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2007 April May 11th |
The Russian Bears Blog
April 24th, 2007 This being my first blog of the year, I’ve got a
lot of stuff to cover here… We’ll start with the most recent and work
back. Look for more timely updates in the future…. Last weekend at Wente Brutal we had Shaun
“legend” Locker rolling in the super stacked 35+123’s. It’s
getting ridiculous out there with Amd / Discovery bringing their herd of 7
mutants along with powerhouse Safeway to keep things plenty fast. Shaun
hasn’t been feeling 100% lately but still managed to finish 50 of 79.
The next day’s crit was better where he passed a bunch of guys on the
final lap for 24th in a big field of 89 confirming he has good
speed and flat power. Shaun just needs to lose 10 lbs. or so and he’ll
be climbing with the leaders once again… Meanwhile, back east, Ally Cat has been living the
life of a pro, racing and training more than anybody on the team. Big news
is her first Division 1 collegiate win and what a win it was. Lees McRae
(her college cycling team in North Carolina) was hosting the races with a
Sat. crit and a brutal road course with over 1000 ft of vert every 7 mi.
lap. Perfect for Ally’s climbing aptitude. In the crit, Ally played
perfect team mate as Lee’s went 1,2,3 with Ally getting the bronze. The
report from the road race is that Ally attacked very early all alone. Talk
in the peloton was that they would certainly catch her later and what was
she thinking going off so early. Yeah right! Ally went ballistic, catching
and passing the men’s B race that started a minute before. Keeping the
hammer down, she came in 7:30 up on 2nd place… Now that’s
some style baby. Keep it up Ally and bring us home a National medal.
Collegiate nationals are May 11-12 in Kansas on a fairly hilly course.
She’ll be back for Yreka crit and the summer. She’s doing Mt. Hood (in
the 6 stage pro race), Elkhorn, Cascade, Nevada city, etc… I’m getting
tired just thinking about it. Go Ally! Brian Kaden (BK) and H (Mike Hylinsky) went down for the Otter and did the XC race. 40 miles for H on the hardtail, ouch. BTW you should see his brand new DeSalvo hardtail Ti. The thing is SICK…<22lbs with disk brakes, that’s what I’m talking about… Both the boys finished the race (good job) and then
BK went to work smoozing our sponsors that were at the expo. That same weekend up at Kings Valley we had Reny, Steve M., Brian J., and Spencer battling it out. Even though Reny’s new training program is basically no training, just racing, he was still able to make the early break with Woras and Reeb. It didn’t stick so Reny rolled in with the pack. Maluk broke a spoke early on ( Steve, get some Reynolds carbon) race over… Spence was coming off a cold and finished with the field as did Brian J. Here’s a couple of web photo links for you to see… http://www.billseyephotography.exposuremanager.com/p/kings_valley_rr_4-14/img_856249 http://www.billseyephotography.exposuremanager.com/p/kings_valley_rr_4-14/img_866316 http://photos.oregonvelo.com/p/kv07cat12/img_000531 Here’s a race report from Spence for Icebreaker and
Cake. Just one note, Brian Foster (Tatter) may have found the 3’s at
Icebreaker a bit fast due to Spencer having too much espresso before the
race, but he had an awesome masters race finishing 18th. He
says “I’m starting to feel Euro again” so watch out… IceBreaker
went Ok for me – I feel like I was the most aggressive person there but
I missed the winning 6 man break. I got caught at the front when the
decisive move happened and a group that I was in had just been pulled
back. No one would come around or help and after a 2-3 lap break
where I had to do more than my share of the work, I got caught at the
front. The big teams were represented in the break and the momentum in the
main field just died. I got a chase group going a few laps later and made
some pretty good headway, but we had one guy not working and another who
was playing interference for his two teammates up the road. I should have
been 7th, but lost track of the laps and didn’t contest the finish –
and finished 11th. Brian finished in the main group and was placed 15th
– I haven’t talked to him since Saturday, but he probably got a gift
there because he thought he was the last finisher in the main field. Bryan
Foster was a bit surprised by the intensity early on (my fault, sorry) and
he only lasted a couple laps – we had 40 or so starters and only 26
finished. Meanwhile that
same weekend down at the Ronde Van Brisbeen, Shaun was once again tearing
it up with the fastest masters group in the country. A crash took him out
early on day 1 but the next day was much better where he came 8th.
Good job Shaun. Here’s a pic link… http://www.kckingphoto.com/gallery/2654980#140410666 and I
couldn’t help but post this one from Mt. Hamilton last year. Maybe Shaun
should talk to the team dentist Dr. Gary McGraw about obtaining a tongue
scrapper!!! http://kckingphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/1502245/2/72061915#72061915 Shaun also did
the brutal Copperopolis r.r. where an early crash put him in chase mode
the rest of the race. He said “Yeah… I’d get in a group of 6 or so
chasers and just blow them apart. Then I’d just catch another group of
chasers and blow them apart.” Man I’m glad this guys on our team. He
chased back to come in 36th…nice… At Land Park
Shaun finished a solid 10th in a huge field of “skill
challenged” masters Starting the
year was the So.Oregon T.T.’s where Etna Brew / DeSalvo went 1,2,3 to
sweep the series. Spence showed everybody how it’s done… Let’s not
forget about Cherry Pie where Brian J. came 16th, a very solid
ride… and Spence came home 43rd after having a mechanical I
believe…. If I missed
anybody, sorry and send me an e-mail report for the future.
May 11, 2007 Last weekend was the Spring Thaw / OR. State
championships. Etna Brew was represented by Steve, Reny, Mike H., Brian
K., Chris S., and Rory S. Reny was the only one who could stay with Evan Plews
on the climb. He said that Plews was chatting while Reny was breathing
hard so….. At the top Reny reached for his GU and realized it was in the
jersey he left at the start line… ooops!!
“the bitch didn’t even wait for me once we were at the top!”
was Reny’s reply when asked how he lost over 4 minutes on the fire road.
Bad went to worse on a full bonk descent where a crash meant game over for
Reny.
“Reny at 4 corners lookin’ roached” Meanwhile, Mr. consistency, Steve Maluk was on his
way to an awesome 4th place semi-pro. Little did he know that
he would have to battle “the weirwolf”
Mark Weir in a three up sprint at the line! Steve couldn’t quite
get Weir but did pip Ian Brown…Good ride Steve…
“Mr. Consistency being
consistent…” Mike Hlynsky came 16th in the 19-39
expert. On his way there he had to battle Kristi Green on the climb, and
try to figure out how fast you can descend when dizzy and totally blown…
“H on the way down” Brian BK Kadan and Chris Smith rolled the Sport race
after a bit of a scramble to make the start for Chris… Brian came 17th
Chris 35th in a big field of 60 sports…good job boys…
In the kid’s race, Rory Smith crashed out hard and
was angry for the rest of the day!! Rumor has it that Rory’s dad, Chris,
may have had something to do with the crash. Chris’s OBRA license has
been suspended pending further investigation by OBRA officials.
“Moments before the major pile-up” This weekend we have racers heading to Berkeley Hills
on Sat. and the Golden State crit. On Sun. down in Sac. Town… Also, let’s keep our fingers crossed for Ally at
collegiate nationals in Kansas this weekend. We want some stars and
stripes…. Till the next scat dropping, The Russian Bear
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