“I really can’t talk right now. I’m at the airport, but I’ll call you tomorrow.”

– A man talking on his cell phone as he loaded his golf clubs onto a cart at the Hillcrest Golf Course

Anonymous Armstrong

Leadville could be going yellow this weekend. The scene is set for a major showdown during Saturday’s Leadville 100, and Lance Armstrong has every intention of winning the grueling mountain bike race.

However, the seven-time Tour de France winner will face stiff competition en route to the finish line. Gunnison’s Dave Wiens, six-time Leadville 100 winner, plans to defend his winning streak and his 6-hour, 45-minute course record. Last year, Wiens held Armstrong off by nearly 2 minutes, snubbed fellow Tour champion (albeit temporarily) Floyd Landis’ attempts in 2006 and seems unbeatable in the high altitude, endurance race.

This year could be different, however. Armstrong will roll up to the starting line in peak shape, having just finished in third place at the Tour.  While dirt has never been Lance’s forte, the Texan has been working on his bike handling.

Last weekend, he climbed back in the saddle at Snowmass Village and blew away the pro field at the Blast the Mass cross-county race. Armstrong covered the 23 miles and 4,700 vertical feet in 1 hour and 51 minutes. His closest competitor, Jay Henry, was more than 3 minutes back.

Armstrong plans to shatter the field in Leadville as well. According to his Twitter page, Lance has ridden the toughest parts of the course twice in the last week. He also believes he can finish the 100-mile race in less than six hours. The key to shattering Wiens’ record will be Tour-esque team effort, according to a Twitter log, and Durango hard asses Travis Brown and Matt Shriver have been recruited to “ride for Lance” this weekend.

Whatever happens in Leadville, Armstrong already sits atop the Colorado cycling scene. Following his Blast the Mass victory, Lance was crowned Colorado State Champion, a large feather in the cap of a man who is still working on attaining Colorado local status. In a recent interview with the Aspen Times,

Armstrong recently started calling Aspen home. He told theAspen Timesthat he loves living in Aspen’s West End but prefers being “fairly anonymous.”

“I like to be the dude who lives in the West End that nobody knows about,” he told the paper.