Test of Endurance 100

Some of you may remember posts in previous years about the Test of Endurance race. Several years ago this event started as a two lap 50 mile race that is held outside the tiny village of Blodgett, Oregon on the way from Corvallis to Newport. Corvallis (home of the Beavers) is also home to Barry “WicknastyB” Wicks and has a storied history of mountain bike events and sweet trails dating back to the 80′s. Mike Ripley, owner extraordinaire of Mudslinger Events, has threatened to add a 100 mile version for several years but there has never been much interest in a four lap 100 mile race.
This year he planned to make the hundy a reality by starting in Corvallis and riding to Blogett then completing the customary laps there before returning to town for the finish. I was pretty stoked about that and since I am two time TOE50 winner, I decided to come back for MORE after not attending the TOE for a couple years. Unfortunately we had a late winter with numerous snow events down to the valley floor in March followed by very wet and warm storms. This provided near record flooding in some areas and ended up washing out a bridge crucial to the Corvallis-Blodgett loop.

Since some folks (like yours truly) had already signed up, we ended up doing the aforementioned four laps instead of two on more or less the same old TOE course. I needed some nuance though so I again chose to ride my single speed. With the early start I drove out and slept in car the night before. Luckily the course was a bit harder technically with more single track but the weather was beautiful breaking a long string of wet TOE’s and reminding me of the first year I won the race in bluebird conditions.

The race started fairly fast with Jake Pantone from Utah driving the pace through the first 25 miles. I took over on the second lap and tried to ride a similar pace for the remainder of the race. I managed to push the 34-16 for another 6hrs and finished in 7:52 about an hour ahead of the next guy on a geared bike. Note: winning TOE50 time this year was 3:59… Mike ponied up a nice cash prize in to pay for gas and case of Deshutes Black Butte to barter. Best part of the day was setting new Strava DOWNHILL KOM on the most popular trail in the area–on the single speed hardtail Tranny!