Tammy Bennett says she has had almost as much fun as anyone can possibly enjoy while participating in Festival 542, the two-day celebration of the unique beauty of the Mount Baker Highway.

"Almost" is the operative word here.

Bennett, 48, the healthy lifestyles director for the Whatcom Family YMCA, still has two big goals after taking on Ride 542, the breathtaking 24.5-mile cycling ride 4,300 feet up from Glacier to Artist Point; Run 542, the 8.5-mile trot that goes 3,500 feet up; and Cross 542, an 8.4-mile cyclocross in the Silver Lake Park woods.

Ride 542 will take place Sunday, Sept. 11, and the other two events Saturday; for complete details on these charity events,either Google "Festival 542" or go to norka.us. Charlie Heggem's NorKa Recreation created the event in 2003.

"I still have two goals," said Bennett, who has participated six different ways in Festival 542 in the seven versions since 2004. "One is to be the oldest participant, which means I would break Leah Tarleton's record (Tarleton is in her mid-70s), and the other is to shame my brother, Mike, into going on Ride 542 with me.

"I am convinced that what I call the 'love for up' is genetic, and I know my brother is a cyclist who has that 'love for up' too. He's a 50-year-old computer guy living in San Francisco, and I know he would just love this event. I am determined to coax him into riding with me."

One goal may take Bennett into the 2040 decade; the other she hopes to accomplish as early as next year, "If I can shame Mike into finally riding with me."

Bennett is a perky, personable and fit mother of teen boys Hunter (19 years old) and North (15). She says her true job title is "director of the department of fun" at the YMCA, and she enjoys teaching fitness to local seniors.

"My biggest 542 heroes are (local senior cyclists) Leah Tarleton and Nancy Fine," she said. "They are so fabulous. Nancy's first 542 experience ended in tears, but rather than accept it, she just got stronger and made the summit. Leah is a record-holder. They are fun, fit and a pleasure to ride with."

Surely, Bennett must have been an athlete during her days at Interlake High School and Western Washington University, right?

"Oh, my heavens, I would never call myself an athlete!" she said with a hearty laugh. "I'm only competitive with myself. I just love fitness."

There are competitive divisions for serious athletes in all three aspects of Festival 542 - you're on your own for Eat 542 on Saturday night - but Bennett says what's really great about the annual event is just challenging yourself.

She knows all about that. In fact, only a few months after meeting Brad Bennett, who became her husband, the two cycling enthusiasts took off on a four-month cycling tour of Europe in 1985.

"That trip was the glue" that cemented their relationship, she recalls with a grin. Naturally, Brad has accompanied her on most of her Festival 542 adventures: "He's a great ride partner."

She'll never forget her first Ride 542 in 2004, the second year of Heggem's budding festival.

"Torrential, freezing rain ... the event was smaller then and it was a hardy group who were willing to ride that day. I remember 'sitting' on the wheel of Tjalling Ypma (local triathlete and a professor at Western) and learning how to climb from him. Sitting on someone's wheel is really frowned upon, and I wouldn't do it now, but I think he's forgiven me. I think. Tjalling called that year's weather event 'epic.'"

She'll never forget 2005, which she calls "The Big Mistake."

"All I can say is, never, ever train for a 50K run (on a Friday) and then roof a house (on a Saturday) before riding your bike 24.5 miles with 4,300 feet of elevation (on a Sunday)," she said. "I don't know what I was thinking; apparently I was not thinking at all ... late in the ride, pretty much everyone passed me like I was standing still. Lesson learned the hard way. Respect the mountain! I had a moment of feeling invincible, and I found out I wasn't."

She skipped the 2006 event, though she can't remember why, and enjoyed 2007 because she knew how to prepare for the ride. So she decided to turn DUMB in 2008.

"That's the DUMB ride - down and up Mount Baker twice each when Charlie resurrected the long ago Century Ride," she said. "None of my friends were willing to do that with me. Imagine that! But Charlie told me to look for a very tall, friendly endurance cyclist named Mark and he would ride with me.

"Charlie assumed me that my non-stop chatter while climbing wouldn't irritate Mark the way it does some other riders ... I found Mark Rhode to be a very friendly cyclist while we did the DUMB ride. We parted with Mark pedaling away to his car and me collapsing on the grass realizing that training for one ascent but riding two falls short of good sense."

Having decided she wasn't DUMB after all, Bennett decided to buy the "all access" pass in 2009 for Festival 542, which enabled her to participate in the cyclocross (45 minutes as hard as you can go on a bike with skinny tires) and the run on Saturday, then the ride on Sunday. She had a great time, even after she heard this announcement: "Charlie told us before the run, 'There has just been a bear sighting on the course, so be careful.'

"Because I was doing all three events that weekend, I decided to take it easy on the run, but not so easy that I would be last and be potentially bear food," Bennett said. " I actually ended up with a better run time than in 2007. Weird. The next day was fantastic and the zip up the mountain was one of my happiest yet."

Then came the weather disaster of 2010.

"There was an uber downpour (and some people gave up on their riding fee), but four of us donned our tutus, polka dot socks and cycling raincoats, then dropped our truck off at Artist Point and headed back to Glacier for the start of the ride. What we didn't know what that the finish line had been moved to Heather Meadows because visibility was so poor during the last stretch.

"When we finished the ride, we were happy until we realized our truck was over two miles away at Artist Point. Onward! Between the fog on the outside and the steam from our wet selves on the inside, we knew Charlie made the right finish line call, keeping all the cyclists safe, because we couldn't see diddley squat on the way down. Some of the pictures from that day are my favorite of all from Festival 542."