RIDING HIGH : Cyclists From Hawaii Are Trying to Adapt to Mountain Racing in Rarefied Air of Eastern Sierra

According to a local legend, the first Whiskey Creek stage race was a contest between rival stagecoach owners in the late 19th Century. In an era when miners were searching for fame and fortune in the Eastern Sierra, these guys were racing for bragging rights.

Logistically, all they needed were fast drivers, a strong team of horses and a location--a dry stream bed known as Whiskey Creek.

The third modern-day Whiskey Creek stage race, the first of three bicycling events in the Bud Light Mammoth Cycling race, involves some of the nation’s best pro, amateur, junior and women road racers competing for $50,000 in cash and prizes.

Logistics are a bit more complicated. The location is fine. But for both riders and event staff, getting everybody to the starting line on time and ensuring them fairly safe passage to the finish--if they can survive the climbs and the cool mountain air--is something akin to solving Rubik’s Cube.

For Steve Delacruz and Deborah Robinson from Hawaii, even reaching Mammoth Lakes for the start of Wednesday’s prologue was a challenge.

Delacruz, 18, a junior state time trial and road race champion, and Robinson, 32, a state women’s road race champion, came to the mainland two months ago to ride in a number of stage races, primarily the national finals held earlier this month in Boulder, Colo. In Hawaii, they ride for KCT, but this trip is basically a solo effort.

Along with Delacruz’s mother, Betty, they arrived in Mammoth Lakes at 2:30 Wednesday morning after a drive from Bend, Ore., that involved an all-night battle with the car they have been traveling in from race to race. The original Whiskey Creek stage probably would have been welcome.

“Amazingly, when I woke up, I felt pretty good, even though I only had five hours’ sleep,” Robinson said. “Last night I was in a real ornery mood. It wasn’t a lot of fun getting here. To tell you the truth, I’m just glad I didn’t start until 1 p.m.”

She finished 25 minutes 2 seconds later, 4 minutes 1 second behind women’s leader Meg Gordon of the Chemical Bank team in 21st place.

Delacruz turned in a prologue time of 22:16, which put him 3 minutes 7 seconds behind junior leader Daryl Price of the Plymouth/Reebok team.

Delacruz’s problems in getting to the starting line didn’t end with the early morning arrival. He nearly missed his prologue starting time, and members of the race staff were still trying to get his toe straps tied when he pedaled down the ramp.

In a prologue, riders start through the course one at a time at 30 second intervals, and a cyclist’s time starts with or without him.

“I didn’t take a car down (to the starting line at the south entrance to Mammoth Lakes), I rode my bike,” Delacruz said. “It just took a little longer than I expected.

“I wasn’t in the right gear (at the start) and I didn’t tie my toe straps. It probably cost me a couple seconds. I’m disappointed with the start, but I thought I rode pretty well.”

That Delacruz and Robinson can ride at all at this altitude--the finish line was at 9,100 feet--or with this competition--Hawaii is not known for producing top-flight cyclists even if the Coors race will be contested there Aug. 5 this year--is something of a surprise. Yet both have survived earlier stage races in Bend and Casper, Wyo., as well as the national finals in Boulder, Colo., where Delacruz was well back in the junior pack after getting caught behind a pileup involving more than 50 riders.

“I’m just getting my butt kicked most of the time,” Delacruz said. “I really haven’t won anything, but I’m showing I can ride with these guys.”

Robinson has had more success in only her first season of competitive cycling, finishing 17th in Boulder. Although their next move is back to Hawaii for a race, both said they would like to get on top teams on the mainland.

“I really feel like I have the drive to do well in this sport,” Robinson said. “But I have to get a resume together, and there are more people to convince.”

This year’s five-stage event will continue today with a 92-mile road race near this winter ski resort town, where cars are equipped with roof-top racks in all seasons. They carry skis in the winter and bicycles in the summer.

Friday’s third stage is a road race that begins in Bishop, 49 miles away and 5,000 feet lower. More than 1,000 riders are expected for the fourth stage Saturday, a 107-mile road race over a 17.2-mile loop, and the final stage Sunday is the Whiskey Creek criterium, a lapped race that covers a .6-mile course through Mammoth Lakes.

Event organizers ran into two minor problems before the first rider even mounted his bike when one of the top cyclists in the event pulled out and highway construction shortened the prologue course.

Billed originally as defending Tour de France champion Greg LeMond’s comeback race after a hunting accident in April, it has now become a contest between Roy Knickman, a Toshiba-Look teammate of LeMond’s, and Thurlow Rogers of ICN, the defending Whiskey Creek champion.

LeMond was forced to scratch from the event when he underwent an emergency appendectomy last week. He is expected to make his comeback race at the World Championships in September.

Knickman finished third in the prologue with a time of 18:04, just seven seconds behind prologue winner Gary Mulder of Team Unipro.

The prologue course was shortened from nine to six miles when a paving job on California 203 outside Mammoth Lakes wasn’t finished for Wednesday’s 11:30 start. The 329 riders who rode in the individual time trial portion weren’t sorry. After all, they have more than 250 miles left to ride.