Dust Bowl 100 presented by Zipp

Event organizer

Elevate Endurance LLC

Elevate Endurance was launched in 2020 by Marc O'Leary with the goal of elevating the central Indiana cycling community through new and unique bike racing opportunities. After a small-college basketball career and childhood focused on the traditional ball and stick sports, Marc discovered the allure of endurance sports in his mid-20s when he bought his first “road” bike from Walmart and took to the trails of his Plainfield community. He was bit by the cycling bug and quickly upgraded to a proper road bike within a few months. Coming from a lifetime competitive background, Marc quickly dove into bike racing, first through time trials, then road racing and criteriums, then mountain biking, then gravel, then cyclocross. When he first started racing, there were ample opportunities to toe the line nearly every weekend from spring through fall, but as each year passes the pool of local events has begun to dry up. Meanwhile, a strong cycling community has emerged in Hendricks County and surrounding areas, partially fueled by a weekly Friday Morning Donut Ride started by Marc and a few friends back in 2016. This ride sees up to 30 cyclists of all experience levels show up at 5:30am on Friday mornings throughout the year. So it was a melding of both competition and community that drove Marc to want to establish an outlet for providing new and unique cycling events for the central Indiana community. As the motto goes, “A rising tide lifts all ships.” Or as 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Encourage one another and build one another up.”