This Sunday is Liege Bastogne Liege also known as the La Doyenne – translation means the oldest; this race is run in the beautiful region of the Ardennes in Belgium. It goes from Liege to Bastogne and back… hence the name. This is the southern French speaking half of Belgium and the race began back in 1892. It was won by Leon Houa an amateur, because at the time it was an amateur race run from Spa to Bastogne and back. It wasn’t until 1894 that it was for professionals, but again Houa won. Actually Leon Houa was a three time winner. The Great Eddy Merckx has the most victories with five, Moreno Argentin was close with four. Since its inception Belgians have dominated this race with 57 victories. If you look at the list of winners they are part of cycling burly boys, those who are aggressive and willing to take chances, but yet calculating at the same time. This race is probably the toughest classic IMHO: the climbs are long, most of them are pretty steep, and they come up with depressing frequency in the final kilometers, so you’ve got to have the legs in the end. I think Moreno Argentin said it best: Liège is a race of trial by elimination, where it's very unlikely that a breakaway can go clear and decide the race before the final 100km. You need to be strong and at the same time clever and calculating - in this sense it's a complete test of a cyclist's ability. Who will the winner be this year? Any guesses? My money is on Philippe Gilbert especially after his performance at Amstel Gold. But who know? That’s the great thing about competition you never know until the race is over.

Castelli

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A few weeks ago Veloforma, & Corsa Concepts and a few of our rider ambassadors took part in the 2012 Winter/Spring Castelli photo shoot in Antelope, Oregon. It was a whirlwind weekend of riding in new High tech garments from one of the coolest, most technically advanced cycling clothing companies in the world.

You can check out the weekends action on flicker here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/castelli-cycling/sets/72157626456052724/

You can also follow them on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Castelli-USA/111414615538672



“Motor Moon” aka Miranda Moon-Duff in action on an amazing descent outside of Antelope, Oregon.

U23 Tour of Flanders – Saturday April 9th

U23 Tour of Flanders – Saturday April 9th Our favorite U23 racer Carson Miller (now on Jelly Belly Pro cycling), is back in Europe and gearing up of the U23 Tour of Flanders. Carson is in Europe racing for the National team. He flew in last weekend (skipping Redlands) and has already gotten in his first good training block since landing, recon is tomorrow; so hopefully some shots of what the cobble sections are looking like. As always I expect the racing to be full stick, it’s a 169।9 Kilometers with 14K of cobbles. I know I will be cheering on Carson as he tackles the cobbles and bergs of this year’s U23 Tour of Flanders. Enjoy Carson, I know you will…

I am planning on doing this in honor of U23 Flanders on Sunday if anyone is game - http://rondepdx.com/ can’t wait for the official unofficial version coming to a berg in the west hills soon।

You can check out Carson at his blog or follow him on twitter.

http://twitter.com/Miller_Carson

http://www.carsongrantmiller.com/

STAGE RACING

Stage racing has begun and two really cool stage races happened this past weekend. The Cherry Blossom classic stage race in the Dalles, Oregon, and the Redlands Bicycle Classic in Redlands, California.

It was the first race of the NRC calendar in Redlands, CA - aka the Redlands Classic. For the first time in 4 seasons I was not Directing a Veloforma squad, which I had mix feelings about. It felt weird to not be fielding a team which will be the case all year. But after the prologue was finished, I found myself check prologue times and looking at last year’s times to see how things were panning out for Alice Pennington and Christina Gokey Smith. Then the wheels started turn about race tactics for stage 1 and so on... but wait I’m in Oregon… turn the brain off Mark. I am proud to say that both Alice and Christina raced for our elite program so I take pride and seeing them do well.




For 2011 Christina is Riding for Texas based Rouse Bicycles Elite team and Alice was guest riding for the same squad. How did it turn out, well they kick some major BUTT, helping Christina win the overall Sprinters Green jersey. Which is establishing herself as one of the top sprinters on the women’s pro circuit. It’s definitely going to be a big season for her and her new team, and hopefully Alice will get more guest rides at stage races while not racing her Mtn bike for Eric Tonkin and Kona/SM program. It’s going to be a fun filled year for these two as they travel and race with the best. I for one will be following them both along with Whitney Schultz as the tackle yet another year of NRC racing. You can find out more about Redlands and team Rouse at the links on the bottom of the page. Even follow Team Rouse on facebook!



Here in Oregon we had the first stage race on the ORBA schedule – Cherry Blossom Classic it’s a must do if you have not raced this early season stage race. It has filled the shoes of Oregon’s other long and maybe forgotten epic early season stage race known as the Tour of Willamette. CB had a new night time Criterium, which looked to be a crowd pleaser and think it adds something special to the venue. So next year if you have the early season form and put in the winter miles this is a must do. I’m not going to go into detail about the racing, but I do want to congratulate Megan Chinberg of Upper Echelon Fitness for getting the win in the Women 1/2’s. You can check out all the action on Oregon Cycling Action.

We are also thinking positive thoughts for OBRA’s Criterium champion Leia Tyrrell of Sorella forte, wishing her a quick recovery and all the best as she recovers from injuries sustained this past weekend while racing at Cherry Blossom, please be careful out there folks. Heal up young lady, I know you’ll be back at it soon enough.




Want to also congratulate Captain Dave and the Ironclad squad for a job well done this weekend.

You can check out all the racing action at the links below…

Cherry Blossom results - http://obra.org/events/18552/results

Cherry Blossom website - http://www.cherryblossomclassic.com/

Oregon’s best race coverage website - http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/

Team Ironclad and victory - http://www.ironcladcycling.com/2011/04/03/cherry-blossom-cycling-classic-that-spells-victory/

Christina’s new team - http://www.facebook.com/RouseRacing like them on facebook.

Podium Insight for great Redlands coverage! http://www.podiuminsight.com/

Weekend Happenings

First off Congratulations to all who got out and raced this weekend!

But before we get to racing did you guys see that moon? Amazing!

It was a low key weekend at Veloforma, Miranda and I enjoyed the first day of spring hanging out with the dogs, drinking coffee and a late afternoon ride. The weather was perfect, although I actually over dressed. The sun and breeze felt so good, it’s hard to believe that in a few more weeks and I’ll be racing, which I look forward too. It’s been a while since I really raced and trained, it’s been on the back burner for a few years, but this year’s gonna be a little different. Lack of racing has mostly been due to running a team, on top of work and family obligations. I don’t know how some of you family folks do it, but I admire you from afar.



This weekend’s racing was down in Salem - The Willamette Capital Cup Criterium, course looked good, it also looked like it was a mix of wet and dry conditions। You can catch the results here - http://obra.org/events/18595/results.

Plus coverage was also done by Oregon’s Pat Malach of Oregon Cycling Action - http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/road/ great photos by a bunch of Oregon racers and photographers are on his site from this past weekend’s action.

Looks like Karsten Hagen of West End Bikes was down in sunny Tucson, racing in the Tucson Bicycle Classic. Lucky dog! You can check out his stage reports on Pat’s site too. Speaking of West End Bikes I need to stop by and check it out. I am embarrassed to I have not been by yet, it’s on my to do list.

Special Shout out to Team Ironclad, there was a lot of black and yellow out this weekend. With some impressive racing. Drew Willis had a strong race in the 1/2. Monster team work in the 3’s race with Crawford getting second with help from Harwood, Thompson, Crouch and Penner.

The Ironclad ladies put a capital T in Team work, helping Brianna Walle get the W in the ladies CAT 3 and Anna Clark in the 4’s race. A little bird told me that Anona Whitley, Lana ” Lanaimal” Pressey, Stephanie Croy and Anna Christiansen work very well together. You gotta love it when you race like a team.

You can find the Ironclad race report - http://www.ironcladcycling.com/

This weekend also had an impromptu King Kong #3 as I saw Ira Ryan and a few role by the office on Sunday. I have done this ride solo, but it would be super fun to actually ride one of these true King Kong rides with the bunch some day.

On a closing note we wish Sam Nicoletti of Gentle Lovers a speedy recovery from a training accident that happen on Sunday. We know you will be back at it straight away. Wishing you all the best Sam.
Cheers
~MD~

Carson Miller

Last year we were lucky to sponsor our favorite U23 rider Carson Miller. Carson had an amazing season riding on both US and European soil. So much so he signed with Jelly Belly Professional Cycling team for 2011. Watch Carson and his season progress as he tackles some of the toughest races on the NRC circuit and heads back over to Europe. You can follow Carson blog http://www.carsongrantmiller.com/. Follow Carson on Twitter http://twitter.com/miller_carson, as he loves to post about his rides and what culinary delight he is having for dinner. Carson eats like a herd of horses, but what pro rider doesn’t like copious amounts of food in the pantry.


Here is to a great season Carson! Rock it my man!

Monday Update.

Monday Racing Update.

First off I know we've been gone for a while, but we are now back and will use this blog until we get the journal page up on the new website.

Congratulations to all Veloforma Sponsored riders that raced this weekend’s venues, Drew Willis, Alice Pennington, Joel Crouch, Mark Crawford, Elise ”Super Mom” Huggins, Megan “Cinzano” Chinberg and Stephanie “meatball” Chase. I know there was probably more out at the races so I am sorry if I did see your results… I won't be out racing for a few more weeks.

It was typical pacific northwestern Belgian style weather. Notables of the weekend, Alice Pennington decided to race with the Pro 1,2 men and finish a respectable 17th in the bunch, thus scoring Oregon cup points with the men, nice job AP. If she raced the women’s race I would have picked Alice for the solo win. But I know she needs the mileage and intensity for Redlands.

In the masters 40 plus race Mark Crawford of Ironclad Performance Wear - won the fields sprint for 2nd, nice job Crawford! Veloforma is a proud sponsor of this team for 4 years and counting. Gonna be cool to see the Ironclad ladies line up later in the year on all the same bikes as Ironclad has stepped up big time, more on that later…

Upper Echelon Fitness Women’s Cycling team fielded a small but strong squad of 3 for the first of the Oregon cup series. Elise Huggins aka super mom finished the highest for the team in 4th. Huggins, Chase and Chinberg aka cinzano put in a valiant effort in some really nasty weather. Speaking of valiant efforts Cinzano did some major hard racing and lots of seat time in the car this past weekend. On Saturday she raced Echo Red to Red in Echo, Oregon where she finished 4th then high tailed it to BB #2 for Oregon Cup #1.

The Oregon race season is here and you can check out all the racing and race coverage at Pat Malach site -

http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/

this past weekend events here

http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/2011/hansen-akeroyd-beat-conditions-for-wins-at-bb2/

http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/2011/butler-bests-rusch-at-echo-red-to-red-birtch-tops-men/