Watch out, here he comes!

Little but strong, Kent Ross get's set to win.

Kent wins the Cat 4/5 Swan Island

Crit presented by Hammer Velo.

( he won most of the primes too!)

Racing legs  are coming with practice. Our Juniors are getting race savvy and have the palmares to prove it. Oregon is a tough peloton and our Juniors get to race National Caliber Juniors like Sam Rosenburg and 

the formidable BBC squad led by Grant MacElroy.

On our team, Noah Beggs is a worker who climbs. His improving pack sense is putting him higher and higher in pack sprints at PIR and Mt. Tabor.

Clay Rydick is finding his form. His time trial skills along with his father's have become exlempiary from lapping fields at the evening practices on Swan Island. Dad Dallas nipped Junior at the recent PIR TT flying at 23mph.



In the Cat 4 Men's Pack Kent is pack savvy, and finish line fast, teamed up with Keegan's bombastic speed and flamboyant style they have made a formidable duo heading into the Cat 4 race  
Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Stage Race 
this weekend.

Developing these athletes in simplesteps toward better form and teamwork is the Cyclisme way. Racing success comes soon enough in it's time.

Kids!

Gillian has some new strong, and a fresh desire to sprint!

Pete, Iaon, and Arquette make an amazing

new talent pool.

Kent won in the Swan Island 4/5s easy.

Luca climbs like a Gisele and gave the team a fast lead out on Mr. Tabor.

Noah Beggs is an up-and-comer who just got a 

new track bike from RCB.

Kent and Keegan are heading off to the Columbia Gorge!

Here comes Kent!

You met Keegan... now, here comes Kent!

 

Dispatching some elder muscle, Kent commanded Cat 5 PIR, two weeks in a row.

 Sacrificing with big "all in" moves, the Cyclisme old guys softened the field for "the kid" Tuesday Night. Then, to recover, they sat in for a bit, but soon they did it all again.

 Kent sat in and just watched, and even cheered them on.
He waited until his turn came, and Kent sprinted from very long out, even with all the rest on his wheel,
Kent won.

Winning the week before as well, Kent enjoyed the pack numbing blocking of 35 year old Pete Smith and young pal Noah Beggs while Kent hammered a two man break for the entire race's length.

Meanwhile, in public life Kent is doing well in school, and giving his time to build a cycling program at Blazer Boys and Girls Club.


Pictured below right, Kent the Peer Mentor is explaining the meaning of his Team's Kit to younger kids at The Boys and Girl's Club,

Kent  reads from his  journal out loud to his Junior team mates a description of what Bicycles and Ideas for Kids' Empowerment means to him, then sells it to sponsors.



I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.
Isaac Asimov

Kent and his pal Keegan are ready to ride in Junior Road Nationals in Georgia.

BB 3 for Victory!

Keegan wins Banana Belt 3 at Hagg Lake.

Rolling big requires a lot of stuff. You have to have radios, (not in the race though) and you have to have a camp fire. You need a baseball glove, and you need jam - lots of jam.

Where some California teams might find themselves lacking,
Word-RCB has it all.

Preparing hours early on
our
very own side of the lake, we could enjoy privacy while frantically trying to light a fire with wet wood.
Or the intimacy of a quick game of "catch" in the blustery cold before racing 22 miles. Camp Cyclisme as it was named, though no one called it that, was in very few ways, a home away from home. However, it was four miles away from the starting area.


Rolling out as a team to the startline made a nice warm-up, and a last minute entrance to "the scene," which was a lot of fun.

Though the pack was small,
competition was big!
Grant McElroy is a three time National Champ, and the Banana Belt Series Leader after two victories in a row!

His trusty team BBC, is filled with savvy veterans.

Keegan was able to get away in large part because Grant was marking the BB-Series threat, while being marked himself by Kent Ross.

Afterwards, food, and drink, were supped quick by a fire finally, but big winds made baseball brief.


Jam-on Cyclisme, jam on.

Coaches!

Learning to give something back, the kids of b.i.k.e. created the Olympic Training Center's "Kid's on Bikes" coaching curriculum created by Mark Tyson and Portland's own Phil Claude, in the parking lot of the Portland Police Bureau's North Precinct today .

Passing the torch of skilled bike riding in a safe environment has become the skill of some young impresarios.

Visionary young bicycle racers are giving their time after school to nurture a younger cycling team than themselves.

Working indoors on linoleum floors with slower speeds in a smaller circle, the elder coaches from Bicycles and Ideas for Kids' Empowerment have built up the handling skills of the Blazer Boys and Girls Club studentbody by teaching a class once a week for the last year.

When they see the Kids of b.i.k.e. show up, they cheer!

Some Boys and Girls Club kids literally LEARNED to ride a bicycle in this class.

Today the sun came out and we knew...

Outside at last! Sun in March is like "first sun in the springtime!"

...wull, 'cause it IS the first sun of springtime!

Today, thanks to a quick and big response from Club Manager, Tim Sicocan, and Police Captain Walsh, Police cruisers were relocated and a huge space in the bustling police parking lot was provided.

Keegan and Noah made the announcement at the Afternoon Assembly.

KIDS RIDE OUT-SIDE!

And if you don't think this class is popular, especially amongst the 2nd to 4th graders, whew, you have not seen the competition that begins in the line!

Some kids experience real trepidation. They want it so bad, that joy of riding a bike, but they just don't know how to ride yet.

But this class teaches them to ride. If you are little, or you are afraid, this class helps you first.

All the coaches are nice and fun. They want to play too. They run along side you, or just walk and hold the kid up who is afraid to fall.

Kids who love it, race, then wait in line just to do it again.

The Class of Cyclisme!

Rolling out on the Market/Mill Street bike paths,
the weather began to break.
Spirits were high, as friends and families worked together to make a long steady climb from the river to the south slope of Mt. Tabor.

At a brisk pace, Bergmann and Dallas led the way out in two columns.

Lori and Tracy felt their son's energy put to good use with a helping hand at key moments.
Feeling the crush of time, Lori and Traci bid everyone farewell, and turned back at 122nd.

Out in the Sweetbriar of the back Gresham farmlands, the pack descended. This was the point where the Rydicks handed out more of Jean's cookies and pulled the plug on the high speed chase.
Meanwhile the dogs were all but let loose. I could hardly get the car out of the way as we moved onto the Stark Street hill.

Sprinting to the Springdale sign, Keegan O'Neill was victorious. When the climb to Corbett ensued Keegan, Kent and Jake pulled away.
Pellman, Lee, Beggs, and Mallon joined up with their trusty mentor, Tim Bergmann for a laughing group in hot pursuit over the high plain.

Coming home, after a raging descent, and a big sprint between Kent and Jake, Jake on his $100 1970's steel Peugot with steel wheels, Kent and Jake pulled the team fast into a light headwind on Marine Drive.

Rydicks rejoined on 33rd despite two flats since we had seen them last. Still in good humor they joined the lead group, riding back on Dekum.

Juniors!

Season Opener finishes with Victory on Palestine Hill!







photos
by

hotfootphoto.com
&
Pat Malach
Our Juniors launched a paceline from the roll-out, and sent attack after attack.
Sending the ultra energetic OBRA Overall super nova, Keegan O'Neill, Cyclisme Juniors blocked up the pack and got Keegan EIGHT MINUTES off the front.

Marking the lead out vehicle, Word-RCB jumped like Jake.

Kent and Noah were off the front, Kent and Dey Shaun got waaay off the front for a while but BBC chased them down. Then Keegan towed the pack around and strung it out, wheel to to wheel hot.

Finally, about five miles out, the pack's endurance broke, and Keegan was away. Kent immediately justified their lack of resolve with slow pedal strokes at the front. Dey Shaun and Noah obliged to pull through as if the effort was official, even if absurdly slow.

For over a half hour, the pack acquiesced to dawdling. Every once in a while, one person might feign an attack, but could not get anything to coalesce.

"If any one jumped, I knew they were going to see me on their wheel," Dey Shaun Lee said of his blocking strategy.

When nearly 18miles had been covered, BBC led others in a flurry of attacks. The flurry was so violent, tired from his early work blocking, Noah Beggs found himself suddenly 100 meters off the back.

Dey Shaun stuck to the lead BBC attackers and Kent helped him regain control of the pack. They slowed it down enough for Noah to chase back on, but not for twenty minutes.

Coming into the final climbs, attacks came thick and fast, and our guys were on every one. When the fastest came to the final, and most steep hill, Kent from the front all the way and won.

Kent is in an older division, so he finished First, as well. Noah got 3rd in Keegan's division, and Dey Shaun got 5th in Kent's division despite throwing his chain in the sprint.

During yoga back in the parking lot afterwards, everyone was bone tired, but had good things to say about each other, and their Team Effort.