The Tahoe Trail 100k mountain bike race last summer reignited my excitement for off road riding. Last fall I traded in my 14 year old rig for a full suspension 29er and dove in to the many great trails the Santa Cruz mountains have to offer. I decided to take some time off from triathlon after a 5 fun year stint and do an off road race in 2013. My race selection criteria was simple: the race's distance must be 100+ miles and within a one day drive of NorCal.
When I found the High Cascades 100 in Bend, OR I immediately marked my calendar for the Jan 1st registration. The race stood out for a few reasons. First, neither Susan nor I had ever been to Oregon and we were both itching to check it out. Second, the race is small and family run. I was excited to get away from the Ironman-esq big race productions that have lost their soul to marketing. Third, the race features 85+ miles of single track and is one huge loop. If I wanted to race pure mountain bikers on a route that would be nearly impossible to plan myself, this was the one!
I stowed the mountain bike around the holidays before dusting it off at the beginning of March after a decent winter of road miles. I spent the next four months juggling home improvement work while sneaking in trail miles whenever I had extra energy. I really came to appreciate the glorious absence of cars and presence of animals on the trails while quickly recognizing the importance of bike handling skills at speed. I had a few isolated brushes with the ground but fortunately nothing too serious!
The HC 100 was the weekend immediately following the Death Ride. In an ideal world I would have had a additional week in between the two, but c'est la vie. I could never choose just one and am more serious shout fun than results. Susan and I left work late on a Thursday afternoon for our three day weekend up in the Cascades.
Bend is 500 miles north of our house and the drive up there is pretty fantastic. First, you head north through the Central Valley before coming face to face with Mount Shasta (gorgeous!). After Shasta, it is all big woods of Ponderosa pines. This was real logging country with miles and miles of land and super clear streams. Eventually the town of Bend appears with views of volcanic Mount Bachelor and the chilly Deschutes river running running through it.
We arrived just in time for check in and the pre-race talk. The heat warning for the high-nineties temperatures and blinding dust did not scare me coming off of a series of heat waves and perpetually dusty trails back home. I was nervous about the technical nature of the course though and took a keen interest in the tight, curvy, and rocky conditions (I packed my pads). This race would require all of my skills and promised to be just the day long adventure I was looking for. I needed to finish under 15 hours to make it official and planned to do just that while not crashing and ruining my planned hike around Crater Lake the following day with Susan. The pressure was on!
My 4AM alarm came quickly. The pre-dawn air was warm and after a few opening words we we off for a 10 mile neutral road start behind the director's truck as he led us up the to mountains. Once we hit the dirt it was game on with deep sand on the ground and thick dust in the air. I followed the director's advice and wore a bandanna to keep my lungs clean. This tactic served me well and is a trick I plan to use again.
The route was (mostly) cut just wide enough for me to fit my handlebars through. The sides of the trail were littered with Ponderosas both big and small, standing and fallen in a menacing patchwork. The surroundings strongly discouraged me from overcooking any of the endless turns. 20 minutes into things I saw the pro who has dominated the race in years past walking out with a broken collarbone. I backed off a bit and reminded myself how awesome it will be to hike Crater Lake in one piece!The terrain was a lot of fun. The trails were seemingly endless with no straight lines to be found. We passed high alpine lakes and meadows with views of snow-capped volcanic mountains. I loved the loop and couldn't believe just how much riding Bend has to offer as many trails crossed our path all along the way. This is big country ripe for exploration!!
Just under 12 hours after I started, and a little over 11 hours of actual pedaling, I rolled back into Bend and finished the race. I was basically alone on an epic ride for the last 4-5 hours and enjoyed the phenomenal scenery and BMX-type riding with periodic water and peanut butter and jelly refills. I made it through without any crashes and sharpened my technical skills. While I would have been more "competitive" on a less technical course that emphasized fitness over skills, I was pretty psyched for the experience and to see what great trail riding is like. This was both my longest day on a bike and the most engaging. There was no margin for error so spacing out was not an option.
Susan and I split my post race veggie burger and pasta before jumping in the car to head south to Crater Lake. We hit the Lake just in time to watch the sunset and again remind ourselves how lucky we are to explore gorgeous places like this. The next morning we hiked around the Lake and traded stories from our hiking/biking adventures the previous day before we jumped in the car to head back to CA with another unforgettable weekend in the books!
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| An alpine lake near Mt. Bachelor |
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| Crater Lake |
1 comment:
Great race write up, and awesome action shots! Oregonlooks beautiful.
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