Saturday, February 21, 2009

Plews, Akeroyd Roll To Sublime Sublimity Circuit Race Wins

Fresh off his victory at the 24 Hours In The Old Pueblo, Evan Plews (Capitol Subaru Cycling) rolled to a comfortable win Saturday at the Sublime Sublimity Circuit Race.

Plews, from nearby Salem, rolled off the front of the Men's Pro 1,2 field halfway through the second of five laps as the group tackled the incessant rollers on the low side of the course.

"It stuck," Plews said of the early move. "Then after another lap, it was like, alright maybe I'll ride harder. Then when I came around the last time, it was like, shoot, let's do it."

A group of 9 chasers finished about one minute behind. Chris Swan (Team Oregon) won the sprint for second with Joshua Liberles (Ten Speed Drive Racing Team) in third.


WOMEN'S 1/2/3


Not satisfied with last weekend's second-place at the Cherry Pie, Team Group Health's Jen Akeroyd kicked it up a notch to take the win in Sublimity.

Collapsing after the brutal final uphill sprint, Akeroyd finished just ahead of breakaway companions Libby Evans (Sorella Forte) in second, and third-place finisher Rebecka Hartkop (Veloforma). The trio escaped early in the race with Susan Peithman (Veloforma) and built a considerable lead, trimming the group to three along the way. Hartkop led over the big climb on the last lap, but Akeroyd and Evans regained contact on the descent. The trio approached the finish together, with Akeroyd having the best legs at the end of the day. (Check out OregonVelo for some great pics of the Women's finish).

Sunny skies and reasonable temps greeted riders on the circuit, which covered 12 miles through agricultural areas east of the fast-growing community of Sublimity.

Headwinds, unrelenting rollers on the low side of the course and an extra 1.5 miles on the last lap -- which led to a special "summit" finish on one of the local buttes -- made for a surprisingly difficult race.

Men Pro 1,2
1. Evan Plews (Capitol Subaru Cycling)
2. Chris Swan (Team Oregon)
3. Joshua Liberles (Ten Speed Drive Racing Team)

Women 1,2,3
1. Jen Akeroyd (Team Group Health)
2. Libby Evans (Sorella Forte)
3. Rebecka Hartkop (Veloforma)

Check here for complete results.

Slideshow:
2009 Sublime Sublimity Circuit Race

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Barry's Super Sweet Mix Tape For Lance

This just in from VeloNews.com live Tour of California coverage:

03:44 PM: Wix tunes.
Readers of Lance Armstrong's twitter page might have noticed a post this morning that read "Driving to the race listening to "Barry's super sweet mix tape for Lance". Dude named Barry gave it to us. Thanks, Barry."

It turns out that dude named Barry was none other than (former OBRA standout) pro mountain biker/cyclocrosser and Velonews.com diarist Barry Wicks, who now lives in Santa Cruz. No word yet on whether Wicks will burn us a copy of his tunes, but we expect a column out of this (hint hint).

Plews Takes Kona 24 Hours In The Old Pueblo

2008 OBRA mountain bike champion Evan Plews (Capitol Subaru Cycling) won Arizona's 10th Annual KONA 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo Feb. 14-15 in his first attempt at a 24-hour solo race.

Plews finished ahead of Britain's Ian Leitch and legendary MTB star Tinker Juarez, who won in 2006 and 2007. The race began at noon on Saturday and ended 24 hours later. The Oregon pro covered 18 laps during the race, which took place about 20 miles north of Tucson. Each lap covered about 16 miles and offered 1,200 feet of elevation gain.

"My plan was to maintain my 100 mile pace for the entire 24 hours," Plews reported via e-mail. "It worked well, and soon I had caught and passed the early leader, Tinker Juarez, and was riding alone in the lead as darkness approached. At 11:11 a.m. I lapped Tinker and decided that it was time to rest. We had a little recovery meal, pulled some cactus spines out of my legs (overzealous cornering!), and crossed the finish line victorious at 12:01 pm."

Celebrating a decade of mountain biking in the Sonoran Desert, the Kona Bikes 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo is one of the largest 24 Hour events in North America, hosting more than 3,000 participants, volunteers and spectators throughout the three-day Presidents Day weekend.

Plews won OBRA's 2008 Bar points for the mountain bike and was second in Overall points. Portland's Erik Tonkin (Kona) also made his 24-hour-solo debut but did not finish the race, dropping out around 7:30 a.m. after completing 10 laps.

Oregon's Twin Towers duo of Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon paired up with Kona teammates Matthew Slaven and Chris Sneddon for the 4-Man race, where they finished second to team Adrenaline's Jeff Herrera, Sam Schultz, Andy Schultz and Chris Suter.

MEN'S SOLO RESULTS
1. Evan Plews @ 18 laps
2. Ian Leitch
3. David Tinker Juarez
4. Steven Yore
5. Todd Carpenter
6. Chuck Wheeler
7. Gattis Tyler
8. Dominic Laroche
9. Zachary Stanford
10. Sean Mcdevitt

(Photos courtesy of Evan Plews).

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Rathe Tops Cherry Pie Men's Field

A trio of 17-year-old juniors dropped the hammer on the men's pro 1,2 field at the 2009 Cherry Pie Road Race, which kicked off the OBRA season Sunday on roads northwest of Albany.

The Hammer CMG Racing Team stamped its mark on the field by claiming three of the top four spots. Portland's Jacob Rathe, a member of the U.S. Junior National Team, out-sprinted Kennett Peterson (Life Cycles) and teammates Austin Arguello and Wes Stein over the uphill finish to claim the top prize. Arguello is also a member of the Junior National team.

Breakaway attempts met with little success over the 52.2 mile course, which combined long flat straightaways with a handful of gentle rollers and a deceptively tough uphill finish. Small groups in the men's pro 1,2 field tried in vain to animate the race with repeated breaks, but none gained more than 20 seconds before the field reeled them back.

The combined women's 1,2,3 field followed pretty much the same pattern, with the group remaining intact until the finishing climbs, where Lisa Turnbull sprinted away from the field to take an easy win by seven seconds. Jen Akeroyd (3) fought hard for second, and Libby Evans (3) finished third, nipping Jackie Cohen (3) at the line.

Men Pro,1,2
1. Jacob RATHE
2. Kennett PETERSON
3. Austin ARGUELLO

Women 1,2,3
1. Lisa TURNBULL (1,2)
2. Jen AKEROYD (3)
3. Libby EVANS (3)

Men 3
1. Andrew BENNETT
2. Zak KOVALCIK
3. Sage FREEMAN

Juniors 13-15
1. Colby WAIT-MOLYNEUX
2. Lance PUGH
3. Gabriel NOLLER

Juniors 16-18
1. Joe PRETTYMAN
2. George ZACK
3. Brian FAWCETT

Masters 40+
1. Karsten HAGEN
2. David ZIMBELMAN
3. Matt SLATER

Check OBRA'scomplete results here.