Dave Wiens is the Colorado mountain bike racer who beat Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong in the 2007 and 2008 Leadville 100 races, and his wife Susan DeMattei is no slouch on a bike either – her riding career peaked with a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
The couple now live in tiny Gunnison, Colorado with their sons Cooper, Ben and Sam. Wiens, 45, splits his time between family, trail development, bike advocacy and coaching sports with his sons, while DeMattei, 47, is a part-time nurse at the local hospital. BikeRadar spoke to the pair about life after professional racing
BikeRadar: Dave, you've won the Leadville 100 six times now – will you be racing it in 2010?
Dave: I will, but I'm taking the race preparation differently. Racing against Floyd Landis in 2007, then Lance in 2008 and 2009 was fun. For me, Leadville has always been about the preparation; these last three years, the added competition has bumped it up a few notches. I think I'm over that now. I still want to race the event like I was in 2005, 2006, where I went into it with the fitness I had.
I don't want to have any constraints with Susan and the boys leading up to the race, and I won't pass up some camping or rock climbing with the family in the weeks leading up to the race. I also think the 2010 race will have a whole new dynamic, with a very competitive field. As a 45-year-old, it may not be realistic with some of the newer guys coming in. You never know; I'm still competitive, and enjoy riding at the front!
What did you think of Race Across the Sky, the Leadville documentary?
Dave: I liked it; they did a great job showing the heart and soul of the race, and paying attention to the people involved. Obviously Lance was a big factor, but including other people's stories was excellent. They captured the breadth of the event. Now people have a true visual of the event, even my relatives who've heard of it but hadn't attended. I've heard positive feedback from several people. It could've been a bluebird kind of blue-sky day. The cinematography was awesome.
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