ORIG / 06-29-14 / Joe Kline / The Bulletin Carl Decker rides over rocks along the Tyler's Traverse section of the course of Pickett's Charge! mountain bike race on Sunday in the Wanoga Trail Complex west of Bend. Decker was the first elite male finisher.

WANOGA SNO-PARK — The first climb at the Pickett’s Charge! mountain bike race Sunday hit Chris Trask like a ton of bricks.

“I was not prepared for that at all,” said Trask, a 27-year-old racer out of Monmouth, about the event’s course change from a year ago, which included a climb of approximately 900 feet over 3 1/2 miles.

“But,” he added, “it was a blast.”

Pickett’s Charge! has changed locations and courses multiple times since its inception in 1994 — the event was originally a mountain bike/road bike duathlon at Virginia Meissner Sno-park — but the race continues to evoke reactions like Trask’s. A tribute to local mountain bike pioneer Tom Pickett, who died of brain cancer in 1993 at the age of 52, Sunday’s race started and finished at Wanoga Sno-park as competitors rode a counterclockwise loop around the Dinah Moe-Humm, Tyler’s Traverse, Steve Larsen and Tiddlywinks trails.

“Dude, it’s the trails,” Trask said about why he makes the drive over the Cascades to compete in Bend.

“They’re just awesome and completely different than what we have back home (in the Willamette Valley). It’s fun to come scrape some skin on the lava rock over here.”

Juniors and novice racers completed one lap of 16 miles Sunday, while all other riders raced for 27 miles. Bend’s Carl Decker was the top men’s finisher for the second year in a row. Chelsey Magness, also of Bend, was the fastest female racer. Approximately 160 cyclists competed in the event.

“The climbing was killer, especially the second time around,” said Magness, 29, a local instructor. “This is just a great cross-country race.”

Even those riders who did not have the best of days seemed to enjoy the course and the event.

“I love it over here,” said 17-year-old Chris Rech, of Monmouth, who raved about the race despite suffering through three flat tires Sunday.

“There’s so much good track over here.”

Rech, whose first mountain bike race was last year’s Pickett’s Charge!, pointed out how the steep climbs helped separate the pack and identify the more elite racers.

“You get on that climb,” Rech said, “and you can tell what level (of a cyclist) a person is.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0305; beastes@bendbulletin.com.