Friday, December 09, 2016

Man of Steel

Stalwart participant
From before the turn of the century,
Always a team player, Fergus is ready to pull through.
Fergus Kinnell rode and raced with Cyclisme racing programs.

His Cyclisme debut was made in the hallowed halls of Matt Dishman Community Center where he participated in "Rollers 101." (the very same evening, a young man named Dey Shaun Lee also began with Cyclisme)
A real racer.

Naiqwan and Fergus.
In those days, he threw his right knee out and didn't bend his elbows, but years of practice transformed him into an elegant cyclist.
Racing, but mostly training Fergus maintains a healthy lifestyle and real speed on the bike.

Naiqwan pounds steel.
Mr, Kinnell serves the team on the bike, but he also enriches the lives of others off the bike as well.
Fergus is  metal worker who specializes in steel, stainless steel and bronze. Kinnell Steel has fashioned light fixtures, gates, railings and more in some of Portland's most fashionable addresses.
Where men work metal.
Fergus uses his shop to teach inner city youth about work in the trades.

Some hillarious young minds have become quite serious around the heat of the forge or the welding torche at Kinnell Steel.

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Durango Kid

Here he comes.



Rob Waldman is an outdoorsman essentially. He has
a kind hearted mountainman's sensibility.

Strong out of the saddle.



Well trained on the bike, gentleman Rob is a smooth pedaler with good form.


Years in the saddle around a social cycling setting have made him comfortable in the pack. He shops dilligently for the conservative position within the pack.


Tucked in smart.


But when road turns up, Rob betrays his humility and goes public with his inner greatness.
The Durango Kid

Transplanted to Oregon from Colorado, Rob spent years riding with the Durango Wheelmen. there he rode with some of America's finest cyclists on some of America's most challenging roads.

Troutdale City Limits

Randy Word leads "Word-RCB, by Cyclisme"


Signs at the edge of civilization.

Three decades in our revolutionary Cyclisme, City Limits Signs (County Limits, Entering, Leaving, etc)  lived to be exuberantly sprinted past. Tim Bergmann of the 1980s was a ravenous monster devouring sprint signs from Mount Hood to the Pacific Ocean.

Sprint signs are elusive. Not only requiring all the machinations of "the politics of legs" and the precepts of aerodynamic draft placement, but simply, one needs to keep track of where the signs are located.

Common in the post sprint conversation is the voice saying "I didn't see it!" or "Where was it" "Was that it?"

Two columns of talent.


Of course, these are the same voices that ask, " are we rotating a paceline?"
Some just don't worry about intermediate sprint Prime victory, but elect instead to follow up the sprint victors then keep going full speed to attack to an imaginary point in a breakaway posture.
Lonely perhaps, but still practicing the way of the break away artist - a most valuable technique for victory in itself.

Sarah Miller is a very strong prospect.
Truth is, any savvy dillettante of the European Pro peloton can win a City Limits Sign by simply minding the animators.  Just look for the players sprinting up every rolling hill if you want to enjoy a free ride to victory.

Victory's price requires tending to the key players' drafts, and watching their eyes. Use their energy and your talent will be gifted with a docent lodestar. Their excitement to sprint will guide the path to every relevant sprint sign our local government has posted for visibility and secured to a 4x4 post sunk in concrete at the right hand side of the road.
 (coming back north to Troutdale, the City Limits sign is actually a grand architectural wonder)
High class Mr. Hayward.


Of course all this is easier said than done, and as an amateur cycling Directeur Sportif, I instruct all of my sprint-centric Captains to promptly announce verbally, well in advance, the upcoming contest, but unfortunately I do not enjoy the same traction in the action outcomes that Pro Team Directors seem to enjoy.



Thursday, October 20, 2016

Team Rides from RCB

Tualitan Mountaineers!





For Practice!
Tim starts early


Tradition cares not if it rains, or shines. Since the days of Jay Beattie and GB Cyclisme's humble beginnings at PSU, the sprint to the "stop sign ahead"
sign after the bridge off Fairmont, has been ferocious.

Rides from the East Bank of the Willamette River offer progressive stages of developing drama.
Randy, Fergus take the sprint!




From the Hawthorne
bridge to the edge of the Tualiti Mountain Range, through the core of the city is like a climb in Manhattan.
Tony, Berg and
Ferg  climb steep.

After Portland State University, the ride becomes a tour in The Alps.

By the time they reach the descent into the little valley of SW Upper,
the steep climb out demands more than anyone thought they brought.


The Chidren train on Fairmont too
But after a bathroom break at the Hilltop Cheveron, everyone is ready again for the pacelines and sprint of Fairmont Loop.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

We've been to the mountaintop!

S. Miller, S. Bedard, P. Jennings, J. Morris, M. Miller
Government Camp to Timberline Lodge,
is the traditional
Tristan Young
route of the Oregon Hillclimb Chamionship.

West Leg Road and 2,700 feet of climbing in just five miles make it a harrowing test.

Just getting up the hill was the order of the day for our Cyclisme racers. Beginners that they were, they were able to pluck  the low lying fruit of entry-level championship.
Cyclisme racers were some of the slowest in the 75 person competition, but still they won medals in their divisions.

However, our new Peter Jennings cruized up the old Timberline road in 32 minutes for the 25th fastest time, and became the State Champion in the Cat 5 Men's Division. He would have needed to complete the course in 25 minutes to win in the Pro 1/2, but just 29 minutes to win in the Cat 4s.

Sarah Miller celebrates a Bronze Medal in the 4/5 Women.
In the overall Oregon Cup Individual Time Trial Series Sarah Miller and Tristan Young won the women's 4/5 and Junior 15 yr. old's, while Joshua Morris finished second for his annual effort in his 11yr. old division.

Thursday, April 07, 2016

Hour of Speed

Michelle Miller, Sarah Miller, & Laura de la Houssaye.
Eric Hagen, Tim Bergmann, Fergus Kinnell, & Jason Skelton
One hour 
of 
aerobic 
activity
in the middle of the week simply improves anybody's outlook,
but when a goal-oriented bicycle racer finds a pace-line,
a circular course,
and a wild bunch of playful sprinters,
they know they have found something special flying around Cutter Circle Boulevard,
on Portland's famous Swan Island,
Holding on to the "whiplash" around the corner.
the WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOUR OF SPEED.

Meet the Team


Alone, we can do a little, but together we can do a lot!
Swarming south on SW Broadway.

Cycling in Portland hurts for sun block, a raincoat, sunglasses, and water proof socks.


Racing in Oregon obligates one to find a leeward intuition, a goat like climb, and a fearless sprint.

At Cyclisme Racing Programs Veteran racers interact with benevolence to help newer racers practice Victory.

Games on the open road amidst car traffic
unveil the challenges of racing tactics, pacelines, and the kind of interpersonal bike handling that is valuable in bicycle racing.


Tim Bergmann leads out the traditional sprint after the bridge on Fairmont Loop.



The Lore of Cyclisme.