Portland's UCI pro team seeking new title sponsor

PORTLAND –Team Rubicon-ORBEA, presently known as Land Rover- ORBEA; Benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a first year UCI continental team, is in search of a title sponsor.

“For 2010 the team’s goals are to grow the young development team’s roster to 13 road riders and add three development track riders with a focus on the 2012 Olympics in London,” said Norrene Godfrey, the team’s co-owner and co-founder. “We are looking to grow the team slightly to help a few more young riders reach their dreams while leading five-to-six charity rides throughout the U.S. in 2010. and sending even more cancer survivors to the LIVESTRONG Challenge events in Seattle, California, Philadelphia and Austin.”

Rubicon’s two-year partnership with Land Rover will end Dec. 31, 2009, and in order to continue on with the team goals for 2010, Team Rubicon-ORBEA needs to come up with a title sponsor by the UCI deadline Nov. 5.

“Securing a title sponsor by the Nov. 5 deadline will be tough to meet, but not completely impossible,” Godfrey said. “If there’s anything we’ve learned from working with the Lance Armstrong Foundation over the last nine years, it is that you never tell a cancer survivor they can’t. You build your support network and you ask for help when you need it. We are asking the global cycling community for help.”

Team Rubicon-ORBEA was born when Godfrey, a competitive cyclist, lost her mother to cancer in the fall of 2001, after being diagnosed with lung cancer and given only six months to live. Although her mother gave up on life after hearing the “c” word, Norrene was determined to not give up on her mother. Norrene contacted a friend at Nike, who reached out to Lance Armstrong directly. Lance sent Norrene’s mother one of his race jerseys with the inscription, “Fight Mom - Lance Armstrong.”

That simple gesture of kindness encouraged Norrene’s mother to wage her own personal war on cancer; giving her the strength to fight and push through countless hours of chemotherapy treatments. Even though Norrene’s mother lost her battle, she lived longer than anyone ever expected; allowing her the chance to enjoy one last summer and watch Norrene get married.

In order to repay Lance for his kindness and “pay it forward,” Godfrey dreamed of a cycling team that would ride in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and its fight against cancer. In 2008, Team Rubicon-ORBEA partnered with carmaker Land Rover to create Land Rover-Orbea; Benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The team is built up of primarily young development riders between the ages of 19-25 from the United States, New Zealand and Canada. When traveling to NRC races throughout the U.S., the young professional riders spent countless hours visiting children’s hospitals, handing out LIVESTRONG wristbands and helping some extremely sick children have a moment of fun during long regiments of chemotherapy and other daily treatments.

However, the squad’s goodwill does not stop with hospital visits. The Land Rover- ORBEA team raises funds and awareness for the Lance Armstrong Foundation by leading charity rides in Philadelphia, Utah and Portland, among other ctities, sending seven cancer survivors to the Seattle, Philadelphia and Austin LIVESTRONG Challenges. The team has also raised more than $71,000 in donations for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

“(Owners and co-founders) Norrene and David Godfrey are the two most ‘neverdie’ people Orbea has met,” said Justin Slarks, Director of Marketing ORBEA-USA. “The two of them are the glue that has held this team together since its creation and are the two who have put all of their personal time and energies into one of the best vehicles for stewardship out there.

“Team Rubicon/Orbea is the one constant in our sponsorship program” Slarks added. “And we hope to continue as the team’s bicycle sponsor for years to come.”

The team earned great acclaim in 2009 for its criterium stage win at Tour of
Gila by Roman van Uden, who sprinted to victory in star-packed field that included Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner. Mike Northey followed up that win by taking the U23 New Zealand Criterium Championships, and Dean Tracy won the U.S. National Team Sprint Championships in Carson, California.

The young Land Rover-ORBEA team also won the best young rider jersey at Nature Valley Grand Prix and the climber’s jersey along with the team overall GC at Tour of Delta.

“For a first year professional development team, the results were great,” Norrene Godfrey said. “But what’s truly amazing about this team is what they do off the bike, when not racing, that has them winning the hearts of so many.”

Race organizers like Nature Valley Grand Prix director David LaPorte also seemed pleased to have teams whose message transcends the sports itself.

“It was a pleasure to have Land Rover-ORBEA at our events this year”, LaPorte said. “Our goal is to grow the fan base of cycling fans, and they did a great job of interacting with the people in our host communities and at our events. They are excellent ambassadors for the sport and for their sponsors. This is a great opportunity for any company who’s interested in engagement marketing.”

Information about the team can be found at www.landrover-ORBEA.com, including a short video, a complete team resume and more.

Collision with auto ends New Zealand plans for Land Rover/ORBEA's Roman Van Uden

PHOTO: Roman Van Uden won OBRA's Rehearsal Road Race last May in Rainier.

Land Rover/ORBEA pro Roman Van Uden's racing season has been cut short by a traffic accident. While his American cohorts were recovering form a long domestic road season or gearing up for cyclcocross in the states, Van Uden returned to his home country of New Zealand and was preparing for the upcoming race season there, including the UCI Tour of the Southland.

But a collision with a car Friday, Sept. 25, sidelined the tall, powerful sprinter who won the Tour of the Gila criterium in front of Lance Armsstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and a talented field of America's best domestic racers.

Van Uden told his story to New Zealand's online cycling magazine, roadcycling.co.nz:

"On Friday the 25th of September, while going for a little late afternoon cruise in Auckland (some would call this period 'Rush Hour') my ride came to an abrupt end when a driver turned across my lane to enter a driveway.

"This accident was unavoidable as I was hidden behind a queue of traffic and a gap was left by another motorist for the car to enter the driveway. Traveling quite quickly, I had very little time to react and could not miss the car.

"I was launched off my bike and landed on a curb, slightly winded. I only suffered very minor grazing to my right elbow and knee but what at the time felt like a sprained wrist later turned out to be my second broken scaphoid of the year."

Read the complete story HERE.

Land Rover sweeps Senior Men's podium at OBRA champs

(UPDATE, Sunday, 6:30 p.m. -- The complete Cycling Action OBRA Road Race Championship photo gallery is now posted online HERE).


RAINIER – Shadows of the 1986 Tour de France Lemond-Hinault summit finish fell over the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association Senior Men’s Road Race Championship Saturday as Land Rover-ORBEA teammates Bobby Sweeting and Jim Camut crossed the line hand in hand after shedding the rest of the competition.

Sweeting, who got the win, broke away with Camut early in the first lap of the 80-mile race and held off the field to take the top two spots. Teammate Josh Bartlett won the sprint for third from a three-man chase group to cap the green-and-yellow squad's podium sweep.

“We were both on the rivet the whole time and just giving it everything we had,” Sweeting said of the winning move. “With a couple miles to go, when we knew we had it, we just said, ‘What do you want to do? Do you want to race for it?’ Jim was like, ‘No, let’s come across together and you can take it.’”

Camut, who won the Silverton Road Race May 17, said it was easy to decide how to end the race.

“It was a team effort,” he said. “So I thought it was probably appropriate we came over together. We worked really well together. That’s the advantage of having a teammate up there. You’re not trying to trick the other guy. We were both just going as hard as we could the whole time.”

Sweeting agreed, saying the pair’s selfless cooperation may have been the difference.

“When you’re not saving something for the end, and both guys are just maxed out, you’re going pretty good,” he said, although the pair’s pace didn’t leave them overconfident.

“I was worried pretty much the whole time,” Sweeting admitted. “The gap was really inconsistent. It got up to two minutes at one point, then back down to a minute. So I knew the guys in the field were attacking each other. I knew if something got away and a chase group got established with five or six guys, we could come back”

Attacks in the chasing bunch were shedding riders off the back, but none of the moves seemed to get much permanent traction until Team Oregon’s Kennett Peterson and Cyclepath Racing’s Aaron Sander got away with Bartlett with about one and a half laps to go.

“Aaron (Sander) had been up the road by himself for five or 10 minutes kind of riding tempo,” Peterson said. “Josh (Bartlett) attacked. I got onto his wheel and we bridged up to Aaron.”

Bartlett said his team had been attacking to try and get another group going but not actually bringing back the two leaders up the road. He found success with a lukewarm attack that bridged to Sander.

“It was one of those attacks that’s not really that hard,” he said. “You just go and no one follows you. We worked together pretty well pulling through. Toward the end I was like, ‘Sorry guys but I’ve got three field sprinters back in the group, I’m not going to pull though.’ It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it works.”

Bartlett’s chess move proved to be the advantage on the climb to the finish, as Sander dropped off the pace early and Bartlett sailed past Peterson to take the final podium spot by several bike lengths.

Peterson said he wasn’t sure what happened to Sander in the finale, but he had a pretty clear idea why he didn’t repeat his own performance last week at the Rehearsal Road Race when he snagged the final podium spot.

“(Sander) was on the front and then he was gone,” Peterson said. “And that’s right when I attacked. I attacked for a couple hundred meters and then sat up to let Josh pass me because I thought it would be smart to have his draft coming into the sprint. But that was a bad idea. I should have just kept going because he went straight by me. He had plenty of space for third place.”

Sander just managed to hold off Land Rover-ORBEA’s Evan Elken and a charging field for fifth.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
2009 OBRA Road Race Championships
Rainier, Oregon - May 30, 2009

Jr. Women 15-16
1. Sara Slawta (Land Shark)
2. Fiona Graham (Specialized River City)
Masters Women 30-39
1. Anne Davis Usher (Bridgetown Velo)
2. Kelly McKean (Veloce/Felt)
3. Tessa Sugahara (Team Group Health)
Masters Women 40-49
1. Jenny Slawta (Land Shark)
2. Martha Walsh (ZteaM)
3. Debra Stolt-Krichko
Masters Women 50+
1. Mary Ross (Nomad Sports Club)
2. Helen Grogan Sunnyside Sports
3. Debra Windus (Finnegans Toys/Discover Chiropractic)
Jr. Men 15-16
1. Colby Wait-Molyneux (North River Racing)
2. Joe Prettyman (Beaverton Bicycle Club)
3. Andy Su (Hutch's/Clear Choice/Bend Dental)
Jr. Men 17-18
1. George Zack (Beaverton Bicycle Club)
2. Zack Bowden (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling)
3. Michael Burton (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling)
Masters Men 30-39
1. Mark Hibbard
2. Nick Skenzick (Hutch's-OIC)
3. David Gates (Bridgetown Velo)
Masters Men 40-49
1. Chris Haverty (Bridgetown Velo)
2. Mark Steger (Nike)
3. Matthew Slater (ZteaM)
Masters Men 50-59
1. Scott Seaton (Hutch's/ClearChoice/Bend Dental)
2. Peter Serrurier
3. Luis Valls (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling)
Masters Men 60+
1. Terry Brown (Nike)
2. Lance Brigman (Three Rivers Racing)
3. Ron Magnus (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling)
Senior Men
1. Bobby Sweeting (Land Rover-ORBEA Benefiting LAF)
2. Jim Camut (Land Rover-ORBEA)
3. Josh Bartlett (Land Rover-ORBEA)
4. Kennett Peterson (Team Oregon)
5. Aaron Sander (Cyclepath Racing)

Racing, goodwill meet up over Memorial Day weekend

The upcoming Memorial Day weekend will offer the Oregon racing community a chance to test its power on and off the bike.

Saturday's Rehearsal Road Race will give people a chance to try out their legs on the same 16-mile Rainier loop used for the May 30 OBRA Road Race Championships. The course offers a long climb and corresponding descent, plus a short uphill finish at the Rainier school complex.

But the biggest test of the Oregon peloton's power will be Sunday with two opportunities to lend a helping hand to the community.

The Ironclad Performance Wear Cycling Team's Heavy Cans Ride will collect canned food for The Oregon Food Bank. And the Land Rover-ORBEA UCI Contintental Men's Cycling Team is throwing its Laurelwood Brewery Block Party and Fun Ride to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation's cancer fight.

The Heavy Cans ride will start at the Vera Katz statue under the Hawthorne Bridge at 1 p.m. Registration is from 12-1 at that location. Participants will gather canned food from six pre-determined grocers on a route that will be announced at the start. Every entrant who collects at least one can from each stop is eligible to win a host of cool prizes ponied up by the event sponsors.

Winners in two categories, "bags" and "trailers," will be decided by total weight gathered at the stops and will be awarded special custom homemade underpants. There will be a post-ride party at Roots Brewing Co. at 1520 SE 7th with awards at 6 p.m.

Land Rover-ORBEA's block party and fun ride also combines bikes and charity, this time to fight cancer.

The team is partnering with Laurelwood Brewery to present a fun afternoon of bikes, BBQ and award-winning beer all while raising funds to help the Lance Armstrong Foundation fight cancer.

The $20 event starts at noon in the Laurelwood Brewery & Public House parking lot on Sandy Boulevard. Bring the bike and a helmet, and get ready to work up an appetite.

All 10 members of the UCI Continental Men's Cycling Team will be on hand to participate in the ride, meet everyone, shake hands, sign autographs, flex their quads and enjoy the festivities. Team Manager Norrene Godfrey said this will be the first time all the team's riders -- who hail from New Zealand, Canada, Oregon, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Colorado and California -- will be in Oregon.

The day kicks off with a scenic 20-mile ride that will offer a bit of challenging terrain but reward participants with some of the best viewpoints of the city. Stick around after the ride for BBQ, beer, live music, a bike expo and more in the Laurelwood Brewery parking lot. All proceeds will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation to support cancer prevention and survivorship.

John Ohnstad, LIVESTRONG Challenge Region 8 Mentor, will be on hand to answer any questions about the Lance Armstrong Foundation and how people can get involved with the Seattle LIVESTRONG Challenge.

If you're not up for the ride, you can support the effort by paying $10 for the BBQ, a beer, live music and the expo.

Land Rover-ORBEA headed south for Joe Martin Stage Race

(Photo courtesy of Brian Hodes / veloimages.com)

Fresh off its biggest win of the season in front of Levi and Lance at the Gila criterium in New Mexico, the Portland-based Land Rover-ORBEA Professional Cycling Team is headed to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Joe Martin Stage Race May 7-10.

Twenty-year-old Roman van Uden of Aukland, New Zealand, shocked the domestic cycling world May 2 when he avoided several late-race crashes to win the Silver City Criterium of the Tour of the Gila, a race that included the big-name Astana Euro pros and a talented domestic pro field.

"This is a huge win for the young Land Rover-ORBEA squad," said team co-founder Norrene Godfrey, "especially in our first year as a professional cycling team."

Van Uden, who also won the Cherry City Criterium stage of the Cherry City Classic in The Dalles in April, explained his win as a combination of skill and luck.

"I got into a good position," van Uden said. "Guys were riding pretty fast at the front, crashes took out Levi and a few other guys and I snuck through, so we had gaps forming behind. A rider shot through the front trying to get away a bit with half mile to go and then sat up, and I snuck around him outside on the very last corner. He sort of opened a gap and it gave me enough room to take the win."

After the race, Armstrong complimented the Land Rover-ORBEA squad on its professionalism as the team handed out LIVESTRONG wristbands to the crowd and to all the kids who participated in the kid’s event. The team has two core missions, raise funds and awareness for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and help develop young cycling athletes into the next generation professional. Each year the team raises funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and each year the team gives away it’s spot in the Seattle LIVESTRONG Challenge to a cancer survivor.

After Joe Martin, the team will be leading a LIVESTRONG Block Party ride in Portland on May 24. Racing continues at the TD Bank Philadelphia International Championship in Philadelphia on June 7 and the Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minneapolis June 11–14.

Land Rover-Orbea's Van Uden wins Tour of the Gila Criterium

Land Rover-Orbea's Roman van Uden won the Stage 4 Silver City Criterium at the Tour of the Gila Saturday in New Nexico. Van Uden slipped through a series of crashes in the final laps that blocked out many of the top contenders.

The 20-year-old who rides for Portland's professional cycling team hung on to snatch the win in front of quickly closing Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita). Levi Leipheimer nearly crashed after rolling a tire but managed to retain his overall lead. Lance Armstrong finished 11th.

Van Uden also recently won the Cherry City Criterium stage (pictured) of Oregon's Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic in The Dalles April 4.

VeloNews.com has a complete report.

Land Rover-Orbea competing at La Vuelta de Bisbee

Portland's professional cycling Team Land Rover-Orbea is in Bisbee, Arizona, this weekend competing in the three-day, four stage La Vuelta de Bisbee near the Mexican border.

Team rider Logan Hunn finished 22nd in the Prologue Time Trial and 18th during Saturday morning's 83-mile Sulphur Springs Road Race, where he finished eight seconds behind the lead trio of Darren Lill (Team Type 1), Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia) and Shawn Milne (Team Type 1). Hunn's Land Rover-Orbea teammate Carson Miller was 22nd, 10 seconds behind the leaders. Hunn is currently 17th overall, 1 minute and 15 seconds back. Miller is 20th overall at +1:19.

The race continues with the Warren Time Trial Saturday night and concludes Sunday with the 85-mile Tombstone Road Race.

Land Rover-Orbea plans May ride, party to benefit LAF's cancer fight

The Portland-based Land Rover-Orbea Professional Cycling Team is partnering with Laurelwood Brewery to present a fun afternoon of bikes, BBQ and award-winning beer all while raising funds to help the Lance Armstrong Foundation fight cancer.

All 10 members of the UCI Continental Men's Cycling Team will be on hand to participate in the ride, meet everyone, shake hands, sign autographs, flex their quads and enjoy the festivities. Team Manager Norrene Godfrey said this will be the first time all the team's riders -- who hail from New Zealand, Canada, Oregon, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Colorado and California -- will be in Oregon.

The day kicks off with a scenic 20-mile ride that will offer a bit of challenging terrain but reward participants with some of the best viewpoints of the city. Stick around after the ride for BBQ, beer, live music, a bike expo and more in the Laurelwood Brewery parking lot. All proceeds will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation to support cancer prevention and survivorship.

John Ohnstad, LIVESTRONG Challenge Region 8 Mentor, will be on hand to answer any questions about the Lance Armstrong Foundation and how people can get involved with the Seattle LIVESTRONG Challenge.

LAURELWOOD BREWERY BLOCK PARTY
Benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation

Sunday, May 24th @ Noon
Laurelwood Brewery & Public House
5115 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland, OR 97213
Entry Fee: $20.00
All proceeds will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation

Register Online @
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=8470

...Or mail this ENTRY AND RELEASE FORM with a check for $20 (or more if you want to donate!)
Payable to:
Land Rover-Orbea
c/o Eric Tsai
6406 NE Garfield Ave
Portland OR 97211

Bartlett, Turnbull Sieze Kings Valley Crowns

(UPDATE: Complete Kings Valley Road Race photos are now online HERE.)

KINGS VALLEY, Ore. -- On a day when the fields defied a course designed to break up groups and ensure success for small breakaways, Lisa Turnbull and Josh Bartlett outwitted crowded bunches at the finish to take the 2009 Kings Valley Road Race crowns.

Moderate temperatures and light winds prevailed on the 18.6-mile course over agricultural roads near the tiny berg of Kings Valley southwest of Salem and Dallas. The course, ridden on wide well-paved roads, featured a few twists and turns, long straightaways exposed to the winds, a few rollers and a steep climb through the finish area.

WOMEN Pro/1/2/3/4

The large group making up the combined women's field battled for more than 56 miles over two-plus laps, but approached the final hill together after break attempts big and small met with little success.

Lisa Turnbull (Therapeutic Associates Inc.) said the women's field had been neutralized just before it approached the final climb, which caused the group to bunch even tighter as the finishing line approached, making for a crowded, hectic charge to the line.

"I jumped on Kelly Benjamin's wheel when things started taking off," she said. "I used that lead out and then came around her at the line."

Indeed, Turnbull gained a couple of seconds over second-placed Benjamin (Colavita/Sutter Home) and a handful over the sprinting field. Last weekend's Cherry Blossom Classic overall winner Robin Secrist (Veloforma) crossed the line for third ahead of Jen Akeroyd (Team Group Health) and Beth Burns (Veloce/felt).

MEN Pro/1/2

Just like the women's race, the large Men's Pro/1/2 field had its share of adventurers throughout the three-plus-lap race that covered 75 miles. But nothing seemed to stick as the field reeled-in anything that looked dangerous and let small fliers dangle off the front before bringing them back.

Josh Bartlett (Land Rover-Orbea) eventually soloed away from the bunch with one kilometer to go and crossed the line first, seconds ahead of Mark Blackwelder (Gentle Lovers) and the rapidly closing field.

Bartlett finished the race where he started -- in front of the field.

"I tried attacking pretty much from the gun," Bartlett said. "And that didn't really go anywhere. So I spent most of the race sitting in and conserving. I wasn't feeling too snappy today."

Bartlett credited his two Land Rover-Orbea teammates at the race, Logan Hunn and Evan Elken, with attacking and patrolling the front of the race while Bartlett waited in the pack, especially on the frantic last lap.

"We had Logan going off the front toward the end, there, trying to keep the other teams chasing," Bartlett said. "Then Evan had a couple digs. We hit that last corner with a little over one K to go and Chris Sheppard went. I went on his wheel for a little bit and then went around at about one K."

Bartlett just held off Gentle Lovers' quickly closing Mark Blackwelder, who crossed the line second. Brandon Dyer (Therapeutic Associates Inc.) finished third at the front of the main field.

"That was a hard kilometer," Bartlett said. "Two hundred and fifty meters from the line I thought I was gonna die and get caught. I saw (Blackwelder) coming up behind me and I was just hoping that he would die too. The last 200 meters were just a creep."

Junior Joe Prettyman Stays On Winning Track In Senior Men's Cat. 4 Field

Beaverton Bicycle Club's Joe Prettyman, 16, has wasted little time acclimating to the Men's Cat. 4 field after stepping up from the Juniors' races he grew accustomed to winning. Prettyman sprinted to another Cat. 4 win Sunday, just edging a charging field that hung together for much of the race, including the finale. Seventeen-year-old Phelan Kostur (Fred Meyer/Lakside) finished second. Marcus Benton (Pacific Blue Sky) was third.

Earlier this season Prettyman finished first in the Juniors' Cherry Pie race and won the first two Banana Belt Juniors' races. Prettyman went for the double at the last Banana Belt, finishing fourth in the senior Men's Cat. 4 field and finishing fourth again with the Juniors.

Prettyman finished a modest 29th in the Cat. 4 field at the March 29 Piece of Cake Road Race in Woodland, Wash., but struck back hard and fast by snagging the overall GC prize in the Cat. 4 Men's field of the inaugural Cherry Blossom Classic in The Dalles. The Junior finished 20th in the stage one Columbia Hills Road Race. He came back with a fourth-place finish and moved to fourth overall on the strength of his stage two 8-Mile Time Trial. Prettyman dropped to sixth overall after losing time with a 17th place finish in the stage 3 Cherry City Criterium. But the young rider kept his cool, and his sixth-place finish in the challenging stage four Columbia Gorge Road Race propelled him into the top podium spot for the Cat. 4s.

Nigbor Wins Masters At The Line

(UPDATE: Original winner Mike Sheppard, a Masters Cat. 2 who is back racing this year after nearly 20 years away, was not eligible to win the Masters field, which was limited to Cat. 3s, 4s and 5s for this race. Finnegans Toys' Jon Nigbor won the Masters 40+ race).

The Masters race followed the familiar pattern of fruitless attacks that were either quickly swallowed up or were allowed to dangle just off the front. Mike Sheppard outlasted the rest of the field up the finishing hill to take first by a whisker ahead of Jon Nigbor (Finnegans Toys) and Paul Duncan (Hammer Velo).

Two riders made a serious attempt to get away on the first lap and stayed away for the better part of a full go 'round, but those left in the field eventually found their legs and reeled the pair back in with about a lap to go.

Kings Valley galleries from all fields are posted HERE.

Highlights slideshow:

Oregon's UCI Team Visits Cancer Patients In California

The Oregon-based Land Rover/Orbea Professional Cycling Team has more important goals than simply winning bicycle races.

The team, which benefits the Lance Armstrong Foundation by raising funds and awareness about cancer, spent a day this week visiting a children's cancer ward while in California for the Redlands Bicycle Classic.

Team manager David Godfrey, racer Evan Elken and the rest of the team met with pediatric cancer patients at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital Tuesday.

"The guys were overwhelmed yesterday at their hospital visit," said team manager Norrene Godfrey. "They didn’t expect media and photographers to show up – a little shocking for the new guys on the team."

Elken said the hospital visit and other such events throughout the season are the inspiration for the team.

"This is how the team was started ... with this in mind," he told reporters.

The Press-Enterprise newspaper covered the event and has posted a video. You can see it HERE.

Oregon Racers Ready For Redlands

The 25th edition of California's Redlands Bicycle Classic is set to take off this Thursday with four stages that will wrap up on Sunday. Riders will tackle a prologue time trial, a downtown criterium and two circuit races. The men's field will have 200 riders. The women will have 150 competitors. Teams are limited to eight riders.

A preliminary list of riders who call(ed) Oregon home:

WOMEN
Melissa Sanborn (Vanderkitten Racing) Portland
Hilary Billington (Team Lip Smackers) Portland
Lisa Turnbull (Velo Classic Tours P/b Incycle.com) Springfield
Jacqueline Cohen (Velo Classic Tours/Incycle.com) Bend
Kelly Benjamin (Colavita Sutter Home/Cooking Light) Portland OR
Christina Ruiter (Value Act Capital Cycling Team) Bend

MEN
Josh Liberles (Ten Speed Drive/Bh Bicycles) Portland
Jacob Erker (Kelly Benefits Strategies) Portland
Aaron Olson (Colavita Sutter Home/Cooking Light) Santa Barbara, CA

OREGON-BASED TEAMS

MEN

LAND ROVER/ORBEA
Josh Bartlett, Windham, NH
Jim Camut, Johnstown, PA
Roman Van, Uden Auckland, New Zeland
Logan Hunn, Auckland, New Zeland
Ryan Taylor, Charlottetown, PEI
Carson Miller, Bend, OR
Aaron Barry Tuckerman, Blenheim, New Zeland
Bobby Sweeting Sarasota, FL
* Banana Belt #3 winner Evan Elken will replace one of the team's younger riders for the Redlands roster, according to team manager David Godfrey.

WOMEN

VELOFORMA/ZYM
Melisa Mcwhirther, Mesa, AZ
Christina Smith, Denton, TX
Sabrina Savage, Mesa, AZ
Robin Secrist, Kirkland, WA
Alice Pennington, Hood River
Becka Hartkop, Salem
Miranda Moon, Banks
Susan Peithman, Portland

OBRA's Miller Flexes Muscle In Snowy San Diego Hills

OBRA's Carson Miller (Land Rover-Orbea) showed some early season form with a sixth-place finish in Sunday's Boulevard Road Race in San Diego.

The race marked the return to the pro ranks for Floyd Landis, back from a two-year suspension for a doping case that cost him his 2006 Tour de France title, and featured a driving snow storm as the riders started a course that took them into the mountains outside of the city.

Miller joined an early break group but was dropped during ensuing attacks, according to a race report at VeloNews.com.

"Two laps into the four-lap race, a group including Day, Evans, Kemp, two-time San Francisco Grand Prix winner Dionne, Sheldon Day (Bissell), and Carson Miller (Land Rover-ORBEA) bridged up to Fly V Australia rider Sulzberger, who had attacked on the first lap. When the break caught Sulzberger, he countered and only Day, Evans and Kemp were able to respond."

Despite being dropped from the lead group, Miller, who finished 3rd in OBRA's 2008 Road BAR points competition and 10th in Overall points, hung on Sunday for a sixth-place finish in a field packed with pros readying for the upcoming Tour of California.