This trip was to Bend, Oregon for the High Cascades 100 and to meet up with my friend Yvette from the Bay Area Team LUNA Chix mountain bike team.  Normally our adventures were in the San Francisco Bay area, Downieville and Tahoe/Truckee but this time we were headed to support Andrew.  A month before, somehow it turned into we were also going to ride.  Mmmmm….not really trained for 100 miles and 11,000 feet – been a slacker since the BC Bike Race . (And yes - soon, I will write the ride report from that, it was such an amazing 7 day experience I'm overwhelmed with the idea of writing the report and pulling all the pics together!)   Oh well – guess we’ll see what happens!

 Arrived on Wednesday night to hear that Sisters, not too far west of Bend was burning.  Wild fires, started by careless folks or an arsonist were not yet contained.  Fire fighters were working around the clock to put them out or at least get them under control.   The air wasn’t black with smoke but definitely not as clean and fresh as usual. 

The High Cascades 100 is a 100 mile race that takes you up and around  Mount Bachelor and then through other terrain  around the Wanoga snowpark.  That would be our base for Saturday’s ride.  The day would begin at 3:45AM, yes 3:45 AM. Had most everything packed the night before, and the boys made "Devils's Juice" also known as Iskiate.  Apparently  Chris had read a book called "Born to Run " about a super-human tribe of runners called the Tarahumara.  This Devil's Juice, a concoction of Chia (yes - like the chia pet) seeds, water, lime juice and simple syrup is supposed to help perk you up and run (or ride) like crazy.  Sadly, it looks like frog eggs...I decided to give that a miss and instead, threw some sandwiches together, ate some yogurt and a bagel, then jumped in the car to drive to the start.

5:30 start by the time we got underway and it was still dark outside. Fortunately our heroic fire fighters had gotten the fire under control and the air quality seemed a bit better.   We headed out on the road in a controlled peloton.  Yvette almost immediately had to pull over and make some computer adjustments, etc.  We continued up the road until we turned off for a mile or two of hauling butt downhill to the turnoff into a sandy road that would, eventually, put us across the lifts and finally into some single-track. 

The terrain was a mix of sand and lava rock, the Diamondback Sortie Black  ate up the baby heads and popped right over the lava rock.  We climbed around 1100 feet or so and then got a fun descent during miles 8.5 through 23.3.  The descent down around 2300', there were some lava rock descents, some rooty sections (wee - got to manual off some root drops - you know the Sortie loves that!) and some long slippery sandy switchbacks.  Around mile 24, my knees decided they were not enjoying the ride and we began the 1200' climb that included some rock gardens, some sandy sections and a cruise around the lake.  The knees continued to reject the ride and we began the thousand foot descent that put us at mile 31.  Here's where the fun began, we started our measly 600' ascent through the grass and deep sand.  Very boring and crappy section for the next 9 miles, deep sandy road up to double track to descend into the Wanoga Park checkpoint.  We made the checkpoint by 1 minute; it took us 7 hours to get there.

As we met up with Jose, I made the decision to bail out rather than start the next section.  Couple of factors came into play.  First and foremost, my knees were still complaining and I figured if I tried loop 2 that I wouldn't be able to race the Capitol Forest Super D  the coming weekend or do the Cheakamus Challenge .  Given that both the Super D and the Challenge terrain would be significantly more fun, I decided to sit the rest of it out.  Think the first loop, in spite of its sections of sand, would prove to be more fun than the 2nd loop which began with miles of road 6+ inches deep in sand.  Following that sandy road the reports from returning racers would be - demoralizing with false summit after false summit before finally arriving at the 6:15 checkpoint. 

Angela Sucich , who rode the BC Bike Race with us as a Sturdy Bitch racer was riding this one for the Diamondback HDXC team , she came through Checkpoint 2 well in front of the cutoff.  Next came Andrew and then Chris made it through Checkpoint 2 towards their final loop 3.  We fed and watered Drew and Chris before they headed off on their last 12 mile loop, rumor has it, it was the most fun part of the race.  We waited through the 7:15 cutoff for Yvette to arrive and she never appeared.  So, Jose and I turkey called and cheered the rest of the racers through.  They looked dirty and disheveled but somehow, the turkey caller seemed to bring a grin to 95% of the racers faces as they headed out on their last loop. 

One by one, Angela, then Andrew and Chris returned home to claim their finishers growlers.  They may have been slightly disappointed that the growler was empty, it might have helped just a little bit that Baldy's BBQ had a full plate of food and a free beer ready for them when they were ready.  Night began to fall and we edged ever closer to 9pm.  Shortly before we got a call from Yvette, we learned she was ok, she made it 80 miles before they pulled her from the course and brought her down.  She was still in great spirits as always and just wished she had a headlamp! 

So, my lessons from the experience 1)  get a bike fit 2) get faster so you can make the cutoffs.  I think we all did  a great job eating and hydrating, my legs felt fine, but there's no way I would have been able make the 2nd cutoff, nor finished the 100 miles before dark.  Next year my goals will be a couple of 50 milers and to be able to do it within 6.5 hours. 

What else did we do?  A Michael Franti concert in the park in Bend on Thursday, a really amazing breakfast at the Victorian Cafe on both Friday and Sunday mornings (yes, it was good enough to go back twice), an attempt at a pre-ride in the morning (As far as the pre-ride - I can't say I recommend pre-riding any of the course except perhaps that last 12 miles up Tiddywinks and down Funner.  The rest of it I wouldn't say is worth just riding, nor is it technical enough to need the exposure to it)  with a Friday night dinner at Baldy's BBQ with the our Seattle/Portland friends the Klees and Chen-fords.  We had  full, full day at the race on Saturday of course and we ended that with a pizza at home. 

Ah, Bend, if I won the lottery, I'd probably want to buy a house there and live, it's beautiful, the trails are awesome, the food really, really great, and it's much sunnier than Seattle!  Would I ride through some of those sandy sections “for fun”?  No but there are plenty of trails with that cool lava rock and smooth, buff single track to ride so we’ll be back!  Bend, we’ll see ya next year!