Inaugural Red To Red Kicks Off Oregon MTB Series; Plews Caps Weekend Double

Salem's Evan Plews continued to display his early season form, pulling off a weekend double by taking the Inaugural Red To Red MTB cross country race Sunday in Echo one day after he bested the Pro/1/2 field at the Sublime Sublimity Circuit Race.

Sunday's win completes a February hat trick for the 32-year-old Capitol Subaru Cycling rider, who earlier this month lapped Tinker Juarez on his way to winning the KONA 24 Hours In the Old Pueblo near Tucson.

Oregon Mountain Bike Series Director Mike Ripley said 175 people showed up for the first cross country race of the OBRA season in Echo, a small Northeast Oregon community tucked in the rolling hills between Hermiston and Pendleton.

"The rain hit early and then stopped for the neutral mass start as riders positioned themselves on this bump fest up and down the treeless landscape," Ripley said via e-mail.

The difficult, long course tested riders with 3,500 ft. of climbing. Flirting with freezing temps early, conditions improved as the precipitation stopped and the temperatures moderated slightly. The late-winter chill only added to the already challenging course.

"The course was very difficult," Plews said. "Never up or down for long and especially never straight or smooth. It was so demanding that many of us were struggling just to stay on the singletrack and keep the locals in sight."

While Plews may have struggled early, Matt Russell (Capitol Subaru Cycling), Cody Peterson (Dedicated Athlete) and James Williams (Cannondale) built a sizable gap at the front of the race. But Plews eventually caught the three leaders just as they exited the last loop of singletrack onto the short gravel/paved road back to the finish line in town.

"We each took a pull," Plews said, "but I was able to drop Cody and James with about 1k to go and managed a close but decisive victory."

MTB series director Ripley said Capitol Subaru Cycling from Salem and Pistis from Southern Oregon appeared to take the early series lead in the team chase, and Sunnyside Sports will be up there as well.

Capitol Subaru Cycling placed four riders in the top 10 in the pro category. David Hill placed second in the 45+ Cat 1 and Kurt Haas held on for 3rd place in the singlespeed race to round up three podiums for the team, which finished second in last year's series.

Official series points and results will be posted at www.oregonxcseries.org sometime later this week or early next week, according to Ripley. The next race of the Oregon MTB Cross Country Series will be the Hornings Hustle April 5 outside of North Plains.

PRO MEN
1. Evan Plews (Capitol Subaru Cycling)
2. Cody Peterson (Dedicated Athlete)
3. James Williams (Cannondale)
4. Matt Russell (Capitol Subaru Cycling)

PRO/1 WOMEN
1. Zephanie Blasi (Kenda/Tomac/Hayes)
2. Jacqueline Cohen (Sagebrush Cycles)
3. Kari Studley (Velo Bella)
4. Erin Ford (Disco Velo)

Complete OBRA results HERE.

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

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).