Quick Stats
Place: 11th, Solo Men 40+
Time: 9:40:43Miles: 97-ish (I don't know exactly because the Garmin 810 gets very poor reception in the trees…and we were in the trees a lot)
Elevation Gain: 10,000-ish (see above)
I absolutely will go back to the High Cascades 100 in
2014. The 2013 edition didn’t go the way
I envisioned it would and I am going to need redemption. On one hand, the High Cascades 100 was a first-class
event, held in a cool town, and attended by a bunch of fun people. It was everything I look for in an endurance
mountain bike event. On the other hand, I
did not have the race I was looking for.
This was an “A” race for me and I prepared
accordingly but for some reason, the “sparkle” didn’t materialize. I have no tales of epic bonks, no ass-over-tea-kettle
crashes, or mental melt-downs requiring post-race psycho-therapy. I was flat, my legs felt heavy, and I simply
was not fast on this day…and the “why” is bugging the shit out of me. Fast is a relative term. It would be more accurate to say that I did
not have “my fast” on this day. At least
I am stubborn.
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| The dust was brutal early in the race |
The Pavement
The 5.5 miles of pavement that start this race is
definitely the calm before the storm. In
this case, it is the calm before the dust storm. I really thought there might be some
aggression on the pavement to spread things out a bit but the pack just rolled
up the road in one big blob. It was
really strange to look down at my HR and see 120-130 bpm 20’ into it. I am not the guy to go to the front of a
100-mile mtb race and attack in the first couple of miles. Where was JayP when I needed him?
The Dust
Going into the race, I knew there would be dust
early on. I was not expecting the total solar
eclipse that occurred when we hit the dusty two-track as a giant peloton though. There was carnage immediately. Defending champion, Barry Wicks, broke his collarbone
at mile 8. Another rider piled it up just
in front of me and I am sure there were other countless near-misses. You simply could not see the ground and had
to hope that the guy in front of you could see…all while trying to go as fast
as possible less than an hour into the race.
Yikes!
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| The riding in Bend, OR was awesome |
Funner
No, I am not just describing the riding. The trail is actually named Funner…and it
is. We hit Funner about an hour into the
race and I was able to ride all but one of the tricky rock sections. If you were unlucky, you could easily get
stuck behind a conga-line of riders choosing to dismount frequently in this
section so I was stoked to breeze through it quickly. Pre-riding this section was a good call.
Smiles at the Aid
Stations
I had planned to be self-supported at the HC100 and
packed my drop coolers accordingly. Our
friend Beth Bolen was in Bend to support her hubby so I was pleasantly
surprised when she offered to help me with a quick transition at the Swampy
Aid, and every aid station after that.
It was super helpful and definitely an energy boost to see a friendly
smiling face at all of the aid stations.
Thanks Beth, you rock!
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| Check out my Sick Air! |
Happy Valley is a
Happy Place
Holy shit, that area is beautiful. From what I am told, this part of the course
can only be used during years when winter snowfall is less than normal because
there is typically still snow on the trail in July. I got a little bit of mojo back around mile
40 and I distinctly remember thinking that the trail from mile 45 to 55-ish was
just incredible. We rode through giant
Douglas Fir trees, huge green meadows, snow drifts just off the trail, high
mountain river crossings, and loamy dirt.
When I visualize riding my mountain bike in Oregon that trail is exactly
what I will think of from now on.
The Final Leg
What little bit of mojo I had conjured quickly left my
body as I left Aid #5 for the last 21 miles.
On paper, we had already knocked out most of the climbing so how hard
could it be? Plus, there was 5 miles of
pavement to finish it off. No problem
right?
My traveling buddy AJ and I had pre-ridden one of the
last pieces of singletrack called Tiddlywinks on Friday and I couldn't
wait to
get on those banked corners and table-tops and send it. For a little video of Tiddlywinks, check out
the Start/Finish
Preview by Dirtwire.Tv. In fact, the
entire trail after Aid #5 is great. The
problem is that you are so hammered by the time you get there you can't
fully
enjoy it. Ha! Having something left in
the tank late in a 100-mile race is usually my specialty but not on this day. I was crawling up the climbs after Aid #5 and
just surviving. In my mind, if I could
just get to Tiddlywinks I was home free.
Tiddlywinks did not disappoint and I did, in my feeble
state, attempt to “send it”. Now for the
cruel twist to this part of my story. AJ
failed to properly describe the last piece of singletrack, Storm King, to
me. I had it in my brain that it was a
very short piece of trail used to get us onto the pavement and back to the
finish line. In reality, it is a long
damn trail. I don’t know how long I
descended but I have renamed the trail, “Storm King Never Fucking Ends Trail”. My triceps were on fiiiiire. Storm King did finally end and I banged out
the final miles of pavement by channeling my inner Jens Voigt.
As I rolled under the Kenda arch at the finish,
a smiling volunteer handed me an ice-cold wash cloth for my face (a very nice
touch by the way) and AJ gave me a high-five.
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| The Finisher Growler |
Random Post-Race
Thoughts
Mike Ripley and Mudslinger Events nailed it. Having been to races of all shapes &
sizes, I truly appreciate it when a race director takes care of the
details: Great course markings, good
info leading up to the race, awesome aid stations & volunteers, good finish
line scene, free food for racers, free beer for racers, great schwag, and
timely results.
An added bonus to the trip was traveling and sharing a
room with my Fitzgerald’s Bicycles Teammate AJ Linnell from Victor, ID. AJ absolutely killed it and won the Singlespeed
Open race. AJ is getting to be kinda
famous and now has to do post-race
interviews.
The Deschutes River is a glorious place to soak
immediately following a hot, 100-mile mountain bike race.
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| AJ Linnell, so hawt right now |
