Bend's Sheppard, teammate McGrath still in front at BC Bike Race

UPDATE, June 2, 11:30 p.m. Portland's Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale) reported by e-mail that she and teammate Bryan Alders had a flat off the gun on stage 2 and got stuck at the back of the race on tight singletrack.

"A rough day and very frustrating," she wrote.

Butler and Alders have placed second the past two days, moving up to third overall about thirty minutes behind. Bend's Ryan Trebon (Kona) and teammate Georgia Gould (Luna) are in first place overall in the mixed category.

"Ryan and Georgia are riding the pants off of us," Butler wrote. "We will keep working on it and see where we end up on Saturday. It has been a ton of fun. The trails are AMAZING! It's a great vacation."

Tim Butler, who rides locally for River City Bicycles, is sitting in 3rd in the open 80+ category with his partner, Matt Ohran, team manger of the Monavie-Cannondale pro operation.

Bend resident Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz/Shimano/WTB/Fox) and teammate Seamus McGrath (Jamis Factory Team) remain in the lead of Canada's BC Bike Race after four stages of the seven-leg journey from Vancouver to Whistler.

Sheppard and McGrath won the first and third stages, while former OBRA standout Barry Wicks and his KONA temmate Kris Sneddon, the defending champions, won stages two and four and sit less than a minute behind the leaders.

Oregonians Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale) are competing with teammates in the mixed category, but word and results from the forests of BC have been hard to come by.

VeloNews.com has been covering the race.

Oregon well represented at Canada's big BC Bike Race

UPDATE, June 29, 11 a.m.: VeloNews.com reports that Sheppard and McGrath won the first stage of the men's competition. Wicks and Sneddon are second. Trebon and Gould lead the mixed competition, with Butler and Alders fourth.

The list of favorites to win the seven-day BC Bike Race June 28-July 4 in Canada is packed full of Oregon riders.

Bend resident Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz/Shimano/WTB/Fox) will join fellow Canadian and Jamis Factory Team rider Seamus McGrath in the men's event. The pair plans to compete for the overall this year after a catastrophic mechanical five minutes into last year's race ended their overall dreams, although they were allowed to compete for stages and won three of them. Former OBRA standout Barry Wicks will take a break from World Cup competitons to join Kona teammate Kris Sneddon in the men's category.

Bend's Ryan Trebon (Kona) is joining forces with Luna's Georgia Gould to contest the mixed category, and some of the pair's toughest competition will come from Portland's Sue Butler and her MonaVie-Cannondale teammate Bryan Alders. Tim Butler, who rides locally for River City Bicycles, will also join MonaVie-Cannondale team manager Matt Ohran in the men's category.

VeloNews.com has complete coverage.