Cyclists take on Sisters Stampede

Hazy sunshine and perfect course conditions greeted the riders who dared the third annual Sisters Stampede Mountain Bike Race on Sunday. Some 500 race participants in over 26 categories took to a new course layout starting at Lazy Z meadow in what is becoming a major Memorial Day weekend race.

"This course was my original plan when this race started," Race Director Joel Palanuk said. "Sisters is a great place for a bike race, and when you combine that with an amazing ranger district, sponsor, volunteers, and trail, and you have a great combination that will succeed."

A 12-mile course was in store for the Category 3 riders, who left the starting line just after 10:30 a.m. followed in rapid succession by the remaining riders. The Pro Men riders hit the trail at 11 a.m. with 28 miles of challenging single- and double-track awaiting them.

Riding in his second Sisters Stampede, Josh Nordell, 34, of Sisters, commented on the race and the new course layout.

"The race was awesome today," he said. "The course was way better this year, the additional double track made everybody relax and have a much more calm day on the single track. Last year everybody was trying to beat each other up on the single-track and race by. This year everybody was relaxed and they were able to pass each other and make their moves when they should make their moves."

Now in his third year with the Stampede, race announcer Alex McClaren kept things moving, keeping the riders abreast of start times and the crowd informed with race updates.

"This is the course that Joel originally wanted," McClaren said. "This is a classic Northwest mountain-bike course where it's one out and back, there's no individual loops, there is no overlapping on the trail. This is a big, bad, classic Northwest, Cascades, rock and hill mountain-bike course!"

Racers from as far away as Portland, Salem, Eugene, Beaverton, Hood River, and Corvallis entered. And this year, racers could be counted from Washington, California, and Nevada.

Despite a well-marked course, the race wasn't without it's mishaps. Riding in his first Stampede, Leif Kytola, 14, from Eugene, finished third in his age group despite a little excursion off the course.

"I just saw someone go off-course and I followed their wheel, turns out it was the wrong way," Kytola said. "I had to crawl my way back to the course, but I was still able to finish third, just 15 seconds behind second place."

Dominating the race for the third straight year was Chris Sheppard of Bend, winning the Pro Men category in 1:26, followed by Carl Decker, also of Bend in 1:29, and Brennan Wodtli in 1:30.

In the Pro Women category, the race was won by Serena Bishop-Gordon of Bend, in 1:41, with Sue Butler and Beth-Ann Orton, both of Portland, finishing second and third.

This year $1,000 in cash and prizes were on the line for the top three finishers in both the Pro and Cat 1. Keeping with tradition, the Men's and Women's winner received a custom Stampede belt buckle.

As the race wound down, racers, their families, and fans began the trek to the event tent, where food, drink and live music were on offer to celebrate another year of what is becoming one of the most prominent mountain-bike races in the area.

For complete race results visit www.sistersstampede.com or www.obra.org.