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Six Hours of Mt Hood – XC Mountain Bike Endurance & Relay Race

By White Lotus Sports on June 25, 2014 • ( 0 )

Sunday June 29th, 2014

Join us for the fifth edition of the Six Hours of Mt Hood – XC Mountain Bike Endurance & Relay Race!

Come race – as a two-person team or solo – with hundreds of other mountain bike enthusiasts, for six hours straight, on a fun and varied loop at the Skibowl Mt Resort (Government Camp, OR). The 6-mile course features plenty of fun, twisty singletrack trails through beautiful forests. The estimated elevation gain per lap is about 800′. Each lap, racers will get treated on great views of Mt Hood, a fully-stocked aid station, free mechanical support, non-stop race announcing & music and a ton of cheers from their fellow racers. On Sunday morning, we’ll serve free coffee and hot Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats. At the end of the event, racers will enjoy a free post-race chili meal, $1 beers, courtesy of our beer sponsor Hopworks Urban Brewing, and a free entry in our post-race raffle. The start/finish area is at Skibowl West, right next to the main parking lot (right off Highway 26) so you’ll have easy access to your car in between laps.

Check out all the race info at http://www.portlandracing.com/6hrs/

All info and images property of PortlandRacing.com.

Update Wednesday June 18th, 2014

We are just 10 days away from the fifth edition of the Six Hours of Mount Hood, so time for some updates!

The last four editions, we enjoyed beautiful weather and some great racing action, and our goal is to make this year’s edition again the most fun MTB endurance race in Oregon! So if you feel for a day of healthy summer fun, racing your bike with your friends and hundreds of fellow mountain bike enthusiasts in a gorgeous setting on the mountain, this race is your ticket!

1) Pre-register online by Friday (6/20) to save $10 off the day-of-race entry fee and get a cool custom pint glass and more!
That’s right, you have three more days to pre-register online at our discounted rate! After Friday – and all through next week – you can still register online, but you will pay $5 more. And if you decide to register at the race, you will pay another $5 extra. The first 250 people who register for the race will receive a custom pint glass, filled with sponsor goodies, and a very cool finisher tag (so far, we have already 125 racers pre-registered). As a bonus, all pre-registered riders will enjoy a call-up at the start of their category and we will raffle off a $50 Selwood Cycles gift certificate among all racers who are pre-registered by Friday end-of-day!

2) Race course:
We will use the same course as last year, which is 100% snow-free and in great shape. The start/finish, and aid station will be located at the Skibowl main lodge & parking lot, just off Hwy 26. Each lap will be close to 6 mile long an estimated elevation gain per lap is about 775′.

The race (and each subsequent lap) will start with a gentle ride up the West Summit Trail to the Multorpor Lodge, followed by a clockwise loop around Multorpor Mountain. After a short climb on the Summit Trail, there will be a flying descend along the Powerline Trail. Racers will continue their way around Multorpor Mountain via the Rhododendron Trail, then climb out via Optimator Trail, followed by a descent to the bottom of the Multorpor chairlift. From there, you’ll weave your way through the woods along the fun South Trail back towards the start/finish area, where you – or your team mate – will start the next lap.

This course has plenty of flow and is fun to race for all levels of racers. If you are not familiar with the Skibowl trails, just check out this cool helmet cam video – shot by Singlespeed Solo rider Scott Barker – or the 3D course views to get a better idea of what to expect.

3) Race Support:
The morning of the race (from 7 to 9am), we will serve FREE Bob’s Red Mill hot oats at the Skibowl main lodge. Throughout the race we’ll have a fully stocked food station, featuring Hammer Heed energy drink, fresh fruit, PB&J sandwiches, Larabars and other tasty goodies. Like in years past, we will have a dedicated on-course aid tent for solo racers, allowing for swift hydration and refueling throughout the race. After the race, all racers will enjoy a free bowl of chili and $1 beers (at least for those over 21), courtesy of our beer sponsor Hopworks Urban Brewery.

4) Pre-Riding, Lodging and Camping:
The course will be open for pre-riding on Saturday June 29, from 2pm to 6pm. If you come from further away, or like to make it a whole weekend on the mountain, the popular Collins Lake Resort (less than a mile from the start and the official lodging partner of Skibowl), has 150 chalets and 48 lodge condominiums at their Grand Lodge. There is also the option to car-camp on the Skibowl parking lot the night before the race for a nominal fee of $10 per car (includes access to bathrooms and presence of night guard). Another option is to camp at one of the various Forest Service campgrounds in the area.

5) Prizes & Raffle:
Like in years past, we’ll have some very classy custom medals for the top-3 podium finishers in each category and in good tradition we’ll wrap up the day with a raffle, featuring more than $1,500 in prizes, courtesy of our sponsors Sellwood Cycle Repair, Portland Design Works, Chris King,

Update June 25th, 2014

Greetings!

We are just 4 days away from the 5th edition of the Six Hours of Mount Hood and it looks like everything is coming together for another fun and epic bike race you don’t want to miss out on!

1) Still time to pre-register and get a cool racer-packet-in-a-pint!
Online registration is still open and will close on Friday at 6pm. The first 250 registered racers will receive a custom 6 hours pint glass (stuffed with a bunch of goodies, courtesy of our sponsors Nossa Familia, Hammer Nutrition, Larabar and Rip van Wafels) and a cool finisher tag when they pick up their race plate. So far, we have about 150 racers pre-registered (check out the preliminary start list to find out who is already in!), so you still have time to register and get in on the goodness!

On-site registration and racer packet/plate pick-up will be open Saturday from 4 to 6pm and Sunday from 7am to 9am at the Skibowl trailer office (on the main parking lot). Whether you plan to register online or at the race, make sure to sign the online waiver (much easier to decipher and transcribe than paper waivers). And please bring cash (or checks) and proof of your current OBRA membership (unless you plan to buy an OBRA license at the race).

2) Course conditions, weather and pre-riding.
The race course – which will be exactly the same as last year – is in the best shape it has ever been! All snow is long gone, there is no standing water anywhere on the course, and we don’t expect any mud on Sunday (most of the trails at Skibowl are on rock bed, so the drainage is excellent). The next few days, we expect some rain but it shouldn’t have any noticeable effect, except for keeping the the trail nice and tacky. The latest NOAA weather forecast for Sunday calls for mostly sunny weather, with a high near 60… in other words: near-perfect race weather!

As those who raced the previous editions can testify, the Multorpor Loop has some great flow and is a blast to ride, with plenty of room to pass riders or let others pass. While the loop includes some decent climbing sections (though not much need for a small chain ring), the singletrack is so much fun that you won’t get tired of it, even after 6 hours of racing. In addition, each lap will end with a fast, non-technical flat-to-downhill stretch back to the start/finish area at Skibowl West, giving you a chance to recover or catch up with others before starting your next lap. As for tire choice, big tires with medium sized knobbies and slightly high pressure are probably in order, as the descent down the Powerline Trail is pretty bumpy (though Petr Kakes and his crew have been working hard at clearing any loose rocks from that section).

If you plan to come out on Saturday, we’ll have the course all marked for pre-riding from 10am on. Just make sure to drop by the Hurricane Racing bike/ski shop (behind the main lodge), to sign in and get a free ride permit.

3) Sunday morning schedule: registration and racer briefing!
On Sunday, we will open registration at 7:00am and close at 9:00am. If you haven’t registered yet, please make sure to be there by 8am the latest, in order to get through registration in time. From 7:30am on, we will serve free Bob’s Red Mill hot oats in the cafeteria (inside the main lodge). At 9:30am we will host a pre-race racer briefing. Then, at 10am sharp, all races will get underway, staggered with short breaks between categories.

4) Race Support:
Throughout the race we’ll have a fully stocked food station, featuring Hammer Heed energy drink, Larabar nutrition bars, fresh fruit, and Dave Killer’s Bread PB&J sandwiches. We will also have a dedicated aid station for solo riders, where they can stash coolers and any other gear they like to have handy along the course. Expert mechanics from Sellwood Cycles Repair will be on hand near the start/finish area, providing free mechanical support before and during the race.

5) Post-Race Chili, $1 HUB Beers, Awards & Raffle!
After the race, while our officials are tallying the final results, racers will get to enjoy free chili and $1 beers (at least for those over 21), courtesy of our beer sponsor Hopworks Urban Brewery (don’t forget to bring $1 bills!). At 5:30pm, we will get the podiums underway. Like last year, the top-3 podium finishers in each category will go home with some very classy custom medals and in good tradition we’ll wrap up the day with a short-and-sweet raffle, featuring more than $1,500 in prizes, courtesy of our sponsors Sellwood Cycle Repair, Portland Design Works, Chris King, and Showers Pass.

6) Make it a day on the mountain for the whole family!
To make it a fun day for the whole family, Mt Hood Skibowl is offering all Six Hours racers and their families a 2-for-1 special on their Half-Day Adventure Pass. And for those who care, they will even be showing Sunday’s world cup soccer games live on TV in the main lodge.

That’s about it… If you have any questions, just shoot me an email. I am looking forward to seeing you on Sunday at Skibowl for another six hours of MTB fun!

Cheers,

~Kris