Saturday, September 12, 2009

Trebon, Butler take toasty Pain on the Peak wins

UPDATE: The complete Cycling Action photo gallery for 2009 Pain on the Peak is now posted online HERE.



HILLSBORO – Ninety-degree heat added a little extra hurt to the second annual Pain on the Peak Saturday.

U.S. National Cyclocross Champion Ryan Trebon (Kona) showed why he wears the stars-and-stripes jersey by riding away from the Men's A field, lapping all but one rider. Portland's Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale.com) won the Women's A race ahead of hard-chasing Rhonda Mazza (Team S&M).

The intemperate temps didn’t stop more than 300 competitors from showing up for the first cyclocross race of the season in the Portland Metro area. The 305 riders added up to a 20 percent increase over last year's inaugural Pain on the Peak, held on a 90-acre parcel atop Bald peak south of Hillsboro.

Landowner Bruce Colwell, nephew of Sunset Cycles owner Roger Colwell, opened his property and its panoramic views of the valley below to cycloross for the second year, and the first-ever mountain bike race on the property will be Sunday’s Sufferin’ on the Summit.

But Saturday was all about the ‘cross. The course wound through a recently cut hayfield at the top of the property before swooping into a woods and the welcome relief of its shade. But the climb back out and up featured a sharp right onto a 50-meter jolting ascent, then some false flats and eventually back to the hay to start it all over again.

Trebon’s closest challenge in the 60-minute Men’s A event came from the guy who traveled with him from Bend to the race. Dedicated Athlete’s Cody Peterson was the only rider to finish on the same lap as the national champ, also covering 12 laps of the hilly course.

After Portland Bicycle Studio's Molly Cameron, winner of the Cross Over stage race last Labor Day weekend in Eugene, crashed on the first lap and needed a bike change at the pits, it was left to Vanilla Bicycles’ Kevin Hulick to battle Peterson for second. Although the Bend rider eventually won the second podium spot, Hulick hung on through the dust and heat for third, completing 11 laps. BODE’s Joshua Berry was fourth, and Evan Plews (Capitol Subaru Cycling) was fifth, both with 11 laps.

The tough course and the heat exacted a toll on the riders, even at the front of the race.

“It’s hard, man,” Trebon said. “It’s hilly. It’s always doin’ something up or down. It’s a grind.”

The grind seemed to suit the tall, powerful rider. Trebon’s lap times over the course hovered around five minutes; his slowest was 5:09 compared with six- or seven-minute lap times on most courses he does.

“It just feels like it’s uncomfortably long out there,” he joked. “I like this race. You just suffer for a full-on hour out there.”

Trebon will be heading north next Saturday for the Starcrossed cyclocross race in Seattle and the Rad Racing GP Sunday in Tacoma, the opening salvo of the 2009 North American Cyclocross Trophy and the beginning of a long run of national and international races. He said he’ll probably race Cross Crusade #1 at Alpenrose before leaving Oregon until the USGP finale in Portland and the USA Cycling National Championships in his hometown of Bend. Pain on the Peak’s difficult course provides a good early season jump start.

“It’s good to get ready for the rest of the year by doing this one,” he said. “It’s harder than a lot of races we’ll do. There aren’t as many people that come out to it, but it’s still a hard race even just to finish.”

Sue Butler, winner of the Women’s A race, also got some great racing in her legs ahead of next weekend’s NACT opener in Seattle -- with about 20 minutes of extra fine tuning kicked in for good measure. Racing with the Men’s A and Masters Men A 35+ categories this season instead of the all-women’s field, the A Women got an extra 20 minutes of racing with the bump from 40 minutes to 60.

Butler (Monavie-Cannondale.com), winner of this year’s Canadian Intermontane Challenge in 100-degree heat, set a blistering pace in the opening laps that shattered the field. Team S&M’s Rhonda Mazza, in her first race of the season, led the chase behind. Butler and Mazza each covered 10 laps in the 60-minute event. Gentle Lovers’ Alalia Berry and Team Group Health’s Jen Akeroyd covered nine laps for third and fourth, respectively.

The 60-minute format was a new experience for many of the women.

“It was just demoralizing looking at my watch and seeing 30 minutes, and I’d be, ‘Oh God, I’m only halfway there,’ because usually I’d only have 10 minutes,” Butler said. “That extra 20 minutes is hard. But it’s nice because there were no passing issues. It wasn’t like ‘on your left, on your right, on your left, on your right,’ the whole time.”

Butler said she believes promoters made a good choice when they decided to move the Women’s A category in with the elite men and 35+ in a little reshuffling to try and ease course congestion.

“I think the women will benefit and get faster because they can actually go as fast as they need to go,” she said. “I think when you’re racing with all the women together, you could never go 100 percent. You don’t want to hit anybody, and you want to be courteous. For training purposes I think it will be a lot better.”

Then she thought about it a little more.

“I guess it’s going to be good for me,” she laughed. “It doesn’t feel good. Maybe when it’s 60 degrees it will feel good, but it certainly didn’t feel good today.”

RESULTS
Pain on the Peak (partial)
Hillsboro, Sept. 12


Men A
1. Trebon, Ryan (Kona)12
2. Peterson, Cody (Dedicated Athlete)12
3. Hulick, Kevin (Gentle Lovers)11
4. Berry, Joshua (BODE)11
5. Plews, Evan (Capitol Subaru Cycling)11
Women A
1. Butler, Sue (Monavie-Cannondale.com)10
2. Mazza, Rhonda (Team S&M)10
3. Berry, Alalia (Gentle Lovers)9
4. Akeroyd, Jen (Team Group Health)9
5. Stoick, Brigett (River City Bicycles)9
Singlespeed
1. Fabrizius, Erik (Veloshop)8
2. Bushnell, Spencer (Therapeutic Associates Cycling/GENR8)8
3. Patla, Seth (River City Bicycles)8
4. Dye, Todd (Pacific Power Blue Sky)7
5. Hall, Matthew (IRA Ryan Cycles)

Complete OBRA results are HERE.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Trebon, Sheppard & Page go 1-2-3 at Bend's Thrilla Cross Series #2

BEND -- Some of the nation's top cyclocrossers got a chance to go head-to-head a little early this year as National Champion and Bend resident Ryan Trebon faced off against visiting Jonathan Page, a former silver medalist in the world championships, and Bend mountain bike pro Chris Sheppard.

Trebon (Kona) came out on top, covering 9 laps of the course made up of Bend's infamous high desert dust. Page (Planet Bike) reportedly crashed hard and settled for third behind Sheppard (Rebound Physio/Santa Cruz Bicycles).

In the Women's race, Serena Bishop (Sunnyside Sports) bested teammates Julie Wose and Suzanne King.

RESULTS
Thrilla Cross Series #2
Bend, Sept. 10

MEN A
1. Trebon, Ryan (Kona Bicycles)
2. Sheppard, Chris (Rebound Physio/Santa Cruz Bicycles)
3. Page, Jonathon (Planet Bike)
4. Thompson, Ben
5. Peterson, Cody (Hutch's)
WOMEN
1. Bishop, Serena (Sunnyside Sports)
2. Wose, Julie (Sunnyside Sports)
3. King, Suzanne (Sunnyside Sports)
4. Julson, Lea (Therapeutic Assoc.)
5. Vega, Veronica (Sunnyside Sports)
MEN 40+
1. Engel, Matt (Bend Bike N' Sport)
2. Hagen, Karsten (ZteaM)
3. Wolnick , Dan (WebCyclery.com)
4. Albright, Mike (Redline)
5. Juenger, Jim (Sunnyside Sports)
MEN B
1. Brown, Mike (Therapeutic Assoc.)
2. LaPlaca, Doug (Bend Bike N' Sport)
3. Heinrichs, Steve
4. Sargent, Andrew
5. Abel , Henry (WebCyclery.com)
BEGINNER WOMEN
1. Lundstrom, Amy (WebCyclery.com)
2. Palubeski, Lynda
3. Deaver , Carrie (B.B.)
4. Furber, Aimee
5. Gaskin, Dara (Bend Bike N' Sport)
JUNIORS
1. Su, Andy (Clearchoice/Hutch's/Bend Dental)
2. Dunlap, Colin (Sunnyside Sports)
3. Sprague, Cole
4. Stevens, Mitchell (Sunnyside Sports)
5. Reinecke, Griffin (Bend Bike N' Sport)

Cycling Tweet of the Week ...


Yest. through the feedzone I watched this quickstep dood hang onto his feed bag for 5K b4 tossin it to a cute girl. He said "DID YOU SEE!"...

...i said "yeeaahh...nice job buddy" He then explained: his souigner puts a polaroid picture of himself with his number on the bags.....

...In his deep Belgie voice finishes it off with "YAH, old Belgian trick it works everytime." Haah! Who thinks of that!???

Jelly Belly's Jeremy Powers (@JeremyPowers) during the Tour of Missouri. Sept. 11, 9 a.m. Pacific.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Three-time World Champ Vervecken will compete at USGP kick-off in Wisconsin


PHOTO: Jeremy Powers, Tim Johnson and Ryan Trebon celebrate success on the 2008 USGP Portland Cup podium.

The U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross announced today that three-time World Cyclocross Champion Erwin Vervecken will compete at the inaugural 2009 USGP Planet Bike Cup Sept. 26 and 27 in Sun Prairie, WI.

The Wisconsin races are the latest addition to the USGP series, which is expanding for 2009 from three weekends to four and culminates Dec. 5 and 6 at Portland International Raceway with the Stanley Portland Cup.

Racing for the Belgian squad Team Revor-Baboco-Champion System, Vervecken will headline the strongest field of racers ever assembled for the USGP, according to series director Joan Hanscom.

"We are thrilled to have Erwin compete at the USGP Planet Bike Cup," Hanscom said. "He is a superstar of unparalleled talent and is sure to animate every moment of racing. For him to be so enthusiastic about competing in the US and at the USGP speaks to the growing importance of the U.S. 'cross scene. We are excited to see how U.S. riders stack up against him early in the season -- especially with the depth of the fields racing here."

Vervecken will face off against Planet Bike super power and World Championship Silver Medalist Jonathan Page; the rising European duo of Christian Heule and Tim Van Nuffel; and a field rich with domestic superstars including former and reigning USGP and National Champions like Cannondale/ CyclocrossWorld.com rider Tim Johnson and teammates Jeremy Powers and Jamey Driscoll; Kona’s Ryan Trebon, the current national champion, and Barry Wicks, Todd and Troy Wells, and Geoff Kabush.

Hanscom said the women’s fields for the Planet Bike Cup and the rest of the series are no less stacked with talent. Planet Bike’s Katie Compton -- herself five-time National Champion and World Championship Bronze medalist -- will make one of her few U.S. appearances before heading off to Europe to focus on the World Cup circuit. Compton will face off against the LUNA Chix juggernaut of USGP Champions Katerina Nash and Georgia Gould, alongside their newly un-retired LUNA teammate Alison Dunlap. Alison Sydor and Portland's own Sue Butler should also be on hand. Women’s cross has never looked so powerful.

Visit the USGP website HERE.

MODogs raffle means a chance to win Levi's bloodstained and torn Giro Astana jersey

Although you may be familiar with cycling photographer Jonathan Devich's Epic Images on the pages of CyclingNews.com and most other major cycling publications, you probably didn't know that he's a big-time dog lover who's devised a great plan to help the Missouri Humane Society.

And that means you have a chance to win some incredible cycling memorabilia, including the blood-stained, torn jersey from Levi Leipheimer's stage 11 Giro D'italia crash.

This past July, federal authorities broke up the largest dog-fighting ring in U.S. history. It ensnared people operating in five states, including Missouri, where the Humane Society of Missouri took in more than 400 dogs rescued from the ring. But with so many dogs coming into their care at once, the MHS sent out a plea for donations.

“I have three rescue dogs, two of which are pit bulls,” Devich told Lyne Lamoreux of Podium Insight. “I thought the breakup of this ring happening around the same time Michael Vick got signed to a new professional contract was auspicious. Knowing that I would be in Missouri for the Tour, I wanted to do what I could to help. This seemed like a great opportunity to mobilize the cycling community to help the Humane Society of Missouri care for these rescued dogs.”

This is where you come in! Devich's MODogs program will donate 100 percent of his Tour of Missouri print sales to the Missouri Animal Cruelty fund. Moreover, Devich has created a $5 "e-raffle" for some of the amazing donations he's received from the cycling community. Items include:

*Signed Italian National Cyclocross jersey from David Frattini.
*Signed cyclocross jersey from Tim Johnson.
*Signed OUCH-Maxxis jersey from Floyd Landis.
*Signed Jelly Belly jersey from Brad Huff.
*Signed jersey by Tibco's Brooke Miller.
*Signed Columbia-HTC jersey.
*Signed Garmin Slipstream jersey.
*Signed Tour of Missouri yellow jersey.
*Signed Team Type 1 jersey.
*Signed Tour de France KOM jersey from Franco Pellizotti
*Signed Astana team jersey worn by Levi Leipheimer in Giro D'italia crash.

To buy MODogs raffle tickets and purchase Devich’s Tour of Missouri prints, visit www.epicimages.us. For raffle tickets, simply click on the image of the raffle ticket and add as many as you want to your cart. You can purchase raffle tickets throughout the Tour of Missouri. Prizes will be awarded during the week following the Tour of Missouri.

These contributions are greatly needed for the care and rehab of hundreds of mistreated animals.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Cameron, Gilbert win Cross Over Stage race


(Photo courtesy of Lynn Luelling)

EUGENE -- Molly Cameron (Portland Bicycle Studio) took the Men's A win in the very first running of the Cross Over Stage Race Labor Day weekend in Eugene. Sunny Gilbert (Pacific Power Blue Sky) took the overall title in the Women's A event.

Gilbert pulled off the hat trick on her way to the overall win, starting with the stage 1 time trial Sunday morning and then the 'cross crit later in the afternoon. She capped it off Monday, winning the stage 3 long course by 54 seconds over second-placed Jacqueline Cohen (Sagebrush Cycles) and 1:27 over third-placed rider Ellen Miller (pacificpedaling.com).

Cameron nearly pulled off the hat trick in the overall victory but slipped a notch on the opening time trial, finishing five seconds behind Brett Luelling (Capitol Subaru Cycling), who also competed in the Singlespeed event. But Cameron bounced back quickly, taking the afternoon criterium in 33 seconds in front of chasing the chasing group of Matt Ritzow (Paul's Bicycle Way of Life), Ethan Stehley (Wheelworks) and Andrew Bennett (Team Redline).

The Portland Bicycle Studio rider sealed the deal over Sunday's stage 3 long course, finishing 1:10 over Stehley in second. Luelling, who lost more than seven minutes in the stage 2 cross crit, finished third on the final stage, 2:30 down.

FINAL GC RESULTS
Cross Over Stage Race
Eugene, Sept. 6-7


Men's Cat A
1. Cameron, Molly (Portland Bicycle Studio) 2:03:15
2. Stehley, Ethan (Wheelworks) +1:53
3. Ritzow, Matt (Paul's) +6:57
Women's A
1. Gilbert, Sunny (Pacific Power)1:28:33
2. Cohen, Jackie (Sagebrush Cycles) +1:33
3. Miller, Ellen (PacificPedaling.com) +3:12
Single Speed
1. Ethridge, Craig 1:44:55
2. Luelling, Brett (Capitol Subaru Cycling) +4:42
3. Thramer, McKenzie +12:28

Complete stage 1 time trial results HERE. 9/6/09

Complete stage 2 'cross crit results HERE. 9/6/09

Complete stage 3 long course results HERE. 9/7/09

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Some wet-and-wild Portland Cup cyclocross video

The Portland Cup cyclocross races on Dec. 1 and 2, 2007, marked final weekend of the year's U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series and was greeted with torrential rain, a bit of snow and a mighty windstorm. The conditions made for some great racing, captured here on video by cyclofile.com.