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.

Women's track clinic Sunday at Alpenrose

Alpenrose Velodrome will host a track clinic Sunday for women who want to learn the intricacies of riding a fixed-gear around Portland's uniquely banked concrete bowl.

The clinic starts at 1 p.m. and will run though 3 p.m.

Several experienced riders will be on hand to teach the skills necessary for successful track riding. Students will learn to ride a fixed-gear bike on the apron (the flat part of the track) and then gradually work up to riding on the banking. The class will include drills to help riders gain confidence, and if time allows, there will be some mock races.

Bring your own helmet, pedals and shoes. Riders needing to rent a bike should arrive about 12:30 p.m.

The class will be canceled if it rains.

Construction Project Nixes Mt. Tabor Circuit Race

The Mt. Tabor Circuit Race has been postponed due to a City of Portland construction project near the Upper Reservoir, according to promoter Nathan Hobson. It appears from this photo (left) of last year's criterium stage of the Mt. Hood Classic professional race in May that these projects have been ongoing for nearly a year.

From Hobson's announcement to the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association members:

"Unfortunately, the road construction project on the Upper Reservoir road on Mount Tabor has forced the cancellation of the May 16th, 2009 Mount Tabor Circuit Race. I am working diligently with the Portland Parks and Recreation department as well as with OBRA to find a suitable date to reschedule the event."

Hobson said Velo on the Vocano, also known as the Mt. Tabor Series, which starts June 3, should be ready to go on time. However, as with all construction projects, there are no guarantees as to when the job will be finished and the road opened for racing.

Littlehales takes PIR Tuesday Nighter

UPDATE: Wednesday, 9 p.m. -- Complete April 21 PIR photos are now posted HERE.

Former Navigators and Sierra-Nevada pro Todd Littlehales returned to the old haunts at Portland International Raceway Tuesday, winning the final sprint and enough hotspot points to snatch the overall in the Men's Pro/1/2/3 race.

Huge numbers showed up for the third race of the 2009 Tuesday night series. Sixty-five riders competed in the Cat 4/5 race, more than 100 in the 3/4 race and nearly 90 in the Pro/1/2/3 event.

Littlehales, who rides for Rapha Racing's veteran squad, battled Land Rover-Orbea's Evan Elken, HP Chiropractic's Aaron Coker, Cyclepath's Christian Tresser and a host of others throughout the night for sprint points.

Littlehales' Rapha Teammate Jon Grochau won this year's first PIR April 7.

RESULTS (unofficial)

Pro/1/2/3
1. Littlehales, Todd - Rapha Racing (17)
2. Coker, Aaron - HPChiro/Hammer Nutrition (14)
3. Abers, Brian - Bike Central (10)
4. Tresser, Christian - Cyclepath Racing (10)
5. Elken, Evan - Land Rover/ORBEA (9)

Cat. 3/4
1. Ratliff, Brian - Portland Velo (15)
2. Goff, Wade - Half Fast Velo (12)
3. Swearingen, Wes - Mountain View Cycles (11)
4. Harwood, Jeff - Ironclad Performance Wear (10)
5. Gibson, Nick (8)

Cat. 4/5
1. Cummings, Jacob - tarck (15)
2. Seeds, Darrin - Yakima Bike Vigilantes (12)
3. Severson, Tom - Centrex Construction Inc. (10)
4. Cecotti, Shawn (8)
5. Utz, Zachary (7)

This weekend's Willamette Stage Race canceled

Promoters Mike Ripley and Sal Collura canceled this weekend's Willamette Stage Race today due to a low number of pre-registered riders. In an e-mail to the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association mailing list, Ripley said the registration numbers had fallen far short of paying for the race.

Ripley and Collura had previously asked for more riders to register by Today at noon, or the race would not take place. From their e-mails:

The Facts:

Cash Sponsorship in this economy is poor to non-existent.

Willamette costs $20,500 just to break even. And after getting 211 riders in 2008, in 40-degree weather, and losing $3,000, we were OK with that. Sal and I thought with proper planning and a kick-ass course, we should get at least that and maybe more; two or three nice road race courses and an anything-is-possible time trial and the weather will be 20 degree's warmer, probably still a bit of rain.

Currently (midnight Sunday) we have $10,100 dollars from registrations and need 100 more entries to make this race happen.

The Reality:

*By Tuesday at noon* I will officially say the race is on and we have the 100 riders needed to break even and keep this event going...YEA! On the other hand, if we do not get the 100 riders to either register or e-mail me and say "I am coming and here is my rider info and I will pay at sign in," then I will have to *cancel* the race in time to let riders alter plans and hotels, and cancel flaggers to porta poties, and all other race-related stuff and give everyone a full refund.

Many have signed up and yes it will disappoint riders coming from Canada, San Fransisco, and other parts of California, and to those locals who this is their back yard and your back yard in Oregon and the Willamette Valley, this may be it for Willamette.

Bottom line:

I respect your decision on whatever you decide, and want you to achieve all that cycling can for you. We have many opportunities with OBRA, and yes there will be other times to race as I will be holding other events and Sal will also. It is a sign of the times and budgets, so no matter what, no hard feelings. Register now and if you do not, Sal and I will have some time to relax...would you really want that?

Thanks everyone!

Mike

--- --- --- --- --- ---


Fellow Racers:

As a promoter, I have never had to cancel a race. It would be heart-breaking. However, with only 100 entrants, it would appear there is no market for WILLAMETTE this year. We will make a decision Tuesday morning that makes the most sense for everyone involved.

Sal Collura
Co-Motion Classic Racing

Turnbull caps weekend double with Table Rock win

Lisa Turnbull (Therapeutic Associates Inc) pulled off a two-week hat trick, taking back-to-back victories this weekend in the Women's Pro/1/2/3 field at Eugene-Roubaix and the Table Rock Road Race near Medford. She also won the Kings Valley Road race April 11.

Turnbull won a two-up sprint with breakaway companion Lindsay Fox at Saturday's race in Eugene. She finished ahead of Veloforma's Rebecca Hartkop and Jenny Slawta of Land Shark the next day at Table Rock, which was also the third race of the 2009 Oregon Cup points series.

Team Oregon's Kennett Peterson won the Men's Pro/1/2 race on Sunday after grabbing the field sprint for seventh at Saturday's Eugene-Roubaix. At Table Rock, Peterson finished ahead of breakaway companion Paul Bourcier (Hutch's). The field finished more than three minutes later, led across the line by Team Oregon's Chris Swan, the winner of Saturday's race in Eugene.

2009 Oregon Cup Standings (unofficial)

MEN
1. Paul Bourcier...(150)...Hutch's
2. Evan Elken...(120)...Land Rover-Orbea
3. Matt Ritzow...(110)...Paul's Bicycles
* Brandon Dyer...(110)...Therapeutic Associates
5. Josh Bartlett...(100)...Land Rover-Orbea
* Kennett Peterson...(100)...Team Oregon
7. Seth Patla...(95)...River City Bicycles
8. Austin Arguello...(80)...Hammer/CMG Racing
9. Mark Blackwelder (75) Gentle Lovers
10. Chris Swan (60) Team Oregon

WOMEN
1. Lisa Turnbull...(200)...Therapeutic Associates Inc.
2. Jen Akeroyd...(175)...Team Group Health
3. Robin Secrist...(160)...Veloforma
4. Rebecca Hartkop...(130)...Veloforma
5. Beth Burns...(85)...Veloce-Felt
6. Jacqueline Cohen...(80)...Therapeutic Associates Inc.
7. Kelly Benjamin...(75)...Colavita/Sutter Home
8. Jenny Slawta...(60)...Land Shark
* Sue Butler...(60)...Monavie-Cannondale
10. Teri Sheasby...(45)...BBNS
* Alice Pennington...(45)...Veloforma

Oregonians excel at 2009 Sea Otter Classic's weekend of racing

A strong contingent of Oregon racers left its mark at Laguna Seca Raceway during this weekend's Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Calif.

Juniors Austin Arguello and Wes Stein (Hammer/CMG Racing) won both junior road races at the national-caliber event. Arguello won Friday's circuit race in a five-up sprint with his breakaway companions. Stein walked away with the win in Sunday's road race. Arguello finished 15th. Their Hammer/CMG teammate Marcel DeLisser finished 47th in the Friday Pro/1/2 road race won by Tour of California champ and Euro-pro deluxe Levi Leipheimer.

Portland's Kelly Benjamin (Colavita Sutter Home) won the Friday Women's Pro/1/2 criterium and finished fifth in Saturday's circuit race.

Hood River's Karsten Hagen has been tearing it up, finishing fourth in the Thursday 35/45+ criterium after making it into a five-rider break that gained more than 90 seconds on the chasers. He also nabbed a fourth-place finish in Friday's Masters 35+ 1/2/3 circuit race, finishing 2:30 behind the leader.

Land Rover-Orbea has been having a go in the pro men's races, placing sprinter Roman Van Uden in sixth place at Thurday's criterium. Evan Elken finished 14th. The team placed Van Uden, Elken and Carson Miller 20th, 21st and 22nd respectively in Saturday's circuit race, which saw their teammate Aaron Tuckerman help initiate the day's first serious move.

Bend's MTB Crowd Cashes In

On the mountain bike, the Bend delegation has been making its presence felt. Carl Decker (Team Giant), who recently won the Horning's Hustle Cross Country race in North Plains, won the Pro Men's event at Friday's Super D. Then Decker finished third in Saturday's Pro Men's Short Track event behind Olympian Todd Wells (Specialized). Bend resident and National Cyclocross Champion Ryan Trebon (Kona) finished sixth. Cody Peterson (Dedicated Athlete) finished 20th in the race. Portland's Erik Tonkin (Kona) finished 27th. Jason Sager (Jamis) finished 47th, and Steve Carwille came in 64th.

In the men's Pro cross country race Sunday, Decker finished ninth, Tonkin crossed the line 16th, Aaron Olson came in 17th, and Bend's Chris Sheppard (Jamis) finished 19th. Team S&M's Sean Babcock finished 29th, and Ben Thomson (Cannondale Factory Racing) came in 36th.

Portland's Sue Butler (Monavie/Cannondale) finished 20th in the Pro Women's Short Track race and 16th in Sunday's cross country race. Hood River's Alice Pennington (Veloforma) finished 20th in the Pro Women's XC race. Bend's Kirt Voreis took 15th in the Pro Men's Dual Slalom on Saturday and 19th in Sunday's SRAM downhill.

Swan, Turnbull grab wins at sunny Eugene-Roubaix

(UPDATE: Complete photo galleries for the Eugene-Roubaix morning races are now posted HERE.)

EUGENE - Team Oregon's Chris Swan won the Men's Pro/1/2 Eugene-Roubaix Sunday ahead of Seth Hosmer (HP Chiropractic) and Steven Beardsley (Gentle Lovers) as a breakaway of six approached the line together.

Therapeutic Associates Inc. rider Lisa Turnbull followed up her win at Kings Valley last weekend by taking the women's race in a two-up sprint with breakaway companion Lindsay Fox (Team Oregon) after the pair put more than four minutes into the chasing field.

Early morning cloud cover gave way to sunny skies and summer-like temps Sunday afternoon on the 13-mile course west of Eugene, brushing against the southern tip of Fern Ridge Reservoir.

Men Pro/1/2

Mark Blackwelder started the festivities early with a solo escape on the first of five laps in the 65-mile men’s race. The Gentle Lovers rider built a lead of more than a minute on the field before five more riders jumped across the gap to join him on the fourth lap. Swan, Beardsley, Jeff Bannink (Team Type-1), Seth Hosmer (HP Chiropractic) and Rob English (Midtown Direct) made the crossing. The new grouping at the front appeared to give Gentle Lovers an advantage with two riders in the break, although Blackwelder had been cooking himself out front alone for the entire race when his teammate arrived.

After reeling-in the solo rider, the new lead group started adding more time to the gap.

“We got organized nice and quick,” Swan said. “We rode hard, and we rode as a group really well.”

With most of the well-stocked teams represented in the break, the field behind settled in for field sprint for seventh. The lead group continued to pour it on until they rounded the corner for the long straightaway to the finish, beginning with a short stretch of hard-packed gravel road.

“As we got onto the dirt we started cat-and-mousing,” Swan said. “I was kind of watching Beardsley. He’s the strongest sprinter in the group and had his teammate to lead him out. The sprint started kind of early. I moved around Beardsley and had a little gap on those guys.”

Hosmer and Beardsley crossed the line next, followed by Bannink, English and Blackwelder. Kennett Peterson (Team Oregon) won the field sprint for seventh.

Women 1/2/3

Fresh off her field-sprint win in front of Kelly Benjamin (Colavita Sutter Home) and Robin Secrist (Veloforma) at the Kings Valley Road race April 11, Therapeutic Associates Inc. rider Lisa Turnbull turned up the heat again Saturday in a two-rider breakaway on the second of three laps with Team Oregon’s Lindsay Fox.

The small women’s field struggled to chase but eventually lost about four minutes to the escapees.

“We worked really well together,” Turnbull said, explaining the sizeable time split the two riders achieved. “And I had a teammate sitting back in the pack who wasn’t working.”

With their lead well established on the final lap, the two escapees approached the line for the two-up sprint, where the more experienced Turnbull took a lead out from Fox, who started the season winning Cat. 4 races.

“I sat on her wheel for awhile,” Turnbull said of the closing sprint.

She eventually came around the Team Oregon breakaway companion for a comfortable win. Fox also seemed pleased with the finish.

“I led her out really well,” she joked.

Masters Men 40+

With a slightly smaller field and one less lap, the Masters 40+ event began to look a lot like a condensed version of the Pro/1/2 race when River City Bicycles’ Tim Butler soloed away from the group on the first of four laps and looked determined to stay away.

Butler rode by himself for more than two laps and built a significant lead when Mark Steger (Nike) decided to take matters into his own hands.

“The peleton wasn’t, uh, well they weren’t really racing so I decided to give it a go,” Steger said.

He caught Butler about six miles later on the back side of the course and the two quickly forged an alliance to power the break and stay away until the finish. Butler said Steger showed up just in time.

“When (Steger) bridged up I was pretty gassed,” Butler said. “He sat on and rested, and then we took even pulls for the rest of the race.”

Steger, who considers himself a sprinter and not usually one for small breakaway tries, said sometimes you have to take the risks if you don’t want to end up sprinting for the consolation prizes.

“If we had gotten caught we surely would have lost in the sprint,” he said of the day’s escape effort. “So we made a commitment to stay away. We had to work together to stay away from the field. And it worked out wonderfully today.”

At the finale, Steger put his sprint to work in the last 200 meters and opened a gap to finish just ahead of Butler. Half Fast Velo’s Mark Magilner led the field across the line for third.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Men Pro/1/2
1. Chris Swan (Team Oregon)
2. Seth Hosmer (HP Chiropractic)
3. Steven Beardsley (Gentle Lovers)
4. Jeff Bannink (Team Type-1)
5. Rob English (Midtown Direct)
6. Mark Blackwelder (Gentle Lovers)
7. Kennett Peterson (Team Oregon)

Women Pro/1/2/3
1. Lisa Turnbull (Therapeutic Associates Inc.)
2. Lindsay Fox (Team Oregon)

Men Masters 40+
1. Mark Steger (Nike)
2. Tim Butler (River City Bicycles)
3. Mark Magilner (Half Fast Velo)

Rathe Report: Bitter day, but a bright future

(Oregon's Jacob Rathe has been in Belgium with the USA Cycling Junior National Team for the four-stage Ster van Zuid-Limbug. His USA teammate Adam Leibovitz took the leader's jersey in the opening time trial and went into the final stage with a one-second overall lead. Rathe sent Cycling Action this report.)

By now the race finished two days ago, but I just got home early this morning. We finished the race Monday evening, got back to the Izegem house late and got up early to go to the airport. Twenty-four hours later, I was home.

Stage 4 was also the queen stage of the race; five King of the Mountains sprint points and hard finishing circuits. The climbs were nothing we had encountered yet in this race. They were between 1 and 1.5k, with gradients of 15-20 percent. They were hard enough to split the field in two.

We expected the overall to come down to the wire. With such small time gaps it was possible many different riders could still win. We were all tired from the time we spent on the front defending the jersey the previous days. It was already an accomplishment to keep a three-second lead for two days, but we wanted to finish it off.

The race didn't pan out as we had hoped. We lost the leader's jersey and the team classification on the last day. The break went pretty early in the race. We let it get some time, confident we could bring it back in the end. The gap was up to 1 minute 30 seconds with 60k to go when the chase started. Two other teams started the chase, and we soon joined them.

The pace was fast and steady, and I was was confident the race would come back togetther. I hopped in the rotation once we got to the finishing circuits. They were in the same town that the prologue was in, the prologue course being half of the circuit. I pulled hard, but not too hard, for the first two laps. That was when I realized the gap wasn't really coming down. It was still 50 seconds. Teams started to get a little bit desperate, and the chase was full throttle. Teams that had riders in the break would join the paceline and disrupt the rhythm. I pushed and yelled at them to make them timid about doing it, but they didn't care.

It was by far the most exciting atmosphere the race had been through. The course was a figure-eight. With two loops that didn't cross by-passed within a block of each other in the town area. A solid wall of people lined the streets of the climbs. After the start/finish line we turned right and up the climb, sprinting out of the turn each lap, feeling more like a criterium, not the bottom of a climb.

I am still surprised how the group of 6-8 riders stayed away. At the finish they had 23 seconds. We lost the overall race by 16 seconds. We just needed to go 16 seconds faster in the final 60k of chasing. Adam dropped to 3rd on GC. I went from 7th to 11th. The team went from 1st on Team GC to 2nd.

It was a bitter ending to what was a great milestone for the U.S. development team program. Junior Team Director Ben Sharp said that when he started this job only two years ago, it was a success for every rider to finish in the pack. And it wasn't unusual for them to be dropped early in the race. Now he actually had to think about how to win.

This is only the beginning for me, after doing Sea Otter and Willamette Stage Race in the states these next two weeks, I go back to Belgium for a month.

Photo courtesy of Sports Photography by Jos Aerden.

Land Rover-Orbea's Hunn Conquers PIR's Second Week

Land Rover-Orbea's Logan Hunn stormed into PIR Tuesday, contesting every hotspot and taking the final sprint for the day's overall win.

Bridgetown Velo's Chris Haverty was second with 12 points. Aaron Coker (HP Chiropractic/Hammer Nutrition) finished third with 11. Cyclepath's Christian Tresser had a good night fighting for the hotspot sprints, winning one and finishing second in another. But he earned no points in the finishing sprint and dropped to 8th overall with five points.

The Pro/1/2/3 group covered nearly 24 miles in less than 50 minutes, with a tailwind driving sprints past 40 mph as the field covered the course counterclockwise.

Portland's pro cycling team used the weekday training race to practice launching Hunn off the front while the rest of the team bunched things up in the pack, making for an uneven pace. The team eventually launched Hunn over the line first in an exciting curb-to-curb finale.

More Photos HERE.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
Pro/1/2/3
1. Hunn, Logan (Land Rover/ORBEA) 23
2. Haverty, Chris (Bridgetown Velo) 12
3. Coker, Aaron (HPChiro/Hammer Nutrition) 11
4. Browning, John (Cyclepath Racing) 8
5. Mauer, Jason (Fred Meyer) 8

Cat 3/4
1. D'Elia, Matt (Portland Velo) 15
2. Birman, Dan (Beaverton Bicycle Club) 12
3. Harwood, Jeff (Ironclad Performance Wear) 12
4. Mansker, Kevin 11
5. Ratliff, Brian (Portland Velo) 7