PHOTO: Dave Wiens has six Leadville 100 wins on his resume. He placed second to Lance Armstrong in 2009. He was fourth in 2010, though he clocked a person-best time of 6 hours, 33 minutes, 54 seconds. (Photo by UltraRob)

 

Editor's note: As part of our content sharing agreement with Peak Region Cyclist, we'll post some of the "greatest hits" from the magazine. Peak Region publisher David Pico snagged this Q & A with mountain bike racing legend Dave Wiens prior to the 2010 Leadville 100. Wiens, who has won there six times, eventually placed fourth, finishing with a  personal best time of 6 hours, 33 minutes, 54 seconds. Levi Leipheimer set a course record of 6:16:37 to take the win, followed by Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (6:25:21) and Todd Wells (6:30:31.) Wiens is a two-time World Cup winner, national cross-country champion, Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee.

Here is Pico's interview
What does the Leadville 100 mean to you?
In 2004, my professional racing career was winding down, and the Leadville 100 was a race that I had tried to get into before.  Racing in Leadville was me experimenting with a new race, an endurance race that I had never really attacked before.  It’s grown into a much more important thing altogether over the years.  I never set out to see how many of these I could win, but I kept committing each year, and I was able to win each year.  After I won my fourth one, Lance Armstrong started talking about racing in the Leadville 100.  So then the challenge was revitalized.  
They were calling it the Lance affect.  The spotlight on the Leadville 100 has grown in recent years.  Does it still carry the same feel for you?
The spotlight has become bigger because of Lance, and there was a movie made on the race last year, but the race is still the same.  Changes have been made over the years, but the race elements haven’t changed since the very beginning.  My family still comes out to support me and I see old friends at the starting line and it still feels like a piece of Colorado and retains that intimate feel about it.

Lance set the course record at 6 hours and 28 minutes last year.  Do you train to beat that time?
If I can race a seven-hour race, plus or minus five minutes, I’ll be happy.  My goal is always the same since I first started racing.  I prepare to do my best on race day.  If I’m satisfied with the training that I put in, then I’m usually satisfied with the results.  Winning is a great thing and I love winning.  Whether I’m mountain bike racing, playing hockey, or playing scrabble, I love to win and I always try to win, but for me it’s a bonus to competing.

The field of competitors seems loaded this year with Levi Leipheimer, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and other top riders…how do you prepare for this race?
I’ve always had a fairly laid back training regimen for racing.  I don’t try to put too much time into intervals or nutrition or recovery.  My thing has always been miles. I’ve found throughout my career that the more detailed I get in training and the more thought that I put into it, the worse I do.  I do train hard and I train very focused but it’s always been about getting miles in my legs to prepare for racing.  It is a loaded field this year, but we’ll still all line up at the starting line and they’ll fire a gun and we’ll all go.  Each competitor will race their own race and we’ll see how it unfolds.  JHK (Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski) will be tough.  He goes hard from start to finish.  I’m not dumb enough to hang on his wheel until I die, but I might be just dumb enough to hang on a tad too long (he says with a laugh).  But I’ve put in the training and I’m fired up and I’m prepared.