Bike racers blast through Sisters

Cyclists battled brutal heat while on the Sisters leg of the Cascade Cycling Classic.

After a grueling ride up and over the McKenzie Pass in sweltering heat, racers in the Cascade Cycling Classic found a few spectators along the streets of Sisters to cheer them on Thursday, July 11.

The racers zipped through town on the way to the finish line of Stage Two at the Upper Three Creek Sno-Park.

The CCC is a premier cycling event that attracts many of the top bicycle road racers in America, but even the best were challenged by the furnace-like conditions for the second day road race sponsored by Deschutes Brewery.

The men's racers passed through town first, about 1:30 p.m. when the temperature was about 98 degrees.

Two of the favorites, defending champion Scott Moninger and Chris Horner, were out of the lead after struggling in the heat.

Burke Swindlehurst of the Navigators team won the 72 mile stage in 3 hours, 13 minutes, 24 seconds. The stage featured over 7,000 feet of climbing.

In the women's race Kimberly Bruckner, the current United States champion road racer, took a solo break at about the 25 mile mark and was never challenged, winning by over six minutes in 3:48:58.

She went on to win the overall women's title by 7:03.

Chris Wherry of Team Saturn, won the overall men's title. Swindlehurtst wound up second, while Horner and Moninger were seventh and ninth respectively.

Local cyclists Rich Hummel and Greg Zadow had mixed results in the Category 3/Masters division, which did not include the stage through Sisters.

Hummel took it easy in the Pilot Butte Spring stage, finishing 46th out of the 127 starters.

He moved up a bit in the second stage, a 60 mile road race which started and finished near Mt. Bachelor, finishing 31st about 1:30 behind the leaders.

"I was right with the lead pack with five kilometers (three miles) to go, but lost contact," said Hummel.

In the 70 mile Tumalo Circuit race, Hummel moved up some more to finish tenth and was looking forward to great things in Sunday's criterium race in the Old Mill District of Bend.

"I had a chance to win it, but two different guys clipped pedals on turns in the last lap forcing me to swing wide, so I finished fifth or sixth," he said. "That's the way it goes in cycling."

Zadow had a tough weekend, according to Hummel, struggling with the heat in the Mt. Bachelor race and experiencing mechanical difficulties in the Tumalo Circuit Race.

He did rebound to finish just behind Hummel in seventh or eighth place in Sunday's criterium.

The two training partners typically finish very close to one another.

Overall results were not available at press time, but Hummel was pleased with his performance.

"I'm not a tremendous climber, so I feel pretty good about finishing where I did," he said.