2010 Road! Mt Tabor Series #1 Race Report

Race Report: Tabor Series #1, June 9, 2010.

by Elaine Bothe

Rain, rain stayed away!

Six of us brave Sorellas make it to the top of the volcano for the first of the Mt Tabor circuit race series. It’s been pouring all day. Under threatening skies and over a slightly wet course teammates Michelle, Karin and Tonya represent in the Cat 4s, and Martina, Jan and myself hold down the back of the starting grid in Masters 40+.



Shivering in the cold, finally the 4's go, then us masters. Lisa from Bike Atty's shoots out first, I jump onto her wheel. Anne from Guinness, Jan and Martina follow closely. Up the hill, Lisa poops out a bit and I take off. Jan and Anne stick close. We trade off the lead for a couple laps then, we catch up with Margie who dropped from the senior pack.

Bell lap, PRIME! Wheee! (That means there’s an extra prize for the person who crosses the finish line first the next lap. It’s pronounced “preem,” I don’t know why, probably something Euro.)



I know Jan loves primes, and she's flying on the flat and up the hill. But I find a turboboost and Jan falls off, I want to see if she's going to reboot, but she yells Go Elaine!! and then seeing Anne's turquoise green kit in the corner of my eye I gun it. The coffee is MINE!!! they announce over the loudspeaker. Thanks for the awesome lead-out, Jan! it's fun racing with teammates!



Anne falls off, it's me wheezing big time now, and Margie and Jan working together, I'm thankful for a bit of a break. I lead up the hills, Margie, down, Jan takes pulls on the flat. Two laps like this, but then we lose Jan. I'm still on my cross bike with my mtb shoes still damp from the Jedi and my mud covered helmet.



Ward at River City set up my cross bike this week so I can continue to get used to the mtb pedals, and to fix some knee issues with the bike at Cherry Blossom. It's great now, we shifted some things for power and agility. It worked!! 

I accelerate up the last hill for the win.

Jan thinks she came in third, didn't know Margie isn't racing masters... so Jan actually got 2nd!!! Great job! Martina hung in there too... excellent job, what fun. 



Photo credit: Stewart Campbell

2010 MTB: Return on the Jedi Weekend Race Report

2010 MTB: Return on the Jedi Weekend, Merlin, Oregon, June 5-6, 2010.

by Elaine Bothe

In which Elaine learns the meaning of the word “EPIC.”

Saturday morning: Short Track! Yay, my favorite, the first of my season. I rode very hard, and very well. I got faster as the laps progressed. I win! (I'm the only Category 1 woman, oh well...)

1 mile course, at elevation (approx 3000 feet) talk about huffing and puffing. 8 laps, as I got lapped by the pro men, I got to follow for a little bit through the trickier sections, taking notes. What a great experience. 



Saturday afternoon: Super D!!!! Wheee! The scariest part was the ride to the top of Onion Mountain, on the back of a stake-side flatbed truck, holding my bike with 19 other people. Moooo. On a winding, bumpy road with steep dropoffs.

The ride: 9 miles down, well, mostly down, with some climbing on the gravel road and a rolling, super fun Jedi trail back into camp. I debate about whether to take my new 29er or my old Klein... since I'm trying to get as much time on my new bike, and after a quick spin around camp on my old bike... eeek... I go for my new one.

What a confidence builder, (with the Specialized Captain tires now mounted up), what fun. Oh yeah, I win ; )



Sunday, XC. I was nervous all weekend, I know this is a hard, hilly and long Pro/Cat 1 course. I looked at the map, 30 miles, lots and lots of elevation gain, I planned for 4-4.5 hours and who knows what they are referring to as "technical"... sometimes they mean it, sometimes they don't... well this time, they meant it. I rode up AND DOWN some of the most amazing long rocky stairsteps I have ever seen, let alone ridden! But I crashed later on some stupid stuff... oops... like trying to ride through a fast moving creek, a root I stared at a picosecond too long.... bike's fine!!

Oh yes, then there was the wrong turns... apparently somebody removed a bunch of the course markers. This isn't the first time this year that the courses have been sabotaged by people against mountain biking. I think they have no idea how badly somebody could get lost and if they got hurt out there... I didn't think of this part until the drive home.

 The unfortunate part is, since I was the last of the Pro/Cat 1 riders going through, and some of those guys made the same mistakes... I followed the wrong road that had a lot of bike tire tracks! Three or four guys, plus doubling back make for 6-8 SETS of tire tracks, which could be considered the pack!!! Total additional miles, approx. 2. plus some climbing.



I did get overwhelmed emotionally, this was by far the toughest ride or athletic pursuit I have ever mustered. But I did not give up, at one point I considered it while I was actually on the correct trail, but not having seen any markers for miles, I stopped at a crest in the middle of this stunning forest, alongside a gorgeous creek, thinking to myself, if I'm lost, this looks like a typical creekside hiking/biking trail, they always end up someplace with cars... I contemplated a bit, got back on my bike, and not even 150 feet later, I pop out on a road at an aid station. What a morale booster that was.

Still, I had 9 miles to go, with half the climbing yet to do. 

I knew I had the endurance to last a long time, and since I wasn't actually racing anyone but myself, I wanted it to be good practice for a 50 mile endurance ride later this month... for food, pacing myself, truly riding my own ride on a challenging course (though it won't be as technically challenging). But getting lost beats you up mentally more than I knew, I don't recommend it.

My 1st place trophy is more of a proud certificate of completion than a prize, but I'm still proud of it. A race--well, ride-- I'll be talking about for years, thus, qualifying as the very definition of "EPIC." Plus I won $50 for having the lowest combined total time of the Cat 1 women (just me, a small but mostly friendly field) and earning the title "Jedi Master!" It was all great fun, a truly wonderful venue and weekend.

Maybe next year it won't rain...


Photo courtesy of Shane Young, Oregon Velo. Thanks!

2010 MTB: Sisters Stampede Race Report and Bike Review!

2010 Cross Country MTB: Sisters Stampede Race Report and...

Bike Review: Specialized Stumpjumper Marathon 29er Hardtail!

May 30, 2010

by Elaine Bothe

New new new! Shiny and new. (OK, not so shiny any more.) New race, never before. Who knows what the course will hold. Flat? Hilly? Probably not too muddy, being Central Oregon. My guess: dusty, swoopy with some tricky rock gardens. Rolling hills, nothing too sustained up or down. A fast 27-ish miles through the sage, scrub oaks, Ponderosa pine and rocks.

I was right on all counts.

And, a new bike! Finally my bike matches my kit. A Specialized Stumpjumper 29er hardtail loaded with the new Sram XX mmmm mmm mm mm mmmm! New shoes, new saddle. Specialized DFW, both. (Nice. Comfy!) New tires I’ve never run. New pedals. (Time Atacks, the non-carbon fiber ones. Cheaper, and the weigh almost the same. I like.) New cleat position on my new shoes. Ward at River City Bicycles helped dial in my SJ and shoes with a super pro fitting and the shop guys set the fork up for me AND showed me how to adjust it. Thanks! It worked great!

I’m still getting used to the bike. The position is very comfortable but a lot different than what I’m used to on a bike too small for me. This race being just my fourth ride on the SJ (two of which were super easy fit testing rides) I discovered, apparently, the beefy bottom bracket is about .75 inch lower than what I’m used to and I clonked my new pedals a LOT and my foot once (ow, that was my little toe!) on rocks and stumps I thought I had cleared. I knew the handlebars are a tad wider, but that still didn’t stop me from bar-banging a tree. No crashes though.

Aside from that, the bike is light (sub 21 lbs! depending on accessories), fast and responsive, a bike I’ll grow into as I get more time on it. The geometry rewards an active riding style, responding to weight shifts and countersteering in sweeping corners and dirt-bike style point-and-shoot riding for switchbacks. The big wheels rolled through those rock gardens all by themselves, I just chose a general line, looked down trail and the bike ended up there with style and grace! I cleared stuff I’d have walked on my old bike. The bike pops up little rises and blasted out of the corners without planning ahead, just a couple of hard pedal strokes and the power goes directly to the ground. Big grins, what fun!

The only downside to the bike are the stock Fast Trak tires. They are fast over hard pack and gravel in straight lines and impressively grippy over rocks but the front tire offered only vagueness and very little confidence around dusty or slippery corners. Even after dialing in the fork. I ran as low a pressure as I dared… with a tube, and myself a very light rider, 20 psi at the front still didn’t provide better grip. I felt like the front end was in a perpetual state of almost washing out, and, I even saved two or three front-end crashes during the race.

I think I’ll mount up my personal favorite Specialized The Captains at least on the front for a more positive and familiar feel and take the weight hit.

Oh yes, the race. I got a lousy start, still getting used to my new cleat position further back on the ball of my foot. But my mistake kept me out of some shenanigans, as three or four riders almost took each other out! A fun and busy course, hardly had time to take a mental break or even grab for food. A two-hour short track race is what it felt like, more mental than a lot of cross country courses. Narrow, not many places to pass or be passed. I lost a lot of time waiting for some of the faster men to get around me, not so much fun.

I rode very well for me, though, taking into consideration all the new toys. I stayed with the pack for almost half the race, instead of being booted off the back ten or fifteen minutes in. And, it was non-technical and mostly flat for the first part! I was thrilled! The riders stayed the same size instead of shrinking into the distance. I was even working my way through them. But after fading big time, getting passed back then finding a good rhythm and dealing with traffic, I still finished only 9th out of 10.

Well, at least not last! But I’m thinking ahead to short track, my specialty, (and hopefully a Cat 1 Masters category next year!) where half this xc race would be more than a whole short track race. My new SJ will be a very potent weapon indeed.

2010 MTB: Spring Thaw Race Reports

2010 Spring Thaw XC and Downhill Race Reports

May 15-16, 2010, Womens Category 1

by Elaine Bothe

Cross Country on Saturday.

They did not remove the gravel road climb but I had a good xc race on Saturday. I shaved 30 minutes!!! off my last years time! I still finished last of the Cat 1’s, which was a regional group of people, not the usual suspects. Northern CA, Nevada, Seattle were all represented. But I was only 20 seconds behind the next finisher --- a much closer gap than Mudslinger race.

The Spring Thaw is not a course that favors me... 21.5 miles uphill on gravel road, then only 2.5 miles of highly technical downhill. Not enough hard stuff to make up ground on super talented and fit riders, but I was still was proud of myself. Michelle finished 5th, even after crashing once and and employing other heroics to get down the hill. My whole race was clean, no crashes, no injuries, boring war stories (sorry!!) and I rode up and down stuff I walked last year.

“Hardtail Pride!”

The downhill race on Sunday was even more fun, which is really the whole excuse for the weekend! I shaved a whole minute (total this year was 6 min 45 seconds, over a 1.7 mile course) off my last years time for 4th place, Cat 1. I really should have run the masters Cat 2 in this one, I'm still a minute off the cat 1 pack pace!

Oh well. I had the only hardtail of the bunch (to shouts from the crowd “Hardtail Pride!”) and it slowed me down through the washboards and jumps. My bike, not the crowd’s calls. Still a hoot and I had a blast.

Photo credit: Melissa Boyd.

2010 MTB: Mudslinger Race Reports

2010 Mudslinger Weekend Race Report: Super D and XC

May 1-2, 2010, Womens Category 1

by Elaine Bothe

Two races in one weekend. Countless learning opportunities.

The Super D, a mountain bike downhill race but with some uphill action to keep the hardcore downhillers from stealing the show, took place on Saturday. We get two runs on a 6 or 7 mile course, half of which is uphill on gravel roads. No previews whatsoever. The final time is cumulative of the two runs.

I collect my number plates and I rope my nemesis/friend Michelle Hannaford from Team Dirt into it. Her team’s hosting and helping the organizers with the weekend. She’s running registration and didn’t think she had the time to do the race.

Lesson #1. Make friends but don’t invite them to compete against you...



First Run. I’m flying but held back by the fact that this is a preview run (and I didn’t get much warmup) even though it counts. I sail over logs, around the corners and the steep rooty downhill sections no prob. Feeling good, and confident in the double track I’m cutting track to track to decrease the arcs, saving as much time as I can. This is my kind of time trial! Even though it’s downhill, my heart rate is as high, if not higher, than my Cherry Blossom TT.



Lesson #2. Be careful when you’re flying.



I start across the double track and notice, too late, hidden by the tall grass, there’s a 4 inch height difference than the tire track part... my front wheel catches and down I go, a repeat performance of my CB fireworks! same side and all.

Except this time, I was going faster. And, I had on pads! so I wasn’t hurt except for a bruise and rash on my hip and a hole in my almost new leg warmers and sleeve.

 I still finish first out of the 4 women. yay!



Second Run. We’re seeded according to finish, I’m 6th or 7th out of 20 or so, including all the guys! Off I go even faster than the first run because now I know where the corners are. Clear and clean over the first log. the second, too. 



Lesson #3. Bring tools and tubes to ALL races no matter what. Even if you run tubeless!



My front wheel lands not exactly the way I expected then POP!sssssflapflapflapflap. No crash, just extreme disappointment. I do NOT want a DNF (“Did Not Finish”) for a race I entered for fun and practice. Especially one I had a good chance to win! I weigh the options, and start running down the hill. Stop. Michelle and several others race by, one guy, Josh from Peak Sports bike shop in Corvallis stops, he has a tube but the wrong pump.

Oh well, thanks anyway. 

Cars are closer at the top of the hill, it’ll be shorter to head back up. So I go up. At the top, maybe ten yards from the start (only about a half mile) somebody has a spare tube! and a pump, we undo my wheel, yank out the tubeless valve and shove in the new tube. I didn’t see any rips or punctures, I still didn’t know what I hit... I think I just landed hard on another stump or branch and popped the bead.



Lesson #4. Ask for a restart. Sometimes this is possible. I did not know this.



The tube seems to hold air, I put everything back together, thanking everyone profusely for the impromptu emergency tubeless clinic (it’s not hard despite all the rumors) and I head back down the hill, though more conservatively. A finish would still mean second place in the Cat 1’s.



Lesson #5. If you even think you might need new tires for whatever reason, you probably do. Change them.



I try different lines, just previewing the course for tomorrow’s race. I still don’t have full confidence in my tires though, they’re old, they’re not gripping like they did last year and I still didn’t know what killed the front.



Lesson #6. Don’t stop racing. Ever. Well except to render aid....



There’s a kid on the gravel road, standing over his bike, head on his hands on the handlebars. He’s just really tired, we're only about a quarter mile out but it’s all up hill. I slow way down, checking on him and shouting encouragement. He remounts and starts riding. “Pretend there’s a rope attached to my bike and I’m towing you up the hill!” I yell, that seems to help him a lot and he makes his way up the hill.



Finish line. Michelle is there. “I just got here!” she says. whaaaaa? !?? “I took a wrong turn and rode an extra four or five miles!” No way, we are both laughing. What a race.

 She edges me out by a little and wins the Cat 1. I came in second.

But, the best part is that the winner of the men and the winner of the women each get $75. There were two other women, both Cat 3, Jackie from team Dirt who broke her collarbone at the Cherry Pie road race earlier this year and is just now getting back on her bike, and Melissa, queen of the masters! Jackie gets the money, Melissa came in 2nd overall, Michelle, 3rd, and me, 4th!! What fun!



I win a tire in the raffle, to the cheers of everyone who all know the story. And Michelle invites myself and Teammate Sarah, who drove up after the Eugene Roubaix, to stay at her house. We were planning on camping up there but were thrilled abut the offer. And a shower.



Lesson #7. Double check tire sizes.



Since I won a new tire, a Specialized The Captain, my favorite mud tire, I figure I’ll drive back into town to see if the wizards at Peak Sports a) have another matching tire and b) can mount them both up for me. Yep and yep. Double-yay!



I drive to Michelle’s house and take my bike for a quick spin in her driveway to help spread around the sealing goo. Wow, said Morgan, Michelle’s boyfriend, those are big tires! I look again, and, sure enough, they are the 2.2’s not the 2.0’s I originally had. Same tread, different sizes. Well, I said, they should be good in the mud. Spoiler alert: they are.



XC on Sunday. Sarah and I warm up on the gravel road, coating ourselves with mud splatters before the race even started. Eventually, we start. Michelle chases the pros up the hill, I’m in back. My legs feel like lead, even though I had a good warmup. I stalk Brooke from Bicycle Atty’s up the hill for a while but can’t hold on. Solo ride through the beautiful coast range mists and mud. I’m last. 



Dead leg last. 



Oh well, I enjoy the scenery, get a good training ride in, I’m still tired from Cherry Blossom and used up whatever I had in the Super D race. oops. Plus, these bigger tires are bigger, heavier, collected way more mud than I could imagine (but still had great traction—don’t ask me how!) I stopped a couple of times to clear out my front deraillieur and around the brakes (non-disks). Mud tires, they are, faithful though it is, mud bike, it’s not.



I keep my heart rate as high as I can (which isn't very high today, it turned into a nice endurance ride) and attack the obstacles and technical sections with glee. I’m still riding as hard as I can--oh, wait, I really have to pee. So I neutralize myself for a pee break.



Otherwise, I’m still racing as best I can. I’m remembering Lesson #6, Don’t Stop Racing. I still come in last, (6th I think) but CONTROVERSY! Michelle doesn't think some of the women listed ahead of her ever passed her. There was a tricky cutoff where the cat 2’s go one way and the Cat1/Pro/Singlespeeders go another... Melissa from Team Dirt did that, fessed up and took her DNF. (She had pedal problems at the start, too!) I don’t know one way or the other, so I can’t advise, but maybe it’ll all get sorted out. who knows.



That cutoff, by the way, led to some glorious and spectacularly twisty, muddy, rooty descents, Sandy Ridge x 8 or so! I went down them all, though not with grace. This makes Cat 1 so fun, the “secret” trails even if I’m not on the podium. It’s still a fabulous challenge.



Lesson #8. Rescind Lesson #1. It’s great fun racing against friends and being supportive, teammates or not. Especially when they don’t ride well when they usually do, and same with you, so you get a great story out of it!



Sarah did great, for her first mtb race in a while, 3rd one ever... 4th in the masters Cat 2!! Yay! It was fun playing and I’m thrilled that she had a good time too.



Fun time, memorable weekend. And, if you need a bike shop in Corvallis, I highly recommend Peak Sports!

Photo credits: Oregon Velo.

Road!?! Cherry Blossom Stage Race

Road Report: Cherry Blossom Stage Race

April 23-25, 2010. Women’s Category 4.

by Elaine Bothe

Cherry Blossom. A festival in The Dalles, Oregon, where one of my teammates live. There’s a road bike race associated with the festival, an epic three-day, four race extravaganza. Our Sorella Forte team hosts the event along with the promoter. It’s a fundraiser for us, as well as outreach and a general good time. Even though I don’t race much on the road, I figured I’d have a go at it to support my teammates and to test my fitness and race smarts.

I sign up for the “beginners” road racing category, Women’s Category 4, since there isn’t a masters group and I’m new-ish to road racing. Beginners at racing, maybe, but that doesn’t mean they’re new on bicycles or in fitness. These women are strong. And most of them have some pretty nice equipment to ride… the latest and the lightest, gorgeous bicycles, one for the road and another for the time trial. Or at least, aero handlebars and wheels.

I dust off my cyclocross bike and put some bigger chainrings up front and slick tires on and call it a race bike. It’s the lightest bike in my fleet, and it’s pretty comfortable so what the heck. It’s heavy compared to the competition however, and not nearly as aerodynamic. But it’s mine… run what ya brung as the saying goes.

Stage 1. Road course, two laps, approx. 40 miles. Even after getting all fired up with talk of tactics and working together as much as we can, none of us Sorella Cat 4’s really know how to employ any of the tactics, or if our fitness would even allow us to think about it. Our default tactic was to provide a show of force early across the front without any dramatic moves which might tire us out for the long haul. I think all of us did a great job of working hard, working smart and challenging ourselves. My goal emerges on the fly, to stay with Alanna, probably the strongest cat 4 of our team, and the lead pack for as long as I possibly could.

At the start I position myself four rows back, within the first third of the pack. The first couple of miles are pretty easy but I brace myself for anything. There’s some shuffling around at the front as the speed picks up and I match every surge. I watch teammates peel off one by one as we climb the big hill to the feed zone on Lap 1. The view forward from my place in the peloton stays the same… butts and freewheels… I look back once and there wasn’t anyone there! We’re now a pack of 15 or so, splintering from the group of almost 40. Alanna and myself are the last Sorellas in the lead group. After the hill Alanna is a little ahead of me, so I worked my way up to see if I could be of some assistance. I say hi, and she seems happy to see me hanging on valiantly.

Lap 2, I stay in the group sucking wheel for all I’m worth, working my way to the leeward side of the peloton, far right, then far left, full on survival mode, as the wind direction changes, just keeping myself protected. At that same big hill on Lap 2 the pack finally grenades into small pieces, two, then three, then I’m not quite sure but now I’m alone. I think all I did to help Alanna was moral support, as she seems to be doing just fine motoring on past up the hill with the leaders. I latch onto another wheel for a bit but can’t hang. Maureen (ex-Sorella, now Hammer Velo) catches me and we work very well together, the two of us, nice short pulls for the last half lap. We pull off into the wind providing a wee bit more protection for each other on the descent. As the course flattens out, her pulls last longer than mine… I’m fading. I’m giving it everything I have but I don’t have a sprint to save my own life. I tell her I won’t challenge a sprint because I don’t have one to spare and because she’s doing most of the work.

I survive, in 16th place, just under 3 minutes down from the leaders. Wow. Oh yeah, my chain fell off three times during this race but I managed to feather it back on without upsetting the group or even losing my place. Not bad, for a mountain biker!

Stage 2, five laps, just under 30 miles. My goal for this race is to stay with the lead pack again, for as long as possible. The peloton is three columns wide. Teammates Christine, Tonya, Leigh and myself make a nice sturdy block in the first third of the pack, and I think Alanna is just to the left of us, well protected from the wind. Apparently she was having troubles with her cleat and fell off the pace right away. Booo!!! Eventually, Tonya, Christine and Leigh peel off the group, Tonya, too, had to quit with a mechanical. Rats!!

But I don’t know any of this yet and I just work really hard at staying up with the lead group. I work my way to a bolder position toward the front, doing a little more work windward side and second row, but I still didn’t venture any proper attacks. I match surges along with everyone else. I notice Alanna is nowhere to be seen, and the lead group is now only seven of us. By Lap 3, the two on the front are surging frequently (what, they want to lose the rest of us?) and the rest of us struggle to answer. Three or four of these, and they make a slow break, oozing away. Five of us, I’ve never met any one of them before, all on different teams, try to organize a pace line in the heavy crosswind section through the top of the orchards. It’s not working very well, and between a big gust of wind, and trying to avoid other rider’s wheels overlapping mine and I end up off road, in the gravel.

OK, I’m a mt biker, this is a cross bike, I should be able to handle this. I almost make it safely back to the pavement twice, but then my wheel catches a deeper section of gravel or something, I’m still not really sure what happened, and I go down. I’m not going very fast, and no one else goes down with me, thankfully! But I hurt my finger and skin the heck out of my knee, along with some other miscellaneous bruises and scrapes. Owwww, it hurts to shift but I don’t think it’s broken.

It doesn’t occur to me to stop racing. But by the time I’m back aboard, blood streaming down my shin, the other four pull their act together and I see a nice neat pace line fading down the hill. I hit the nitro boost and ride as hard as I can but I can’t catch up to them. All alone in the wind, it just isn’t going to happen. I’d say I TT’d it for a full lap by myself, but since I’m definitely not a TT’er, I’ll say I just rode hard. A group of three catch up to me, and we form a pace line. I rest for a bit as we go through the rotation, then I take a pull and we drop two of them! So then Anna from Bend and I work together nicely for a lap. Three more catch us, Maureen, one of the Canadians and somebody else. We all work together for the last half lap and attempt a sprint up the finish hill, and, again, I can’t find one. But I pull a 13th place finish out of I don’t know where.

Stage 3, TT time. Ten miles total, out and back, hilly out. No aero anything, it’s freezing cold, I figure just because it’s a Time Trial (my least favorite bike discipline) I don’t have to be completely miserable. I have on leg warmers, a long sleeve base layer and I wish my shoe covers would stay zipped because they’d also keep my toes warm. I rip those off fearing they’d catch in my chain or something. But the road is fun, I impress myself with my effort. I stalk and catch Susan who started 30 seconds in front of me. I wave to the oncoming teammates, start noticing the scenery then Susan shows me a wheel. I decide, oops, I have a job to do so I gun it and drop her like a hot potato. I catch one more rider, and the only two to pass me are the two women (including Maureen) who started 30 seconds and 1 minute behind me. 20th place. On a cross bike, I’ll take it!

Stage 4. Criterium! 25 minutes of guts and glory. Way more fun than a TT but I’m really nervous. There was a big crash last year and some pretty gnarly injuries... like punctured spleens and broken pelvises. (Pelvi?) I want to go hard but be safe. I preview the course spotting all the bumps and holes, even riding over them to see what would happen. Not too bad. Nice open corners. I start my warmup slow and on the inside, picking up speed and figuring out the faster lines. If I was all by myself there would be only 2 wide sweeping corners (not 4) that I could pedal all the way through, no brakes, and accelerate hard out of.

I want to be near the front, jockeying for position on the front line for the start. I get the hole shot… then decide I did NOT want to be on the front because it would fry me. Two Ironclad riders seem to be jonesing for the front anyway, so I back off and let them have it. I lose more space than I anticipate but I bridge the gap and hang onto 3rd place for a few laps, matching surges, anticipating sprints for primes and sprinting myself just enough to not get dropped. I’d rather survive the race near the front rather than drop off after a big prime effort. It’s plenty hard just staying near the front, five or six riders in front now. I hang on, and end up 11th and with the lead pack, my best finish for any of these stages.

13th overall in the General Classification, about 8 minutes back… not bad! All in all, I had a blast. What a weekend, what a challenge, riding with friends, making new ones and generally having fun.

In addition to all our team, a huge thanks to Team Captain and Coach Anne, for being a fabulous inspiration by winning the Category 3 criterium!! A triumph for our whole team.

And Hubby Mark made his debut as a volunteer driver, driving the lead car for the men’s masters race as well as my Cat 4 races in Stages 1 and 2. It made me smile every time I caught a glimpse of our car because I knew he was inside it. Read his report here.

Am I getting a road bike now? Are you kidding… I still think I’ll stick to dirt!

---

Photo credits for this post: Bob Rueter

2010 MTB: Hornings Hustle Race Report

Race report

Hornings Hustle, April 11, 2010

Women’s Category 1, 6th place

by Elaine Bothe

Helmet, shoes, gloves, bike, I can ride. Race food, water. Check. Checklist: check. 45 minute drive, check. I’m so amped up for the race I have to set the cruise control to keep the car from flying. I already saw a couple of cops out on Hwy 26 just waiting…. A traffic stop is NOT on the checklist.

Car parked. Check. Potties nearby, yay.

One of my race goals today is to stay organized and focus on my pre-race routine. See, I made a checklist. But I didn’t add “find people you know and chat with them” to my pre-race schedule…

Michelle and her husband Morgan pull up and park right next to me. We chat.

OK, registration. I see more people in line I know. Chat! Martin! Hi! A big part of racing is to hang out with people you like all doing something really fun.

Teammate Sage and Steve show up, so does Teammate Eileen and her hubby John. Beth Burns came out to play. Fun! Sue Butler. Lots more people I know!

Anyway… checklist blown.

I previewed the course the day before. Stunning conditions, warm, sunny, a lot like last year’s race. I questioned my tire choice… I had switched back to my trusty Specialized The Captains thinking it would be wet and muddy. Crap. They did come in handy on a couple of steep pop-ups that most people walked up. So, I’ll stick with them rather than pulling heroic favors from the bike shops at 5:00 Saturday afternoon.

I worked one super tricky steep section of single track until I figured out the line and gearing. I set my tire pressure to work on that 10-yard section out of the whole 5 mile course… disturbingly low even for tubeless! 17 or 18 psi front, 20 rear!! Good thing I’m light and the course isn’t rocky, because I skittered right up that hill. Risk vs. reward.

The rest of the course looked great, dry, solid and fun. The tires felt surprisingly fast considering the tire pressure. Check. I packed it up, went home, ate a nice dinner with Hubby Mark and relaxed.

Oh yeah, back to race day. It rained overnight!! Wow. Can you believe the luck! I eyeball my trainer, an old wheel mounted with a slick tire thinking I’d check off my warm up. I look across the parking lot where the course cuts up a little hill.

I look at my watch. I look at the trail. I hear an announcement “RIDERS MEETING AT 10:30.” I look at my checklist. A riders meeting wasn’t on it. Crap. I think about what I had left to do. Swap out wheels (twice), changing clothes, pack my food and decide to screw the checklist and I warm up in my racing kit, I couldn’t waste a perfectly good trail.

With the rain, the course looks nothing like what I saw yesterday. It’s muddy. It’s slick and sloppy. Tires: Check!! It didn’t rain that much at my house, must have rained a lot more here. The fun descents are now slip-and-slides and the pop-ups turned into squish-fests. My confidence swells with having the right tires and my adrenaline is shooting off the charts.

It’s easy to get my heart rate going warming up on the course. I work it as long as I can until the riders meeting. We meet. I pee. Again. I find the staging line for the Pro/Cat 1 women and stay there, staking out my place on the front row. No repeats of the last race where I end up in the back of the starting grid. Today’s start is staged by category so it’s a lot easier.

But it’s still 20 minutes away from start time, so everybody moves away, some riding in circles, others on course, some working a good hill on the gravel road. OK. I ride down the road, do a partial loop on course for about ten minutes and sprint up the hill. I’m now at the line, sweating and huffing and puffing. Perfect. Michelle gives me a funny look, part of my heart rate is due to sheer adrenaline.

I’m determined to get a good start. Plus I want to see how Sue Butler starts. 30 seconds. We roll forward to the official start line. Go! Sue blasts off and I follow. Giggling I stick to her wheel for 200 yards and up the hill. There’s a good gap behind me, photographic evidence is below. That picture is not photoshopped!

But my heart rate spikes sky high, I flame out and the field passes me up the big hill. Oh well. I’m still making the pedals turn. Michelle shows me a wheel, I look at her, nod and eke out a couple more rotations per minute which keeps me in front of her .

The trail levels out across a bumpy field and we head downhill. Feeling better, I hammer down the hill, around a sweeping left hander then things get squishy. Yee-ha! Loose on the handlebars, the back tire slides side to side. Rock across some water ditches. I will the bike onto a reasonable line, catching up to a couple of women. I get around them through some switchbacks and try to open a gap.

Well Kristin is stronger than me on the flats, so she comes back around me with a vengeance after Mark yells that I’m in 4th place. OK, 5th now.

I hear somebody else breathing down my neck. I rush an uphill section and run wide into the bushes and another woman passes me. 6th. I push my bike uphill trying to find an opening in the steady train of traffic coming past. Finally I hop back on and hammer, now chasing everyone but Michelle.

I settle into a nice rhythm, working hard but clean the rest of the race. I pass Teammate Karleta in her first-ever cross country race! Yay! Go Karleta! Good Job! Through the trees again, across the creek and I really think there are more uphills on this course than down. That little single track popup I worked on the preview always had traffic on it so I never got to ride up it, darn. Once I even yelled “I’m riding it!” but the slow guy still attacked it in front of me… on foot. Denied.

I saw Michelle a couple of times through the trees, she calls out in greeting, but she’s still behind me by a ways. I pass another woman, (yay!) and Mark says there’s two more about 30 seconds in front of me who are fading. I’m not setting land speed records, but I’m not fading, I have another lap and there’s a fun technical section just past the start/finish line where I can make a move. This gives me some hope and I keep my eyes peeled.

Creek crossing. Fun, clean, up the sloppy bank I ride right through it like I have all race. Uh oh, the spectactators are packing it up and walking up the hill. Hey, the race isn’t over! Get back down there and watch! I crest the hill, somebody’s yelling at me “Don’t let that guy catch you!” so I didn’t.

There’s a lot of people milling about, hmmm… I keep it pegged until officials block my path, wide stance, hand out cop-style telling me to slow down. Nooooo! I’m not done, after only 3 laps! They take my tag anyway, I’m done.

Mark miscounted somehow, he including the Pro women I think. I end up 6th in the Cat 1s (we all only got 3 laps) with two behind me. Progress! My fitness is good, I’m faster, I easily rode things this year that I couldn’t last year even though they were a lot slipperier. Even though I’m the oldest in the category by far, I’m getting comfortable and feeling confident. I’m still improving and it’s fun getting to know everyone.

A hugely fun but hard race, I won a beer and some coffee in the raffle and I had a blast. Thanks for Mark for his support and expert spotting, Wenzel Coaches Anne Linton and Martin Baker for upping my fitness and skills (there were logs on the course? didn't notice!), my Sorella Forte teammates and training buddies, and all our sponsors. Also, the promoters and Oregon Bike Shop for putting on a spectacular event. I’m really looking forward to the next round.

Photo credits: Oregon Velo and Mark Bothe. Thanks! Great work.

Ride Report: Newberg to Netarts via Nestucca! And back!

Approximately 76.4 miles one way, and 3175 ft elevation gain (and descent!)

March 27-28, 2010

by Elaine Bothe

Ten friends started out at Grandma Virginia’s house in SW Portland. An eclectic bunch at first sight: me, a mtb racer, my hubby Mark, who’s getting back into bicycle shape, Cam, a traithlete who’s training for the Coeur d’Alene Ironman this year, Cam’s brother Kevin on a loaner bike from Cam, Kevin P, and his parents Kay and Brad, all superbly fit and athletic people, susceptible to being coaxed into an occasional cross race when it’s on their own turf in Rainier, and three of their friends including Ryan, Jesse and Danielle, a young woman rocking a classic red Schwinn women’s frame ten speed and platform pedals!

Everyone except Kay, Brad, Mark and myself are in their 20’s. Brad’s over 50. Rock on. Brad recently traded in his ten-speed for a Look roadie that Cam bought and was too big. One big happy family! We all met through motorcycle racing, where Kevin P is exceptionally gifted. So is his brother Brian, their dad Brad, Uncle Keith and even Grandpa, in their day! RIP Keith and Grandpa.

Anyway, the P family owns a cabin in Netarts. They also own a big white van. Excellent excuses for a road trip.

We load up the Element with three bikes, Cam’s truck and the van with gear, more bikes and people. We shuttle to Newberg, park my car and Cam’s truck then disembark westward on a beautiful sunny day, with just a little chill in the air. Heading down Hwy 240, we stick to the main roads through the farmlands outside of town. Carleton comes up by the time we are warmed up, and now we are in a spirited pace line led by Kevin P. All of us. 20 mph plus into the foothills of the coast range. Including Danielle on her ten speed!

We break apart on some rolling hills. Brad P is driving the van, we change drivers about every seven miles. If someone wants to stop, they do, but most of us ride on. It also helps in navigation. There’s a map in the van and the driver stops at the major intersections to make sure everyone is doing OK, Hood-to-Coast style.

Cam the triathlete decides he needs a workout and blows past us on his tri bike in full race trim: aero bars, aero water container thingy, aero wheels and power tap wheel. We joke about getting an electronic reader board to strap across his back so his competition can know, at any time, what he’s laying down power-wise. 500 watts! For a second or two… in his garage…

Anyway, the climb up the coast range on the main road which goes by several names, such as Hendricks, Meadow Lake and finally the legendary Nestucca River Road. If you’re climbing, and generally heading west, you’re on the right road.

Cam, Kevin P, Jesse and Ryan on his blue ten speed with chrome wheels are gone. Brad and I are duking it out up the hill. Kay, Mark, Cam’s brother Kevin and Danielle are behind, but making good progress. Van change, some people climb in to rest, others got out. Now we’re in the forest, climbing the Coast Range. I have to pee really bad, and make a layer change at a van stop. We all get started again. Once the steep stuff really started I had a chain issue… fixed, then I saw a beautifully rusted out small dome hubcap on the side of the road. (I have a thing for rusty metal car parts.)

Hmmm. There are mile marker signs on the trees, maybe for logging purposes, my hubcap was about 20 yards west of 4 ½. Mental note. No, wait, I am not going to stop on the way back… downhill… for anything! So I turn around and head back down for it. Kay catches up, giving me a quizzical look.

“Irresistible!” I announce, holding up my prize.

I carry my treasure for about a mile before the van passes me. Danielle is taking a break to drive and I flag her down and toss the hubcap into the van. I also unload some unnecessary layers. What a resource!

I regain my rhythm up the hill. I see another car part in the middle of the road, a connecting rod, a big one, maybe off a truck. I’m tempted… but this is a lot heavier than the hubcap and the road is steep. So I sadly pass it by. I collect Kay and Brad, and somebody else and we sprint for the crest of the coast range, which happens only about 20 miles or so west of Newberg. I win the sprint! Well, I’m not sure anyone else sprinted, but I did. For fun. Food break at the van, wait for everyone to make it up the hill. Danielle pulls her red ten speed out for the 20 mile descent.

Turns out Hubby Mark had picked up that connecting rod earlier and it fell out of his pocket, denting his rear wheel in the process. Are we a match made in heaven or what?

Food pickup, water bottles refilled, layers back on for the descent. Past the reservoir, down, down next to the river. Winding through the ravines covered in moss, the bumpy pavement in places and the 3 mile long gravel section keeps the traffic count down and the scenery count wayyyyy up. But, downhill, I didn’t notice too much of the scenery. I’m hammering, my heart rate is sub threshold but just barely. I’m having a blast and feeling great.

Some of the pavement is good. Cam and Jesse rail past me, I can’t even grab their wheel downhill despite the invitation. Then Kevin P flies by me, with Danielle in tow! I can’t catch that train either!! I tried! Off they go. I hit 30 mph on the gravel part, but I’m not catching anyone! We come out of the forest 20 miles later, catch our breath and refill water bottles and jersey pockets.

Danielle asks if she can draft behind me, I say sure. We have about another 25 or 26 miles to go. The road into Blaine, then Sandlake to Hwy 101 is still slightly downhill. After spending a good 3 hours up there HR-wise, I’m ready for a little break myself. I find a good rhythm for myself in my high endurance zone, and I’m averaging 20 plus. Danielle hangs on just fine, even through some mild rollers. I keep checking in with her to make sure. I want to keep up a strong effort for myself, but my wheel is helping her a lot so I don’t want to drop her. I manage to do both.

We pick up Kay and Kevin Cam’s brother, and eventually Brad. I’m leading a nice train onto Whisky Creek Road. Everyone drops on the first smaller hill on that road, I ease up at the top to wait. Latched back on, we head to the final climb, another 2.5 mile or so climb that leads up to Cape Lookout. Brad’s trying to keep up, so I keep my efforts up too, harder than I would if I was alone. He’s breathing hard, and through his lips making horse noises! I hear those sounds fading… I salvage a little sprint at the top to make sure.

Mark’s in the van now, and parks at the crest. I stop to say hi and wait for the last few to make it up the hill. Kevin P circles back up the other side! He wants to make sure Danielle is doing OK. He heads downhill for her, while we debate if Mark should drive down to meet her too. Suddenly we see Kevin’s head bobbing up the crest, followed by Danielle. Her face is as red as her bike but she made it. And she wants to ride her bike in, we’re less than 5 miles away from the cabin! Hooray for her, I give her the bad-ass award for the whole weekend right there.

Kevin hops in the van with Mark to lead him in and we all bomb down the hill. Another quick van stop (I keep going at a nice cool down rate) then in to Netarts. I hear the van behind me, Kevin’s yelling that I missed the turn! Do you want a ride? No, I’m fine, I’m cooling down. I overshot the turn by about a half mile. What the heck, after 76.4 miles, what’s one more. They lead me in and I’m the last one to the cabin!

What a ride, I’m the only one that rode the whole way. Kevin P did some backtracking but pulled a shift or two in the van. Mark took my driving shift, I really didn’t want to drive and Mark was quite done with riding, so it worked perfectly. Again, a match made in heaven!

A restful evening with Mexican food, conversation and … TIM TAM SLAMS! I packed them from Portland, since they’re ON SALE AT FRED MEYER! What fun.

The return trip home on Sunday was soaking wet pouring pouring rain and windy!! Heavy side or front ¾ wind for 20 miles except, mercifully, the climbs. My wheel was the popular spot, since I had the only fender in the whole group, complete with a race team-approved buddy flap. I set a comfortable pace at the high end of my endurance zone and it seemed to suit everyone just fine. At the front, I had only the rain, not road spray in my face, so I was happy as a clam pulling.

Turning east in Beaver gave us a bit of a tailwind, so our pace was quicker. Mark drove for the first 20 miles then jumped out in front for a bit, then tried to tuck in behind me but Brad hung onto my fender-clad wheel for dear life. He thoroughly enjoyed the shelter.

Cam decided to get his workout done early to stay warm, and he and two others blasted ahead up the road. Kevin P stuck with us a while, giving me a little break at the front then decided to chase down Cam. That 20 mile descent from Saturday? Well on Sunday, it’s a 20 mile climb. Mostly gradual, but with some unbelievably steep stuff toward the top.

I noticed a lot more scenery this way, since I was going just over half as fast as yesterday. With the rain, all the hillsides dripped with green moss and water. Vertical rock faces, big trees, fast moving water, just a gorgeous part of the planet. What an experience.

Many thanks to the P family for their support and the hospitality, what a great family and what wonderful friends. I'm looking forward to many more rides and the race seasons... plural... motorcycle AND bicycle this year!

Resources:

Nestucca River photo by Debra Drake, public domain, via www.byways.org

Here's the link to the Nestucca River Road Google Map that Kevin P put together.

2010 MTB: Echo Red to Red Race Report

Race Report

Echo Red to Red, March 6, 2010

Category 1 Women, 9th place!

by Elaine Bothe

The first mtb race of the year, with Sage and myself representing the Sorellas in some amazing weather way out in Eastern Oregon. Not a trace of mud anywhere, but lots and lots of bumpy singletrack.

And it’s my cross-country debut as a Cat 1. I’m nervous. After discounting some serious mistakes I made at the start (like being late for staging, oops!) therefore having to start toward the back of the mass start for what musta’ been 100 Pros/Cat 1/Singlespeed men and women, I am pleased with my effort yet there is always room for improvement.

Proud I didn’t get dropped in the neutral 2 mile roll-out, I see Michelle Hannaford’s braids up ahead—she was my nemesis and buddy from Cat 2 Masters last year, she upgraded too! But I couldn't really work my way up much, there were so many people. And it was supposed to be neutral.

Once I got going on the singletrack I started to fly. I picked off some singlespeeders and other riders, including a couple of women. We all have red tags, Pros and Cat 1s, so I’m racing everybody with a ponytail and scoring can sort it out later. Sue Butler (our local hero who is ranked in the top 20 of the world in cyclocross), Michelle, and a bunch of others, however, are long gone.

We’re all strung out like Christmas lights along the serpentine trails. You can see for miles... uphills, downhills, nothing too sustained one way or the other. Bump-y! hardpack greeted my hardtail, thus making my own tail, well, sore. I start to think to myself, hmmm, an extra spring in the back (of my bike!) sure might be nice about now. Turns out everyone suffered, suspension or no.

But I’m enjoying the weather, riding as hard as I can, my HR monitor pooped out but I’m sure I spent the whole time near if not in the hard interval zone... a woman up ahead, I’m closing in, slowly but surely. By now the leaders of the Cat 2 Men’s race, which started a full 15 minutes after my group, were catching us back-markers. Polite passing, I never had to stop, we just chatted and made it all work. I tried to hang onto those wheels as long as I could. One guy passed me, and, hearing a rider coming up, the woman I was stalking pulled off the trail to let him by!! Well, that was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I rode past her too.

The Pros/Cat 1s shared the first 21 miles with everybody else, and I was finding markers all over the place from last year’s race. I remembered a lot of the hills, creek beds and turns, the rocky stretch where I flatted last year, a cool bridge to ride over then under later, but I couldn’t find the scary parts. I looked really hard, but the treacherous traverses and other scary stuff I remembered just weren’t there. Fortunately, not because they changed the course any, but because my skills grew over last year!

Just when I was about ready to head on into the barn with the Cat 2s and 3s, no! let's see where this other trail goes. 7 or 8 more miles’ worth of entertainment, even though my legs were already screaming full volume. Down a hill, to a really swoopy and swampy orchard full of logs to pop over, bridges, banks and obstacles. FUN!!

A big creek, 30 feet across and a big ol’ log. Cool! I'll ride it, even though it’s 6 feet over fast running water! ERKK! Nope, running it will be just fine, I do NOT want to fall. Cyclocross remount and off I go again. I look across a field to a cliff with ants crawling across it in a diagonal pattern. Ohhhh, that’s the trail, those are bicyclists! and they're walking! uh oh! I attack the hill, having to run a couple of parts but mostly riding it to the cheers of some men I passed as they walked! (OK, most were single speeders, but not all. I checked to make sure.)

A warm cup of HEED at the aid station, the last bits of uphill and sandy traverse to the top of a magnificent ridge overlooking the valley and the Columbia River in the distance, up past the vineyards back onto the gravel road toward the finish. Ahhh, said my butt. Smooth. I down my last two Clif blocks just in case I need a last ditch burst of speed for any reason.

It’s all headwind home, I get into the best tuck a mt bike can provide. TT it, I tell myself. I look back to make sure no one’s coming, head down and pedal. Tire sounds. Ready. oh, a guy. He’s really moving. back to business. More tires. A girl. “Great race!” she said as she passes. “Yeah!” I replied to her. But I thought to myself, who’s done racing? not me!

As I look over to her, I notice she’s on a 29er. Now that’s a mighty inviting wheel if I ever saw one. About a half mile out, too! I can’t believe she made the pass so I glom on. It’s not hard to hang on, and I’m glad I’m out of the wind. Well, I got my bit of recovery, and about a hundred yards out from the finish I stood up and hammered. No warning, no shifting gears, no looking back I just attacked. It worked! I doubt she’ll ever make that mistake again.

What a day. A great race, a burrito with Sage (who finished 4th in the Cat 2 Masters) and my sister Julia and a few other people we knew, sitting in the sun and not winning raffle prizes.

I finished 9th… Michelle finished a spectacular 3rd in the Cat 1s. Wow! Looks like I have some more work to do this year.

Photo courtesy of Oregon Velo.

Cyclocross Season 2009: Cross Crusade #8 Barton Park

Cyclocross Season 2009: Cross Crusade #8, Barton Park, Estacada, Oregon.

Nov. 15, 2009

Women’s Masters A 35+ 21th place ugh! (But at least my team won the team competition, so we're all winners, really! That's us in this photo after the race.)

By Elaine Bothe

The rest of that week got even busier. Wedding dress shopping with my sister. (Her wedding, not mine!) A funeral... RIP Sylvia, warm thoughts to friends and family.

Then the annual OMRRA Banquet (Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association) on Saturday night, in which Mark my husband won 2nd overall in one of his classes and 4th overall in another. (He races motor bikes at PIR when there aren’t any bicycles in the way. Good job!!) Plus we had an pre-function at our house, which of course left plenty of mental space to prepare for the last Cross Crusade Race of the Year.

And, my last cross race of the year as well. Sigh.

I’m doing a bit of remedial base training which will get me in much better shape long term, but is killing my legs for racing short term. I hoped to eke out one more race before that kicked in… excuses excuses, I know!! But I won’t be racing at Nationals or even the USGP at PIR. Bummer.

But come Sunday am, after the party was all cleaned up I got fired up for the race. My warm up went really well, and I stayed toasty before the start. Go!!

Off to a great start, I hung with the lead group for the first half lap! Lots of fun sandy mud, and a spectacular downhill that was quite the crowd-pleaser. Cross spectators love a great performance, whether it’s a fabulous successful ride-through or a big ol’ crash. Hopefully no one was hurt. I managed unscathed through that section five times, once in preview and all four laps.

But then my legs fell off and the sandy dirt took its toll on my rear derailleur. It was ghost-shifting all over the place. Usually in the worst places like in the middle of a big muddy rise, it would shift into a harder gear. Or even two! Heyyy! And I think I got a rock stuck in my shifter. Big blobs of dirt in my eyes didn’t obscure most of my field passing me. Also I think half of the next group and even a few Masters 35+ B. Sage tried to pull me through a long road section (thanks anyway!!) but it just wasn’t happening.

Well I still had fun attacking the technical sections like that downhill, and finding secret hard, fast grassy lines next to the slower muddy singletrack. Not that it did me much good. I thought hard about pulling into the pit to see what was wrong with my bike, but I didn’t.

21st place, my worst finish of the year! And for double points, too… but still not last, even not counting Colleen dealing with her flat tire.

Oh well. It sure was fun at the end, though, collecting all us Sorellas as we rolled in one by one and celebrating our Loo Victory! How cool is that! Our very own port-a-potty. Let’s see how many people we get to join us on account of that! Good job to everyone who braved the rain and mud, racers, friends and family. Kronda and Tim, as always those photos are great, thank you so much.

To a great year, and good luck to everyone doing the last few races, USGP and Nationals. Next year, count me in!! I have some work to do before mountain bike season starts in just a few short months.

Thanks as always to my #1 fan Mark for his love and support, and many thanks to our entire Sorella Forte team for all the encouragement and friendship; Coach Anne at Wenzel Coaching, our team sponsors including River City Bikes, Jeff Tedder and Hammer Nutrition and all our other sponsors; and also my personal sponsors Mountain Feed Bag by Epic Ride Research, Corey Cartwright at Seven Corners Cycles, Dustin Ranck at Icon Tattoo, Acme Moto Wear, Life Flight Network Memberships, Dentist Dan Stambaugh (for supplying protective mouth guards to be tested next year) and announcing Jennifer Adams Design Group and Impact Armor.

Photograph courtesy of pdxcross.com.