Anyone else doing HC100? I’m had limited riding experience in Bend and I’m wondering and tires. Aspens? Dubnitals? Pack or bottles? Any/all advice is welcome.
I’ve done it the last two years and live in Bend. The moon dust is real, but that makes it so you can run about as fast of a tire as you want since you aren’t really on firm ground anyways. Last year I was on the grey sidewall Barzo/Mezcal and this year I’ll be on either the new race version of the Barzo/Mezcal or the Schwalbe Rocket Ron/Racing Ralph. First year I did Vittoria Syerras but I was gun shy after multiple flats on some Kenda XC tires and was new to XC tires in general. Run what you’re comfortable on and doesn’t flat at the first sight of a rock. Course should be a decent bit slower than last year due to a higher percentage of singletrack, more climbing, and almost certainly hotter temps.
I’ll be using a pack, but that is largely because I’ve got a bike that can only fit a single bottle. Probably will be doing my drink mix in the pack, with a spare bladder as a drop bag and just refilling the bottle with water at the aids as needed. If your bike can fit two bottles you’re never all that far from an aid station (5 aids, last one around 20 miles to go) so you can definitely make that work.
Can’t give you a ton of good advice other than I’m also doing the HC100 this year. I’m planning to ride 2.4 dubnitals front and back, but we’ll see if I feel the same after a pre ride later this month.
My bike holds two 750’s which will probably be fine assuming I stop at all aid stations. On a race this long, that seems like a fair call. I’ll have family at some of the aid stations they’re permitted so may pick up a pack with like 1L water if there’s any longer segments.
Do let me know how the Dubnitals feel. I’m running them right now and they somehow feel much slower than my older Racekings or Aspens.
Good to hear you can get by on bottles. That’s my preference whenever possible.
I raced this on Aspen 2.4s in 2024 and was happy with that decision. Where I struggled was with the heat. The early morning start will be cool and it’s easy to forget to hydrate early/often. I didn’t run a pack. You can make and label your own drop bags and the race will transport them to the corresponding aid station – that said, the aid stations are well stocked. I enjoyed it and can’t wait to go back!
Anyone that’s ridden it before - how technical is the terrain? Are there many obstacles that can’t be rolled over?
I’m not thinking it’s super technical, but am expecting it to become much more challenging to navigate items once the fatigue has set in the last several hours.
People finish it on gravel bikes, the trails are pretty smooth by and large. Pulling up the course map there are probably about 5 spots I can say I’m reasonably likely to have to get off the bike and each of those are specific obstacles and I’m back on the bike within about ten feet. In almost all of those cases getting on and off the bike is probably more energy efficient . If you’re coming to town to preride, doing a shuttle up to Dutchman and riding the back half of the course probably would cover most of the spots I’m thinking of and would be a fun ride in and of itself. If doing that I’d cut off from Mrazek down Farewell and Tumalo Creek and make your descent more fun.
I will be doing the race… I just did the NUE ulta.. Mohican in Ohio 3 weeks ago. What I found worked was with nutrition and hydration. I wore a USWE pack with 2,400 mls of water mixed what worked out to 60 g of carbs per 600 mls. (along with some LMNT) I also had 2 empty bottles pre loaded with the carb mix. This dropped weight and like Cascades there is a big road section before the first trail so I took in a lot of water prior to hitting the trails. (I find it hard in aggressive single track to use bottles) I filled the bottles at stations I knew were before gravel sections. My goal was to stop only once… to refil my pack around the 60 mile mark. Other than a mechanical it all worked to plan.