Portland Velo Race Team

Race Team Update for August, by Matt D’Elia

Linda Jellison — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:20:26 GMT

With the road season drawing its last breaths for 2010, the racing spectrum turns towards Crits and MTB with its eye set on the upcoming CX season. July and early August saw a number of podiums including Todd Rosier winning the Larch Mtn Hillclimb, Mitch Lee winning his second race of the season at the Camas Twilight Crit, and Malcolm Johnson taking his first ever race out at the Westview Wildcats STXC Race. Javad Simonsen captured the PIR Short Track series, winning 2 races in the process. Capping it off was an impressive showing by Jeff Otto at the High Cascades 100, completing the course in a stunning 9h20m. (When was the last time you spent over 9hrs straight on your road bike, let alone a Mountain bike?!?)

We sent a brave crew down to the Cascade Classic this year who all suffered bravely in one of the hottest weekends of the year. Kudos to Alex, Brian, Paul, and Scott Springer who raced in the 3's and Ben Johnson who raced in the 4's. Ben took that form on to a 5th place finish in the Oregon Road Race Championship after spending most of the day in a break. Team newcomer Judi Davis picked up 3rd in the Masters 50+ field the next day.

The past month wasn't all warm and fuzzy however, as our streak of freak injuries claimed two more riders. Well wishes to Mark Castle who broke his collarbone in a training accident, and Scott Springer who gets the award for "most dramatic way to pull out of a road race that ended up being really hard." We hope to see you both back on a bike soon.

Be on the lookout for information about our next Pactimo order. This will be the final order of 2010 and will contain all of our winter gear. We are also planning a PV only CX skills session with Upper Echelon Fitness.

That about wraps things up. With the CX season coming up, much of the team chatter has turned to tire setups, barrier practice, and beer. Look for the new and improved PV Pleasure Palace at the upcoming cross races during the season, and stop by for a burger and beer!
Until next time!
-m

Race Team Update for July / New Website Update, by Matt D’Elia

Linda Jellison — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:03:00 GMT

The team has had a busy June and start of July. Summer has finally arrived, and with it the first of the OBRA Championship races. To kick off June, we had a small handful of racers in the first major stage race of the summer, the Mt Hood cycling Classic. Brendan Treacy gutted it out in the pro race, with Alex Kroman and Mitch Lee in the Cat3, and Jeff Pollock in the Cat4. Mitch placed 6th in the GC which was enough for him to receive his upgrade to Cat2. Mitch is the first home grown Cat2 from PV, and we are incredibly proud of his achievement. Jeff Pollock took 2nd on the GC in the Cat4 race, which combined with his strong showing the rest of this year earned him his Cat3 upgrade. Congrats to the both of them!

Other highlights of June included Kevin O'Connell and Todd Rosier winning their divisions in the Vernonia Short Track MTB Race, Javad Simonsen's first career win coming over at the PIR Short Track Series, and Cindy McCasker, Al Ledesma, Judi Davis, and Susan Chamberlain going 1-4 at a PIR Monday night race. Cindy capped off a huge June by winning the Points Jersey for the woman's race on Monday night for the June series, along with winning the Firecracker TT and coming in second place in the Firecracker Crit.

After accumulating enough points in the Cat4's by winning the 7/8 Omnium event, he was given the option to race as a Cat3 in the OBRA Track Championships this past weekend. Brian decided to go test himself in the Cat3 group and ended up winning the OBRA Championship in the Kilo, Match Sprints, and 4k Pursuit on back to back to back days. Huge congrats to Brian! Joseph Boquiren also won the Cat4 4k pursuit! Awesome work to our newest State Champions.

In the upcoming weeks we've got a crew heading to Bend for the Cascade Classic, a number of people competing in the Larch Mountain Hillclimb Championship, and the crew continuing to pound sand (and dirt, and rocks, and gravel) out at the PIR short track events.

In closing, I'd like to thank Russ Speirn for his 2+ years of work as our order coordinator for our Clif sponsorship. Russ will be passing the baton to Steve Steiner starting on the next order. Big thanks to the two of you for your involvement.
See you next month!
-m

Website Update:
As you may have heard, the PV website is undergoing a complete overhaul. We are targeting a launch of this new site in the July-August time frame, and are busy converting the map database, membership integration and migrating photos and articles to our new home. To make this transition as smooth as possible, we ask that you make sure your email address is updated in your website account. To do this, head to http://portlandvelo.net, log in, and click on the "Edit Profile" link at the top of the page. Once there, click on the Email tab and make sure your "Public Email" is the address you wish to have associated to your account once we move to our new website system.

The new system will be based on the Joomla! content management system, which is open source and free to use. By making this switch the club will be saving close to $1500 a year in hosting and licensing costs and shrink the number of databases we have to maintain down to one. The look and feel of the site will undergo a complete change and the graphics will all receive an update to the new PV Club and Racing Team graphics. We will also be converting to a new forum software (phpBB) which is one of the most popular and easy to use forum's on the internet today. The existing forums and information stored in them will be archived and turned into a giant text file in case you need some specific information stored in them as we will not be able to migrate the content to the new database.

We ask that you are patient with us during the migration time as we may run into technical snags that we have to work through. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact webmaster@portlandvelo.net
-PV Web Team

Race Team Update for May

Linda Jellison — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:04:57 GMT

This month, I'd like to start off with a big thank you. Sometimes the best laid plans go astray in the blink of an eye, or in my case a touch of a wheel. As many of you heard, I had a pretty scary crash on the first of April which resulted in a broken clavicle and a few cracked ribs. A few days later I went in for surgery and am now sporting a nifty Ti plate in my body along with a nice "battle scar". In the hours and days following the accident and surgery, the outpouring of support and well wishes from the team and club members was genuinely heartwarming and once again showed me what a great group of people we have within Portland Velo. So with that, I'd like to thank you all for your support. I'd like to especially thank Bob Bigwood, Brian Ratliff, Ron Babcock, and Donovan Stewart for looking after me right after the accident occurred.

On a happier note, the race team took April by storm with some impressive results across all disciplines and categories!
First place finishers:

Ann Davidson, Estacada TT#1, Women Masters 40-49
Cindy McCasker, Estacada TT#1, Women Masters 50+
Jeff Pollock, Estacada TT#1, Cat 4
Jeff Ballantine, Hornings Hustle MTB, Cat2 19-34
Jeff Otto, Hornings Hustle MTB, Cat1 45+
Jeff Otto, Bear Springs MTB, Cat1 45+
Todd Rosier, Hornings Hustle MTB, Cat2 45-54
Todd Rosier, Deschutes Valley TT Fest, Stage 1 and 3, Master Men 40-49 (Overall winner)

In addition, the following podiums were also achieved:

Mark Biedrzycki, Deschutes Valley TT Fest, Second overall, Master Men 30-39
Tim Ellerbruch, Deschutes Valley TT Fest, Second overall, Master Men 50-59
Jeff Otto, Kings Valley RR, 3rd Master Men 40+

We also had the ultimate KOM this month with an "unofficial" win in the Ronde Oeste Portlandia "event". Brendan Treacy was by all accounts the first finisher of this crazy event that over 20 PV team and club members went and tackled. Alex Kroman and Jeff Otto both were also in the unoffical top ten.
Finally, a special congratulations and recognition to Ann Davidson and Joel Rosinbum. Ann Davidson won the Master Women Short Course Duathalon National Championship this month in Richmond Virginia. Racing in the PV colors, Ann scored one of the fastest women times of the day! Joel, who won a National Championship of his own last year, was named to the USAT ParaTriathalon National Team for 2010. Congratulations to both of you for all your hard work and dedication.
Looking forward to May, the first of the OBRA championships comes up for grabs with the Team Time Trial. PV will again be fielding a number of strong teams looking to repeat our long running success in this event. Also starting up in May is Track racing up at the Alpenrose Velodrome. Our short track speedsters have been patiently waiting all winter for the fixed gear thrills, and the major race of the season is the Eric Kautzky Memorial Track Race on 5/8.
See you next month!
-m

Race Team Update for April, by Matt D’Elia

Linda Jellison — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:39:00 GMT

Road Race season is in full swing, and Portland Velo is sitting near the front as one of the top rated teams in OBRA. March was a great month for Portland Velo, with numerous wins racked up in a short period of time. Win of the month goes to Mitch Lee for his first ever race victory following an epic 60+ mile breakaway in the Cat 3 Banana Belt finale. This was a long time coming, and I'm sure I speak for all of Portland Velo when I say congratulations, and work on that victory salute. :)
Additional wins and podium finishes for the month of March include:

Erik Spillman, 2nd in Masters 40+ 4/5, Banana Belt #2
Ron Babcock, 2nd, 1st, 3st, in Masters 40+, As the Raven Flies TT #1,2,3 - 1st Place Overall
Alyssa Ledesma, 2nd in Women's 4, As the Raven Flies TT #2, 2nd Place Overall
Melanie Pratt, 3rd in Women's 4, As the Raven Flies TT #1, 3rd Overall
Jeff Ballantine, 2nd Men's Cat 2 19-34, Echo to Red MTB
Todd Rosier, 1st Men's Cat 2 45-54, Echo to Red MTB
Dean Lee, 3rd Men's Clyde, Echo to Red MTB
Ron Babcock, 2nd, Masters 40+ 1/2/3, Piece of Cake Road Race

Congratulations to all of our racers!
As some of you may have noticed, the team is sporting new threads compliments of Pactimo. This year's kits arrived, and the new Summit line of shorts for Men and Women are a huge hit. Work has started on getting a second follow up order put together so those of you who missed the first order, or are looking to get some additional gear for the summer months should be on the lookout for mails regarding it. I would like to personally thank Salvo and Heidi at SwiftPlus Creative studio for the awesome design of not only our team kit, but the work involved in getting our team tents designed.

Speaking of team tents, the 10x20 (aka "Pleasure Dome") made its debut at the Piece of Cake road race this last weekend and was immediately commented on. This towering black monolith sports the team's logo, along with the logos of five of our great sponsors. The 10x20 along with its smaller 10x10 brother, sidewalls, and sandbags to keep them from going airborne are available for race events. Shoot me an email if you are interested in having them at an event.

Looking forward to April, the PIR Tuesday night series will start up on 4/6, and Monday night PIR series on 4/19. Numerous criteriums are also on the schedule for the month. As such, Bob Bigwood will be leading mid-week evening lead out train workshops for all racers. Please see the forum thread already started on the topic for schedule information. Also on tap for April is the season’s first stage race, the Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic, and our annual trip south for the "Monster Cookie Beatdown" which is now entering its 4th year as a fun team get together. There is also some rumor of a really hard ride in Portland happening where you climb lots.

Team rides over the next few weeks will usually have a race prep option, allowing people to do leg openers as a group and have the chance to talk strategy. I'll continue to post the ride plans on Thursday on the forums.
Until next month, keep your wing man on your wheel!

-m

Race Team Update for March, by Matt D’Elia

Linda Jellison — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:04:00 GMT

March is upon us and although the race season is already a few weeks old, it didn't take Portland Velo much time to continue with their winning ways. Jeff Otto picks up PV's first win of the 2010 season with a victory at the Sublimity Sublime Circuit Race in the Masters 40+ field, and was featured in an Oregon Cycling Action writeup. (Photo by Pat Malach from Oregon Cycling Action).

The very next day almost 20 PV racers went out and tested their legs in the first TT of the season at the Jack Frost Time Trial in Vancouver which is often considered a measuring stick for off season training. Ron Babcock and Ann Davidson picked up 3rd and 2nd in their respective categories, and Mitch Lee turned a smoking time for 4th place the day after racing at Sublimity. Congrats to all for their hard work, and a big shout out to one of our new Cat4 ladies, Alyssa Ledesma, who survived her very first road race at Cherry Pie despite a number of crashes in the field.

Due to unseasonably warm and dry weather, the team has been active on the weekends with those not racing continuing their hard training rides. The team scouted out Hagg lake for the upcoming "spring classic" Banana Belt series, and plan to head down to Amity in the upcoming weeks to preview the newly revamped Piece of Cake course. In between, we'll be present at the BB series, in addition to the new "Raven" TT series out of Newberg and the first MTB race of the season, Echo to Red. Good luck to all of our racers!

Team training rides will start to ramp up in intensity during the upcoming months, so please check the forums out in advance for info on the weekend’s ride.
On the sponsorship front, I expect the first 2010 Pactimo order should be arriving in the very near future, so be on the lookout for notice to come and pick up those new threads! (In late April or early May we'll set up a time on a Saturday for a team photo.) Team custom tents were ordered this month, and we should be receiving those in time for Piece of Cake. Those team members who ordered Corsa Concept wheels should expect those in the next few weeks as well!
See you next month!
-m

Race Team Update for February 2010, by Matt D’Elia

Linda Jellison — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:36:14 GMT

Racing season is almost upon us! It seems like just yesterday many of us were hosing down our CX bikes for the last time, looking forward to a few months of relaxation before the madness of the OBRA racing season starts back up.

The team capped off the year in style on 1/10 with our first ever awards banquet hosted by Steve Brown of Madison's Bar & Grill, produced by our very own maestro of media Burk Webb. The night was a grand success and we hope to continue the tradition for years to come. If you haven't had the opportunity to see the two amazing videos Burk produced, go check them out! The first video (watch it here)

kicked off the awards presentation, and the second was the debut of the long awaited video from our cyclocross event (watch it here) in 2009.

January was busy from the team management side. We completed our first order for 2010 with Pactimo, got 95% of the team roster caught up on dues, welcomed a number of new racers, had a great informational seminar on bike fitting from Russell Cree, and have had a number of large team training rides focusing on specific group riding skills.

With February and weekend races fast approaching, the format for team rides will change a bit to allow for a bit wider variety of intensities or race prep, so continue to watch the forum for updates on what we'll be doing.

Upcoming Plans and important info:

Currently working on getting our custom team tents design layout with E-Z Up. We are looking to get a 10x10 and a 10x20, along with some modular sides.
2/13 Cherry Pie - First race of the season.
February team get-together (formally known as First Friday). We are looking to schedule a casual social gathering the evening of 2/13. Watch the forums for details.
February seminar with Russell Cree, tentatively scheduled for 2/16

See you on the road!

-m

Portland Velo Race Team

Linda Jellison — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:09:38 GMT

Welcome to Portland Velo's race team! In our third season and now numbering over 80 racers, Portland Velo more than exceeded any expectations. With 40 victories, 100 podium finishes and 13 state titles, Portland Velo finished 3rd Overall in the OBRA Team BAR behind two teams that race mainly in Southern Oregon's smaller fields..

It’s pretty cool how this team was formed. We started out with a handful of riders, hammering each other every Saturday morning and laughing about it afterwards at our favorite coffee shop. This weekly barbaric ritual went on for a couple of years before we finally decided to start our own team so we could share our passion for pain with others. Today we are over 80 riders strong covering the majority of racing categories and disciplines, including road, stage races, mountain biking, track, and cyclocross. When we're not riding, we’re talking about it several times a day through our race team forum. It’s here we communicate race results, impromptu rides, or if you’re feeling kind of feisty, you can talk some smack.

With all of the amazing sponsors and resources we have, watch out for Portland Velo to be one of the top teams in the state of Oregon in 2010.

If you want to hear what the buzz is all about contact Matt D'Elia by email.

About The Portland Velo Race Team

Ty Lambert — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:04:00 GMT

The core of the team actually started in 2005, stemming from a handful of riders hammering each other every Saturday morning and laughing about it afterwards at our favorite coffee shop. This weekly barbaric ritual went on for two years before we finally decided to form our own team and share our passion for pain with others. Today we cover the majority of racing categories and disciplines, including road, stage races, mountain biking, track, and cyclocross.

For 2010, we are happy to announce that we are branching out to Multi-Sport racing as well as having a dedicated focus to introduce women into the sport of competitive cycling.

With the 2009 season wrapping up and the 2010 season rapidly approaching, look for the team out in force on our weekly Saturday training rides partnered with coaches from Upper Echelon Fitness.

For more information about the team, please feel free to contact Matt D'Elia.