Wicks wins High Cascades 100

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The fourth annual High Cascades 100 (HC100) in Oregon rolled out under sunny skies and mild temperatures creating an enjoyable atmosphere for a record number of racers and spectators alike. The race finish was located farther down the mountain this year at Bachelor Village where racers were treated to wood fired pizza's and washed down by local brews.

Men: Wicks claims his second NUE Series victory

Barry Wicks (Kona), the hometown boy from Bend, claimed his second NUE Series win of the year, finishing at 7:22:15, just over four minutes ahead of Evan Plews (Ibis Cycles/Reall Racing) in 7:26:35 and three-time defending HC100 winner Carey Smith (Team CF) 7:34:15, who both joined Wicks on the podium. Wicks had previously won the Lumberjack 100.

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After winning on what he called a "super fun" course, Wicks said, "It was a pretty challenging course, but so scenic that all you could think about was what was around the bend of the next mountain. The race went well for me. I did the log ride on the climb up to Wanoga and got a small gap to get the prime. Then I waited up for my teammate, Kris Sneddon, and just rode the sweet trails."

The race split up on the big climb of the day. "I was running a little light on water going through Dutchman, but was able to make it to Lava Lake with Josh Tostado, and, once I got a feed, got on the gas and just rode a solid tempo into the finish," said Wicks, who credited local knowledge with helping him meter his efforts.

"I had a rad day riding the amazing trails up in the high alpine," said Wicks. "Next year I may try to do it on a singlespeed and win the $1000 bonus for taking the overall, but we will see. That sounds really hard."

NUE Defending Champion Christian Tanguy (Team CF) finished fifth in 7:40:28. It was good enough to take the series lead for the first time this season.

"I heard only praise for the trails in the Bend, Oregon area so, this year, I ventured there to check it out," said Tanguy. "I did not pre-ride so it was an entire discovery all day long. I now understand why this course is one of the favorites of the NUE Series."

Tanguy tried not to go out too hard, but was happy with where he was entering the opening singletrack.

"The five bikes in front of me were kicking a lot of dust in the air, but I was following just fine. Just like at the Lumberjack, my rear tire developed a slow leak but this time it was only after 15 minutes of entering the trail. As soon as I stopped, trains of racers just passed by me while I was busy putting more air in my tire. It was getting inflated, but I could hear the hissing noise of the leak. The tire had a bad cut on the side but the sealant seemed to do its part."

Tanguy said passing was difficult due to the nature of the trails. Although he passed many racers, his tire started leaking again. "Fortunately, I was closer to aid one so I reduced speed so I could properly repair my tire."

Following the aid station, Tanguy was on doubletrack, and he made a good tempo to pass more riders. "I knew it would take a long time before I could reel back some familiar faces. I was not overly concerned since there was still plenty of time." He raved about the trails.

Four hours into the race, he was back among familiar faces. "However, by then, I was quite tired and could only distance myself very slowly. Then, 300 yards after climbing a doubletrack, I thought I might have taken a wrong turn. I did not want to risk riding miles to figure out whether I went off course or not, so I turned back. I was, in fact, on the correct trail but I had lost an additional two minutes."

Tanguy had hoped to make it up to the lead group on the trail leaving Lava Lakes, but it didn't work out. He felt miserable and said his legs were shutting down, although he later felt better toward the top of the climb and passed Josh Tostado, who had a mechanical. He was motivated again and pushed the pace to the finish.

"I think with an additional 10 miles of trail, I could possibly have bettered my result by one or two spots; however, the trails were so much fun, I did not realize that I had spent almost eight hours in the saddle. Next on the agenda is the Wilderness 101 and, please, no mechanical this time?!"

One minute later, Ben Melt Swanepoel (Squirt Lube) in 7:41:38 rolled in, followed closely by 49-year-old Michael Tobin (G-Fit/Niner) in7:42:38, Drew Edsall (Kenda/Felt) in7:43:20, Clint Muhlfeld (Sportsman and Skihaus/Hammer Nutrition) in 7:56:43, and Brett Nichols in 7:58:09 - all finishing close together in under eight hours.

Women: Pennington of Hood River rolls her way to the top of the podium

Following her second place finish last year, Alice Pennington (Team S&M/Kona) from Hood River achieved victory this year in 8:51:32, just over a minute ahead of last year's third placed finisher Serena Gordon (Sunnyside Sports/Silverado) of Bend in 8:52:46.

Beth Ann Orton (Team S & M) finished third in 9:18:01. "I road with Serena Bishop and Alice Pennington the first 10 or so miles, seven of which were neutral roll out, until I decided their pace was much too fast for me at such an early point in the race," said Orton. "I know these two well and hoped, based on previous efforts, that I could keep our gap small."

Orton settled in a brisk but comfortable clip and was soon joined and passed by Jana Repulski (Broken Spoke Cycling). "I tucked in four to five riders behind her on the first section of singletrack, wanting to go faster, but making myself settle and relax," said Orton. "We traded wheels a couple times before the short, pumpy, ascent below sector 16, where she was tackling the climbs much faster than me. I eventually caught her at the top of Sector 16, rode with her down Upper Whoops, a super fun descent, and passed her on Skyline Connector, a section of trail I know well and love. I opened up a gap then settled back into a comfortable pace for the rest of the race, seeing her just briefly at the first aid station."

Repulski went on to finish fourth in 9:30:27 with Alice Drobna (Webcyclery) finishing fifth in 9:47:15, rounding out the women who finished sub-10 hours.

Singlespeed: Linnell edges out the competition

AJ Linnell (Fitzgerald's Bicycles/Misfit Psycles) made his way to the top spot on the podium in Bend, in 8:16:12, following his second place finish at the Breckenridge 100 just five days earlier. It was his first NUE series victory of the season.

"Once we got onto the dirt and sorted ourselves out, I spent the opening singletrack leg riding with Gerry [Pflug] and Jace [Ives]," said Linnell. "Those guys are strong! We ripped through the forest in amazing early-morning light, waiting for things to warm up after a chilly morning. Somewhere around mile 10, I flubbed a remount after running through a rock stretch and rolled my left ankle, totally blowing it up. At the time I wanted to puke, but it subsided after a few minutes and I was able to close the gap back to Gerry and Jace."

They rode together until after aid one and the big doubletrack climb. Linnell was feeling good and decided to crank it up. He never saw his rivals again.

"I spent much of the remainder of the race riding solo going back and forth with a few geared riders but largely alone," said Linnell. "My ankle swelled up huge and lost most of its ability to flex which made the rougher downhill riding after aid two interesting. In the end, I was surprised at how closely Jace finished behind me. I figured he was further back than four minutes given that I hadn't seen him at all."

Jace Ives crossed the finish line four minutes later in 8:20:21, 14 minutes ahead of the three-time defending NUE Singlespeed Champion Gerry Pflug (Salsa/Pro Bikes) in 8:34:06. Pflug had suffered puncture wounds to his arm and chest caused by a tree sticking into the course that nearly took him out of the race.

Later at the finish line, the Pfluginator explained that he thought, at the time, that he had punctured a lung but with the help of a bystander, who just happened to have first aid supplies on hand, he was able to tape up the puncture wounds to his arm and chest, soldiering on and, somehow, still managing to take the third spot on the podium.

Mike Shane (Club Ride Apparel/Sun Summit) arrived 10 minutes later, in 8:44:54, to finish fourth followed by Josh Armagost (Fat Cobra Video) in fifth at 9:06:19 and James Harmon (Benidorm/Createx Colors) in 9:08:30.

Masters 50+: Bartels claims victory

Roger Bartels (Roger R. Bartels, D.D.S.), 52, claimed the top spot in a packed field of masters that included a Mountain Bike Hall of Famer and his former master's world's teammate from the 1997 Switzerland race Paul Thomasberg.

"I decided to go for the 40+ prime of $100 at mile 18 (which he won) so I made sure to be up near the front going into the fireroad section five miles into it," said Bartels. "Twenty or so of us gapped the main group as we bottlenecked into first 80 miles of singletrack of the day. I decided to lay back and entered last in our group. Barry Wicks led it out and was gone in a huge cloud of dust."

Riding with Aren Timmel (Team Chico) and another guy, Bartels and company gradually started passing crash and flat casualties as they made it up through Steve Larson trail and Funner Trail.

"At the prime spot, there was a feed and realized I hadn't even touched the four pounds of water I was carrying," said Bartels. "After that, Aren and I worked together on a few miles of fire road before crossing under the bridge and going up some steep singletrack leading to spectacular views of Mount Bachelor.

"We dropped down towards swampy and sector 16, which would have been more fun if it wasn't for the low sun in my eyes and the dust impairing my vision. I shut it down there a bit and Aren road away from me. He was working the gravity dropper seat post and was having way too much fun! Eventually, a group caught me, led by another gravity dropper guy. I got behind him and we were flying for a while until I had a front wheel wash out and did some dirt sampling. Luckily no damage was done and I caught back on."

After a huge climb out of the Swampy area, Bartels settled into his own pace. Rider after rider took the line cut by Barry Wicks.

Marland Whaley (Red Barn Bicycles), 54, placed second, 23 minutes behind the leader at 8:46:34. Whaley was coming off a second place finish at the Breckenridge 100, just five days ago. "After a slow start, there were a lot of pileups on the singletrack, a lot of bottlenecks, a few crashes, and I just had a hard time finding the groove on a lot of the rock sections. The locals had it dialed. By the time I figured it out, it was too late, and I was off my bike and pushing."

Things kicked in at aid station four for Whaley, who started passing about a dozen riders. "It was the rough stuff that was really giving me trouble around the backside of Mt. Bachelor. However, I am a late bloomer (laughing). I don't start very well and it's always the last 25 miles that makes the difference."

Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, CODA founding member and Vice Chairman,Paul Thomasberg (Shimano) finished third in 8:55:13. "It went good today but I don't think I had the preparation I really needed so I had to just stay in my little world mostly and not try to go out too hard but not lose too much time at the start. The first hour I probably went harder than I needed to but I just didn't want to have that many people in front of me."

Thomasberg's strategy was to make a little time on the downhills but just enough so that he wasn't using any more energy than anybody else because all of those guys were going to pass him back on the climb. That went on for a little more than half the race.

"The true story is that I got here five minutes before the call up (laughing). My alarm didn't go off and my wife woke me up and said, 'you know, its 4:47 (The race began at 5:30 am.)' and I was like ahhhh, so I had just enough time to throw my clothes on and, luckily, I had everything ready to go so I jumped in the van to get here and it just all worked out somehow."

Race Director Mike Ripley, presented a check for $5,200 to the local trail organization COTA (Central Oregon Trail Alliance) which provides trail access and opportunity in partnership with the Deschutes National Forest. An additional donation of $1,700 was also presented to the Boys and Girls Club of Central Oregon who helped out in a variety of positions at the race.

Next up for the NUE Series: The Wilderness 101 in State College, Pennsylvania this weekend.