Bananas were everywhere Sunday.

Lots of superheroes, too. And just about every “sexy” maid, tooth fairy and Viking princess sported a beard.

It said Nov. 2 on the calendar, but Halloween in Bend has more lives than Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger.

The Portland-based Cross Crusade cyclocross series made its annual visit to Bend this weekend, and the two-day event wrapped up with its unofficial costume day. Approximately 1,000 racers — most in costume — competed Sunday at a course near the Old Mill District, the majority of which ran around the Deschutes Brewery production site.

Evel Knievel, a family of My Little Ponies, Devo, a team of Hungry Hippos, and multiple bandwagon and not-real-creative San Francisco Giant baseball fans also made appearances at the sixth race in the eight-race series.

“It’s the culmination of the entire year,” said Matt Richmond, 50 and a resident of Portland. Dressed as a ninja, Richmond competed in the Masters 50+ race. “You’ve got the party (Saturday night) and then costume day. … And it’s nice to get out of town and support the Bend riders.”

Cross riders started and finished on Shevlin Hixon Drive, enduring a course that included stretches of dirt, grass, pavement, gravel and, notably, an old couch. The up-and-down trail also featured a flyover ramp, a set of wooden stairs, coffins (in the Halloween spirit) and a giant dirt mound.

“It’s just so fun to come down here and get all dressed up,” said Tawny Flores, 32, who visited from Portland to cheer on her fiancé, Steve Carter. Flores did not race but dressed up as Rainbow Dash, a children’s TV show character.

“We make a whole trip out of it,” Carter, 35, said about the Cross Crusade’s Bend races, which were staged under picture-perfect blue skies. “We got down here Friday and are staying until Monday. It’s nice to try a different course. And the weather here is always dry and sunny. You don’t have November days like this in Portland.”

Costumes were king on Sunday, but the racing was pretty impressive as well. Standout riders such as Bend’s Carl Decker and Laura Winberry, both of whom are atop the 2014 Cross Crusade Category A series leaderboard for their respective genders, competed Sunday. Decker rode in a kilt; Winberry and her fellow riders on the Portland-based Speedvagen (handmade bikes) team were dressed as fish. One of the day’s most memorable outfits was a woman dressed as a pile of leaves — her race partner, naturally, costumed as a giant rake. Another unforgettable get-up featured a rider covered in pink balloons, with Nemo the fish (from the movie “Finding Nemo”) hidden among what looked like a giant pink sea plant.

And of course there were all those blasted bananas. (Full disclosure: This reporter spent most of the men’s beginner race Sunday in restless pursuit of one of Chiquita’s finest in a full gorilla suit.)

“This,” the Portland racer Richmond said in reference to the spectacle that is Halloween Cross, “is the pinnacle of the whole season.”

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