Raising Marquell

Our first debt of gratitude and our greatest find 

are his wonderful parents, who support our effort to make him fast.

Transforming lives one pedal stroke at a time is good for the young person that is served, but it is most certainly a grand opportunity for those who toe in and do the work. It is always interesting, usually enlightening, and sometimes fun.

Marquell Brown was 11 when he introduced himself to me. The first day we put him in cleats he fell over so many times, I think he was traumatized. But a week later he climbed up over Terwilliger and rode out to the velodrome.

Marquell participated in a Cycling Camp at the PSU campus in which nearly everyone on the team participated at some point. He gardened, cooked, shopped, registered, signed up, checked out, climbed, sprinted, and most of all, towed. He towed my wheelchair back and forth across downtown too many times to count.

He has email, see: marquellbrown@ymail.com

He has a Multnomah County Library card. He knows how to work the scene in the Pearl, and he can cook a sizzling sea food plate like the one he likes to order at Pho Than Long. 

When De'Shaun came back from Church Camp, he could tell, Marquell had become much faster then he remembered. Marquell raced his first race Sunday at the Vancouver Crit and finished 7th out of ten after fighting hard to hold on to the pack. Now Marquell is on sabatical in Las Angeles, but we look forward to his return.

Rock Solid Foundation

Veterans build new Stars and Domestiques

Ultimately, the success of everything we accomplish rests on the foundation of great Cyclisme racers who have come before. So whether it's a college professor, steeped in the annals of modern thought teaching his 13year old team mate how to look tough at the race start by hanging elbows in the hoods, or whether its two old friends and neighbors waiting at Starbucks wondering "what the heck is he thinking?"  Their support, and calm go-to know-how when everyone else is freaking out, is priceless. It's guys and gals like these that are the foundation of Cyclisme.

Hall of Fame - Community Leaders

Leadership is a roll played many ways and these women
exemplified the best technique - kindness. Each with a
different story, all three made a vanguard of championship
and community leadership that enhanced the form and
quality evident in Portland's bustling cycling scene we see
today.



Angel Cobb, left to right, had been on the team the longest,
and on TV the most.  Angel came up through the b.i.k.e.
team with her sister Nissy. She became the team leader
and Captain.

Nanci Moyo took Angel's coaching one day and won the
bronze medal for Portland State University at the Collegiate
Regional Track Championships. Later, Nanci went on to be
elected President of theCyclisme Racing Club. As our first
President, she also became our first Women President
(she was also  our first women President named Nanci,
but thats another matter..)

Nanci lead with grace, and Presidential demeanor while
creating the first administration of leadership for Cyclisme.
Tony Ohotto served as Team Treasurer for years with 
Nanci while others came and went in other roles. 

We started blogging under her administration.

Anna Scalera worked at BTA and Led that organization's
gigantic and revolutionary in-school program in Portland
Public schools. Anna was the consummate nurturer and
could always be counted on to fall back in the line to
check how you were doing.

Everyone of these great cyclists has pushed countless
new folks, little children, and each other up hills. Together,
they make a wonderful chapter in the Lore of Cyclisme.

JB