Race re-cap:

Start line to TS #1 Maupin: After 10 days of checking the weather forecast – which changed constantly – all of that no longer mattered as Saturday dawned cool and clear. Our solo field of 25 was whittled down to 18 due to some no shows but the group assembled at the start line was stellar. As we cruised on Marine Drive at 15 mph Mt. Hood was clearly visible to the east. It looked like it would be a spectacular day and I kept my fingers crossed that the weather would hold for the weekend… The solo racers made it to Buxton Road without a hitch, Terri and I yelled ‘Go’ and the race was on. Action was mello for the first few miles though Michael Bingle picked up a 5 minute penalty for running a stop sign. Texan Cadet Bryant was about 10 minutes back at Boring when he unfortunately got stuck at the traffic light. Head solo official Jim Ryan was standing nearby so Bryant wasn’t about to run it. Cadet walked across to the pedestrian signal, pushed the button and waited for the light to change. Meanwhile things were heating up at the front of the pack. Defending champ Graham Pollock was setting a torrid pace with Tom Jacobson, Saunders Whittlesey and Ricky Martin matching him. Wade Baker and Kenneth Philbrick were a few minutes back with the remainder of the field stringing out behind them. Pollock sped through TS #1 4 minutes ahead of Jacobson. Graham was matching his ‘04 pace and had everyone wondering if he was going to ride away with the prize. At the same time the rookie Jacobson had everyone worried that he was going out too fast. B-M-B record holder Whittlesey was sitting in third place watching the race ahead of him. He appeared to be perfectly positioned for a mid-race attack that would be a surprise to no one. Fixed gear racer John Spurgeon was living up to our ‘meet the racers’ expectations staying in the thick of it with the middle of the solo pack. This was shaping up to be an excellent race. The beautiful weather and 80 degree temps in Maupin meant there were lighter tail winds than ‘04 but no one was complaining.

The 2 person relay race got underway precisely at 7:00 a.m. The field was made up of four teams including the first ever mixed two person team to compete in RAO – the Candy Ass Llamas. Rookie team RAO Sagwagon was out for an adventure while Brothers From Sisters – which included ‘03 solo champ/’04 solo runner up Gregg Geser looked to be a lock until team Ol’ Fogey signed up two days prior to the race. Ol’ Fogey was a bit of a mystery. Don Olsson teamed up with Larry Hopkins to win the 2 person division in ‘02. In 2003 Hopkins and Ollson were tied for the 2 person lead with Thunder & Lightning till a bike disaster put them in a time deficit from which they couldn’t recover. Olsson was the crew chief for the winning 2 man Father & Son last year and was back in ‘05 with Father Randy Radcliffe repaying the crew chief duty favor. Don would have been a heavy favorite except he was teamed with his older brother Bruce who had never raced a bike before. On the other hand, Geser was teamed with his coach Rich Hummel who’d been part of Geser’s crew the previous two years. Hummel is a strong rider but he’d never ridden more than 100 miles. This was a race with no clear favorite. Don told us he was just out for a good time…yeah right. The tone was set by Bennett Pass with Llamas Ken Morton and Lisa Kienle sticking to their planned pace, Sagwagon’ers Jim Snell and Cam Turner putting in a steady and impressive performance and Brothers and Fogeys in a tight battle for the lead. The Fogeys led the Bros through TS #1 by a couple of minutes with Sagwagon and the Llamas about a half hour back.

On Friday afternoon we received a phone call from mixed team Basin Extreme telling us they were having some crew problems and might be unable to make it. By 8:45 Saturday we were pretty much certain Basin wouldn’t be racing. Mixed team Bag Balm was pretty bummed that they’d lost their competition and asked if the Headhunter team could be allowed to race mixed. The Headhunters were made up of three men and one woman. We asked them if they wanted to remain in the open men’s division or race mixed. They opted for mixed – Bag Balm’s sportsmanship earned them the second beef stick points of the event. The Headhunters were a couple of Slim Jims up on the field due to their unbelievably attractive crew – who, it was rumored, were wearing leopard skin bikinis underneath their team wear. The rumor had more than one racer doing some serious praying for hot weather at the finish… At 8:55 a.m. the first prime of the race was announced – a day long guided raft trip for four donated by the Imperial Rafting Company to the first four person team to reach Maupin. To claim the prize the team would also have to finish the race. At 9:00 the parade start rolled out of the parking lot.

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