![]() ![]() “I think the place that I found, being so content with my career, overpowered my nerves.” “I have so much joy in where I am in life,” she said. And Leadville pulls in big names in cycling - it’s that kind of race.īut a happenstance ride with longtime race announcer Dave Towle a couple of weeks back helped the seemingly perennially positive Connors gain needed perspective on what she expects to be her last season of racing as a pro. If the physical pain isn’t enough, Connors had the weight of the fire as well as the weight of expectations as the reigning champion. The day’s climbing totals approximately 14,000 feet. The route starts 10,000 feet above sea level and climbs to 12,400 feet before sending riders back down into town. Leadville doesn’t take it easy, even on those carrying heavy hearts. “It was a pretty fantastic day,” she said. And Connors’ name is now etched in the books, twice. Leadville is one of the marquee events in mountain biking. ![]() “There are so many fast women, so many fast girls I raced road bikes with, so many fast girls I raced against in college.” “Leadville is such a big deal,” she said. For the second year in a row, no one was even close. It was still 27 minutes faster than the next woman to cross the line. It was nine minutes slower than her finish last year, but no matter. “I kind of raced for the canyon,” she said. ![]() When she raced across the sky in Leadville, she remembered the trails that won’t look the same when she gets home - that likely won’t look the same for years. A Southern California man has been arrested on suspicion of arson.Īn endurance athlete, Connors spent more hours on the steep trails of that canyon than most other places in her life. “I spent a lot of the week leading up to the race mourning the loss of the trails and spent a lot of time crying.” “Trabuco Canyon shaped who I am,” Connors said. It’s hard to ride hard with a heavy heart.īut 2004 Montgomery grad Larissa Connors, the reigning champion of one of mountain biking’s greatest races, rolled into the Leadville 100 in Colorado on Saturday in a kind of mourning.Ĭonnors, 32, was carrying the weight of the Holy fire - which by Tuesday had torched nearly 23,000 acres of wilderness in Orange and Riverside counties, including Cleveland National Forest, where she now lives and trains. ![]()
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