Ring of Fire 24 hr Time Trial

Mick Walsh  -Photo by L. Caton

Martha, Jay, and Mick preparing to race

 I am honored to have been asked to join Jay Rideout as support for Mick Walsh as he rode through the night during the 24 hour Ring of Fire Time Trial. Mick was racing as a two person team with his wife, Martha, but was riding the ~185 mile night loop solo. We started at 7PM from Maupin, Oregon, on the beautiful Deschutes River.

 The course began with a climb out of the Deschutes River Canyon toward Tygh Valley.

 With a 7PM start time Mick was very soon riding in darkness.  One thing that surprised me was that as we traveled through this arid open countryside we could see entire hillsides covered with wind turbines. I expected to see them, and knew that during night hours we were likely to see them with red lights to warn aircraft. What I did not expect to see was that wind turbines covering thousands of acres would all blink in unison. It was just amazing to see. Unfortunately, the slow shutter speed required for night photography and a moving vehicle as a base just is not conducive to a useable photo or video clip.

(These audio clips will open in a new window, just close the window when finished listening to return here. Some technical issues required that I post them this way this time, sorry.)

audio clip 1

 We saw many deer as we traveled along through the night. Luckily, neither the rider nor the support crew had any collisions with wildlife. Mick is a strong rider and made it look easy as he picked off one rider after another, and soon found himself in first place.

 audio clip 2


We saw a lot of wildlife during the night, along with the previously mentioned deer, we had many owls. We suspected that they were hanging around us to snag the mice that would scamper across the road in our headlights from time to time. We saw several rabbits also.

audio clip 3

By the time we finished the night loop Mick had opened up a 15 minute lead over his nearest competitor. Martha had a good buffer as she now entered the mix and would alternate the shorter day loop with Mick.


audio clip 4

By the time 24 hours had elapsed, Mick and Martha had logged 399 miles, good enough for first place, and about 40 miles more than the next closest rider. Mick was less than 100 yds away from getting that magic 400 miles. He only got off the bike once during the long night, for a nature break, but we stopped once briefly to trade driving duties. Probably long enough to have cost Mick and Martha that 400 mile mark. :-(

It was a fun event.  I enjoyed supporting Mick as he rode through the night. He made it look so easy.