Sheppard out for October with broken finger

Canadian citizen and Bend resident Chris Sheppard said Tuesday that he'll have to miss this weekend's Canadian national championships as well the upcoming U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross and North American Cyclocross Trophy series races. The Santa Cruz/Shimano/WTB rider was putting the final touches to his form when he crashed descending some singletrack.

Sheppard has been a familiar face in the Oregon racing scene since taking up residence in Bend, and he was recently the top Oregon finisher at the second NACT series race in Washington, chasing from the back of the pack at the UCI Rad Racing GP to finish 8th in a race won by former world champion silver medalist Jonathan Page.

X-rays confirmed a fracture of the proximal bone in Sheppard's ring finger on his left hand. The injury has left him in a soft cast for a month, and Sheppard said he won't risk re-injuring the finger because he could face surgery if another mishap were to occur.

"My entire 'cross season revolved around the October races", Sheppard said via e-mail. "Santa Cruz Bicycles stepped up to continue what has really been a fun, successful season. Yes, missing nationals while being fit hurts, but I am more disappointed for letting down my sponsors."

Sheppard hopes to make a return to cyclocross action at the Boulder Cup UCI weekend.

(Photo courtesy of Chris Sheppard)

Sheppard gets win at 1st Sufferin' on the Summit

FILE PHOTO: Chris Sheppard wins the Cascade Chainbreaker in Bend last May.

HILLSBORO -- For the second day in a row Bend racers found success at the top of Bald Peak south of Hillsboro.

Chris Sheppard, winner Canada's B.C. Bike Race and The Intermontane Challenge earlier this summer, took the Pro Men's race at Sufferin' on the Summit the day after fellow Bend resident Ryan Trebon won the Pain on the Peak cyclocross race covering much of the same course.

Sheppard (Santa Cruz/Jamis) covered seven laps of the course in 1:29:55, finishing more than five minutes ahead of second placed Sean Babcock, who also suffered on the summit during the previous day's cyclocross race.

Vanilla Bicycles' Shannon Skerritt finished third, covering seven laps in 1:40:00. Evan Plews, who finished fifth at the previous day's cross race, finished three minutes later for fourth. team S&M's Jon Myers was fifth at 1:32:13.

RESULTS
Sufferin' on the Summit
Hillsboro, Oregon
Sept. 13, 2009

Pro Men
1. Sheppard, Chris (Santa Cruz/Jamis) 7 1:29:55
2. Babcock, Sean (Team S&M) 7 1:35:12
3. Skerritt, Shannon (Vanilla) 7 1:40:00
4. Plews, Evan (Capitol Subaru) 7 1:43:02
5. Myers, Jon (Team S&M) 1:32:13
Singlespeed
1. Rosenfeld, Jake 6 1:35:41
2. Visser, Chris 5 1:36:50
3. Grabowski, Donovan (Half Fast Velo) 4 1:23:13

Complete OBRA results are HERE.

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)

Oregon riders sweep Canada's Intermontane Challenge MTB race

Butler and Sheppard in their leaders' jerseys.

Portland's Sue Butler and Bend resident Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz-WTB) rode away with the top titles at the five-day Intermontane Challenge in Kamloops, B.C., this week.

With $10,000 on the line for the pro men and women, the first-year event drew a pretty talented field. Butler's Monavie-Cannondale squad brought a full contingent, including Jeremiah Bishop, Tinker Juarez, Benjamin Sonntag and Brandon Cross.

Salem's Evan Plews (Domenic’s Marine Ltd) joined Sheppard -- who is originally from Kamloops -- in the men's race, while Lynn Bessette (Thule Team) and Amanda Carey (Kenda-Tomac-Hayes) joined Butler and the others in the women's field.

Each stage started and finished in town and used courses designed to show-off the many miles of singletrack surrounding the town. But the race ran into significant trouble on stage 3 when a local crank threatened to stay up all night removing course markers from "his" trail. A course change followed the next morning, and much confusion for lost riders and officials ensued. By the end of the day, promoters decided to nullify the stage results. Unfortunately the news came too late for Monavie-Cannondale's Bishop, who crashed while leading the race and cracked two vertebrae.

Sheppard, who suffered a broken chain and finished fourth on day one, rode his way back into the lead and stayed there for the rest of the race. Sonntag crashed hard and suffered a concussion on day four after getting a stick in his front wheel.

Butler led the women's race from beginning to end, with Carey battling for the lead each day.

"It was a HOT week of racing, and this first-year event has a ton of potential," Butler said via e-mail. "A lot of room for improvement, but the cash incentive was enough to get some really good competition."

Visit Sue Butler's blog HERE.

Sheppard, McGrath take BC Bike Race; Trebon, Gould top mixed category

Word leaking out from the final day of the seven-stage BC Bike Race in Canada says Bend resident Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz/Shimano/WTB/Fox) and his teammate Seamus McGrath (Jamis Factory Team) hung onto the overall lead that the Canadian pair took on the first day.

Barry Wicks and Kris Sneddon, the race's 2008 overall winners, put up a good fight, winning consecutive stages on the fourth and fifth days and slowly whittling into the leaders tenuous gap. But Sheppard (pictured at the Cascade Chainbreaker) and McGrath blew the race open during Friday's Stage Six, capitalizing on a Wicks/Sneddon flat to put close to seven minutes into the Kona riders, who finished third on the day.

Meanwhile, Bend's Ryan Trebon (Kona) and teammate Georgia Gould (Luna) looked to have an insurmountable lead in the mixed category heading into today's final stage. Portland's Sue Butler, riding in the mixed category with Monavie-Cannondale teammate Bryan Alders, was in third, nearly 30 minutes down on the second-placed team. Tim Butler, riding on the veterans 80+ category with Matt Ohran, was in third overall.

RESULTS
(After Stage Six)

Duo men team classification
1. Seamus McGrath / Chris Sheppard (Jamis/Santa Cruz) 16:40:45
2. Barry Wicks / Kris Sneddon (Kona) +07:40
3. Brandon Stewart / Max Knox (DCM Chrome) +44:16
Open mixed team classification
1. Ryan Trebon / Georgia Gould (Kona/Luna) 19:24:36
2. Jeff Neilson / Mical Dyck +1:14:45
3. Sue Butler / Bryan Alders (Monavie-Cannondale) +1:44:21
Veteran duo 80+ classification
1. Normon Thibault / Peter Stevenson 20:09:37
2. Geoff Clark / Pat Doyle +34:41
3. Tim Butler / Matt Ohran +56:10

Bend's Sheppard, teammate McGrath still in front at BC Bike Race

UPDATE, June 2, 11:30 p.m. Portland's Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale) reported by e-mail that she and teammate Bryan Alders had a flat off the gun on stage 2 and got stuck at the back of the race on tight singletrack.

"A rough day and very frustrating," she wrote.

Butler and Alders have placed second the past two days, moving up to third overall about thirty minutes behind. Bend's Ryan Trebon (Kona) and teammate Georgia Gould (Luna) are in first place overall in the mixed category.

"Ryan and Georgia are riding the pants off of us," Butler wrote. "We will keep working on it and see where we end up on Saturday. It has been a ton of fun. The trails are AMAZING! It's a great vacation."

Tim Butler, who rides locally for River City Bicycles, is sitting in 3rd in the open 80+ category with his partner, Matt Ohran, team manger of the Monavie-Cannondale pro operation.

Bend resident Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz/Shimano/WTB/Fox) and teammate Seamus McGrath (Jamis Factory Team) remain in the lead of Canada's BC Bike Race after four stages of the seven-leg journey from Vancouver to Whistler.

Sheppard and McGrath won the first and third stages, while former OBRA standout Barry Wicks and his KONA temmate Kris Sneddon, the defending champions, won stages two and four and sit less than a minute behind the leaders.

Oregonians Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale) are competing with teammates in the mixed category, but word and results from the forests of BC have been hard to come by.

VeloNews.com has been covering the race.

Bend bunch decides king of the locals at Cascade Chainbreaker

(UPDATED 4:45 p.m. Monday: The complete Cycling Action photo gallery of the 2009 Cascade Chainbreaker is now posted online HERE).



BEND -- Central Oregon's well-stocked contingent of local heavy hitters came out to battle for the king-of-the-locals crown at the Cascade Chainbreaker Sunday in Bend. Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz/Shimano/WTB/Fox) cruised to victory by just over a minute in front of Carl Decker (Giant) and Cody Peterson (Dedicated Athlete).

For the second week in a row, Decker rode a singlespeed in the Pro Men's event. He won last week's Mudslinger with a single gear. National Cyclocross Champ and Kona Factory Team rider Ryan Trebon, who returned to racing for the first time since injuring his knee and back in a crash at Sea Otter in April, finished 8th.

Rain in Bend in the days leading up to the event dampened the course just enough to hold down the dust and turn the powder into tacky perfection. The wind, cold and rain gave way Saturday to blue skies and summer temps. A record number 300+ riders from Oregon, Washington and Idaho hit the trails for the 12th annual race.

“Anytime we’ve had weather like this we know it’s time to play hookie from school,” said Sheppard, who moved to Bend four years ago from Canada.

Sheppard said he was a little surprised to find himself off the front building a nice lead after the morning’s initial start.

“I was drinking coffee at 7:15 this morning at (a friend’s) house,” he said. “And I felt really poorly. But I thought I’d just ride out and see what happens.”

The seasoned rider tested the waters on the local trails about halfway into the first lap with an effort that quickly began building a gap that hovered around a minute or more. Sheppard was first into the infield starting the second lap, followed by Peterson, Trebon, Decker, Brandt Brig (reboundspl.com) and James Williams (Cannondale). That pretty much set the order of the day, with some minor shuffling.

Feeling the strain of his recently re-aggravated lower back pain, Trebon dropped off the chase pace. Decker and Peterson swapped back and forth for most of the second lap, with Brig and Williams battling minutes behind.

“I had to make an emergency phone call to my physical therapist buddy yesterday when I got home from my ride,” Trebon said of his most recent hip and back pains. “I was just out there riding and it really flared up. It took about an hour to get home and it was the most uncomfortable ride ever. I was like ‘you gotta come over and help me out. I can’t even move right now.’”

With Trebon easing off the pedals and fading back to 8th, Decker, who spent his Saturday on a Super Moto bike on a track in Canby, made one last lone attempt on his singlespeed to bridge the gap to Sheppard. He dropped Peterson on the long, steep climb and decided to give it “the college try.”

“About a quarter of the way into the lap there’s kind of a false-flat climb and then it gets steep,” Decker said. “I had to ride hard up that just because of the gearing, and I think (Peterson) kind of came undone a little bit.”

Peterson, who moved to Bend from Ketchum, Idaho, last fall, said there was little he could do to stay with Decker’s charge up the climb.

"He was just gone," he said

Decker pulled back about half a minute from Sheppard but finished 62 seconds behind for second. Peterson followed more than three minutes behind Decker. Williams nipped Brig for fourth nearly three minutes later.

Butler returns to roost

Portland's Sue Butler (MonaVie-Cannondale) carried the flag for the western side of the state when she sailed through the course to win the Pro Women's race by nearly eight minutes over Karen DeWolfe (Team Dirt) of Corvallis and Megan Faris (River City Bicycles) of Portland. Bend's Sami Fournier (Organic Athlete) rounded out the Pro Women's field in 4th.

Butler's win was made all the easier because Alice Pennington, who she’s been dueling with for the past couple of races, was in Arkansas this week at the Joe Martin Stage Race with the Veloforma road team. Pennington finished second behind Butler at Bear Springs Trap but took the top prize at Mudslinger May 3.

Nevertheless, Butler had little trouble pushing herself through the super-fast course after charging away from the field early in the first lap.

"I looked around and said, ‘Where is everybody?’" Butler said of her early lead. "So I just kept going and raced against the clock and tried to pick off as many guys as I could."

Butler steadily built her lead over the fast, rolling course that featured a steady helping of short power climbs, one long, steady ascent and singletrack that ran along and traversed a winding dry creek bed.

"The course was a full-on pedal through," Butler said. "It’s just a fun course. It’s one of my favorite courses. (Chainbreaker) was my very first race ever in ‘03 as a beginner."

Butler’s next stop will be the May 31 Bump N' Grind in Birmingham, Ala., the third stop of the USA Cycling Pro Cross Country Mountain Bike Tour.

"We’ll see how that goes," she said. "I think my fitness is coming around a little bit and I’m feeling a little better."

The next race in the Oregon XC Series is the Spring Thaw May 16, part of the Spring Thaw Mountain Bike festival that weekend in Ashland.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Cascade Chainbreaker, May 10, Bend
Pro Men
1. Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz/Shimano/WTB/Fox) Bend 2:22:39
2. Carl Decker (Giant) Bend 2:23:41
3. Cody Peterson (Dedicated Athlete) Bend 2:26:44
4. James Williams (Cannondale) 2:29:57
5. Brandt Brig (reboundspl.com) Bend 2:30:31
6. Brett Nichols Boise 2:30:59
7. Ben Thompson (Cannondale) Bend 2:31:47
8. Ryan Treban (Kona) Bend 2:32:48
9. Chris Brandt (Team Dirt) Eugene 2:37:17
10.Scotty Carlile (Therapeutic Associates Cycling/GENR8) Bend 2:39:03
Pro Women
1. Sue Butler (MonaVie-Cannondale) Portland 1:54:14
2. Karen DeWolfe (Team Dirt) Corvallis 2:02:04
3. Megan Faris Portland 2:06:28
4. Sami Fournier (Organic Athlete) Bend 2:25:07

Sheppard, Sager Join Jamis MTB Team

2008 Oregon Bicycle Racing Association members Jason Sager and Chris Sheppard will ride for the Jamis Bicycles Factory Mountain Bike Racing Team for 2009, according to a team press release.

Sager (pictured) was the 2008 OBRA BAR points champion for cyclocross. He won the 2008 Cross Crusade overall title and a handful of one-day cyclocross events. Sager won the 2008 Falls City Firecracker MTB race. He also battled on the road, finishing 7th in the 2008 Oregon Cup on the strength of one second-place finish at the Banana Belt. He has been racing in Oregon since the end of 2007.

Sager will be a manager/athlete and will bring to the team several wins, including a stage from 2008’s BC Bike Race, and endurance and UCI wins in Puerto Rico, including Rincon’s Ultimate Dirt Challenge.

Sheppard, a former Canadian National Team member, won stages at both the 2008 BC Bike Race and the Trans Rockies, according to the team press release. For 2009, he will be targeting the U.S. national series and epic single-day events, such as the Downieville Classic and the Fruita Fat Tire Festival, in addition to partnering with two-time Canadian Olympian, Commonwealth Games medalist, and former NORBA STXC champion Seamus McGrath for the 2009 BC Bike Race and Intermontaine Race in British Columbia.

Sheppard (pictured) has been an OBRA member since 2006. He finished fourth overall in the 2008 OBRA Bar points, winning Cross Crusades 4 and 5 and the Silverton Road Race.

Sheppard, who previously rode professionally for the Haro mountain bike team, returns to the professional ranks following a two-year suspension for doping, according to VeloNews.com. After testing positive for EPO in 2005, he admitted to his wrongdoing and in 2006 spoke to junior and U23 riders about the perils of doping. Sager returns to the pros after he was suspended for one year for missing a post-race test in July of 2006, even though he had dropped out of the race before the finish and even though the USADA determined Sager was not significantly at fault for the violation.

Team Jamis' primary race weapon will be the full-suspension, high-modulus carbon fiber Dakar XCR, outfitted with Edge Composites XC UL Tubular wheels with Geax tubular Saguro tires, Chris King hubs and Fox suspension systems.

"This has been a true collaborative effort," team manager Sager said via the team press release. "Working with mountain bike product manager Craig Hoyt and Jamis President Carine Joannou has proven to be a hands-on and family effort in picking the riders, equipment and our schedule."