High Cascade 24 Hours of Bend (2011)

There is something about a 24 hour mountain bike race that makes you stop and ponder life.  Particularly the night time laps; when you seems to be miles away from anything and all alone.  It is one thing to be out racing and it is another being out there all alone waiting for racers and hearing every little noise. In central Oregon you can hear for miles.  Two racers having a converstatoin seem to be close by, only to ride by 10 minutes later.  Large noises are close by and you know that they aren't people.  How many mountain lions were just sitting and watching riders go by; pondering if they should try to catch one and eat like a king? 

In the morning, watching the sun come up, new life is upon us.  There is an excitement in the air but there is also a struggle to stay awake and alert.  After 24 hours, people have a sense of accouplishment and relief.  The race is done and no one runs up to the podium for their awards. 

Thank you to Mike and Mudslinger events for sponsoring us at their event.  Medium resolution images are free to use for person use.  Click on the 'download original' link at the bottom right hand corner of the photo.

All photo can be found here.

A gallery of highlights can be found here.

High Cascade 100 (2011)

It was another great year for the High Cascade 100.  This year it was held a bit earlier and the course was different due to the winter storms but when all was said and done everyone had fun.  Thank you to mudslinger events for once again sponsoring us.  This means that the medium resolution images are free for you to download and use.  If you like this, please send Mike a thank you note so he knows that he is getting his money's worth.

ALL PHOTOS

Gallery of Highlights

2010 High Cascade 100

What to say about the High Cascade 100?  Not really sure.  Still cooked from walking an est. 22 miles.  It was too early to think straight and I left me "running" shoes on instead on putting on my hiking boots.  Now my feet are in revolt.  It wasn't enough to be eaten by the mosquito, attacked by some ants for standing in the wrong place but the a grouse decided it didn't like us too. 

"As a bird to be hunted and eaten, the blue grouse is very tasty, having a wild flavor and yet tender and dry, not greasy like ducks and other water fowl. Of course, before you will ever get the chance to find out just how good eating these birds are, you will have to find one or more and bag them and knowing just where to look is a good place to start." - John Traveler

Well the joke is on that grouse.  Sept. 1st is opening season on grouse and I know where to look for one. 

Oh, what?  This isn't a hiking blog or a hunting blog?  Sorry about that.  Still a bit delirious from the 25 work day on Saturday.

You couldn't tell that this was the second year of the the High Cascade 100.  Mudslinger Events puts on excellent events and this is no different.  We talked with lots of racers from all over this weekend and they were happy with the quality of the event and the caliber of racers. 

Now down to business. Here are:

All of our photos from the day

Gallery of Highlights

High Cascade 100

Things not to do at the end of a 100 mile mountain bike race... wheelie.  It is not often that Mike Ripley of Mudslinger Events can say that he had a totally dry race course.  The tempatures ranged from 34 degrees to 75 degree but it was all dry, even a little dusty... okay a lot dusty at points.  Just under a hundred people showed up for the 1st annual High Cascade 100 and by all the smiles at the end of the day I won't be surprised if the field limit is reached next year. 

Mudslinger Events once again sponsored us, so you are welcome to use the medium resolution digitial images for your personal (non-commercial) use.  You can find all of our photos here or click on the jump to see a slideshow of highlights.

Click to read more ...