For Todd Wells, Leadville is the new Olympics

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There was a time in the not-so distant past when Todd Wells spent each summer chasing points on mountain biking’s World Cup circuit. His itinerary included stops in Houffalize, Belgium, Offenburg, Germany, and Champery, Switzerland. Each race was geared toward Wells’s biggest goal: qualifying for the Olympics.

These days, Wells, 40, has a different modus operandi. He hasn’t chased the World Cup since 2012, and his last Olympic start came in London. Instead, he chases fitness on USA Cycling’s Pro Cross-country mountain bike tour and targets top finishes at grassroots races like Arizona’s Whiskey Off-road, as well as the national championships for short track, marathon, and cross-country. If his legs are good, he then hits a stage race, like Costa Rica’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores.

And rather than chase Olympic rings, Wells’s season revolves around the Leadville 100 mountain bike race.

“I feel like I’m more valuable as an athlete to win Leadville than even qualifying for [the Olympics],” Wells says. “More people want to talk to me about Leadville than any of the Olympics did. Probably by [a factor of] 10 to 1.”

His newfound focus sheds some light on the current state of American cross-country mountain bike racing. Two decades ago, the sport revolved around the NORBA and World Cup series, which featured traditional two-hour cross-country …

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