Joel Palanuk
It's looking like great weather for the Fourth annual Sisters Stampede XC Mountain bike race coming up this weekend!
This year's Stampede is presented by: Blazin Saddles, Three Creeks Brewing, BendBroadband, Five Pine Lodge, and The Peak 104.1..
The course is running fast at the moment, and with some rain expected mid week, we should be golden for some tacky Central Oregon dirt. The course is the same as last year, which flowed well, and offered some great mid race passing opportunities. The course will be pre-marked by Saturday morning at 9am (currently there is red flagging, and some spray paint on the ground at turns if you head out this week to find the route).
The venue and parking is the in the same location as last year, but there are some added perks to the venue this year; Including the Felt bicycles, and BMC bicycles demo fleet trailers, as well as two complete bike raffle giveaways, plus more vendors to keep spectators busy while the racers are on course.
Registration packets are full and ready to go with a Bend Broadband re-useable tote filled with a water bottle from REI, Hammer Gel, Gorge delight, Cycling guide, Stampede Socks, and plenty of other deals from local companies.
Kids racers (9 and under) get custom Stampede t-shirts (limited 200), Eberhards chocolate milk, and a wodden AirLink plane!
Packet pickup on Saturday May 25th at Blazin Saddles (2-5pm) is in conjunction with the "Blazin Saddles Block party" which features live music, Three Creeks Beer, bike demos, a bike giveaway, and plenty of other raffle prizes!
The field limit is 500 racers this year, which we are about 75% full at the moment (20% higher than last year at this point). Last year there were 568 racers.
If the race is not full, there will be registration on race day May 26th from 7:45am to 10:00am.
Beginner/Cat 3 Men start at 10:30 sharp
Elite Men start at 11am, followed by 7 more waves spaced apart. There will also be signs with each groups start time in the starting gate.
Please check www.sistersstampede.com for more details, or follow the facebook page for all of the race updates throughout the day!
Hope to see you there!