The Highlander Cycle Tour had 730 riders this year riding the new courses, visiting new towns, mountaintops, lakes and vineyards. Many riders bought the new Highlander jersey and CD. All riders received a cool technical shirt worthy of the event challenge. Arbor Hill treated us to the Finger Lakes famous "Dry Reisling" wine, purple juice and grape pies.

• The Mountain Prologue Time Trial was won by Paul Knerr from Fairport, NY with a time of 21:30.40. Paul is 50 years old and beat many half his age.
• Top female rider was Caryle Andrew-Zipprich from Manlius, NY with a time of 25:35.7. She also beat many of the men in the field.
• Top Masters awards went to Richard Newman of Rochester, NY in 22.07.9, and Holly Turner of Rochester, NY in 29.54.9.
• Here are all the 2009 individual time trial results.

• M/M - Team Dino Bears (Jeff Dolan - Webster, NY and Drew Scoles - Rochester,NY) in 1:06.25
• F/F - Team Rocky Mtn. High (Jarmila Gorman - Evergreen CO and Colleen Brown, Rochester Hills, MI) in 2:01.31
• M/F - Team Fyffenators (Jane and Doug Fyffe - Canandaigua, NY) in 1:28.35
• Here are all the 2009 team time trial results.

• Saturday was my first experience at your event. I just want to thank you and your volunteers/sponsers etc. for a truly amazing experience. The chip sealed roads (improved my bike handling skills) incredible climbs, fantastic crews at the rest stops, world class course, great food, and fellow riders along the way added up to a day I will never forget. I've never gone faster or slower! Bopple after 100 miles was perfect! Thanks again. See you next year. -- Mike
• Just a quick compliment on another great event! At first I thought the revised route with Bopple on the tail end was an act of cruelty, but it worked out great. -- Bill
• I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated having the Bopple hill climb close to the end of the Midlander Tour rather than closer to the beginning. I felt that the entire ride was more enjoyable that way. Of course it also helped that I showed up for this year’s Midlander ride with a lower low gear than I have used during any of my previous rides. Thank you for a great ride. I really enjoyed it this year. -- Paul
• I had a very nice experience - thanks to all your rest stop volunteers and those whose hard work that must go into putting this together. Even having a flat was in it`s own way a rewarding experience, due to the kind help offered. -- John
• Just wanted to say that I LOVED the new Midlander route, and hope you have the same one next year!!! I also loved the t-shirt and excellent food afterwards. Thanks to you and the whole staff, and I'll see you next year! -- Chris
• It must take a tremendous effort to organize an event like this. Just wanted to say Thank You for a wonderfully organized and supported ride. All the SAG's we came to were very prepared for the riders and all the volunteers were very friendly and helpful. My husband and I have ridden the Highlander several times. This was the first time we opted for the Midlander instead of the Highlander. We thought doing 72 miles would be a better option since we are a bit on the slower side. The new tour route suited us too....altho the ominous Bopple awaited us towards the end. Also, we really liked the delicious dinner that was waiting for us back at the lodge when we were done. The catering was much appreciated.... SO MUCH BETTER than the chicken that used to be served !!!! Thank you -- Susanne
• Thank you to all the Highlander staff for organizing and running another great bike tour. It's one of the best events that I ride in all year. I really liked the new course route. The only suggestion I have is to call the "Midlander" something else as it's now tougher than the original Highlander I did back in 2000-2002 time frame. It took me about the same amount of time (5 hours) to ride the Midlander than it does to ride a normal full century. No big deal, but I think that ride and distance deserves more credit as we finish on the top of Bopple which is no small feat after 68 miles of tough climbing. -- Mark
• Ya know, I’d love to take a crack at designing a 125 mile Thighlander route for the truly insane. They are paving lots of dirt roads out there … -- Mark

We hear you Mark. All we can say here at Highlander HQ is...Stay tuned y'all. Just stay tuned...

728 riders participated this year. Most pounded their way up some vicious hills in the Highlander Century Challenge, others enjoyed the Lowlander Century or the Midlander Metric Century and some rode the Wanderer. And the usual, hardy, mud spattered, mountain bike enthusiats tried to find their way on the Mountaineer route.

The Mountain Prologue Time Trial was won for the forth time in a row by Cheyne Hoag from Dansville, NY - with a time of 19:28.9, beating the runner up by more than 2 minutes! Top female rider was Jennifer Rea of Rush with a time of 24:45.7. Time Trial Results in PDF, thanks to Boots and Ellen of Fleet Feet Sports and Yellowjacket Racing,: Age Group Results and Overall Results.

See photos from the Highlander Cycle Tour and Time Trial by ALL Ages Photography. These photos may be purchased through this site.

Congratulations to John Barott of Canandaigua, NY and Joanne Wu of Rochester, NY who were the winners of the Highathlon, which combines riding the Highlander Century on Saturday and running the Rochester Marathon on Sunday. Winners were Highland riders with the highest placing in the marathon, John with a time of 3:36.43 and Joanne with a time of 4:20.38. John was our first winner in 2006 and is our first 2 time champion.

720 riders enjoyed the Finger Lakes scenery, the ride camaraderie, great ride perks, and pounding their way up some vicious hills. The riders came from many states, and over 50 from Canada, and ranged in age from 12 to 71.

For the third year, over $20,000 was raised for Charity.

Congratulations to our Highathlon winners - Erik Grimm and Joan Haefner. Erik set a new Men's Marathon record with a 3:02.40. Joan ran a 4:07.39. Erik went on to complete the infamous 2007 Hawaii Ironman with a 9:59 a few weeks later. He used the Highlander as a training weekend! Raise your bar folks!

66 Riders participated in the Mountain Prologue Time Trial, won for the forth straight year by Cheyne Hoag from Dansville, NY - with a time of 19:55:02 (just missing his course record)! Jen Rae won the Female honors with an outstanding 24:49. Complete Trial Results (thanks to Yellow Jacket Racing) are here in PDF format:  Age Group Results and Overall Results.

• Lawrence Creatura from Rochester RAN the Highlander route! All 100 miles and 11,000 ft!!- He completed it in about 23 hours.
• Nearly as impressive was Peter Koch who rode the Highlander in a fixed 42/16 gear bike! Yikes. His quads were twice their size when finished.

• I did the Highlander yesterday and I wish to thank you for the excellent organization of this event! This was my second time doing Highlander (2005 and 2007) and I did the Mountaineer last year. I have done many cycling tours and races and this one is very well supported. The volunteers at each rest stop do an amazing job. The course is very well marked. The registration is easy. The post-event party is fun. The entire experience is outstanding. The suffering is phenomenal. Very hard event but I have a tremendous feeling of accomplishment! This was a truly 'enjoyable sufferfest.' Andrew Cane
• Just a quick email to say thank you to all of the other organizers and volunteers for a wonderful Highlander Cycle Tour event. I loved the ride. Great roads, beautiful countryside, monster climbs, and grape pie....it just doesn't get any better than this! Carol
• The event was very successful in terms of my participation and enjoyment, anyway. I had a good time, and it looked like many other riders, organizers and volunteers did as well. However, even more newsworthy, I would say, was that I passed Lawrence Creatura, a Mendon resident, at about the 89th mile. This is amazing because he RAN the Highlander, starting on Friday afternoon. He looked great when I passed, and I expect that he finished within two hours of my sighting. Of course, feeling like a dog after riding for over seven hours, I could not begin to understand how someone could run that course, even over two weeks, much less twenty-four hours! - Brian Kane 8 years and counting!
• Many thanks for the memories! I did the time trial as well as the Highlander and both were very well organized events. The rest-stops were top notch and to have fan support at various points was totally unexpected. If you know any of these people, please pass on my thank yous. I was very impressed with everything. Its a beautiful setting for a cycle tour. If you are going to put yourself through something like this, its a real treat to have this incredible scenery to take your mind off the pain. And to pull off a double rainbow at 7:30AM as we came down Route 32....you guys are just too much :) Chris Murphy

About 700 riders enjoyed the beautiful scenery, the ride camaraderie, and ride perks of the Tour. About 250 pounded their way up some vicious hills in the Highlander Century Challenge, another 200 enjoyed the Lowlander Century, about 100 rode the Midlander Metric Century and some 100 rode the Wanderer. And approximately 50 hardy, mud spattered, enthusiats navigated the rain soaked Mountaineer route.

55 Riders completed in the Mountain Prologue Time Trial, won for the third time in a row by 17 year old Cheyne Hoag from Dansville, NY - with a new record time of 19:53.6! Top female rider again was Jarmila Gorman of Evergreen, CO with a record time of 23:36.8. Time Trial Results, thanks to Boots and Ellen of Fleet Feet Sports and Yellowjacket Racing, (PDF):  Age Group Results and Overall Results>.

See photos from the Highlander Time Trial by ALL Ages Photography.

Congratulations to Susan Kircher and John Barott who were the winners of the Highathlon. This new event combined riding the Highlander Century on Saturday and running the Rochester Marathon on Sunday. Winners were Highland riders with the highest placing in the marathon.

Over 600 riders enjoyed the beautiful scenery, the ride camaraderie, the outstanding ride perks, and pounding their way up some vicious hills. The riders came from 17 states, 3 countries and ranged in age from 12 to 70.

Over $20,000 was raised for Charity.

Over 750 bottles of wine were given away and more than 150 Highlander jerseys were purchased

69 Riders participated in the Mountain Prologue Time Trial, won again by 16 year old Cheyne Hoag from Dansville, NY - with a time of 19:55! Top female rider was Jarmila Gorman of Evergreen, CO with a time of 24:11. Trial Results thanks to Yellow Jacket Racing (PDF): Age Group Results and Overall Results.

Over 128 riders took the opportunity to ride with timing chips thanks to YellowJacket Racing: Highlander  Results (PDF) 

See Highlander Cycle Tour and Time Trial Photos by ALL Ages Photography. These photos may be purchased through this site.

Read The ride is all uphill from here by Gary Fallesen in Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

520 Riders enjoying the sun-baked mild temperatures in wine country.

About $15,000 was raised for Charity including LAF, South Bristol Historical Society, Ontario Pathways (trail maintenance) and Honeoye Falls / Lima CSD (x-country ski grooming equipment), Finger Lakes Trail Conference.

Lance Armstrong SIGNED copy of 'Every Second Counts', Geneva Bikes Fluid Trainer, and LAF Ride for the Roses GREEN JERSEY given away...plus

60+ ADDITIONAL door prizes given away

60+ Riders participated in the first inaugural Mountain Prologue Time Trial, won by Cheyne Hoag from Dansville, NY - who also posted the best split for the climb up Gannett in 12:13.6!  Top female finisher was Anne August with a time of 25:17. Full Time Trial Results thanks to YellowJacket Racing:  Age group results and Overall Results.  

See Highlander Cycle Tour Photos via Ofoto. These photos may be purchased through this site.