Team Dinner

Telling The Lore


Many have come together to make the Lore and on an icy winter night, many gathered to tell the Lore.

Food was plentiful as everyone brought something wonderful, but the culminating culinary event was Indian Fry Bread made by Naiqwan's Grandmother Gail, and his Mother Candi.

Many, including the Juniors spoke of the Lore past, and everyone talked about their favorite moments from this year.

Cyclisme lives on.

Wanna WIN!?

Try this.

We can do it.

We can spin this fast.

You guys just got to believe.

I know you did it already.

Glory be.

Old School...

Team Work!

In a Cyclisme era typified by dynamic duos, we see another great twosome emerge into the limelight.

Unfortunetly Eric Lanners and Greg O'Brien could not have had dirtier uniforms on when the fond eye of fame focused on their finish.

Photo Credit: Will Cortez

Krugers Crossing 11-22-09, by Greg

I'm pretty humble and soft spoken, so my Krugers race report summary may seem out of character...

Greg and Eric put a beat-down on the Mens Master B 35+ field!

1st Place, Eric Lanners
2nd Place, Greg O'Brien

I discussed strategy with Eric before the race, and I was to not kill it the first lap, to try and have some strength to finish hard, hopefully together with Eric.

Well, I got a good start, grabbed the holeshot, and when I looked back a few minutes later it was just me an unlucky #787 with a sizable gap to the chasers. 787 passed me before the barriers, but I passed him back when he had tire trouble a bit later in the first lap.

I held a good gap for the next lap, crashing once but recovered pretty quickly. Passing through the line after lap 2 Luciano announced that it was now a Cyclisme Team Time Trial, with Eric coming up on me. Eric passed, I dangled back a little bit but was able to hold on to 2nd comfortably.

I hope I can hold some good strength for the 2 days of the USGP at PIR. This has been my best cyclocross season so far, and remarkably is going the way I planned it, which is to be peak near the end.

Dave Wingard, DeyShaun and Naiqwan and Aurbey also all had good races. Pictures are from Jim Long and richtheneighbor. Aubrey raced a fixed gear CX bike! No pics of him yet.

Cross Crusade #8 Barton 11-15-09, by Greg

Cross Crusade grand finale at Barton Park.
Mens Master B 35+:
3rd Greg
6th Eric Lanners

Mens C:
87th Aubrey Edwards

Mens Juniors:
9th Naiqwan Pelman
12th DeyShaun Lee

Jeff Gerwing raced but double flatted. Mike Mann also flatted. Dave Wingard raced (I think), but can't find a result.

Dave definitely took some good pics, they are here.

These pics are from Will Cortez. I'm happy, as a podium spot at a Crusade race has been a goal for a while.

Cross Crusade #7 PIR 11-8-09, by Greg

I should have written this up sooner, as my memory is lousy with details. Aubrey, Cameron, DeyShaun, Naiqwan and I all met at Naiqwan's and drove over to PIR. I thought with the rain and wind it would be nice to have a dry place to keep the clothes, etc.

Aubrey rode the yellow MTB I've been loaning Naiqwan, while Cameron rode the Jamis team bike that DeyShaun keeps. For their first cross race, they did admirably well, finishing right near the middle of the 120 deep Men's C group.

Eric and I were up next in the Mens B 35+. The course was really wet, with a single really deep and long puddle, and a few peanut buttery mud sections and two super slippery off camber sections.

I felt great, and passed a bunch on the first lap and was riding with Eric. Near the end I started to fade a bit and he kept getting faster. Eric took 5th and I got 8th out of the 100 man field.

Naiqwan and DeyShaun rode well again, taking 7th and 13th places in the 32 racer Junior Men field.

I was really pleased with my best Cross Crusade result so far, and that I felt strong after racing the previous day.

OBRA CX Championships 11-7-09 Salem OR, by Greg

Driving down to Salem we were amazed at the lack of rain. Naiqwan, DeyShaun, Aubrey, Dave, Jake and I headed South at 8:00 am for Aubrey and Dave's 10:00 am race.

The parking lot was cold and windy, but the racecourse was very cool. Although it was pancake flat, it had a bit of everything else including: flat paved start, bumpy wet grass, gravel section, sand pit, mud, barriers, grass headwind sections, indoor soft dirt horse arena, indoor motocross section with jumps and a big berm, and a live band playing.

Aubrey had a blast in his first cross race, taking 8th place in the Beginners Men category. Dave added to the points with 13th place in the Master C's.

Eric and I rode well in the Master B's with Eric taking 6th and me 11th. Eric and I are Yin and Yang in the races. I start hot and fast, and when I start fading a little at the mid point Eric starts coming on stronger and finishes hard. The intersection of these points is really fun, when we're racing together.

At noon the juniors took to the course. Naiqwan and DeyShaun both rode well, with Naiqwan coming out on top with a 4th place finish in the Junior 15/16 category, and DeyShaun just behind in 6th place.

Next, Jake gladly took up my offer to use my cross bike instead of the mountain bike for the 1:00 pm Men's B race. First lap he was sitting in about 4th place, then he pulled away and convincingly won the B's. His fitness really showed.

All in all a great day on a beautiful course, with about 100 or so points scored. The so-so photos are by me, the good ones are thanks to Shane Young and Bike & Hike.


















































Jake's a media magnet.
Eric attacks the sand pit.

Cross Crusade #6, Clatsop County Fairgrounds, by Greg

DeyShaun, Naiqwan and the O'Brien family all headed out through the fog and mist to Astoria for the famed costume race. Intermittent blue sky was encouraging.

2 hours later, we pulled into the lot, right on the edge of the fog break. We hustled over and signed in a paid up. Naiqwan and DeyShaun didn't get the memo that it was a costume optional race, so DeyShaun announced that he was going to be dressed as a "bike racer".

We saw Eric, who had a nice 7th place finish on Saturday, earning a coveted call-up position. I saw my lucky number 6 would get the 2nd to last starting slot....again.

After warming up, I put on my bloody Dr. Pain scrubs and it was go time. The race course was awesome. Slippery, technical off camber, a bit of climbing. I felt great and had a good race, with just one minor crash. I actually got ahead of Eric somehow, but he passed me back on the 4th or 5th lap.

DeyShaun and Naiqwan did great, taking 5th and 8th places. Eric took 14th, and I came in 20th. I'm feeling good, confident I can hang with the front dozen or so racers f I can just get a decent start slot.

We drove home tired and happy. We stopped at a cool fish ladder on the North Fork Klaskanine river. Naiqwan and Danny both gave it a thumbs up.

Next up, state CX champs in Salem on Saturday Nov. 7th, then Crusade at PIR on Sunday the 8th. Hope to see you there!

Cross Crusade #4 Washington County Fairgrounds, by Greg

Cyclisme had a skeleton crew for this one. Just me and DeyShaun rolling out from Portland to Hillsboro. DeyShaun was excited, as he heard that this was a really flat course and he could use his power.

After signing in and riding a lap with Mike Mann the rain started to fall lightly. We went back to the car for last minute prep and warm-up. We rode to the starting area to find that my group, lucky number 6 was slated to start as the next to last group. Again. Only Eric had it worse, his group was dead last.

Someone with more time and math skill than me did this figuring (revised 10-27-09):

Week 1 there were (10!) lineups possible. Weeks 2-4 there were (9!) lineups possible. This gives 10!*(9!)^3 lineups that could have occurred.

The number of lineups where a PARTICULAR number is in a fixed configuration of spots over the 4 races is 9!*(8!)^3… provided that particular number has never landed “in the beer” (which is true for the cases we’re looking at here, and doesn’t change the overall number of possible lineups. For example, if someone lands “in the beer”, instead of having (8!) ways for the other groups to line up for EACH of the 9 possible slots (2 thru “beer”) said group could fill had they NOT landed "in the beer", said group can only line up in the first slot, with (9!) ways for the other groups to line up. Either way, there are (9!) lineups possible the next week.)

So, if there are 9!*(8!)^3 ways for a PARTICULAR number to wind up in a fixed non-beer configuration over the 4 races, let’s look at how many fixed configurations are as bad or worse than two 9^th place and two 8^th place starts:

1) All 9^th place: this happens only 1 way for each group: total # lineups = 1 * (10 groups) * 9!*(8!)^3 lineups as described above.

2) Four possibilities that have three 9^th place starts with one 8^th place start: 8999, 9899, 9989, 9998: total # lineups = 4 * (10 groups) * 9!*(8!)^3 lineups as described above.

3) Six with 2 of each: 8899, 8989, 8998, 9889, 9898, 9988, so 6 * (10 groups)*9!(8!)^3 lineups, but 2 groups could be getting screwed at once here (i.e., whenever one of the groups is 8th, the other one is 9th), so there has been some double counting— there are (10 choose 2 = 45)*(6 configs)*(7!)^3 lineups where this happens, so we must subtract them out.

So overall, we have (10!)*(8!)^3 + 4*(10!)*(8!)^3 + 6*{10!*(8!)^3 – 45*(7!)^3} ways for at least one group to get a “whine-inducing series of lineups” as we’ve described.

Dividing by the total number of lineups, which is 10!*(9!)^3, we have 0.015089… about 1 in 66, which is significant by most standards.

Not nearly as rare as a lightening strike--but, sadly, more evidence than the FDA or Big Pharma are made to provide...

I don't buy into a conspiracy theory, but that's some damn bad mojo to get the lousy start places 4 times in a row.

Anyway, we were off, with all of 4 racers behind me. Eric crashed in front of me near the middle of the first lap but was quickly back up. I crashed a couple laps later and was also quickly back up. I was run off the course (nearly into Tireless Velo's firepit) by some hack who couldn't steer his bike. I still managed to pass a bunch and finish in 33rd from my starting position of about 113th.

Photo by pdxcross.com

DeyShaun also crashed, and managed to finish in the points with a 14th place finish. Our buddy Mark Ontiveras of our sponsor River City Bicycles was ecstatic after his race, with a strong 12th place finish in the Master 50+ field.

It was the funnest race so far due to an excellent course layout that made the most of a flat landscape, and some mud to make things slippery and interesting.

Eric will get a good starting position in Astoria this coming Saturday, so I expect we'll see him in the points. I'm going to miss the Saturday race, but will hopefully get a good start slot on Sunday. The forecast shows that it will be a muddy race, wooo hoooo!

Cross Crusade #3 Sherwood Equestrian Center, by Greg

Mostly a photo essay type report. Dave's race ended in the first lap with a crash. My race ended when I quit after 2 laps, feeling tired and sick. Jeff raced strong. DeyShaun raced well, placing in the points. Naiqwan ran 2 laps after breaking his chain. That's hardcore!

Photos courtesy of Shane Young and CycleOne coaching (except the B&W of DeyShaun, which is from Brujo).

Cross Crusade 2009 #2 Rainier High School, by Greg

We met at Naiqwan's place to convene before the Cross Crusade #2 Race. Dave, Jeff, Liliane, Naiqwan, Danny and I headed North to Rainier High School. The course has a reputation of being the "best" cyclocross course of the Crusade, but it is among my least favorites as far as placing well. The course features an extended climb (for a cross course anyway), that favors the climbing type of rider. It is a fast course, and with dry weather did not have any boggy or technical areas.

Before the race we met Eric Lanners in the parking lot and we set about registering, warming up, etc, Naiqwan asked if I had any leg warmers he could borrow, and I replied "no, but try this..." and had him embrocate up with some good old Mad Alchemy Cold Weather Warming rub. Good stuff, he probably felt it in the shower hours after the race!

I watched Dave stage for the Mstr C race, and he was again slotted to a lousy back position (right next to former Cyclisme racer Darren Pennington) due to the random start draw scheme. Dave rallied hard and passed over half of the field before finishing.

After some more warm up Jeff, Eric and I headed to the start corral for our race. Jeff and Eric are both in the "3" group, who lined up 2 before my "6" group, which was next to last. Ironically next to last is worst, as the last group not only gets a free 6-pack of beer, they also get the first slot at the next race...

Anyway, we start and I slide to the left onto the grass and get past a bunch of guys in the gravel. Then I almost puke on the climb, and just try and go full steam ahead for the race. I got past Jeff at one point, and he jumped on my wheel and let me know it. Jeff expected me to have a good line on a bumpy off camber turn, but I tried it with no brakes and ended up overcooking and bushwacking through the blackberries (maybe you had to be there, it was pretty funny).

Anyway, we all passed a bunch of people, and Eric just missed getting in the points (and future series call-up).

Naiqwan rode with a purpose, and scored a 5th place finish, improving on last week's 6th place. No mechanicals, and clean, aggressive riding was the order of the day for him.

Next week, mud at last.

Greg

Arch Angel...

FLYING!

over

barriers

with

sheer determination,

and

cutting up single track

on skills honed by the backwoood race courses of Oregon MTB racing,

Naiqwan

"Angel"

Pellman

is now leading Cyclisme

into the

2009 Cross Crusade.

While only 13 years old, he is rated the BEST 14year old in the State!

Thats a lot of "13 year old."

In the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association's rating system this 13 year old Junior is leading OBRA's thirteenth ranked team "Word-RCB" into the winter season discipline Cyclocross.

Naiqwan did not just arrive out of thin air.

Originally a new to Portland Arizona transplant, he was led by his cousin Caezar to join a young Dey Shaun Lee out at the Alpenrose velodrome, back in 2007.

From his days towing the disabled back and forth from PSU University to Powell's bookstore, to pacelining at the ghettodrome; then from winning medals at Alpenrose to long drives around Oregon with his men's Mt. Bike Team.

Angel has risen.

But his biggest moves have not been on the bike, but in the classroom and after school. Naiqwan attends the SEI Academy where he is known as "Angel." Once he started attending Tony Hopson's famous school where "Life Has Options," his grades improved.

After school, he gets on his cycling clothes, and is soon met by one of his elder teammates who ride with him across town to homework sessions at the Woodstock Library, with lunch and yard work and yoga at the Atomic Ranch. By being respectful and open to everyone's advice he has pulled the team together.

Himself, for beginners like 40 year old metal worker Fergus Kinnel, he is a fine coach of the many skills involved in getting around the velodrome, but Naiqwan has has also enjoyed receiving excellent coaching and mentoring. Examples include Jake Hasnen on abdominals and strength as well as day to day road training, and Greg O'Brien who has driven him to mountain bike races, paid fees, and taken special care to create the best bicycle possible, despite limited resources.