Mountain bike riders participate in endurance race through Riverside State Park

Beddome Allen was tired and sweaty after finishing a 15-mile mountain bike race in first place Saturday, but a few hours later he would do it all again. And again.

Allen and 521 of his closest friends kicked off the 24-hour Round the Clock mountain bike race in Riverside State Park Saturday at noon. Most were on teams and would take turns completing the same 15-mile race route as often as they could until time ran out, but about 20 people signed up to do the entire 24 hours as a solo rider.

Allen said he’s been doing the race since he was 13 and Saturday was his eighth time. “It’s dry, it’s fast, it’s fun,” he said of the course.

Illustative of the long, sometimes wearing nature of the race, Allen and his six teammates dubbed their group “Tender Nads.”

Like most participants, Allen considers mountain bike racing a hobby. He trains by riding his bike to work five miles each way.

“It’s as serious as you want it to be,” he said. “The environment is very laid back and it’s family friendly.”

The race had a LeMans start, which requires the first team members to run a 600 meter course up a hill before they can get on their bikes and begin. Riders wore their helmets and gear as their racing feet raised clouds of dust. Some were all business, while others wore capes or costumes. At least one man sported a Spider-Man mask.

The 15 mile route has a variety of terrain, including an area known as “Devil’s Down,” said Wendy Zupan, of Round and Round Productions, the organization that puts on the race.

“It’s a gnarly, rocky, downhill section,” Zupan said.

There are volunteers stationed along the route and paramedics on site in case of a crash. In years past, crashes have resulted in dislocated shoulders and broken bones, but serious injuries aren’t common, Zupan said.

Most of the participants camp at the location and some bring their families along. There’s a race on Sunday for kids 11 and under. The youngest participants in the main race are a group of middle school girls who named their team “Out Past Our Curfew.”

Teammates have to hand off transponders to the next rider once they finish the route, then get time to rest between legs. Solo riders have the option to rest between legs whenever they like, Zupan said.

“They can do whatever they want or they can just crank it,” she said. “We have some competitive people out there.”

The fastest riders were finishing the course in 55 or 60 minutes at first, but darkness always slows things down and riders also slow as they get tired. The cyclists are required to wear lights on their helmets and their bikes after dark, but there is no lighting along the course.

At the end of the race, the winning team is the one that finishes the most trips through the route. If there is a tie, the team with the fastest times wins. The solo riders are organized into different age categories and there is a winner in each based on the number of laps completed.

Caleb Senn, of team “4 Hot Dogs and a Taco,” wore a Montana Grizzles jersey as he waited for a teammate to finish the first lap. He greeted people he had gotten to know his previous three times biking the race.

“This event is extremely well run,” he said. “It’s a fun course. It’s just a gas to ride.”

Senn knew the race course would get looser and dustier as it is pounded repeatedly by hundreds of bikes. But he planned to enjoy himself anyway. “I just do it for fun,” he said. “It’s addictive.”

His team has four other members, which means he would have to do the 15-mile route a handful of times. He spoke with admiration for the solo riders, but called doing the race alone “a different level of crazy.”

The course is fun, but challenging, he said. “That’s a really daunting task,” he said of riding it alone for 24 hours. “Solo would maybe kill me.”