REALL rides Sisters Stampede!

Sisters Stampede 2013

The Reall Racing team had it’s biggest showing of the early season over Memorial Day weekend. Six team members made the trip over the Cascade mountains to Sisters Oregon for the 4th annual Sisters Stampede mountain bike race. After leaving the wet and chilly valley early in the morning we were greeted to partially sunny skies and a cool breeze. An overnight rain left the typically dry dusty trails damp and fast for the start of the race.

My early season race theme has gone something like this. Get a bad start. Group forms in front of me and I watch them slowly ride away. Then my body waits until around the half way point before I start to feel good and finish the race strong . The Sisters Stampede was no exception, after a slow start on the first double track section I hit the single track buried deep in the pack with no single speeders in sight. My rocky trail skills were not up to par early on and I managed to slam into and bounce off every single rock! I don’t even want to look at my wheels and see all the flat spots I put into them! Good thing I was running a new set of Kenda 24-Seven 2.0 tires with Orange Seal tubeless sealant. To say I was riding a bit sketchy would be a big understatement. At that point I didn’t think I was going to pass anyone in my class for the rest of the race!

After a few miles of single track and some wild riding we started the gravel road climb. This is where I told myself to take a deep breath and calm down. The course lay out was the same as the previous year so I knew after the climb there would be some more flat double track before a long trail section. This is were I finally was able to see another single speeder and make a pass. After hitting the single track and putting the silliness behind me, I started to get in the flow and ride smooth. Navigating through the rocky punchy climbs on Peterson Ridge trail I caught and passed another guy in my class and could just barely see a group of four riders in front of me.

After seeing the small group in the distance, my legs finally felt like they had unhitched the loaded trailer they had been pulling and I closed the gap very quickly. By this time the sun and wind had dried out the trails and I was behind four riders wheel to wheel getting a big helping of dust in the face on the flowing fast trails. Once our group hit the next section of dirt road I was able to make the pass. At the base of the final road climb, I decided to make a move and pass the three single speed riders. One rider was able to stick on my wheel and followed me all the way down the final single track decent. Once we got off the trail and onto the final double track the rider was able to get around me again. I was completely spun out trying to keep up as he slowly pulled away but I kept riding as hard as I could all the way to the finish line. For the third race in a row I felt strong at the end!

Even though I was passed just before the finish line and only managed 8th place in the single speed class, it was a great day of racing. The weather was sunny and I had a blast hanging out with everyone on the Memorial Day weekend event. Jeremy Warnicke raced to mid pack 14th place also in single speed. Ian Mastenbrook took home 9th in the competitive cat 2 19-39 class. David Hill hit the podium for the third race in a row with a 3rd in the cat 1 50 and over class. Julia Fudge raced her way onto the podium with a 3rd place in a huge cat 2 women’s field. Elite rider Luke DeMoe’s race was unfortunately cut short after an early crash into a tree that resulted in a broken nose.

Thanks for checking in!
Ryan Eisele

After missing Sisters Stampede in 2012, I decided to give it another shot this year. Ryan and myself carpooled to Sisters together and met Dave, Jeremy, Luke, and Julia at the race. Coming into the race I definitely just had a goal to finish and not destroy myself as it was only my 2nd race of the year and I have been slacking at winter training mainly due to the rainy weather. Ryan and I made our way to Sisters at 6:30AM and arrived with plenty of time to warm up and get things ready for the race. This year the race filled up completely so luckily we all had pre-registered to guarantee our spots in the race.

I was able to get lined up around the middle starting in a group of over 100 racers. During the first 4 miles of double track I managed to pass around 30-40 racers but was still quite unsure where I was in my age category. As soon as the single track began I felt a few raindrops but luckily they only lasted a couple minutes. My legs were feeling great although my lower back was giving me a little trouble especially on fast uphills. The trail opened back up into a wide gravel road that had a bit of an incline to it, where I was passed by about 10 racers. As soon as the single track began again I got stuck behind a few women that wouldn’t budge to let anyone pass and even cursed at a few of us for trying to pass because they were in a race as well. Luckily I was able to pass in a rocky section after getting off my bike and running past them.

Coming into the 2nd half of the race I was feeling great although I was sure I was near the middle of the huge field of 60 in my age group with no hope to catch up to the leaders. I felt strong and was surprised I kept an average speed of around 15mph throughout the race. I caught up to Jeremy as he started a bit before me and we rode together for at least half an hour. It was actually real helpful having him right behind me because I knew he wouldn’t try to shove past me on the narrow trail if I was getting slowed down by the moderate hill climbing. At around mile 24 I let about 4 people pass me on a hill thinking I was in at least 20th in the field. I approached a turn at mile 25 and was shocked as some volunteers said there was only a mile left of the race as the race advertised 28 miles of riding. I picked up the pace a little passing a couple racers on the last mile section and finished with a time of 1:47 which was faster than I had predicted of. Soon after the race I looked at the board and sure enough I had placed 9th out of 56 racers which was quite a bit better than I had thought. I was only 3 minutes behind the winner, which could have been drastically reduced if I knew I was that close to the front of the race. After all I’m super glad I raced this year and I’ll definitely try to make Sisters Stampede in 2014!

Ian Mastenbrook