Rare achievment!

Oregon cycling
features brilliant cycling people.
From the urban commuters, to the open road adventure tourists.
From the mountain bikers to the throngs of cyclocross racers.
Portland Oregon's cycling scene is strong and vibrant. Full of inspiration and culture. Energy is everywhere.
Honoring the opportunity of this moment in their community, three youth made a rare choice and a rare achievement; they got ready with others, they raced the local best, and they won.

Thanks to a moment when all the bikes arrived and fit, the right races were chosen after the training with the team had demanded so much.

A Junior cyclist navigating in the OBRA racing peloton is competing against 91 other teams in 5 different disciplines featuring over a hundred different racing events. In any of them, racers must be skilled and fast.
Competitive Elite discipline in a team environment fosters survival in the pack.
Certainly racing on the steep banks of Alpennose Velodrome, Elite Juniors must be prepared and alert.
Elite Juniors need good road bikes, tt bikes, track bikes, mtn. bikes, cross bikes and second bikes to keep the racing bikes ready. It's mind boggling to visualize Junior Elite Racers in Oregon today.
Sharpening the edge of true Championship requires time, treasure, and a rolling enclosure of sport.
"Sharpening the edge," requires a special environment. No place does that rolling enclosure have conducive architecture like the velodrome, but the real competition in Oregon is in Cyclocross. Go figure.

Family and friends create  this rolling enclosure, around the calendar, with their strength and support. In the early winter, the training Team Ride forms out on the open road.

12 yr old Joshua attacks and is caught by 17 year old Tygre Westerfield at Piece of Cake

Bicycles and Ideas for Kids' Empowerment teams up with local adult Cyclisme riders share strength and sensibility as we raise children up in the paceline on the open road. For example, starting in January of 2018,  a crew of adults helped Mateen Richey get his base miles riding around Troutdale Airport.
There he found and revealed his very fast 500m sprint. Revelation of potential realized. Application would soon gain accolades

For the first time in his three year career, Joshua Morris fell into a strong comfortable aero position. On a home-made funny-bike, he won at the 2018 season opener, Jack Frost Time Trial. The first race of the season starting with a victory, was a new achievement for Joshua.
The achievement gave Joshua the confidence he needed to attack the discipline of mass start road racing. Finishing 5th at Piece of Cake was in Joshua's mind, like winning the National Championship.

Also at Piece of Cake road race we met a Lincoln HS Junior racing in the Men's cat 4/5s.
Tasman Alexander was a Junior at Lincoln HS in downtown Portland who would eventually lead our Junior Team through the track season to Six OBRA Track Championships.
Tasman arrived to our program hungry for miles, races, and well.. more!
Known in Cyclisme racing programs for his exploit chasing Chuck Westerholm through the Bull Run Valley, Tasman peddled out a 130 miles on that day and gave Chuck a run for his money. (something few of Chuck's team mates had been able to do previously)
Tasman moved lock step into the regime of track racing being pursued by Joshua and Mateen during the early Summer. Thanks to Tom Orth, they were enjoying Tuesday Nights at the PVC TT's and Pursuits.

They became a team and raced as A Team.
When the end of summer, OBRA Junior Track Camp arrived, and the OBRA Junior Track Championships were raced, the three youth revealed their hours of training, and team dynamic. After weeks of winning races and taking their premier position in the Junior Track Peloton they raced their first races with the Cat 3/4/5 Men.

In a recent Scratch race, 12 year old Joshua attacked from the start and got a surprising half lap gap. Whomever chased him down in the panic got a wily pursuer in Mateen. He took on any fight with full vigor, but only after a period of pulling up track with all the now-tired pursuers of Joshua. This helped Joshua to get back on and recover.
When the race took off again in earnest, Mateen was on the wheel of all attackers, and taking only half lap pulls. Finally as the finish line arrived, Tasman was in the sprint for a narrow 2nd place. The men were flabbergasted.

"Your kids are looking good John," they said with heads down, dejected.