Coker at the barriers

Though there are some ‘cross races in September, most Portland area ‘crossers look to the ‘Cross Crusade and the season opener at Alpenrose as the real kickoff to the season.  The HPChiro/Alpine Mortgage team was represented in several fields:

• Aaron Coker continued his winning streak in the Clydesdales division, holding off a strong-charging David Taylor from Bend.  That is 3 wins in a row from AC.
• Patrick Palmer also raced in the ‘clydes, and placed 12th out 70 competitors.
• All in all, 8 of our racers toed the line at Alpenrose, see complete team results here.

Several riders braved the 95+ degree conditions to race one of the early ones of the ‘cross season.  The Pain and Sufferin’ was largely due to the heat, but a course that was nearly all up and down contributed to the leg and skin searing enjoyment of the day.  Several riders went out the day before and attempted to hone their skills…this adventure was not without some Sufferin’ of its own as most of us crashed at least a few times.  Enthusiasm could not be contained, however, and the team brought some results the next day:

• Aaron Coker won the Clydesdale division.  No real surprises there.  Unless he pinch flats despite running 65 pounds of pressure in his tires, expect AC to continue a podium streak as long as his road-weary legs hold out.
• Kale Chalmers racked up his second podium finish in as many weeks, taking 2nd in the Masters 35+ field.  I’m guessing a category upgrade is in the near future.
• Dave Elipulos finished 4th in the Beginner men’s field.  No doubt riding the dusty singletrack in Bend helped Dave this past Sunday.
• Terry Keele was our sole single speeder, and finished 9th.  Watching the last 2 laps of this race, it is clear that some riders were overly ambitious on their gear choice!
• Patrick Palmer finished 7th in the Clydesdales, racing the last bits of energy remaining in his legs after his Loooooong first road season.
• Seth Hosmer finished 7th in the Men’s A field – who says doing most of your training on a 100-pound bike isn’t good training?

The cool down was completed with a team party at Terry’s house…great hosts, a pool, lots of great food – perfect way to end what was a decidedly short summer!

Congratulations to team member Galen Mitterman – he made the journey down to Bend, OR for the Masters National Championships, and was rewarded for his efforts with a trip to the Podium:

Full results posted here

Another strong weekend of racing for the Team:

• At Saturday’s Longview Grand Prix, Patrick Palmer took home the win in the Cat 4/5 field.
• Also at the Longview GP, Scott Harman took third place in the won the masters 50+ field.  Scott has been prolific this season, check out his results.
• Scott turned around and won the Albany Crit in the masters 50+ field on Sunday.

Then on to PIR Monday – Ryan McCracken delivered the win in the Masters 4/5 field on the shoulders of some strong teamwork by Patrick Palmer.  In the Masters 1/2/3 Field Monday, Galen Mittermann finished 2nd on the night with help from Terry Keele and Craig Broberg.

PIR Tuesday saw another show of teamwork by the boys in the Cat 1/2/3 race propelled Gendon Gallant to 1st place and Josh Liberles 3rd.  The team was there in force with Ross Bowden, Drew Russell, Corey Stayton, Andrew Utz, Galen Mittermann and Scott Harman all contributing to the two riders on the Podium.

All eyes turn now to the Portland Twilight Criterium this Friday.  Many consider this the crown jewel of Criterium season in the Portland area – look for all the local boys and a few out of towners to be bringing their A-Game.

Patrick Palmer won the Longview Grand Prix out of a select bunch this past weekend – congratulations!

P2 comes out on top in Longview

Patrick is relatively new to bike racing so just wanted to send a shout out to to him for his first non-series win…he’s already had success out at Monday PIRs, and always good to notch another win!

Another show of teamwork last night at the Tuesday Night PIR series with the team propelling Brendon Gallant to a first place finish, and Josh Liberles and Jason Riffle landing in the top 10 as well.  Horsepower award of the night again goes to Corey Stayton for bringing back anything that looked like a threat to bridge up to the break.  Nice work boys!

More race results from this past weekend – if you click through to our team results, you can see that the team has been active all year long, racking up results.
This weekend, we had races on the road and on the dirt.  Starting with the off-road crew, Terry Keele rumbled to a second place result in the Short Track Mountain Bike OR State Championship race.  No doubt part of his success was due to the ‘cross-like course out there.
Crit season is in full swing, and we had riders in both the Gresham Criterium and the Vancouver Criterium.
The most notable result was a podium spot for Andrew Utz, which earns him his coveted Category 2 upgrade.  He has been working hard for this all season so job well done and welcome to the “Senior Ranks”.   He will be joining the rest of our Senior Men’s team – a group that managed to propel Josh Liberles up to a 2nd place in the Gresham Crit.
Last but certainly not least would be a duo of podium performances from Scott Harman who brought home the win at the technical Vancouver Courthouse Criterium in the Masters 50+ field, and Mark Ginsbert who narrowly missed out on a win in the Masters 40+ field, taking second place.
The Senior Men’s race saw Liberles in the top 5 again, taking 4th place.
Great job this weekend!

Another strong team ride last night at PIR netted the HPChiro/Alpine Mortgage Planning 1st (Josh Liberles), 2nd (Brendon Gallant), and 4th (Mark Ginsberg).  Teamwork again won the race with Galen, Josh and Brendon in every break.  Ginsberg claims that he was pulling at the front at some point during the race, but this has yet to be substantiated.

In the final sprint, Galen came to the front and did a leadout for Josh that would have been the envy of Mark Renshaw and Bernhard Eisel combined…giving Josh a clear shot at goal.  Brendon and Mark bought some insurance by coming up on the other side and notched 2nd and 4th in the final sprint.

June PIR results should be posted shortly for the month, but here are results on the night.  That should give the team 1st and 2nd overall for June.  Nice riding boys!

Congratulations to team rider Patrick Palmer – he won the June overall Cat 4/5 Monday night PIR series.  Quick to point out that it was all about Ryan McCracken setting him up for the sprint, it was still the finish speed gallop that sealed the deal.  Congratulations boys, job well done!

Results for the Team can be tracked on the OBRA Web Site.

Patrick, Aaron, Ryan after 94 mi, 5000' of climbing

Some of the team had an opportunity to ride down in CA and enjoy some of the same roads used by the Tour of California.  Some great riding, and they got to see Horner and Co’s great riding first hand from the race caravan one of the days.

Hope that brushing shoulders with some of the big boys rubbed off some power on you guys!