The OBRA Board of Directors Wednesday reinstated rider Steven Beardsley’s win in the Pro/1/2 men’s race at Sunday’s Banana Belt #1. Beardsley (Gentle Lovers) won the field sprint but was relegated to the back of the lead group for his celebration in tight quarters. Officials initially awarded second-placed rider Brad Gebhard (Old School Racing) the win.

But Wednesday’s ruling changes Beardsley’s sanction from a relegation to a warning, leaving his win intact. OBRA Executive Director Kenji Sugahara announced the decision on OBRA’s monthly e-mail newsletter.

“In consultation with the chief ref and Board of Directors, the relegation has been changed to a warning,” Sugahara wrote to members.

He went on to clarify the rules regarding race celebrations:

“There is no specific rule against saluting — but depending on circumstances you could be sanctioned for dangerous riding if you choose to do so. Here’s what’s important to us. Don’t do anything that could put other riders at risk. Use your head. Hands on the bars is always preferred, and if someone crashes because of you or you create a disturbance behind you, you will be sanctioned. Don’t salute before the line.”

Beardsely was obviously pleased with the ruling and said he believed OBRA needed to come up with some guidelines to keep things safe but also allow riders to still celebrate in the spirit of the sport.

PlanetZ/Echelon announced today it has formed a partnership with professional cyclist Chris Horner for the inaugural Sept. 26 Echelon Gran Fondo in The Columbia River Gorge.

Horner, a resident of Bend, will serve as an event ambassador and aid in creating greater awareness of the organization’s commitment to community focused cycling events that raise money for local and national cancer institutions. The majority of entry fees and additional donations contributed by participating individuals and teams will support the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and LIVESTRONG.

Horner has been a dominant figure for more than 15 years in international pro cycling and is a member of the newly formed Team RadioShack with Americans Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Jason McCartney. He said he’s excited to partner with Echelon and the community of Portland.

“When I was approached by Echelon and learned about their event goals, a unique opportunity was created for me to support the beneficiary organizations and participate on my home turf,” Horner said.

The primary local beneficiary of the Echelon event is the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, considered one of the nation’s top cancer centers. With the latest treatments, technologies, hundreds of research studies and approximately 400 clinical trials, the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is the only cancer center between Sacramento and Seattle designated by the National Cancer Institute — an honor earned only by the nation’s top cancer centers. (more…)

BEND — USA Cycling announced today that it has awarded the 2011 and 2012 Masters Road National Championships to Bend.

Following the city’s successful hosting of the Elite,U/23 and Juniors road and the cyclocross national championships, the cycling hotbed is now poised to host another round of the nation’s best. Held in Louisville, Kentucky, 2008 through 2010, the USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships are scheduled to go off in Bend Aug. 30 – Sept. 4, 2011 and Aug. 27 – Sept. 2, 2012.

“(T)he two USA Cycling National Championship events hosted by the city in 2009 brought Bend $2.5 million dollars in direct tourist spending.”

The two-year agreement between USA Cycling, the sport’s national governing body, and Visit Bend is expected to bring more than 800 competitors and 2,500 visitors to the Pacific Northwestern city for seven days of racing leading up to the Labor Day Weekend. (more…)

With three races already under its belt, the 2010 Oregon cycling season is starting to simmer, and it’s seasoned with all the best time-tested races and some fancy new offerings to keep things interesting.

In With The New
The biggest change could come for riders seeking an OBRA road race championship — they may need to tweak their training peaks a bit. The Rehearsal Road Race and OBRA Championship Road Race have been moved to August from the the early June dates they occupied in 2009. The 2010 road races, which will take place in the Columbia River Gorge on courses that promoter Chad Sperry promises will be spectacular, run Saturday, Aug. 7 for the Rehearsal and Saturday, Aug. 28 for the OBRA Championships.

But the first of the brand new events is a three-race time trial series outside of Wilsonville. The As the Raven Flies Time Trial runs consecutive Saturdays, March 6, 13 and 20. The Salem Downtown Criterium will run April 3 in conjunction with the Willamette U. collegiate race.

May offers up a harvest of new events for Oregon riders, starting with the Bend Don’t Brake road race May 8 in Central Oregon. The Umpqua Criterium, promoted by Sal Collura, looks very promising. The Roseburg race runs May 29 in conjunction with a recreational ride that traverses the county. The next day features the Umpqua Road Race promoted by Ryan Champion. (more…)

Oregon’s VeloNews subscribers got a nice surprise in their mailboxes today. The March April issue of the magazine features Alpenrose Velodrome regular and Portland-based Rubicon-ORBEA rider Dean Tracy in a two page Cor Vos “Off the Front” photo spread. The Oregon rider is shown avoiding a crash at the Rotterdam Six day event.

From the magazine:

“American Dean Tracy said he could hear all 10,000 spectators gasp in unison as he narrowly avoided tumbling Dutchman Teun Mulder midway through the keirin. …Tracy, who hails from Portland, Oregon, is a two-time national team sprint champion making his first attempt at six-day racing in Europe this season. Stateside, he rides for the Rubicon Orbea team as a track specialist.”

Way to go, Dean.

HOOD RIVER — The Mt. Hood Cycling Classic pro women’s race is back on for 2010. Race Director Chad Sperry announced today that the June stage race will reinstate the event after previously deciding not to run an elite women’s race this year.

“After our initial press release was sent out regarding the postponement of the 2010 Women’s race, we were hit with an outpouring of support, enthusiasm, and commitment,” Sperry wrote via e-mail.

Sperry said many elite women racers have have committed to attending and supporting the event despite conflicts with National Race Calendar events. A scheduling conflict with the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia, one of only two women’s UCI races remaining in North America, reduced Hood’s women’s elite field to just 25 riders last year.

The USAC Pro/Cat 1 men and Cat 2 men will begin racing Tuesday with two stages in Portland. The Pro/1/2/3 women will begin racing — along with the rest of the OBRA categories — Thursday with a stage that begins in Washington under the Shadow of Mt. Adams. Cat 3 women will race with the Pro/1/2 riders but will be scored separately.

“There will be no Cat 4 race this year, as the difficult nature of the courses and challenging venues is better suited to the elite women,” Sperry said. “In addition, the Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic is focusing on providing Cat 3 and 4 women with a tremendous spring stage race in which to compete.”

Sperry also announced that Omer Kem has taken on the role as event “liaison” for the women’s race.

BEND — The Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic will once again be part of the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series, which features four national-caliber stage races that promise to showcase the country’s top female cycling talent.

The four events take place in four different states, beginning in March and running through July:

* March 25-28 – Redlands Bicycle Classic (California)
* April 28-May 2 – SRAM Tour of the Gila (New Mexico)
* June 16-20 – Nature Valley Grand Prix (Minnesota)
* July 20-25 – Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic (Oregon)

This is the second year that the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic has been a part of the series. The Nature Valley Grand Prix has been in every Women’s Prestige Cycling Series, and the Redlands Classic is in the line-up for the sixth time in seven years. New to the calendar is the SRAM Tour of the Gila, which replaces the Joe Martin Stage Race.

ADAIR — The Oregon road season takes off this Saturday with the Cherry Pie Road Race Northwest of Albany, and both cat 5 men’s fields are already full. It seems the bit of rain forecast for the Willamette Valley hasn’t dampened enthusiasm to pin on the numbers and hit the roads.

Groups will do one or two laps of the 25 mile course after a neutral roll out from Adair. The classic spring course serves up plenty of flats, a few rollers and a painful uphill finish. The first morning group takes off at 10 a.m., and the last afternoon group sets out at 1 p.m.

CMG racing’s Jacob Rathe won 2009’s cat 1/2 men’s race in front of Team Oregon’s Kennett Peterson. Therapeutic Associate’s Lisa Turnbull won the cat 1/2/3 women’s race on a beautifully sunny and unseasonably warm February day.

Check out some photos from last year’s race. (more…)

By Emiliano Jordan

I moved here for the community, not for the racing. Don’t get me wrong, the racing is hard and competitive; the courses are challenging and beautiful and the calendar is full. But if I only wanted racing, I would have moved to Southern California or stayed in Tucson. It’s the community that surrounds bike racing — the cycling community at large — that drew me to Portland. It’s the number of cyclists, the amount of bike paths and the recognition of cycling as a legitimate form of transportation and even materials transportation.

At the center of this is the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), the beneficiary of a fund-raising raffle that took place Friday night at Bike n Hike with generous donations from companies like Chris King, Rapha, Showers Pass, Endura, Doctor Will Bar, Ortlieb and, of course, a double grand-prize donation of two $1,100 Ticino city bikes from Electra. The raffle brought together an eclectic crowed that mixed bike racers, promoters and coaches with recreational or soon-to-be recreation riders, and even a Frank Zappa look-alike in old school pink BMX pants.

The specific goal of this fundraiser was to help the BTA with the “Build It” project, a project aiming to add 600-700 miles of bike paths to Portland with the end goal of seeing 25 percent of Portlanders using a bicycle as a habitual form of travel. I was happy to see Brad Ross of the Cross Crusades and the Portland Twilight Criterium, Chris Swan of Upper Echelon Coaching and a slew of other promoters, coaches and racers supporting the BTA. (more…)

THE DALLES — Oregon’s first stage race of the season is shaking things up for 2010.

The Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic, which offers four stages over three days April 23-25 in The Dalles, has added a new course and a slightly re-arranged race schedule. The 2010 version will feature road races the first two days and culminate with a time trial/criterium doubleheader on Sunday.

Cherry Blossom will start as it did in 2009, with the Columbia Hills Road Race on the barren rolling hills southeast of The Dalles. Bissell Pro Cycling Team’s Paul Mach rode away from the men’s pro/1/2 field last year on this opening stage and gained enough time to secure the overall victory.

With the time trial and criterium moved to Sunday, the 2010 edition will serve up its second road race on Saturday, but the Columbia Gorge Road Race course of 2009 and its repeated ascents of the aptly named Seven-Mile Hill is gone. In its place, the Orchard Run Circuit Race will take riders through the cherry orchards in the hills above town.

“After hearing comments like ‘burning legs,’ ‘forsaken hill’ and ‘demoralizing,’ we knew we had to make some changes,” race director Chad Sperry said of last year’s difficult climb. “After all, this isn’t June, and it’s not the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.”

Sperry said the new course features a roller coaster ride through cherry orchards that should be in full bloom. Views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and the Columbia River will greet riders as they power up a series of short big-ring climbs and over rolling terrain. The Sunday morning time trial and afternoon/evening criterium will wrap things up.

For more information on the stages, click “more” to go to the next page … (more…)