The 411 on Ride 542

As a kid in tiny Maple Falls, Charlie Heggem used to pedal his BMX bike down the Mount Baker Highway to the old Der Storhausen for his daily fix of Swedish Fish. Over time, he fixated less on the fish and more on the bike, eventually moving to Southern California, where he raced mountain bikes on the domestic World Cup circuit, occasionally jetting to Europe for races. His home turf was never far from his mind, however.

"I told myself if I ever moved back, I was going to put on a race up the Mount Baker Highway," says Heggem, 36, who relocated to Bellingham in 2002.

The sixth edition of Heggem's prediction-come-true takes place Sept. 7, when up to 1,000 riders will pedal up, up, up and up the Mount Baker Highway all the way to its end at Artist Point, elevation 5,140 feet. Called Ride 542 (the Mount Baker Highway is State Highway 542), the event starts in sleepy, blink-and-you'll-miss-it Glacier, elev. 935. Over the route's 24.5 miles — 24.5 backward is 542, kinda — the road climbs some 4,300 feet, about 3,000 of that up the long and winding 10 miles from the Nooksack River to Artist Point.

When the weather gods permit — as they have in four of the event's first five years — Ride 542 runs neck and neck with RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day) in the competition for the state's most scenic organized one-day ride. The first 15 miles snake along the rushing Nooksack before ascending into the rarefied air of Heather Meadows and its panoramic, jaw-dropping views of mounts Shuksan and Baker, the Nooksack Ridge and far too many Cascade peaks to count.

Getting to the top

"It can be a beautiful day with breathtaking views," says Bellingham's Tammy Bennett, 45, a Healthy Lifestyles coordinator at the Whatcom Family YMCA and three-time Ride 542 veteran. "Though, of course, your breath is already taken away from the sustained climb."

Ride 542 is actually made up of several races. There's a competitive road race with $4,000 going to the top male or female who can break the course records, which were set last year. (That's 1:18:19 for men; 1:29:58 for women.) For those on bicycles built for two, there's a tandem race ($1,000 goes to the first duo to break 1:25), and a recreational race for those who want to push themselves but are likely to finish in more than 1 hour, 45 minutes.

"The best feature of the hill climb is that you can make it whatever you want," says Steve Vanderstaay, a 49-year-old Bellingham college professor and veteran recreation-division racer. "At the front it's full-out, peloton-style bike racing, but farther back, it's more casual like a charity ride or a [100-mile] century ride. You can stop, take photos, chat up the guy next to you on the mountain bike. Either way, there's the party at the top."

For folks who mostly just want the experience of riding to Artist Point and aren't concerned about how long it takes them, Ride 542 also offers the Summit Ride.

"It's for first timers, take-your-timers and anybody who's just trying to get their butt to the top any way they can," Heggem says. "If you need extra time, we can send you out as early as you want."

A race with a mission

A nice feature for riders is that from 7:45 until 11:30 a.m., the state Department of Transportation closes the last 25 miles of the highway, making it a bikes-only roadway. Heggem says that the Forest Service and Mount Baker Ski Area have also been accommodating and instrumental in helping the event grow from just 60 participants in its first year to 700 last year, and likely close to 1,000 this year.

As he's done each year, Heggem has tweaked Ride 542. This year he's added a Saturday 10K mountain run from Mount Baker's White Salmon Ski Lodge to Artist Point. (This to go along with the Saturday Cyclocross race he added last year, which takes place at Silver Lake Park, about 10 miles west of Glacier.) Along with the races mentioned above, Sunday also features a century ride for those for whom riding from Glacier to Artist Point once is not enough. The century will follow the Glacier to Artist Point route twice — both up and down.

Some other cool things about Ride 542: Heggem has got green on the mind. As in environmentally friendly green. Three dollars from each registration fee goes to alternative energy investment, watershed protection and RE Sources, a Bellingham organization that promotes recycling and conservation of natural resources. In addition, a portion of the proceeds goes to Whatcom County cancer care facilities.

Always looking ahead, in 2010 Heggem plans to hold a Mount Baker Marathon, a running race that would basically follow the same route as the bike course. (Meaning potential participants had better love to climb.) And he'd like to work with organizations such as Cascade Bicycle Club to create a Washington Alpine Series, which would include events such as the High Pass Challenge, RAMROD and the Tour de Blast.

Mike McQuaide is a Bellingham freelance writer and author of "Day Hike! Central Cascades" and "Day Hike! North Cascades" (Sasquatch Books). He can be reached at mikemcquaide@comcast.net. His bike-centric blog is mcqview.blogspot.com.