Cycling Classic zips through Sisters

Fans and volunteers lined the narrow road at the summit of McKenzie Pass Wednesday, July 20, in support of the men and women competing in Stage One of the annual Cascade Cycling Classic (CCC).

When the lead riders rounded the corner below the Dee Wright Observatory, aid station workers sprang into action to hand out drinks and energy food, while spectators began cheering, clanging cow bells and blowing whistles.

Within a minute or two nearly all the men's riders had whizzed past, heading downhill toward Sisters, and the crowd regrouped in anticipation of the women's groups that were due to arrive within 10 or 15 minutes.

The cyclists began the 74-mile ride west of the summit at Big Springs Sno-Park and Maxwell Butte Sno-Park on Highway 22 and looped back onto Highway 126 to meet the old McKenzie Highway (242). The race ended at the lower Three Creek Sno-Park.

Riders reached speeds of up to 60 miles per hour on some of the downhill sections of the course.

People gathered at street corners in town as the cyclists raced behind Les Schwab onto Pine Street and over to Elm Street to head south toward Three Creek Road.

"It's rather breathtaking to see the pack of riders traveling so fast through the streets of Sisters," said Sarah Hamilton, a former Sisters resident who is visiting from Colorado.

The Cascade Cycling Classic began Tuesday with a two-mile prologue event in Bend near the Old Mill, so Wednesday's road marked the first true competition for the riders. The mild temperatures and clear sunny weather conditions favored the competitors who not only pushed 20 miles uphill to the summit of the McKenzie Pass, but faced formidable uphill in the final eight miles.

The CCC includes five stages over five days. There are two road races, a criterium, a time trial and a circuit race. Teams come from throughout the United States as well as abroad.

The CCC has featured Tour de France participants and Olympians, but is open to amateurs as well. In its 32nd year, the CCC is the longest consecutively run elite stage race in this country. Bend Memorial Clinic and Les Schwab are key sponsors of the event, which benefits the Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation.

Julia and Tim, a couple from Leipzig, Germany, riding across the country on their touring bikes, arrived at the summit heading west about 20 minutes before the men's racers arrived.

"We had no idea the race was taking place, so it was a nice surprise for us to stop for lunch and see this," said Tim. "With the mountains and the lava fields right up to the road, it is a beautiful setting for a bike race."

Rick Geraths, an avid Sisters cyclist, rode up to the summit Wednesday morning and then helped pass out drinks to the riders.

"I like to help out with things like this," he said.

Cesar Grajales, from Colombia, riding for Realcyclist, won the men's stage in 2 hours, 49 minutes and 29 seconds, while Kristin McGrath, of Durango, Colorado, led the women's race in 3 hours, 28 minutes and 40 seconds. One of her teammates on the Peanut Butter and Co. squad, Kristen Armstrong, an Olympic medalist from 2008, finished seventh.