on these new shoes.

As I finally finish up writing this, it looks like Lance is going to win the Leadville 100 this year despite flatting and riding with 5 – 10 miles left.  Although he won’t break the 6-hour mark, it looks like he’ll easily break the record Dave Wiens set last year.  Wiensy should be claiming the second spot on the podium and third is still up for grabs.  I hope Len can pull it off but either way it has been fun to watch.  Salomon Crested Butte is still on the heels of OrionHealth in Primal Quest with about 450 miles of racing remaining.

Here are top 10 from Leadville: 1. Lance Armstrong, 2. Dave Wiens, 3. Matt Schriver, 4. Alex Grant, 5. LEN ZANNI, 6. MAX TAAM, 7. Travis Brown, 8. Manuel Prado, 9. Mike Hogan, 10. Jason Tullous.  Huge congratulations to Len and Max and the Honey Stinger team!