Veloforma/Zym Women's Professional Cycling Team

Well we got beat to punch by Kenji, (http://www.veloreview.com/obra3/2009/01/veloforma-announces-2009-elite-squad.html)
Cycling news (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/jan09/jan05news) and Daily pelaton, (http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=13918).

On our own press release - Pretty funny.

For immediate release, December 31, 2008

PORTLAND, OREGON — The Veloforma/ZYM Women’s Professional Cycling Team has its sights set on the 2009 NRC schedule and is looking ahead to its goal of becoming a UCI registered team, possibly as early as 2010.

“We’ll be at bigger races this year in preparation for our future,” said team owner Mark Duff. In 2010, the team hopes to add a European sponsor in order to move toward becoming a UCI team and having Europe on the racing schedule. This progression has been Duff’s plan from the beginning. “When I started my company in 2005 (Veloforma, which manufactures bicycles), the goal was to be involved at the highest level in women’s cycling. We tried to be involved with a few women pro teams, but none came together quite right. So I took it on myself to build a high-caliber team featuring Northwest talent.”

Veloforma/ZYM made its mark in 2008 as the premier women’s team in the Pacific Northwest racing scene. The team was new and young but its riders brought together a lot of talent. They racked up 63 wins, including the Willamette Stage Race overall (with wins on stages 2, 3, and 4), Eugene Celebration Stage Race, and the FIAC National 6-day Championships. Other team highlights included a podium at Elite nationals and stage wins at the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race in the criterium and the epic 105-mile Dooley Mountain Road Race. The Veloforma women took the top three spots in the 2008 Oregon Cup, a premier road race series for Oregon’s best elite riders. By July and the Cascade Cycling Classic, the team had really begun to mesh and race together as a team. They just missed a top-three spot on Team GC, finishing fourth overall, mainly due to some bad luck in the individual time trial. For 2009, “my goal for the team is to get the girls to the place they need to be in order to achieve their ultimate performances,” said Duff.

The Veloforma squad is lucky to have Steve Owens (CPT) working as a team technical assistant. Russell Cree of Upper Echelon Fitness does all of the team’s coaching, bike fits, and testing. Cree and Martha Walsh will act as Directors Sportif at specific events. PACE is the team’s training facility in Portland and will help riders deal with whatever situations arise during the season. Since Oregon is becoming a cycling mecca in the United States, it only makes sense for a high-caliber women’s pro team to come from this region.

The Veloforma/ZYM team roster includes five returning riders: Rebecka Hartkop, Susan Peithman, Tina Brubaker, Alice Pennington, and Miranda Moon, all hailing from Oregon. Four new riders have been added: Robin Secrist, Kirkland, WA; Sabrina Savage, Mesa, AZ; Melissa McWhirter, Scottsdale, AZ; and Christina Smith, Denton, TX. Talks are under way with two other top-notch talents to round out the extremely solid roster.

“I am excited about our roster this year. We are going to surprise a lot of teams. If they didn’t take notice last year at the Cascade Classic, they will this year for sure,” said Duff. “We have a team that is full of talent. In 2008, Savage and Secrist guest rode for us at Cascade which was the deal sealer for both of them.”

Duff is also excited about the Veloforma/ZYM development program. Nine riders have committed to putting in the time and effort it takes to improve on the bike. Add into the mix the mentoring from Oregon women on the elite squad, such as Brubaker who gives her own training time to help build the development squad, and this becomes a win-win situation. It allows the team to add more high-caliber riders who will be able to take their racing to another level. Whether those women stay with Veloforma or move to other elite programs, the team goal is to help them rise to the elite ranks of the sport.

The eleven women on the elite squad will gather for their first training camp a week before the Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Phoenix, AZ. Duff feels this is a better option than a one-day criterium at the Tour of California. “It will allow us to spend more time together in a race situation before Redlands. The squad will focus on NRC events beginning in May after the Tour of The Sun. The team race calendar includes the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the Oregon Pro Cycling Classic, Philadelphia’s Liberty Classic, Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, Cascade Cycling Classic, Priority Health Grand Cycling Classic in Grand Rapids, MI, and Priority Health Ann Arbor Cycling Classic.

“We are a really strong all-around team. If you want to classify us, I feel we are a stage racing team. Riders like Hartkop, Secrist, McWhirter, Pennington, and Smith can all contest on general classification. We have a lot of gutsy riders who are not afraid to attack. All of our riders have proved they can compete at the NRC level. That’s why they are here,” said Duff.

Veloforma will maintain its title sponsorship placement on the jersey and will be joined by ZYM as presenting sponsor. “I am happy to be the presenting sponsor and to be working with Mark Duff and Veloforma,” said Brian Koff of ZYM. “This is our second year together as sponsors. We have really put together a great team, so it will be exciting to see what happens in 2009.”

The team’s sponsors include Veloforma bikes, ZYM hydration products, Upper Echelon Fitness, Corsa Concepts, Dedacciai, Rol wheels, DeFeet, Champion System, Rudy Project helmets and eye wear, Showers Pass rain jackets, Ironclad performance gloves, and Hudz.

For more information, contact:

Mark Duff, President

Veloforma, Inc.

41991 NW Woollen Road

PO Box 185

Banks OR 97106

mark@veloforma.com