Lance Armstrong Back Biking, Ready to Take On Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race

Lance Armstrong is scheduled to start the Leadville 100 mountain bike race in Colorado this Saturday, August 9th. The 7-time Tour de France winner will try to unseat 5-time Leadville winner Dave Wiens. Last year, Weins battled another former Tour winner, kind of, in Floyd Landis. After originally being dropped, Weins rode his own pace and passed Landis after he crashed.

What a thrill it must be for Weins to see such a decorated cyclist lining up to do battle in the event. Held at elevation, the Leadville 100 is no cream puff course. Armstrong has been training at elevation in Colorado the past few weeks to acclimate to the conditions. Expect the Texan to come out firing. Like always, he'll probably have his tactical plan outlined well ahead of time. Expect that Armstrong has already ridden the decisive portions of the course, and has in his mind the ideal time to attack.

Weins for his part will probably do what he did last year with Landis: try to hold Armstrong's wheel for as long as he can. Weins has the experience however to lose time early and then make it up toward the end. He'll realize that Armstrong can attack fiercely, and Weins will want to make sure that he rides his own pace to avoid blowing up.

Seeing Armstrong compete on a bike again will be a strange sight. It seems so long that the Tour de France Tour de Force left the sport altogether. That he is choosing to race an event such as the Leadville 100 shows that he misses the competition of racing. Who knows, maybe he'll make a comeback on the American domestic scene and sign with Rock racing. He'd be united with former teammates Victor Hugo Pena and Tyler Hamilton, and he'd have all the free super cool designer jeans he can wear. OK, not likely, but it would be cool to see, wouldn't it?