VELOFORMA NEWS, REVIEWS & RANDOM THOUGHTS!!!

Tuckerman… Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

2011-11-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

Photo Credit Mark Blackwelder

It seems like it was just yesterday that cross clinics were starting… now there is only one race left in the Cross Crusade Series with five more weekends before the season is over… WOW! Time flies when you’re having fun. And, if you’re Aaron Tuckerman, you’ve been having a lot of fun. Aaron Rides for Corsa Concepts/Veloforma and he’s been having a break out cross season. So far Aaron has won 5 Cross Crusades and he’s been in the top 3 in every race except for one. He also wrapped up the overall for the Cross Crusade series with the win at Barton Park! For me, being his bike sponsor is pretty RAD. Who could ask for more… I couldn’t! I understand he’s been racing sick since October 9th, but has managed to muster up the energy to race every weekend. Last week hit him hard. He just rested and didn’t get out on the bike much, and come race day he let it RIP! That says a lot about Aaron and his competitive spirit. The guy is tough as nails. The season’s not over yet, but I have to say Thank You, Aaron! Well played, mate!

For all the great coverage of Oregon Cross you can check out Pat Malach’s Oregon Cycling Action –

http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/2011/krasniak-tuckerman-win-cross-crusade

For more information on the remaining series:

http://gpmc.cx/

http://www.crosscrusade.com/

http://www.portlandracing.com/cx/

If you’re way down south - http://www.obra.org/flyers/2011/so_oregon_outlaw_cx.html

Images of Cross!

2011-10-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Cross Crusade #2 at Rainer High School! To get the juices flowing here are some great shots of Aaron Tuckerman - Corsa Concepts/Veloforma.

First two photos by Mark Blackwelder
You can check out his great shots here - https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.2350739681776.188264.1048621958&type=1

The weather has been wet and they are calling for showers on Sunday, so it's gonna be typical cross weather. Bring your rain boots and be ready to get wet. Don't forget to stop by the Corsa Concepts tent for treats and say HI to Greg and gang.

Alpenrose CrossCrusade

2011-10-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

Cross season is now in full effect for Oregon. This past weekend was Cross Crusade #1 at Alpenrose Dairy. I didn’t race but was in attendance to watch our rider Aaron Tuckerman who hails from Blenheim, New Zealand, but resides here in Stumptown. Aaron Rides for the Corsa Concepts/Veloforma cross team. We are excited to have him on board, and I like Aaron’s style and he didn’t disappoint yesterday at all, it’s great to see Tuckerman or Tuckie as I call him back at it!

You can get full coverage here by Pat Malach and Cyclocross magazine on line.
http://www.cxmagazine.com/cross-crusade-1-alpenrose-dairy-report

You can get full results of all the cross crusade events on the OBRA page
http://obra.org/events/19722/results

Next up for those that want to race during the week – Blind Date at the Dairy http://www.crossseries.com/

This is a funny video give it time and watch the whole thing…
http://www.crossseries.com/videos.html

2011-06-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

Wow! It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 60 days since our last post. Time flies when you’re having fun, right. Or at least busy beyond belief… so what’s been happening you say? I’ll try and recap but I know I’ll miss something since so much has been going on.

We’ve been hard at work cranking out our new road bike, the STRADA SLR – we can’t seem to get them out the door fast enough, which is a good thing. But the bad thing is I don’t even have one underneath me cause I can justify building one in my size when I have to fill that same size order. Below is our new steed, we are super proud of it…

On the full custom front we have been working hard getting everything in place. We’ve ordered a new frame jig so we will have two, with the goal of having 3 in all. Each will be used for a specific purpose in our tube to tube process. I know I don’t have to do this but it’s something that I have thought about a lot of the last 2 years. I think it will simplify our build process, especially in the ISP front among other things. We have finished our plans for our new Studio work shop on our property in Banks. Which has been a long time coming, when we have to move from our current warehouse to the new facility it’s not going to be too much fun but it will be well worth it.

In racing news our athletes have been doing amazing, which always makes us proud. Please forgive me if I forget something (I know if I would just stay on top of post) I’m just going to cover the women in this post and later this week cover what the men have been doing. So here goes…

Eugene Roubaix – Brianna Walle 3rd Ironclad Performance

State Road Race – Anne Usher 1st Upper Echelon Fitness, 4th Brianna Walle Ironclad Performance, 6th Anona Whitley Ironclad Performance

Bend Don’t Break – Tina Brubaker 3rd Upper Echelon

Special note Bend Don’t Brake was the first stop in the Veloforma Norman Babcock Cat 4 Women’s series. Top 3 riders in the first race – Sandra Clark 1st, Suzanne Girard Eberele 2nd, Kelly Sandow, you can follow the series here - http://obra.org/cat4_womens_race_series although the standings are not correct as the state tt has not be compiled.

Mt Hood Classic stage race. This is an Oregon must do stage race, not only are the courses killer, but the scenery is just out of this world. In the Elite women’s race Anna Christiansen Finshed 15th overall, which impressed me a lot. Especially because she finished ahead of two riders who used to race for me and I know what they are capable of and how strong they are… so my hat is off to you Anna you are riding amazing and developing in to an excellent racer.

You can check out all the results and see what world class riders showed up to do this fantastic stage race - http://obra.org/events/18429/results.

Sublime Sublimity – Anona Whitley Ironclad Performance 1st

Elkhorn Classic - http://obra.org/events/18400/results this is what I would call Oregon’s epic stage race, it is without a doubt a tough one. To do well is one thing to win it, takes some luck and your best A game.

Ironclad Performance once again has proven to me that they are a team on the way up. They know how to race as a team and they proved this at Elkhorn. It was really cool to get race reports from this race, the final stage was one I wish I was able to see from a moto, especially the women’s Elite race. More info and race coverage can be found at Oregon Cycling Action. http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/2011/reynolds-koch-win-elkhorn-overall/

Nature Valley GP - We want to wish Hilary Billington as well as all the others who went down in the stage 5 crash at the NVGP a quick recovery -
http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/2011/billington-recovering-from-nvgp-crash

NRC racing – Whitney Schultz is our only pro athlete this year, she has been traveling all over and it’s been tough to keep up with all that she has been doing, she just finished NVGP and is now in Augusta GA for the - USA Cycling Road Nationals.

You can follow Whit on twitter and on her blog.

Whit’s blog - http://whitneyschultz.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

Whit on twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/WhitSchultz

We want to wish Whit all the best for Nationals! Kill it Whit!

Ok that’s it for now, more in a few days. It’s gonna be a busy week with work, the Six day and covering what the men have been doing the past 60 days.

Cheers

2011-04-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

The images above and below are copy right material of Castelli USA and its partners.

This photo is property of Castelli. All Rights Reserved

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

2011-04-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-03-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

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/

Team Roster For Redlands

2010-03-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

VELOFORMA / Upper Echelon Fitness presented by Corsa Concepts
at the
Redlands Bicycle Classic
March 26-29, 2009
Redlands, CA

The Veloforma/Upper Echelon Fitness Elite Women’s Cycling Team presented by Corsa Concepts is excited to be a part of the Redlands Bicycle Classic in 2010. With a strong squad of many Oregon riders, Veloforma continues its move into national-level road racing.

Team riders have dominated local racing in their Regions and Pacific Northwest so far this year in continuation on their 2009 form. They look forward to the challenge of racing with the country’s top riders for the second time in two years at the Redlands Bicycle Classic.
MARK DUFF, TEAM OWNER VF/UEF
503.789.6735

TERI SHEASBY (BEND, OREGON)
Teri is a stage race specialist who excels when the races are hard, fast, and uphill. The 2009 season was a break out year for Teri. She won the Elkhorn Classic stage race and the High Desert Omnium. She was one of the most aggressive Oregon racers at Mt. Hood Cycling classic and Cascade Cycling Classic. Teri placed high in the overall general classification in both events. Teri’s main focus will be racing on the NRC circuit in 2010. When not racing she spends quality time at home with her family, enjoying the Oregon high desert lifestyle.

REBECKA HARTKOP (SALEM, OREGON)
Becka won the coveted Oregon Cup in 2008. She has a long list of palmarès, including first place in the final stage at the Elkhorn Classic stage race, first place overall at the Willamette stage race, and a gold-medal performance at the Oregon road race championship. Illness caused her to miss most of the 2009 season; she looks forward to returning to the NRC circuit for 2010, and top form.

WHITNEY SCHULTTZ (AUSTIN, TEXAS)
Whitney Schultz is ready to begin her fourth year of competitive cycling. A senior and marketing major at the University of Texas - Austin, Whitney was introduced to cycling her freshman year and has competed collegiately since then. In 2009, she competed for Texas-based Metro Volkswagen in top races across the United States. For ten weeks last summer, she raced for Swiss-team Team Bike-Import.ch. She is an all-arounder on the bike, particularly strong in time trials and stage races. This will be her second time doing Redlands.

LISA TURNBULL (EUGENE, OREGON)
Lisa is known as a powerful criterium specialist and sprinter. Lisa was the dominant racer in Oregon during 2009 and was awarded the highly contested Oregon Cup. She proved she could race on any course, not just criteriums and “sprinter friendly” courses. Her ability to always bring her best, made it easy to give her the nickname “A - GAME”. Lisa took it to another level in 2009 by not only winning the Oregon Cup, but she also spent a lot of time traveling to NRC races. She is excited to be doing Redlands for the third time in her career. The team is very excited to have her with us.

ALICE PENNINGTON (HOOD RIVER, OREGON)
Alice is a fixture in Oregon bike racing, both on and off road. Alice is definitely an all around rider. In 2009 she added to her already long and impressive list of palmarès, including finishing 6th on GC at the Mt. Hood cycling classic, while riding for a teammate who finished 3rd on GC. She maintained the same form through Elkhorn Stage Race, then on to Cascade Cycling Classic and into USA Cycling Elite Road National Championships, where she finished 9th. She won Oregon’s best all-around rider competition in 2001, 2002, and 2003. This will be Alice’s second time at Redlands.

LISA REEVE (PORTLAND, OREGON)
A native of Scotland, Portland resident, Lisa, is our secret weapon. Every team has to have one, right? She also gives us an international flavor, with her awesome accent! Lisa started bike racing in May of 2009 after getting “hooked” from doing a few OBRA races. She soon found out she was fast and loves to climb. If you’re ever out in the west hills of Portland, you’re bound to see her. If it goes up, then she is full stick. It didn’t take long and she found herself in the elite ranks with her eye set on racing NRC’s and the ultimate goal of the European Championships later this year.

LINDSAY FOX (BEAVERTON, OREGON)
Lindsay vaulted to the top echelon of bike racing in 2009, her first season as a competitive cyclist. It took Lindsay only a few months to become an elite rider. Lindsay was a tri-athlete, before she decided to devote herself full-time to bike racing. Lindsay is a strong all around rider, who is excited about her first year on the NRC circuit.

Christina Smith (Denton, Texas)
Christina is a powerful criterium and road specialist. If the race is hard, fast and active she is in the mix. She loves technical criterium courses, power climbs, sprinting and any race that requires overall endurance. If there is a break Christina is in it. She was very active in NRC Criteriums in 2009, always getting in the final breakaway. Christina’s 2009 palmarès include 10th Joe Martin Stage Race Criterium, 9th Tulsa Tough Criterium, 7th Nature Valley Grand Prix Criterium, 5th Ironhill Twilight Criterium, 5th Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium, 4th Hanes Park Classic, 2nd USA Crit Finals – Vegas, 4th Day 1/9th Day 2 USA Cycling Elite Criterium National Championships, 6th Chris Thater Memorial Criterium. Christina's motto is “ride with 110% commitment.”

This team is founded on a core set of beliefs: passion, knowledge, and experience based on hard work, determination, and teamwork. These same values are found in the companies of VELOFORMA, Upper Echelon Fitness, Corsa Concepts and our supporting sponsors. Elite team members are chosen not solely based on results but on how well they work in a team environment and represent their sponsors in and out of competition. We showcase a diverse team of strong professionals who are true ambassadors to sport and life. WE are proud to be associated with these vibrant women who are capable of incredible things both on and off the bike, and who come from all walks of life.

Taipei Cycle show day 1

2010-03-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

At today’s opening ceremony of the 2010 Taipei International Cycle show (almost tomorrow as it’s 11:26pm Taipei time), TBEA Chairman Ying-Ming Yang proudly noted that the event is on course to overtake Interbike. Interbike is known as the world's number two international bicycle show after Germany's Eurobike.

After an intriguing opening art performance that combined live sand painting showing how the bicycle can contribute to preserving the environment, TAITRA Chairman Dr. Chih-Kang Wang welcomed VIP guests including Giant Chairman King Liu, Japan Bicycle Association Chairman Yoshizo Shimano and Ernesto Colnago, founder of the famed Italian bikemaker.

He said this year's record-breaking show would host 894 exhibitors using 3,018 booths - he noted that since the official capacity of the Nangang Exhibition Center is 2,000 booths, corridors and additional rooms were being used. As many as 50,000 visitors are expected to walk through the doors at Nangang this year.

Wang said that the strength of Taiwan's bike industry was reflected by its relatively small decline in exports during a difficult 2009. Not sure how he came up with the fact that 2009 had a small decline, with overall exports dropped 20%. He stated that complete bike shipments fell just 9.9% and parts exports declined by just 6%. He attributed the strength of the industry to steady investment in R&D and branding. One thing for sure, those who invest and advertise in a down turn, will prosper in the end. I know it sounds strange but it’s true.

TBEA Chairman Yang - proudly noted that Taipei was set to take over the number two spot in international show rankings, surpassing Interbike this year due to the poor health of the US economy. He also noted that the industry was not afraid of competition from China (probably cause most Taiwan based manufactures are now open manufacturing facilities in China). The TBEA has asked the government to include the bicycle sector in free trade negotiations with China. "We feel we're able to compete, thanks to our R&D and branding efforts," he said. The Exporters' Association is also expanding its membership, "So I feel our industry is strong," he added.

Yang's sentiments were echoed by Kuo-Hsin Liang, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs, who pointed out that the average export price for bicycles of US$291 (take note people) was higher than that for notebook computers. Referring to the free trade negotiations with China, Liang said "The Taiwan bicycle industry is not afraid of competition." "We hope the whole world will reduce duties on bicycles to zero," he added.

At the close of the ceremony, the winners of the annual Innovative Products contest took the stage. The Best Innovation Award went to Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. For its Trinity Advanced SL, the Best Latest Fashion Award was presented to JD Components for its Eagle e-bike, while SRAM Taiwan scooped the prize for Best Practicality with its XX MTB drivetrain.

2010-01-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

Accell, Europe's biggest bike supplier heads to Taipei Show

A full contingent of Accell executives is preparing to head to Taipei, as the Dutch-based bicycle and fitness company steps up its investments in Asian markets.
"The Taipei show is unlike any other because it involves purchasing as well as sales," said René Takens, chief executive of the Accell group. "Taipei is where we will hold final discussions with our suppliers about the upcoming range, but it's also an opportunity to strengthen our presence in Asian markets".

The Accell group, behind brands from Sparta to Winora, Batavus, Ghost, Lapierre, Koga-Miyata, will send about 25 people to welcome visitors at its booth in Taipei this year। Along with purchasing and product development staff from many parts of the Accell group, the contingent will include international sales executives from Lapierre and Ghost Bikes, the two brands picked by the Dutch group to spearhead its investments in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to Florian Robin, international sales manager at French brand Lapierre, "The Taipei show will be most important for us, as it should enable us to finalise agreements in several Asian markets," said. "We will move cautiously, building Asian relationships for the long term".

Taiwan's bike exports

2010-01-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Taiwan's bike exports down 20% from 2008 high

Preliminary full year figures for 2009 show that Taiwan's bike exports fell about 20% last year to a total of 4।3 million units (2008 = 5.4m units). The drop should be seen in the light of the extraordinary growth in 2008: exports in 2009 were still higher than 2006's figure of about 4 million. On the value side of the equation, the 2009 statistics show that total export value sales dropped only 9.9 percent to 1.25 billion US$. This is a clear result of increased high-end production within the industry: the average sales price for a Taiwan-made bicycle increased from US$256.92 to US$289.38, a gain of 12.6 percent.

While Taiwan bicycle exports to NAFTA countries were down 13.58 percent to 721,689 units (6.97 percent down in value to US$323 million), bike sales to the EU market dropped 22.49 percent to 2.8 million units and 13.61 percent to US$625 million in value. The EU and NAFTA markets are Taiwan's largest customers followed by EFTA (down 21.19 percent to 109,381 units and 13.51 percent down to US$44.6 million in value). The final statistics will be announced by the Taiwan Bicycle Exporters Association at the Taipei Show, although only minor adjustments are expected.

VF Cross.

2009-10-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

It’s that time of year again. Fall = Cyclocross, which for Portland means Cross Crusade. As usual they are heavily attended events. 1400 + racers at the CC#1, not sure on CC#2, but a little bird told me 1300+ showed up in Sherwood for CC #3. This is racers not spectators.

Cross is getting BIGGER in the states. In Oregon it’s Huge!! With popularity comes more press. Heidi Swift (who VF is lucky enough to have racing for them) is doing Cyclocross-Diaries for Wend Magazine. You should check it out the episodes here:

http://www.wendmag.com/blog/2009/10/07/the-cyclocross-diaries-webisode-1-throwdown-at-the-dairy/
http://www.wendmag.com/blog/2009/10/15/the-cyclocross-diaries-episode-two-raising-a-rainier-ruckus/

Or check out Heidi’s blog http://everydayathleteblog.com/

The VF ladies are doing awesome. Chase, Huggins, Swift, and Peithman are killing it in the VF colors in the B’s and seem to be having fun heckling each other while racing. Schwitzer and Wills has been given it in the A’s.

But the word of the day is…Pennington!!! Alice has been having an awesome cross season thus far, and she hasn’t even found her legs. As Alice puts it - “It’s just a matter of getting more fitness so that I can actually attack and drop her,” Pennington said. This stated in an interview with Pat Malach about beating Wendy Williams. Who is by the way racing awesome. With 3 wins in the CC thus far. But with 8 starts since Sept 23th. Alice has had five wins, two seconds, and one third. Alice is knocking on the door of a CC win soon. We will be cheering for you ALICE!

Another note- Alice has also be getting Veloforma a lot of press in Velonews. http://www.velonews.com/photo/99403
Which has us very HAPPY!!! Thank you Alice.

Here is a closing shot of Alice at Sherwood race #3. I pulled this from Pat Malach blog.You can check out great race and photo coverage here -

http://www.oregoncyclingaction.com/2009/10/cameron-wins-first-ever-crusade-cx.html

http://www.oregoncyclingaction.com

Thanks for reading.

Crit Natz, Chris Thater and Norm Babcock

2009-09-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Travel has been in Christina Smiths vocabulary this month. She has been all over the country.
August 15th Crit Natz - Race #1, which is a warm up for the big show on the 16th. Sunday is the big day it crowns the US Professional Criterium Champion for Women. Christina proves she's worth of a title shot with a 4th place finish, Nice, Very Nice. Results and cyclingnews coverage can be found here :
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/usa-cycling-national-criterium-championships-cn/stages/stage-1/results

Below and above are shots of Christina in action on Sunday.

Thing are looking good for Sunday August 16th, if all goes as planned. But one thing Christina doesn't have that other do. A team to back her for the finish. So she is going to have to have some luck and play her cards right... in the end she finished 9th. I am proud of her for sure! Christina is proving that she is a talented and consistent finisher on the NRC circuit. When I text her to ask how things went she said "good but not great, I finished 9th". I know it's not the win and that's what she wanted, but in my eye's you killed it Barn Diva!!!
Move forward to August 29th - The Chris Thater Memorial Criterium in New York. Again Christina shows her ability to place high in an NRC, finishing 6th with it being really close between 4,5 and 6th. Considering her crazy travel delays before this event and some minor bike issues. She strapped on the boots and got the job done. Christina is always up for a challenge and getting to the race, just so she could race was a major feat at this event. She is knocking on the door for a NRC victory. Pretty soon it's gonna open. Let's she what is in store at the final two rounds of the US Crit Series. Next up Sept 17, 2009 Victory Park in Dallas Texas - TX Tough - http://usacrits.com/site/events/texas-tough/
The final event of the series USA Criterium Finals in Vegas on September 24th in front of Mandalay Bay 7:20 pm - http://usacrits.com/site/events/usa-crits-finals/
This one you will be able to watch live on the web, we'll be cheering for you Christina!!!
On a local note... the road season is officially over in Oregon. Last race was this past Tuesday at PIR and the final leg of the Veloforma Cat4 women's series finished up with Eugene Cycle Celebration. I got official word this morning for Kenji. It was a long hard Battle and Anna Vaughn from Hammer Velo took the series Overall Victory!! Congratz Anna!!! She is the proud new owner for an Veloforma F1R frame set for winning the series. K-man also sent me a very interesting photo. Congratz to all the ladies for fine performances this season. We are very proud to be a title sponsor of this series and look forward to being so for many years to come.
Congratz goes out to Veloforma rider Tina Brubaker aka EQ for a podium finish a the State Criterium. EQ ended up finishing 3rd on the day.

Big Holler goes out to New Veloforma ride Lisa Reeve for getting her CAT2 upgrade after Eugene Cycle Celebration. Way to go Lisa!! You are one motivate young lady!

It gonna be nice to see everyone this weekend. Looking forward to the BBQ. Good food and friends = a lot of fun and laughs. Think we my have some awards to hand out. Not sure. But I think so...

Finding our Form.

2009-08-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Cascade ended up being a race for finding our form. Which was good and bad, and I’ll take it. With out a lot of detail, Cascade was tough for us. We lost our GC rider on the first day to a broken wrist (get well soon Melissa). This race was perfect for her abilities. Plus a great tune up for Nationals, (it actually was a great tune up for the whole team). Crashing is part of racing but sometimes can be so hard to deal with. A lot of hard racing and Cascade over the team was looking to Nationals. Which started four days from the end of Cascade. Nationals also happened to be in Bend, Oregon. The combo of hard racing and some rest was PERFECT for Alice as she road to a 9th in the Road race. When you look at who was racing, Alice finished higher than any other PRO rider in the Northwest. On top of that!!! She works a full time job and was on her feet all day the day before the road race. Congrats on an awesome RIDE PENNINGTON!!!!
Here are the top 10 from Elite Road Nationals for the Pro Women.

Time License Bib Team
1 90 Meredith Miller 02:52:15.30 143575 48 Team Tibco
2 85 Christina Ruiter 02:52:22.00 194905 64 Value Act Capital
3 80 Kristen LaSasso 02:52:22.40 151408 86 Mellow Mushroom
4 75 Kori Seehafer 02:52:35.10 77841 68 Team Type 1
5 70 Katharine Carroll 02:52:49.50 212327 16 TIBCO
6 65 Evelyn Stevens 02:52:49.80 272861 72 CRCA-Radical Media
7 60 Mara Abbott 02:52:52.50 198735 2 Team Columbia-htc
8 55 Alison Powers 02:53:06.40 98704 57 Team Type 1
9 50 Alice Pennington 02:53:06.60 150685 84 Veloforma
10 45 Kristin Sanders 02:53:08.90 193955 66 Value Act Capital

Now that’s a tuff crowd to hang with.

For Christina Smith, she also used Cascade and Nationals to fine tune her crit form. Shortly after Nationals she travel to North Carolina to race in the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium. Christina raced her typical aggressive racing style, being active in all breaks but none stuck. It came down to a Field sprint where she finished 5th and her first NRC podium for this year. The next day she upped it by one and finished 4th at the Hanes Park Classic making it two NRC Podiums in two days!!

Women - Pro
Place Points Name Time License Bib Team
1 90 Brooke Miller 0:54:47.8 196453 6 Team Tibco
2 85 Tina Pic 0:54:48.1 41951 14 Colavita Sutter Home P/b Cookin
3 80 Theresa Cliff-Ryan 0:54:48.2 231296 64 Verducci/breakaway Racing
4 75 Laura Van Gilder 0:54:48.3 36345 26 Mellow Mushroom
5 70 Christina Smith 0:54:48.5 217750 72 Veloforma
6 0 Joanne KIESANOWSKI 0:54:48.5 2 Team Tibco
7 60 Erica Allar 0:54:49.1 174914 48 Bmw-bianchi
8 55 Jennifer McRae 0:54:49.2 55232 11 Team Type 1
9 0 Joelle NUMAINVILLE 0:54:49.4 41 Team Kenda
10 0 Cath CHEATLEY 0:54:49.8 19 Colavita Sutter Home P/b Cookin

Women - Pro
Place Points Name Time License Bib Team
1 90 Brooke Miller 47:12.0 196453 323 Team TIBCO
2 85 Theresa Cliff-Ryan 47:12.1 231296 418 Verducci/Breakaway Racing
3 80 Laura Van Gilder 47:12.5 36345 362 C3 Sollay
4 75 Christina Smith 47:12.6 217750 123 Veloforma
5 70 Tina Pic 47:13.1 41951 376 Colavita Sutterhome p/b Cooking

Things are looking good for Christina, as this weekend is Criterium Nationals in Downers Grove. She has really good form so the sky is the limit!! Stay tuned for more results. We are all rooting for you Barn Diva!!!

For me travel time is over for a while, time to hang out on the deck. If you want to know where I am going to spend the next few weekends it gonna be hanging out and re-charging before Vegas, Interbike, Cross Vegas and US Criterium Finals. Wow that's a mouth full.

Thanks for reading.

6 Days of Fun

2009-07-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

So Paul Mautner and I did the Alpenrose 6 Day. Having a solid partner is always amazing. It makes racing that much more fun. For us it was about getting out on the track, finding our legs, and making good exchanges. With the added benefit of having a ton of fun. Which we did. The week went by really fast, a lot faster than expected. Another crazy thing for me. I felt the best on days five and six, so I guess the old legs do like more intensity and miles than I thought.

If your not familiar with the track you can check out OBRA's track info here - http://app.obra.org/track anyone can ride it. There are classes on Wednesday evening. You can rent a track bike for $5.00. The best five bucks you'll spend. Info about track classes can be found at the above link too. Classes start at 6pm. You should give your self 30 mins to get signed up and get your track bike. Classes have been an average of about 3 groups of 10 each.

Above photo by Ed Norton - http://web.mac.com/stoppingtime/Site/Welcome.html We are not holding hands here... although it does look like it. We are at the beginning of our exchange. Paul is getting ready to toss me in and go on relief. Above photo by Ed Norton - http://web.mac.com/stoppingtime/Site/Welcome.html

If your not to sure what is going on here. A great way to understand the history of Madison/6 Day racing you should go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-day_racing. Wiki has some excellent info on the history of 6 day racing.

Top and bottom two photos by Laura McGraw - http://www.lauramcgraw.com/

Special thanks to the Murray's for making this event happen for the last 17 years. I know that it takes a lot of people to put on this event!!!! Thank you to all who made it happen. We are lucky to have this event in our back yard. I look forward to many more years of this joyful event!! Go FAST turn left!!

Also thanks to Spencer Williams (http://popmiseryblog.blogspot.com/), Laura McGraw and Ed Norton. All amazing photographers who came out to capture the action.

Taken our Licks.

2009-06-23T14:11:00.001-07:00

We'll we have been taken our licks and learning.

What do they say... you have to learn to lose in order to win.

This pass weekend was tough to say the least... going in to the final stage with the leaders jersey. Then losing it in a 20 mile stage is a tough one to swallow. Twenty miles instead of 100+ (due to weather) isn't really much of a race. But it's what they decided and we live by it. It's also why Elkhorn is an Epic stage race. You never ever know what the Elk is gonna toss your way. Until next year...

Next up Cascade Classic... we got a hella team for this RACE!!! It's gonna be fun. Russell and Martha will be running the show. I'll be on the side lines looking on...

Four days after Cascade USA Cycling National Championships. Who knows what's in store it's gonna be a fun ride.

Happenings.

2009-06-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

Wow! Time just flies...
So much has happen with the team. I know I'll miss something.
Probably a lot but here goes.

Not racing related, but none the less note worthy. Jeff Jensen is the proud owner of the last 09' D'lusso. It's such a pretty bike. Wish we could make more than 50 a year. But that nano carbon is just to spendy for a little company like ours. Enjoy Jeff.

Elise was 6th Mt. Hood crit and held down 6th over all in the 3/4 women. Hope she realizes that she can ride a criterium now. Great Job Elise. Elkhorn watch out. Didn't have a shot of Elise tearing it up at Hood. So I have to put up a TTT photo. Which by the way THEY tore it up ironman/women style earlier this year.

The first Mt. Tabor and Jennifer Schweitzer gets the win in the women's 4 race. NICE!!!

Pennington was out rocking Tabor as well, getting second to mtn. biker Sue Butler. But she didn't feel like she raced enough. So Alice went back out with the guys and towed them around too.

Bad Luck at PIR as of late... with a lot of crashes in the women's open field. Last week both Susan and Gundy aka poo bear. Got taken out at the front. Please be careful out there people. We have had far to many crashes.

Sabrina aka half-pint is the Arizona state road Champion. Which adds to her Az. Criterium Champion title earlier in the year. Rumor has it she broke away with our soon to be addition Anna aka pocket rocket. Put major time on the field. Then went solo form here partner and finished 10 minutes ahead of the field. Anna stayed away making it a 1,2 punch. Awesome job ladies.

The dynamic duo that tore up the AZ state road race above.

Christina Smith was at Nature Valley and had a very successful week. Lots of top 10's for the Barn Diva. Way to go Christina.

Robin, Alice, Susan and Melissa will be in attendance for the elite team at Elkhorn. We will also have a bunch of the development ladies out racing too. It gonna be a sea of black, red and white. Good luck to all.

With the likes of Melissa, Robin, Christina, Becka, Alice, Erin and Brei Cascade is looking good. Elk horn is gonna be a great prep race for some, others are doing races and training in Colorado at high altitude. Cascade is gonna be fun.

All for now... Cheers!

Third & Sixth Overall at Mt Hood!!!

2009-06-07T18:31:00.001-07:00

On the podium Pitel 1st, Goldtein 2nd, McWhirter 3rd.
Getting the call up... Alice Mt Hood favorite, and Melissa.

Today was the final stage of the Mt.Hood Stage race. As I sit at Doppio in Hood River to get this post out...before heading home. I couldn't be more proud of Melissa, Alice and Erin. Our Elite ladies did awesome. Melissa finishing 3rd, Alice 6th and Erin finishing 18th on GC. It would have been nice to have a full squad. Enabling us to share the work and have different cards to play. But we did what we could and came away with GREAT results. The field may have been smaller than in years past, it was still world class. Edwig Pitel won, she is a two time world track champion in the scratch race. Plus a 4 time national TT champion of France. Having to beat Jeannie Longo to claim this title. Obviously -VAC Leah Goldstein (finishing second) is world class competitor. Winning Mt Hood on 3 other occasions if memory serves me correct. For Melissa to win a stage, carry the jersey for a day and finish third next to these ladies has to feel good. It confirms what I already knew and now other should too. She is going to be a long standing threat in women's professional racing for years to come. Congrats to all my VF ladies. I am very PROUD!!!
working the deal, try to figure out how to bring back 8 sec on Pitel... ??
getting in a good warm up!!!

Mt. Hood TT

2009-06-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Melissa in Yellow - Stage 1.

Today was the TT. Windy is an understatement. No records will be broke, but the pain cave was deep. Top 4 women.
TT Stage Resulst top 4
1st Edwige Pietel - France
2nd Leah Goldstein - VAC
3rd Patricia Bailey - Wines
4th Melissa McWhirter - Veloforma

GC after Stage 2

1st Pietel - France

2nd Goldstein - VAC

3rd McWhirter - Veloforma

Special note Alice Pennington is sitting 6th over all. So we have two sitting high in GC. Which gives us options. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day for all...

The Ladies on the podium, after stage one.

Mt Hood & in Yellow!!!

2009-06-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

Melissa taking the stage win and getting ready to dawn the Yellow jersey!!!
Melissa bring it, and taking the win!!!!

The team has gotten off to a great start at Hood.
Yesterday in the prologue we went 5th and 6th, with Melissa and Alice.
Results can be found here:
http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/pdfs/prologue/women/Stg00r00Rpt01RacerStg.pdf
Today was the Cooper Spur stage 1
The ladies rocked it with the win and taking the overall GC.
http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/pdfs/stage1/women/Stg01r00Rpt01RacerStg.pdf
GC is here
http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/pdfs/stage1/women/Stg01r00Rpt02RacerGC.pdf
Tomorrow is the TT and Melissa is a TT specialist as well as a climber. So going into this she is 2 Sec a head of Farina and 9 sec a head of Goldstein. It's anyones bet on who will pull it off. I know what Melissa is capable of. My money is on her all the way to the finish. I will be in the follow car helping send all the positive energy I can, as if some how I can pedal the bike.
Looking at the Top 10 a lot can happen, we have 3 really strong riders who can do a lot. One thing is for certain, I am very proud of all my VF ladies and how they are racing. It's nice to see it come together. They work hard and deserve the rewards of there success. Especially after losing so many key riders coming in to hood. Not having a full team had me wondering, the wonder is over and I now know they are ready to race hard.

Alice taking control.

The calm before the storm.

Given it and in the hurt box to the line!!

All photo's PAT MALACH http://www.oregoncyclingaction.com/

State Road Champs

2009-05-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the State Road Championships for the Senior women in Oregon. Veloforma was in attendance. We had a small team but they raced hard, with well earned results. It, like all races was a learning experience and we came away with new knowledge and this helps us grow as a team. Congratulations goes out to all the VF ladies with special note to Tina for a Silver and Steph a bronze. Way to go ladies.

Coach Cree with two of his VF ladies.
Myself, Miranda, Dave and Laura meet up with Tina, Steph, Elise and Heather after to celebrate.
I had my cake and a stick of butter too.

Testing, Testing...

2009-05-21T17:04:00.001-07:00

So I spent a week in Colorado doing some product testing after Joe Martin Stage Race. Here are a few shots. It was a great trip and a needed re-charge to the batteries.

what you see here is a VF proto, that I spent a week on in Colorado.

It's full carbon and FS too, yes this is all your gonna get to see. Maybe you might get to view one at short track later this summer.

This shot is of Blue sky... an awesome single track that goes from Ft. Collins to Loveland.

Me with the Devils back bone and the wonderful blue sky of Colorado. Yes I am wearing road shoes. I know... but I forgot to pack my mtn bike stuff. LOL :)

Having some fun, all in a days work.

Devils Back Bone,. Loveland, Colorado.

Single track leading into the Devils Backbone.

Ironclad in the house. Never leave home with out them...

It was so hot the deer made sure they stayed cool.

Max getting ready to ride the Blue Sky to Loveland with me.

Paul doing the same, doing blue sky on a uni-cycle is tuff, especially when it's your first time. But really this is what we did on our rest day. Paul nailed it, I on the other hand did not...

New Belgium Lost Arrow of course... new brew and very tasty. This was my recovery drink after most rides.

Rest day also included some golf with Max and Paul.

Max enjoying a beverage after a hard day of golf.

A big bull snake I ran into on one of my rides. He was a big boy!!

My old Fort Collins house, man I miss this house, wish I never sold it. 20/20 hindsight, right.
All in all it was a wonderful trip and I got to see friends that I have not spent time with in a while. Thanks Paul, Di, Max, Gus and Ruffy. It was great spending a week with you.

What is the story behind these VF photos?

2009-05-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

Over there.. what is stephanie doing??

Just another Saturday morning VF ride!

Joe Martin Final Day

2009-05-12T11:24:00.001-07:00

Well it took me a day longer than expected to get this up. Getting Alice to the Airport at 4:30 am was tough. Christina was nice and took Robin later in the day so I got on the road early. :) Landed in Colorado last night at 6:30pm to stop by a friends place and say Hi. Any how back to racing!!!

Results from the Crit can be found here - http://www.joemartinstagerace.com/Results2009/Stg04Women1-2.pdf

The Final Stage of the 32nd Joe Martin Stage Race was the Criterium!! FAST was the word of the day. Only 20 made it to the finish from the 52 starters and 8 high level pros just didn't finish, but sometimes they just lay it out there and do there job to make it so fast they can't. The Course was AWESOME, Fast and technical. Rain at the beginning set nerves on end a little. But all in all no crashes and everyone raced like a rock star. Alice and Christina made the Front group. With Christina finishing 10th. The start finish hill was a whopper and made for recovering on the back portion of the course tough, as Value Act and Tibco keep the pace high all day.

Here is some more from Cycling News - http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2009/may09/joemartin09/joemartin094

Special Thanks has to go out to Scott Warren for helping put all the logistics of the race together. Scott help with lot of extra add support. THANK YOU Scott!! Anna Sanders our guest rider was super solid both as a racer and a person. I now know why... as we had the luxury of staying with Anna's parents as host housing. Tom and Barbra are awesome!! The southern style of making people welcome and feel at easy is so nice when you are on the road. We have found our home away from home when we are at Joe Martin. Anna also found out she has a home on the Veloforma squad too, if she wants it. More on that later. So all in all it was a great week of racing. We meet new people learn new things about ourselves and came away knowing why we love this sport so much.

Joe Martin Day 3

2009-05-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Results can be found here...
http://www.joemartinstagerace.com/Results2009/Stg03Women1-2.pdf
more later as I am tired, need to clean bikes, talk to the ladies...and so on. So I know the girls are too...

Joe Martin Day two.

2009-05-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

Results can be found here -
http://www.joemartinstagerace.com/Results2009/Stg02Women1-2.pdf

The Day of the Break aways...

Today was great racing. The ladies where active and racing hard. The race featured 5 major break aways. First one of the day was big. And consisted of 8 riders with our own Alice Pennington, other riders in the break included Tibco's - Tamyo, Jazz Apple ( NZ Nat) Pryde and Roorda, Leal - Team Type 1, Van Gilder - Mellow Mushroom, Cannondale's - Dallaire and one mystery rider I could get the name of... sorry With out Webcor and Value Act present they started chasing and it eventually came back.

Break #2 Featured Sabrina Savage - Veloforma, Tibco's - Rickards, Value Acts - Pattella, Jazz Apple - Corset and Tibco's Carroll. I thought this might stick but since TT1 had no one in there the casing began. And eventually the break came back. Not sure how this happened as TT1 had a small team and it looked like it might be tough for them to protect Powers lead.

Break away # 3 consisted of Tamayo, Pennington, Allpress - Value Act and one other rider. At this point it was Taymao and Pennington that seemed to want the un-official aggressive rider jersey as they both have been very active on the rollers and in two breaks in the last 20 miles.

Break #4 had Nicky Butterfield - Webcore get a 10sec gap and Ruth Corset - Jazz Apple joined her and put 16 secs into the field. But webcore didn't like these odds and brought it back mostly to set up a counter and make sure Corset wasn't in it. As she was sitting 8th after the TT. So all back together again.

Break #5 was a three rider break that had Kristen Lasso who was 4th in the tt. Sharon Allpress of Value Act and Lauren Ellis - Jazz Apple. This group put 30 sec into the field and with Lasso sitting 4th. THIS Got the field pretty busy with a lot of active chasing. This group stay at 30 to 45 secs for a long time, all the way thru the 9 mile climb and into the feed. Finally after the Feed zone and a long descent this group was brought back. Allpress got the un-official aggressive rider jersey today being in the longest break.

After the decent it was mostly flat or what we call rollers here in Arkansas. :) The field was now whittled down to about 25 - 30 riders. This lead group stayed together until the end. Kiesanowski beat Van Glider to the line for the win. Veloforma riders ended up 17, 27,31,44 and 49.

Pennington finsihed 17 and moved up on GC. Smith and Savage did the same and all finished in the front group.
The team is sitting 7th on team GC and I hope we can move up a few spots but it's gonna be hard. Until tomorrow. Good night from stormy Arkansas.

Joe Martin Day One - Devils Den TT

2009-05-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

Results are here - http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2009/may09/joemartin09/joemartin091

The ladies did good today! Results are listed above. Tomorrow is a road race. Stage 2 Start 2:30. Point to Point from Cedar Ville to Fayetteville.

Sabrina was fastest of the VF riders today. All the ladies did awesome. Here a a few shots of the day.

More tomorrow...

Joe Martin

2009-05-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

The team is at Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas. TT is tomorrow 4pm. The girls are ready to rock. We did openers on the tt course today, the course is demanding and country side is beautiful. More from the tt tomorrow as its 1:30 am and I would like to get some sleep. I'll leave you with a parting shot of Robin winning last weekend. All the girls have won a race in there prep coming into this race. Until tomorrow...

slacker!!

2009-04-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Yes - I have been a major slacker. But hopefully that will change soon.
The ladies have been racing a lot and doing awesome. So much so I need to sit down and recap the last 6 weeks. They have been winning all over the country, and at home here in Oregon.
For now it Redlands Team GC Results.
We had a lot of bad luck at Redlands. It started with losing several key riders before the start due to sickness. Then a crash in the TT. Mechanical in Stage one, plus two crashes and just utter chaos due to NO radio communication in the race caravan. I guess it doesn't do any good to have $4000.00 radios when they don't work? But the ladies rallied and did what they could to keep us in the team GC running. We lost Robin to the time cut in Stage one, ONLY to a mechanical. At the national level if you get a blow dealt this deep and do not get mechanical help quickly it's game over... FAST. Especially when the ladies were reaching speed of 50 mph and the Santana winds raging.

We lost our GC rider in the crit to a crash. Melissa did get up and finish. But could not start the next day. We actually thought she broke her hip. Thank goodness it was a false alarm. Ends up she has a major sprain to the ligaments to the hip and a few bruised bones. But she is already on the mend and looking to do Gila before she meets up with the team at Joe Martin.
Our bad luck continued in Stage three when Alice bridge to the front group, which isn't bad luck but what transpired later was... This group split again, into two groups. When trying to re- bridge to the front group she got missed directed on the course. At that point it's tuff to make up what you have lost so pretty much - game over. She ended up finishing in a group of six.
Christina aka barn diva is recovering from a lot of major road rash, from hitting the tarmac several times. But all in all everyone is motivated to race and be strong for Joe Martin. We are lucky to have Scott Warren helping out at this event. Super lucky, more later...

So here is Team GC from Redlands. I am super proud.

25th Annual Redlands Bicycle Classic
March 26-29, 2009
TEAM GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 3 Beaver medical Group Sunset Road Race - Stage 3
Women 1-2
OFFICIALPL TEAM--------------------- TIME--- DIFF---
1 Team Tibco 20:57:09
2 Team Columbia Highroad 20:57:21 @ :12
3 Webcor Builders Cycling T 20:57:45 @ :36
4 Value Act Capital 21:01:06 @ 03:57
5 Colavita Sutter Home 21:01:14 @ 04:05
6 Team Type 1 21:02:14 @ 05:05
7 Canadian National Team 21:32:08 @ 34:59
8 Touchstone Climbing 21:49:50 @ 52:41
9 Veloforma / Zym 22:05:31 @ 1:08:22
10 DFT p/b Treads 22:12:05 @ 1:14:56
11 Metro VW 22:16:31 @ 1:19:22
12 Nurnberger Shoair 22:29:48 @ 1:32:39
13 Wines of Washington 22:31:34 @ 1:34:25
14 Specialized D4W/Bicycle H 22:36:55 @ 1:39:46
15 Team Lip Smackers 22:39:55 @ 1:42:46
16 Velo Classic Tours / Incy 22:58:32 @ 2:01:23
17 Kahala LaGrange 23:58:29 @ 3:01:20

Some of the girls are racing at Cherry Blossom this weekend. My bet is on Secrist. That's if I was a betting man. :)
Remember - The only one who can tell you, you can't is you. And you don't have to listen. So go out there and Kill it.

Until next time...

Savage WINS!!!!

2009-02-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

First win of the year goes to Sabrina Savage out of Mesa AZ!!!
Way to go Sabrina!! She also mixed it up with the guys, but got taken down in a CRASH!! Ouch! But all in a day work as Sabrina would put it! The girls have been training hard and great things will continue to come... you ladies rock!!

I love this shot!! Sabrina attacking the guys!!

Training camp starts on Feb 9th in AZ it's going to be good to be in the sun and hang out with the ladies. I have a good feeling about VOS!! Only time will tell.
Thanks for reading. :)

BikeRumor!!!

2009-01-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

More press on the Womens Team :)
http://www.bikerumor.com/
Maybe the team will start to blog for BikeRumor.
Who Knows.
Have a great day.

Veloforma/Zym Women's Professional Cycling Team

2009-01-04T16:28:00.000-08:00

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

Development Team Roster!!

2008-12-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well it’s that time of year, announcing new team members and what is happening in the Veloforma house in regards to racing. Cross or at least cross crusade is over. Cross Natz is a week away (we will not make the trip this year). Last year was an epic journey, once was enough. So it’s time to think about the road again, or at least planning, after a little rest. Veloforma has been fortunate enough to add to its development team this year. Last year we had 3 development women (Carrie Goodbrake, Laura McGraw, Jennifer Withers) all returning for ’09. We have added 5 new riders (Stephanie Chase, Heather Gunderson, Elise Huggins, Erica Loder, and Heidi Swift). Bring our development team roster to a very strong and amazing 8 ladies, it could go as high as 10 but not higher. Side note - elite team to be covered on a later date. These ladies will be riding with the elite team as much as possible, taking the next step in their progression as racers. The development and the elite teams are going to be working hand in hand. We will be doing a mentor program with each team member matching elite/development riders together. The goal with the mentor ship is to help each rider work their weaknesses, bond and grow as a team. We are excited to have these ladies involved with our program. We can‘t think of a better way to have Veloforma represented in the peloton. The development team will be racing stage races and single day events in the Pacific Northwest. I am looking forward to seeing these ladies in Black, Red and White!!!!
Mark out :)

NRC Schedule

2008-11-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

Here is the '09 NRC Schedule for our Pro Women.

Team members and press release coming soon.

We've upped it a little this year. We have also added some amazingly talented women. We are going to be winning some races on the NRC schedule for sure.

Date, Category, Race, City, State.

14-16 Feb 2.4 Amgen tour of California Women's Stage Race w Various, California

26-29 Mar 2.2 Redlands Bicycle Classic b Redlands, CA

11-17 May 2.1 Oregon Pro Cycling Classic B Portland, OR

7-Jun 1.1 Liberty Classic (women) w Philadelphia, PA

28-Jun 1.3 Manhattan Beach Grand Prix b Manhattan Beach, CA

22-26 Jul 2.3 Cascade Cycling Classic b Bend, OR

12-Sep 1.5 Priority Health Grand Cycling Classic presented by Spectrum Health w Grand Rapids, MI

13-Sep 1.5 Priority Health Ann Arbor Cycling Classic presented by Saint Joseph Mercy Medical System w Ann Arbor, MI

TBD US Crit Finals – Vegas In conjunction with Interbike.

Random Awesomeness!!

2008-11-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

As EQ would put it. Random Awesomeness!!

At least until the last rain. Which stripped all the leaves. But before we started to get pummeled with rain, the sun came out at the house the other day & I took this picture.

Hope everyone had a great week. Think about what made it Awesome. If you can't think of anything, just think back a little further. We've always got a little random Awesomeness some where.

PEZ, PDX Bicycle Studio & S.R.

2008-10-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

The girls did good! They knew Richard Pestes (publisher of PEZ) was a softy when it came to attractive women. So he had to come by the booth and see whats up. Click on the link and scroll down.
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6431&status=True

We are working with Molly Cameron (http://www.mollycameron.com/) and Portland Bicycle Studio (http://www.portlandbicyclestudio.com/), we currently have her on a Stealth '09 R7. So far feed back has been good.

From Molly's blog - "I am currently on this sweet 2009 Veloforma R7 carbon fibre racing machine.
It is damn nice. I’ve only put a few rides on it so far but, I am impressed.
I’ll be putting a mini-review up on Portland Bicycle Studio when I get a sec to snap some pics."

The Girls have been rocking it in cross.

Weekend and week day rides are starting to pick up and it's that time of year - Base miles!!! Our Travel team is going to need to be ready for the Tour of California which starts on Valentines day (Feb 14-16). So I guess I'll have roses for all the girls at the start Line. :) then on to Redlands (March 26-29) Followed by Oregon Pro Cycling Classic in May and finishing there major Stage races with Cascade July 22-26.

Any how that's all for now. :)

$63 Million.

2008-10-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

$63 million, not bad. (Especially since the regional economy is $17 billion).
THAT it is what the cycling industry as a whole is worth to Oregon. It also provides 800 Jobs.
For more information check out bike Portland dot org. For the full story.
http://bikeportland.org/2006/06/15/survey-says-bicycle-industry-nears-63m/

Racing NEWS - The McGraw separates her shoulder yesterday. Get well soon Laura!!! Yes - you now must refer to Laura as The McGraw. She will now refer to her self in the third person just like the Rock (WWF). SHE separates her shoulder on lap 2 and puts it back in on her own, then still goes on to finish the race. This course was super bumpy. The final laps had to hurt. So for all you ladies out there that think she's to pretty to race a bike. ;) She put the grrrr in girl. I don't think most guys would have finished including this one...

Women A Results from CC#2

Pennington currently doing cross for Desalvo - Rocked it and got 2nd!!!
EQ - Vanilla 7th
Heartbreaker - 13th

B's
Goodbrake 30th Veloforma
Chase 31st Ironclad -Veloforma '09
The McGraw 33rd Veloforma

Very cool to see the large numbers for the women events. Hope to see these numbers continue to the road/mtn season.

MD out.

Peithman Power!!

2008-10-06T12:18:00.001-07:00

Brandon Arends (rides for Ironclad - http://www.ironcladcycling.com/) took an awesome shot of Susan Peithman this past weekend playing in the muck at Alpenrose on her Veloforma Carbon CX1.

I Love Oregon cyclocross!! I think you would be hard pressed to find any place in the USA that has 119 single speeders at the line up. Way cool. I so want to get my rig dirty. Maybe next weekend. :)
Isn't she pretty!!! And comes in at just about 12 lbs. NOT bad...

BikeRumor Review!!!

2008-10-04T09:52:00.000-07:00

BikeRumor.com did a nice review about us at interbike. Thanks to Laura and her PR skills. Check it out. www.bikerumor.com/2008/10/03/interbike-2008-veloforma-cycles/#more-1085 He got a few facts mixed up but all in all a very good job. Cheers.

More Vegas!!!

2008-10-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to go for a ride a day before the show.
Heading out of our oasis. It was so nice to stay in Summerlin, instead of the strip. If I had to live in Vegas this is the place. We could ride to the entrance to Red Rocks in about 10-15 minutes.
Entrance to Redrocks. The roads are awesome and the shoulder is wide. I will have to spend some time here this winter when I get sick of the rain.
At the top of the look out in Redrocks. A very fun loop to do if you wanted to get an easy 2hrs ride in. Perfect to clear the head before the show.

Happy that I'm out on a ride, surrounded by good positive people, in the sun, and ready for the show!!
What you see when you ride by Calico Basin.
If you wanted to get in some night life. The red rock was about 5 minutes away. We spent one night eating over priced sushi an Hachi. It was fun and of course part of the Vegas experience.
Cross Vegas baby! It was fun Tina, Laura, Susan, Sabrina, Tim, Mike, Missy... the whole gang came out to see good racing and of course Lance.
Mike and Tim setting up to serve some barley pops!!!

The Crew taking pictures of Lance as he rides by.... go Lance go!!!
Miranda and Tina... All smiles!!
Some of the gang hanging out a Vegas Cross!!! By the way didn't get a picture but Sue Butler is rocking it!!! Way to go Sue.
Lance was in the house!!! It was way cool to see these guys and how fast the lead group was going compared to the chase group. All on grass. Another cool note was watching Adam Craig in the lead bunch hop the barriers and ride the run up. He did this every time. Way cool!!!
Guess I can't believe it. What it is... not sure...

Just being a nut.

Interbike!!!

2008-10-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

The 2008 addition to Interbike is over!!! Yeah!!!

Show was good, but I don't care what the spin doctors say NUMBERS were way down.

But that didn't mean we didn't have a good show we did, but that being said you can see that shops are hold on there pennies tighter. He's a few shots from Vegas!!!

You can click on any picture to see a larger version.
Enjoy!

Top photo is the house we rented for the week, we got some riding in before and after the show. Above is Hittman and myself getting some final preparations done on the Mtn. bike the night before we could begin set up at Sands.
Jon laying down the carbon pattern flooring.

Flooring is in and the back drops set, now just need to put the bikes in and we can go for a ride.

A little out of order but me and some of the Veloforma women at the show. From left to right (Laura, Miranda, Mark, Sabrina, Tina and Susan).

The booth in a finished state, and we are ready to go blow off some steam with a ride into Red rocks.
Jon and I talking about the new Mille R - this bike is coming in two versions the R 860grams and the SLR the later model is sub 800 grams.
Tim and Laura, Laura is holding one of our models we didn't get finished before the show. But we did get a few hand delivered to us at the show... so shops got to see it in the raw form.
Me and mans best friends. I am for sure a dog person. Actually and animal person. But I love dogs, all types. This was taken at a BBQ on the last day. It was nice to just chill and talk with friends.

This is what we saw every morning on our ride out to Redrocks.

More to come...this will be in three installments. More show cross vegas/us crit finals - Which Sabrina got 7th!!!!.

HOT off the PRESS!!

2008-09-03T07:44:00.001-07:00

Well, Hilary is getting Famous : ). Second post for her on the Cyclingnews.com
Awesome Hilary, awesome!! Way to go girl. Oh and love the helmet! - Not!!!
Any how you can click on the link below are read about her adventure at natz!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2008/diaries/uswcdp/?id=uswcdp0828

Love the shot above. Love it.

At Eugene cycling Celebration down in Eugene. Becka Crushed it. Winning the overall in style. Way to go Becka. I can't think of a better way for Veloforma to close out the season. The really cool thing is she did it with out team support. Proving how truly talented she really is...

Hope to have some shots of Becka from Eugene later in the week (shot above is Hilary at Natz). One last note, I feel really lucky to have put a team together that has done so well, both on a regional and national schedule. These ladies have proven they can ride with the best. And they are all riders from the Pacific NW. I think they have also proven that they are one of the strongest teams in the Pacific Northwest. The '09 Season will have lots of excitement with the team doing Redlands, MT Hood (or Tour of Oregon - what ever they are going to call it) and Cascade for stage races. We will be doing Tour of CA Crit and Nevada City classic - Nevada City CA, plus 6-7 more one NRC races next year. Until our next post enjoy.

stuff

2008-08-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Wow! A lot has been going on while I have been in my cave getting ready for interbike (booth 6570 by the way) Let see. This weekend is the last in the Cat 4 series, it's double points so things are a little crazy and the racing should be good. Not sure who is leading the series as ladies have been getting lots of upgrades.
On the Veloforma home front Becka Hartkop was 2nd at the Boulder Roubaix to Team Columbia racer Mara Abbot. Way to go Becka - maybe she will show up and walk away from the field at this weekends race. Rumor has it she is flying. Let's hope Becka makes an appearance. Becka please race, please... oh and send me some photo's of the Roubaix.
Tina won the state Criterium Championships a race that has long alluded her. I think before this win her best was 5th. Way to go earthquaker!!! Photo by Ed Norton http://web.mac.com/stoppingtime/Site/Welcome.html

Tina was also sighted in Beijing, which she said was absolutely amazing. To get to be at the the Olympics, Wow way cool!!!

Carrie Goodbrake rocked it at the State hill climb and with her climbing prowess gett'n the big W!!!

to make the win even sweeter the family was in town to see the victory!!

Oh and if I can get this rolling too. We will have a way cool and very sexy and tasteful calendar at interbike. Check the cover mock up. And no you will not see Becka's foot in the final draft. Thanks to all the ladies for doing this, and most of all Laura McGraw for all her hard work. Not only is she an awesome racer but is a excellent photographer http://www.lauramcgraw.com/

One last note check out Hilary's Diary on Cyclingnews!!! She is being coached by Mike Engleman who runs the us womens development program. Here is the link to Hilary's post. http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2008/diaries/uswcdp/?id=uswcdp0826

Natz!

2008-08-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hilary 5th @ Natz!!!!

She rocked it!!!

Great Job Hilary.

MD out.

Inter Bike - spy photo's

2008-08-08T11:43:00.001-07:00

Well - we are under two months away from interbike. It is crunch time to say the least. We will have several new rigs at the show. One new road frame, one new cross frame - single speed and our new mtn. bike. The mtn. bike has been a two year work in progress and I am very pleased with what we have as a final version. Check it out. Can you say SEXY!!!!

You can click on the pictures for a bigger version of the photo

I actually did not want to enter the mtn bike portion of the industry. I just wanted to focus on Road and Cross bikes. But when this rig got finished it was hard for me to say NO. And of course there is the added two years of $$, R&D Blah, Blah, Blah. So it's a go, and it's name is the Grundig - after the grundig world cup series of the late 80's early 90's. Yes I'm dating myself. :)

More spy phoo's of our Single Speed cross bike and New road rig will be up soon.

Have a great day and go ride your bike.

Cheers

Mark

And the winner is....

2008-07-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to everyone that entered the raffles in support of the Eric Kautzky Memorial Scholarship Fund. Thanks to your entries, we raised $780. Add that amout to the $1300 we raised during the third annual Eric Kautzky Memorial Track Race, and our total contribution to Eric's fund is $2080.

Each year Eric's Fund provides a scholarship award to a deserving graduating senior from Tigard High who is pursuing a future in either sports medicine or biology (both subjects Eric taught at Tigard for over 24 years). Eric's family hand picks the senior based on a written essay, grades, and overall resume during his or her time as a student at Tigard High School.

And now to the winners. The drawings were held Friday night, July 25th, at the Alpenrose Velodrome. Anna Knoblock from Bike Central was our offcial drawer of the winning entries out of our large wicker basket.

In the first drawing, the winner of the LiveStrong cap personally autographed by Lance Armstrong is ---- Stephen Hemminger!

In the second and final drawing, the winner of the Veloforma F1R Road Frame is --- Barb Grover!

The winners will be contacted shortly and arrangements will be made accordingly for the delivery of their prizes.

THANKS AGAIN!

Darell Provencher
Team Rose City

Big Smile.

2008-07-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a little quiet on the home front for the Veloforma women's team. After Cascade it was time to take a break. I think that most people have been rejuvenated and are ready to rock, while others are winding down a bit and ready for the season to end. But wait it's only the end of July you say... well they have been racing every single weekend Since February. Cross is just around the corner. We are not going to field an official cross team this year, but we will have a few out racing for sure. When I look back of our first season (even though its not over yet) together I get a BIG SMILE! These ladies are awesome!!!

Pennington at the End of Silverton Road race.

Alice and Becka on the Podium @ Silverton.

Miranda on the rail at AVC.

Susan and Tina giving it all systems go with the gun show for Pennington in the feed @ cascade.

Alice and Tina - I think Tina looks pretty tuff in this helmet!!

Stars and Bars for Miranda and Jennifer.

The girls at Kings Valley.
The crew at Cascade.

There is still a lot of racing to be had with Hilary going to Nationals. High Desert this weekend which is the last of the Oregon Cup Races. Are Earthquaker and Heartbreaker going to make it?? They have been doing some High Altitude training in Colorado... looking forward to having the crew back together for this weekends events. Until then.....cheers

AVC & Short Track and more...

2008-07-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

Road sprinters are tough, maybe a little crazy. But Track sprinters and particularly Keirin riders... well I just don't have a definition for them. The men and women of the Keirin are of a different breed of sprinter. Check out this video. It's from this weekends AVC here in Portland.
Ouch!!!
Glad everyone was OK.

Tony Kick of the Gentle Lovers went down hard on Sunday in the Scratch. It was a little scary at first. As he lay face down on the apron of the track. Thank fully he is OK. Last night at short track I heard he was pretty sore. I guess it's better to be sore than have broken bones. Get well soon Tony!!!

Raffle for F1R is coming to a close on July 25th - this is your chance to get an F1R on the cheap!!!
July 25 Raffle Drawing for Veloforma F1R Frame, Lance-autographed Livestrong Cap Date:
There's only 5 more days until we conclude a couple of raffles that will benefit the Eric Kautzky Memorial Scholarship Fund at Tigard High School. The drawing will be held July 25 at the Fast Twitch Fridays event at Alpenrose Velodrome. Winners need not be present to win. Raffle tickets can be purchased online (see below) until 1pm, Friday, July 25th. Or you can purchase in person at Alpenrose this Friday until 15 min before the drawing occurs.
Raffle tickets keep coming in for these two great prizes:
+ A Veloforma F1R carbon frame. Mark Duff, Founder and President of Veloforma, will ensure that you will have the right size F1R frame to meet your cycling needs. Check out www.veloforma.com and their cool blog at http://veloforma.blogspot.com/ . $15 per entry.
+ A raffle for a LiveStrong cap personally autographed by Lance Armstrong. Raffle tickets are $15 each).
You can pay online at www.paypal.com and click on "Send Money" (Fill out info in the "Send Money" box).
Then enter pay@teamrosecity.org as the e-mail address you want to send money to and fill in the blanks.
Please send an email to darellp@easystreet.net verifying which prize drawing you are paying for and how many tickets. Include your contact info (email address and/or phone) We will then write out your raffle ticket(s) and enter them into the drawing.
For more information about Eric Kautzky and Eric's Scholarship Fund at Tigard High School, go to www.teamrosecity.org
Thanks again for your support! (And please support the upcoming negligent homicide bill in the next session of the Oregon legislature --
http://news.opb.org/article/2289-new-vehicular-homicide-law-proposed-oregon/)
Thanks,
Darell Provencher Team Rose City
-- Note NEW email address is darellp@easystreet.net -- no longer .com

Short track is a blast.

I needed to change things up a little bit and do something different.

If you need to change things up a bit too.. then check it out. http://www.portlandracing.com/info.html

Plus I HAD to get this rig out there and tear it up.

If you've been out at short track you may have also seen Tina Brubaker or Alice Pennington out on a VELOFORMA full carbon single speed Mtn. Bike. This is a prototype, but the final rig is better, stiffer and more responsive. Plus it will be available this fall after Interbike. Photo's of the final product will be out soon.

Time to head back to the shop. Go ride your bike.

Sigh!!!!

2008-07-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's Thursday. Where did the week go???

Just got back from Cascade (Monday @ around 2pm), the girls had a lot to prove and did an awesome job.

4th overall on Team GC, with a lot of excitement on stages 2 and 6. Wish I would of had time to post daily. But trust me, the racing was awesome and the Ladies stepped up. I'm proud!!

We had a lot of help at this race, without Martha, Tim, Jeff, Tina and Susan things would have been pretty tough.

A shot of the whole crew minus Martha. She is either taking the picture, off finding someone or staying on top of the many tasks it takes to be the awesome director she is....

Robin and Hilary went on the attack with 20k to go in stage 2... they get a 25 sec gap going into Sisters, then all of a sudden they are 1:50 on the pelaton and we can see the break of 7 up the road at 1min. It was crazy.
Kristen Armstrong (lifeforce-Cervelo) bridges to Hilary Billington and Robin Secrist (Veloforma/ZYM)on Stage 2. This was about 5k from the finish.

Man I need an assistant! I've got to go and not sure when this post will get finished so I'm going to post it as it is... anyone want to be my assistant. They pay stinks... zero.

Oh - the AVC starts tomorrow, there is local racing tonight at Alpenrose and next weekend we will be up at the FSA GP in Washington. Maybe I'll have time to finish this tomorrow?? Who knows. I doubt it.

But I will post more shot of each stage when I get a chance.

Cheers

Cascade Update

2008-07-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

The ladies are doing a great job so far at Cascade, currently sitting third in the team standings! Hilary and Robin attacked the field Thursday before the final climb, trying to bridge to the break. They didn't make it all the way, but they both finished great - Hilary 9th, Robin 11th. Alice, Becka, Sabrina, and Miranda are all rockin', too! Susan DNF'd Friday (not sure why). Look for a GC shake up Friday with the TT, and an even bigger shake up Saturday and Sunday with two more hard stages. It's a hard, hard race with two of the US Olympians (Kristin and Chrstine) in prime form plus a lot of other big teams and strong ladies.

Here's the link to the Cascade website: http://www.mbsef.org/CascadeCyclingClassic/

Also check Velonews and Cyclingnews for their race reports.

Packing & morning happenings

2008-07-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Currently packing for Cascade! Not fun. Although the week of Cascade is going to be a blast. Right now not fun... so I went to get some Java. Plus had some visitors this morning on my way into the Veloforma warehouse. OK time to get back to packing.... I have way to much to do before 2pm.

Cat4 Series Update.

2008-07-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

Race 3 is in the bag for the CAT4 Series.
Race three of the seven race series was the Fire Cracker Criterium down in Eugene. Racing was good, really good. Although I’d have to say turn out was poor, but also expected due to the holiday weekend. Collen Flaherty of Veloce won and has added to her lead. Tamara Metz (veloce) is in a close third and will like bump Beth Burns from second after the next race, if she dosen't some one will as Beth has gotten the upgrade. Speaking of upgrades Beth Burns, Heather Gundersen, Laura McGraw, and Abby Jenkins have all been upgraded to Cat 3’s congratulations Ladies!

Women 4 Race: Firecracker Crit Date: July 5, 2008
Place Number First Last Team
1 2976 Colleen Flaherty Veloce
2 2952 Kalli Phillips 3 2951 Tamara Metz Veloce
4 612 Kerri VandenBerg Poplollies
5 415 Tara Pemberton Poplollies
6 417 Sarah McCarthy Poplollies
7 1750 Sherry Jako Sorella Forte
8 412 Jill Andrews Poplollies
9 795 Anne Linton Sorella Forte
10 256 Judy Richardson Sorella Forte
11 252 Flo Leibowitz Pacific Power Blue Sky

Over all Series after Firecracker Criterium
**Please note these are not official results of the overall series.
Find out more about the series and results.

*riders in bold have been upgraded, Congratulations!!!!

Pl First Name Last Name Team Points
1 Colleen Flaherty Veloce 270.0
2 Beth Burns* Veloce 170.0
3 Tamara Metz Veloce 116.0
4 Sarah McCarthy Poplollies 84.0
5 Kalli Phillips 70
6 Tara Pemberton Poplollies 76.
7 Kira Crawford Ironclad Performance Wear 60.0
8 Anne Linton Sorella Forte 56.
9 Heather Gundersen* Veloshop 50.0
10 Sherry Jako Sorella Forte 44.0
11Judy Richardson Sorella Forte 40.0
12 Laura McGraw* Veloforma 40.0
13 Kerri VandenBerg Poplollies 40.0
14 Abby Jenkins* Bridgetown Velo 36.0
15 Carolyn Goodbrake Veloforma 32.0
16 Jill Andrews Poplollies 24

In house news Laura McGraw was second in her first Cat1,2,3 race a few weeks back (Salem Circuit race), I know she wanted the win, but we have a little in house rule and she knows what it is... I know a win is in the near future :). Laura is proving to be a criterium and track based rider as every time I talk about either type of racing her eye’s sparkle and she gets really excited. Now to just get her on the track more so she can improve on that sprint.

Cascade Starts on Wednesday. Hopefully I will have time to make posts. If not maybe I can get someone who can really write to do it. Thanks for reading
Cheers
Mark

Public Apology!

2008-07-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

The other day I made a post about an issue I had with how a promoter was choosing to pick the Best Oregon rider at Cascade. In my rant, I did not think of how I would affect that rider. Although she remained nameless, it affected her and possibly others. It was not an attack on her, I did not mean to take anything away from her. I did not mean to make the claim that she did anything wrong or unethical. The rider in question was Suzie Weldon. She has raced at the highest level all over the US and abroad. She is by far one of the most professional, first rate racers we have in the Pacific Northwest. I would like to publicly apologies for my poor form and absolute disregard for another persons feelings. I am sorry Suzie, extremely sorry. I did not mean to offend anyone, most of all you. Wishing you the best at Cascade.
Cheers
Mark Duff – President
Veloforma, Inc.

CASCADE!!!!

2008-07-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

Ok Folks the Cascade Classic is back.
What do I mean back??? Well the women will be racing in full force. Last year they Cancelled the women's event. Now it's BACK!!! Full force BABY!
Currently 80 women are signed up. All the big teams will be represented plus riders coming to freelance from squads like Cheerwine, Colavita, and Cervelo Lifeforce. The current major teams are as follows...WEBCOR, VALUE ACT CAPITAL, TOUCHSTONE, Team TIBCO, SHO-AIR/CVAC, BOBS, BICYCLE JOHNS, AARONS and VELOFORMA/ZYM. Looks like Wines of Washington is Team sho-air. Hope this year the Best Oregon rider is TRUELY an Oregon rider, something I have voice to the promoter.
Below is our roster for Cascade, we (meaning me, Martha, and sponsors) are excited that this event is back and hope it is here to stay. Of course meaning all CATs!
We will be having two guest riders on the squad Sabrina Savage (Phoenix, AZ) and Robin Secrist (Kirkland, WA) Both are up a coming talents that have proven there worthiness to ride with the Veloforma/Zym squad @ Cascade.

Below is the official press release.

VELOFORMA / ZYM
at the
Cascade Cycling Classic
July 9-13, 2008
Bend, Oregon
The Veloforma/Zym elite women’s
cycling team is excited to be a part of
the return of women’s racing at the
Cascade Cycling Classic in 2008. With a
strong squad of many Oregon riders,
Veloforma/Zym continues its move into
national-level road racing.
Team riders have dominated local racing
in the Pacific Northwest this year and
look forward to the challenge of
welcoming the country’s top riders to
their playground.
MARK DUFF, MANAGER
503.789.6735

HILARY BILLINGTON (PORTLAND, OREGON)
Hilary is a stage race specialist who excels when the races are hard, fast,
long, and uphill. She started racing on the NRC circuit in 2007 and that
remains her focus. She began racing her bike occasionally in 1999 and
continued through the early 2000s between having her two boys, now ages
four and nearly seven. Her 2008 season highlights include Redlands
Bicycle Classic, Tour of Walla Walla, and two classics on the Oregon race
calendar, the Kings Valley road race and the Mt. Tabor circuit race.
REBECKA HARTKOP (SALEM, OREGON)
Becka currently leads the 2008 competition for the coveted Oregon Cup, a
year-long points series. She has a long list of results from 2008 alone,
including first place in the final stage at the Elkhorn Classic stage race, first
place overall at the Willamette stage race, and a gold-medal performance
at the Oregon road race championship. In 2007 she won the Mt. Ashland
hillclimb.
MIRANDA MOON (BANKS, OREGON)
A powerful time trialist and criterium specialist, Miranda has returned to
bike racing in 2008 with outstanding results. Her first-place finishes this
year include individual and team time trials (with the Veloforma/Zym
squad) and the Willamette stage race criterium. Most recently, she won
the women’s FIAC national championship at the Alpenrose Sixday. In 2004
she won Oregon’s best all-around rider competition. She last competed at
the Cascade Cycling Classic in 2006.
www.veloforma.com / www.gozym.com
SUSAN PEITHMAN (PORTLAND, OREGON)
Susan raced in the 2007 Nature Valley Grand Prix, the 2005 USCF criterium
championships, and regional events in the Midwest before moving to
Portland last winter. She was part of Veloforma/Zym’s gold-medal time
trial team in 2008 and a contributor to teammate Rebecka Hartkop’s win in
the state road race championship.
ALICE PENNINGTON (HOOD RIVER, OREGON)
Alice is a fixture in Oregon bike racing, both on the road and off. In June
she finished second at the Elkhorn Classic stage race in Baker City, and in
May she was Veloforma/Zym’s top rider at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, a
UCI event for women in 2008. She also won the Silverton and Table Rock
road races in 2008 and was part of Veloforma/Zym’s first-place team time
trial championship team. She won Oregon’s best all-around rider
competition in 2001, 2002, and 2003. She last raced in the Cascade
Classic in 2004.
SABRINA SAVAGE (PHOENIX, ARIZONA)
A native of Albany, Oregon, Sabrina started bike racing in February 2008
after getting “hooked” by recreational riding in Missouri. From her home in
Phoenix, Sabrina has traveled to regional races in Arizona and also to
bigger events in Southern California, including the Manhattan Beach Grand
Prix and Green Trolley Criterium in late June. She also competed in the
Vuelta de Bisbee. Living and training in Phoenix guarantees that she is
acclimated to the temperatures usually found at the Cascade Classic.
ROBIN SECRIST (KIRKLAND, WASHINGTON)
Robin has vaulted to the top echelon of bike racing in 2008, her first season
as a competitive cyclist. In the two months that she’s been an elite
(category 2) rider, Robin has won the Methow Valley Tour and finished
second at the Wenatchee Omnium stage race and the Tour of Walla Walla.
In her short time as category 4 rider, she held the leader’s jersey in
Washington’s Luna Cat 4 Women’s Series. Robin won the Seafair Triathlon
in Seattle in 2007 and was training for Ironman Canada 2008 until she
decided to devote herself full-time to bike racing.

This team is founded on a core set of beliefs: passion, knowledge, and experience based on hardwork, determination, and teamwork. These same values are found in the companies of
VELOFORMA, ZYM, and supporting sponsors. Elite team members are chosen not solely based on results but on how well they work in a team environment and represent their sponsors in and out of competition. We showcase a diverse team of strong professionals who are true ambassadors to sport and life. VELOFORMA/ZYM is proud to be associated with these vibrant women who are capable of incredible things both on and off the bike, and who come from all walks of life.

Congrats!!!!

2008-06-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Congrats to all the Alpenrose 6 Day Racers!!!
The 6 day finished on Saturday under beautifully clear skies, with lots of SUN & HEAT!!!
Some thrive in the heat and others wilt. Since we have not had a lot of heat this year. It seem like most of the group was going a little slower on the last day. But there is no better way to finish an event. Hope everyone who was out there remembered the sun screen cause the glare of the track is like being up on a glacier.

If you want to check out more action of what happened at the six day via photo's check out Ed Norton and as I see it. http://web.mac.com/stoppingtime/Site/Welcome.htm

This 6 day event was special for several reason. The Third ever all women 6 day in 99 years. Plus the fact that it was FIAC National Madison Championships for the elite men & women fields. Stephen Beardsley & Mark Blackwelder of Gentle Lovers walked away with the Title for the Elite men. Miranda Moon (Veloforma/Zym) & Jennifer Triplett(Broadmark Elite Track Team) riding for Veloforma took home top honors for the women!!!
Miranda and Jennifer - On the top step, showing off there new National Champ Jersey!!! Special thanks also goes out to Larry Kohn at Assos for there generous donation of Custom Assos Madison Jerseys to the winners of each field. Way, way cool. You can check out the super cool kits here http://www.assos.com/en/sixdays/

Other Happenings for the week and weekend! As usual we keep it rolling!!

Tina Brubaker got 2nd in Bend @ the NWX Criterium

NWX Criterium
Friday, June 27
Women - 30 minutes - 18 starters
1
Chrissy Ruiter ValueAct Capital
2
Tina Brubaker Veloforma
3
Heather Clark Bend Bike n Sport
4
Teri Sheasby Bend Bike n Sport
5
Zoe Roy Sunnyside
6
Evelyn Dong Therapeutic Associates
7
Michelle Bazemore
8
Sami Fournier Organic Athlete
9
Monica Freeman Therapeutic Associates
10
Lynn Albrow Central Oregon Velo
11
Amanda Atwill Therapeutic Associates
12
Brenna Knowles Therapeutic Associates
13
Lea Julson Therapeutic Associates

Alice Pennington Had a B Day on Sunday!!! Happy BDAy RockStar!!!
Salem/Fairview Circuit Race had Veloforma go 1,2,3 for the third time this year!!! Way to go!

Becka 1st, Laura 2nd, Tina 3rd. Do not have a photo of the finish yet. Soon as I can I'll post one.

Cool Stat - 7 victories in 7 days.

Great Job to everyone!!!

Have a great day!!! Go ride your bike. Cheers!

Alpenrose Lameness/ Not so Lame!

2008-06-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

OK - Before I get on my soap box. I need to be positive, right. So what was positive about last night. Well - the Women 6 Day. It is so COOL to see 7 teams out there slugging it out. Last night was what we call the short night, due to extended schedule (non 6 day riders raced too) So it was faster, shorter distances. But they can still take there toll. Miranda Moon (veloforma/zym) and Jennifer Triplett (Broadmark Elite Track Team) have teamed up riding for Veloforma at the 6 day. They are doing awesome and currently leading at this point. This is the first time Miranda & Jennifer have ridden together as madison partners, actually it's the first time for Fionna & Louella too. The other teams have been doing madison practices for a few months, since knowing there was going to be a women only 6 day. Cool stat about Fionna and Louella is that they are the youngest/oldest team out there, and they are hanging tough. One things for certain is... I have been really impressed with the racing and exchanges. Something other competitors could learn from... just watch enjoy and learn. These ladies have it down and it's poetry in motion. Watching them race is a joy and I hope this will now become an annual event. Rumor has it, that there may be a women only 6 day at the FSA GP. I hope so, if not I know Miranda & Jennifer will be out there with the men. But I have my fingers crossed that you ladies get your own madison.

Results for the Overall are listed below.

Six Day Women Pl First Name Last Name Team Points laps
1 Miranda Moon Veloforma 225.0 0
1 Jennifer Triplett Veloforma 225.0 0
2 Jeanie Bilhmaier Specialized River City Bicycles 180.0 -2
2 Andrea Fisk Velo Bella 180.0 -2
3 Amelia Bjesse-Puffin Bike Central 167.0 -3
3 Featherin... Jen Bike Central 167.0 -3
4 Anita Dilles Gentle Lovers 141.0 -3
4 Emily Charbonneau Therapeutic Associates Inc. Cycling 141.0 -3
5 Heather VanValkenburg Team Rubicon 86.0 -12
5 Darien Curl Team Rubicon 86.0 -12
6 Meg Mautner Bike Central 53.0 -15
6 Lynn Hughes-Godfrey Bike Central 53.0 -15
7 Fiona Graham Specialized River City Bicycles 41.0 -19
7 Louella Holter Gregg's Specialized 41.0 -19

A few shots of the men's B and A podiums for day 4.

Six Day Men B Pl First Name Last Name Team Points laps
1 Jonathan Long US Outdoor Store 200.0 0
1 Scott Harman Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling Team 200.0 0
2 Brian Abers Bike Central 171.0 0
2 Mark Godfrey Bike Central 171.0 0
3 Casey Deck Therapeutic Associates Inc. Cycling 166.0 0
3 Charles Warner Veloce 166.0 0
4 Stephen Hemminger South Town Velo 140.0 0
4 Jeff Standish Therapeutic Associates Inc. Cycling 140.0 0
5 Sasha Lacey Portland Velo 108.0 0
5 Gregg Magnus Portland Velo 108.0 0
6 David Godfrey Team Rubicon 77.0 -2
6 Norrene Godfrey Team Rubicon 77.0 -2
7 Steve Truesdale Half Fast Velo 81.0 -7
7 Mark Duff Veloforma 81.0 -7

Six Day Men A Pl First Name Last Name Team Points laps
1 Steven Beardsley Gentle Lovers 236.0 0
1 Mark Blackwelder Gentle Lovers 236.0 0
2 Darrell Hemmenway Guinness Cycling 163.0 -5
2 Per Bjesse Bike Central 163.0 -5
3 Peter Drake Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling Team 140.0 -5
3 David Klipper Guinness Cycling 140.0 -5
4 Curtis Bergquist 78.0 -9
4 Patrick Jacks 78.0 -9
5 Jerome Dumortier Beaverton Bicycle Club 87.0 -11
5 Richard Suditu Beaverton Bicycle Club 87.0 -11
6 Nathan Frechen Team Beer 28.0 -18
6 Jay Brown Portland Velo 28.0 -18

So now for the down side. Last night was LAME!!! At least in the B race madison. Guess B stands for BONE HEAD. Sorry don't mean to be negative... But my partner got taken out. Last nights racing was weak; inadequate; unsatisfactory. Why because someone who hasn't ridden the track enough and weighs twice as much as Casey Deck, slams Casey onto the apron at full speed. Casey keeps it up (because he's a good rider) but at this point he had know where to go but into my partner at full speed. Taking Steve Truesdale down hard. I mean hard, the impact sent a chill up my spin. First thought is get to Steve as fast as possible. When I get there I can see a small gash on his nose, a little blood and minor track rash. I was amazed. Steve is one burly guy! To be able to walk away from such a horrific crash, he put the definition in to TUFF and Lucky. Steve will for ever be know as Burlucky in my book. It may even become his new nick name. My second thought after I realize Steve is OK - pissed. Not at Casey, it wasn't his fault. Just that we have a few teams in the B race that have no experience what so ever, show no respect or common sense. They are making constant bone head moves, which last night finally had a consequence, rider down. We are lucky Steve is OK. That everyone else was OK, and we didn't have the whole field stacked in a pile on the apron. It would be nice if we would hand out a few dangerous rider penalties equal to a lap taken away. I'm sort of sick of it! If you can't do proper exchanges or figure out how to come into the line up. Communicate with out using foul language. Have patience and learn to ride with skill, then I don't want to be any where near you in a race. Actually how about trying what I've mentioned at 60 or 70 percent and then work on getting to 100% full out effort. There's to much at steak out there, mainly our friends and competitors!! So please, please stop riding beyond your limits, it effects all of us. OK of my soap box.

08' Alpenrose 6 Day!!

2008-06-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Do you want to be part of History???

Then come out to the Alpenrose Velodrome to see the First EVER all women's six day.

The Alpenrose Velodrome has been around since 1962, and has never looked back providing an excellent track venue for Oregon Cycling. Alpenrose has held USA cycling National Championships in 1967 and 1989.

It continues making history. Holding the first ever all women 6 day. The first event of it's kind any where in the world. It's also an FIAC National Madison Championship. What does this mean? A FIAC National Championship Jersey will be awarded! Stars and Bars baby!!!

This could only happen in OBRA land. We are fortunate to have such a rich history of bike racing and wonderful people like the Cadonau's, Murray's, Godfreys, Sugahara's and many many more who make racing what it is in oregon!

So come out and watch some awesome racing and be a part of history in the making!!!

Current standings after 3 days of racing.

Overall after day 3 Women Overall Points Overall Laps1 Miranda Moon Veloforma 159 01 Jennifer Triplett Veloforma 159 02 Jeanie Bilhmaier Specialized/River Vity 135 -22 Andrea Fisk Velo Bella 135 -23 Amelia Bjesse-Puffin Bike Central 116 -33 Featheringill Jen Bike Central 116 -34 Anita Dilles Gentle Lovers 98 -34 Emily Charboneau Therapeutic Associates Inc. Cycling98 -35 Heather VanValkenburg Rubicon 65 -115 Darien Curl Rubicon 65 -116 Meg Mautner Bike Central 40 -136 Hughes-Godfrey Lynn Bike Central 40 -137 Fiona Graham Specialized/River Vity 24 -167 Louella Holter 24 -16

Here's how to get there:

Alpenrose Velodrome's address is 6149 SW Shattuck, Portland, Oregon. One way to get to the track is to take the Terwilliger exit (297) off of I-5, then go straight for half a mile (north) on Bertha Street or Terwilliger to Highway 10 and take a left (west). Follow Highway 10 for 2 miles, also called the Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, until you get to the Wendy's (on the left) and take a left (south) on Shattuck Street. Follow Shattuck for about half a mile, until you get to the Alpenrose Dairy, on the right (6149 SW Shattuck). (Overview map, detail map)

Have a great day!!

Thanks for reading.

Cheers :)

Elkhorn '08

2008-06-25T08:03:00.001-07:00

'08 Elkhorn Classic is in the books!
The Veloforma women Rocked it!
Two stage wins and some really strong riding.
Short recap!!
Day one - Oregon trail road race. Pennington aka ROCKSTAR makes the break. They put 2:30 into the field Alice gets 3rd on the stage, but then finds out she was second! Due to yellow line infraction in the final sprint. Field sprint for 5th is taken by Tina!!! Sweet!!

Stage 2 Pleasant Valley Individual Time Trial. Not so pleasant when you have to go all out for 10miles and the last 4.5 have a headwind a you have to deal with a Farms truck that pulls in front of you twice, making you come to a complete stop!!! Then adding insult to injury having a water truck do the same. This happen to Becka and she still got 6th!!! It would have been another story if she had clear road!!! Needless to say this didn't help her get back time on GC.
Pennington Rocked an excellent TT to only lose 9 sec to 1st on GC.

Stage 3 Gold rush Criterium. ( Please see comments as this portion is miss leading) This was the portion of the stage race the made Elkhorn epic in one way or another. It happen to be rain and trying to corner on polished cement. Not a good combination to have. Needless to say about 20mins in to there 40min criterium they sky's opened up and the cement got wet, and BANG a rider goes down in turn one taking about 30 riders with her. They stop the race to line up again, then to cancel it. Susan Peithman is credited with the win and was also given a 3 sec advantage on the remaining field. So it is a legitimate win. Even if Susan just wanted to win it out right, with no technicalities. Best wishes to the Bob's rider that went down in the crit. She ended up breaking her pelvis, we wish you a speed recovery!!
SPECIAL THANKS - needs to go to Beverly Calder of BELLA market. With out Bev the women would not have gotten equal prize money! Thank you Beverly!! If you are ever in Baker City you must visit her shop. http://www.bellabackercity.com/

Stage 4 Dooley Mountain Road Race
This is the final grueling stage of Elkhorn. Only the truly hard finish it and only the Burly Win it.
100 miles and 8000 feet of climbing in the day. Guess who won the women's stage! Becka Hartkop!! Susan spent the first 30 miles on the front riding tempo, then Tina took over for the next 30, this did some major damage. Which gave us our second victory of the weekend. I hope it also made up for the tt frustration of the morning before. It's tough to say where she would of ended up on GC, due to the TT fiasco, but I guess that's racing. Alice stayed with first on GC to retain Second Over all!!

So how we ended up per stage:
1- Alice 2nd, Tina 5th, Becka 14th, Susan 21st, Miranda 27th
2- Becka 6th, Alice 8th, Tina 13th, Susan 16th , Mirada 17th
3- Susan 1st,
4- Becka 1st, Alice 7th, Tina 19th, Susan 24th

HOW WE ENDED ON GC.
W P/1/2 1 212 Barber Sarah Team Bobs-Bicycles.com 9:32:18.1 2nd 228 Pennington Alice Veloforma 9:32:30.63 205 Secrist Robin First Rate Mortgage 9:33:21.44 215 Stacher Ally Team Bobs-Bicycles.com 9:34:19.9 5th 223 Hartkop Becka Veloforma 9:34:28.06 208 Gillis Cara Organic Athlete 9:34:59.67 221 Gitlen Laurel Gentle Lovers 9:35:42.68 213 Gaertner Jenni Team Bobs-Bicycles.com 9:36:29.69 218 Zivin Julie Byrne Invent 9:36:42.210 217 Chandos Amy UC Davis USCF Cal Aggie Cyclis 9:36:59.211 230 Turnbull Lisa Team Group Health 9:38:24.012 203 Gonzalez-Ferrat Gabriela Bicycle John's SeriousCycling 9:39:02.413 201 Beall Allison Team Bobs-Bicycles.com 9:39:44.7 14th 220 Brubaker Tina Veloforma 9:40:23.315 211 Withrow Kelsey PCIM 9:42:02.216 224 Kunz Kori Poplollies 9:42:16.017 209 Thurston Emily Organic Athlete 9:43:32.618 216 Swan Izette Team Group Health 9:44:52.519 227 Nettles Elizabeth Avanti Racing 9:47:46.020 204 Crawford Kelly Bountiful Mazda Cycling Team9:50:14.121 222 Green Kristi DeSalvo Custom Cycles 9:50:54.122 207 Fournier Sami Organic Athlete 9:56:49.8 23rd 202 Peithman Susan Veloforma 9:58:21.824 210 Wangerin Jenn Organic Athlete 10:02:27.625 206 Walsh Martha First Rate Mortgage 10:07:56.826 219 Albrow Lynn 10:08:15.127 231 Valentin Sirikit Gentle Lovers 10:15:44.828 226 Morgan Lisa 10:17:46.2

News!!!

2008-06-16T10:26:00.001-07:00

To much to do and not enough time to do!

It's Monday!! I need to plan for Elkhorn!! Didn't get in to the old man race, So now I get to get drilled in the Pro1/2's which is fine. Except for the fact I thought I'd have more time to get registered online. Guess I have to plead with Ernie and hopefully I'll get in.

So quick post of this weekends racing!

The ladies rode Excellent and went 2nd-5th @ Tabor. Melissa Sanborn (Vanderkitten) rode a great race following wheels till she launched her 400 meter attack at the end for the win.

It was a sea of White black and Red at the front all day!! Rock star took a ton of Primes!
The ladies before there start of the race!
The intensity and the focus that we love to bring to all our races!!
The Veloforma/Zym Elite Women's team is now 1st,2nd & 3rd. for the Oregon Cup!!!

Below are the top 10 Results.

1 Rebecka Hartkop Veloforma 496
2 Tina Brubaker Veloforma 410
3 Alice Pennington Veloforma 360
4 Kori Kunz Poplollies 323
5 Melissa Sanborn Vanderkitten 200
6 Jenny Slawta Land Shark 185
7 Heather Clark Bend Bike 'N Sport 165
8 Christi Binstadt Poplollies 140
8 Hilary Billington Veloforma 140
10 Jill Howe Poplollies 131

BIG THANK YOU to all the ladies who came out to race at the Cat 4 Women's Series. Tabor was race #1 in a 6 race series. Hopefully we see the numbers grow to 40 racers. Overall series results after race one can be found here.

http://www.veloreview.com/obra3/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/cat4womenseriesstandings.png

Please click on the caption below to see a better view of the results after race #1

OBRA TTT Championships / Silverton Road Race!!!

2008-06-04T08:40:00.001-07:00

The Veloforma/ZYM ladies are still on a role!!! Bring home 2 more wins this past weekend.
OBRA Team Time Trial Championships happened in Corvallis, Oregon. Under cloudy sky's and very little wind. Conditions seemed to be fast this year. Times were a lot lower than in years past. So I'm going with fast conditions on top of teams just going good for all the great times!!

Veloforma fielded two teams. Our elite squad (Tina, Becka, Susan, and Miranda) and Team DEVO - Laura, Eva, Carrie, and Jen. (aka our development squad). Both squads rocked it. I was really impressed with how well DEVO rode. I made them ride ironman style (no aero equipment) and we did a mix of 2 -cat4's and 2 - cat3's. They posted and excellent time of 1:12:36 for second place in the women's Cat3's. With how well they rode this year, it's going to be a tough inner squad battle for next years victory, plus ttt squad selections!!!

Carrie, Eva, Jen and Laura getting there medals!!!!!

The elite squad used the motivation of trying to catch Devo. Plus the fact that Tim "hitman" Hittner mentioned that they would get a Steak dinner of there choice if they broke 1 hour!!! The elite squad caught every women's team out on course and posted a winning time of 1:05:07. This time actually put them high in a lot of men's fields and placed them 33rd out of 70 teams.

Tina (showing what fuels us - ZYM), Becka, Miranda and Susan!!!

Below I am demonstrating our extreme aero position.

Ok - on to Silverton Road Race. Great course, great promoter, = fun time!! This should be a must do on your list for "hard person" style races. This race was also an Oregon Cup event so a lot was on the line. Doing the TTT the day before, the girls knew they still had to perform. It was race # 5 in the 7 race series. We had fresh legs in Alice Pennington so we knew we had something to give and give it we did... Alice and Becka countered an attack by Jennie Slawta on lap two to ride away from the field.

This attack split the field hard. It left Tina a little isolated with no team members present in the chase group. Miranda and Susan feeling the pain of the hills and the suffer fest of the day before were in a 5 person group a few minutes back. Tina did damage control following wheels and making sure Kori Kunz "poplollies"stayed put. Kori put in alot of attacks on the last lap trying to crack Tina but "Earthquaker" wouldn't budge.
Tina - always in control.

Susan and Miranda in the 5 person chase group. Shout out to Stephanie Chase for racing in loaner shoes about 5 sizes to big (she's the ironclad girl on the right of the picture above) I bet the feet and such ended up being a little sore. What a trooper!

So to wrap things up Becka and Alice stay away till the end. Alice gets the win, and Becka gets 2nd. Next group in Jenny Slawta jumps Tina and Kori for 3rd. Kori 4th and Tina 5th.

Oregon Cup standing with two races left.

1 Rebecka Hartkop Veloforma 346
2 Tina Brubaker Veloforma 310
3 Kori Kunz Poplollies 292
4 Alice Pennington Veloforma 240
5 Heather Clark Bend Bike 'N Sport 165
6 Christi Binstadt Poplollies 140
7 Jenny Slawta Team Landshark 105
8 Molly Wheeler Team Landshark 105
9 Jill Howe Poplollies 91
10 Erin Playman Gentle Lovers 80

Rock star will be at the last two events, so the top 3 is going to mix it up a little. The next OC event is Mt. Tabor on June 15th. This will be the first race back for Hilary Billington after her bought with pneumonia. We are super stoked to have her healthy and be back in action. So we will be given it! As the girls always do!!! The last race is in Bend Oregon and part of the High Desert Omnium on August 3rd we have something special in store on this day, so stay tuned, it's going to make for fun times.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers
Mark

2008-06-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Gentle Lovers is Proud to Present - Heartbreaker '08!!!!

This should be a grand time for all. Women get to race for Veloforma Swag!!!!

The ladies will be racing for -

Veloforma squadra bar size 40 - full HM Carbon!!

Veloforma SLX full carbon road fork - works great on the track too.

Veloforma T-shirts

Zym hydration products!!!!

Special thanks to all who help support this in such a timely fashion!!

Now go out and support the race, have fun and of course race HARD!!!!!!

Info can be found at the link below:

http://www.obra.org/track/flyers/2008/alpenrose_heartbreaker.html

Total Domination!!!

2008-05-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

The girls displayed total domination this weekend!!!
State Road Race/Oregon Cup #4 - Becka wins and settles a few things! Tina drilled it with 1k to go and still finishes 3rd. It was pretty close, thought she might come around at the end and get second, Susan finished 7th. SWEET!!! So we go 1st, 3rd and 7th on Saturday. I WAS STOKED! Of course I didn't have my camera. I poached this from Kenji. If anyone has photo's of the race, finish or podium please contact me at mark@veloforma.com

Picture of the podium Becka Hartkop Veloforma/ZYM - 1st, Kori Kunz Poplollies - 2nd, Tina Brubaker - Veloforma/Zym 3rd.

We are now 1st,2nd and 4th in the Oregon Cup. Becka is winning and Tina in Second, Alice is in 4th. I say Rock star is going to move up a little after OC # 5 and we will still keep our lead.

Albany Criterium!!
Veloforma/Zym Ladies go 1,2,3!!! This is the second time this year that the women do the sweep!!!! Tina gets the win, Becka takes 2nd and Miranda wins the field sprint for 3rd. This was a perfectly executed race. Tina and Miranda go off the front for a while after Susan had taken a 3 lap flyer, to see if the girls had any game. Looked like Tina and Miranda are going to make there move stick, but it gets brought back!!! As soon as it does, Becka goes solo for a few laps. Tina attacks again dragging Jan Moss with her, but keeps attacking Jan on the front head wind straight to solo bridge to Becka. At this point it's game over as Tina and Becka love to go hard. Back in the field Susan and Miranda are controlling the field. Making sure that no one goes off the front. There where a few tries but with the horse power we had left in the field no one was going any where.

Miranda and Susan in total control and on patrol!!!

Tina and Becka kill'n it!!

What the spectators saw all day, Becka and Tina Fly'n!!!!
Great job ladies!!!!

Side note: It was a great weekend of racing. The women in the Oregon pelaton are racing really well. There are a few that need to move up to Cat 2's and I hope Kenji is keeping an eye on them, I know they are not to mandatory up grades yet. Since they race with the 1/2's anyway why not... plus if they go outside of Oregon to race they get to race with the big girls so to speak. Which in return just makes you a better rider. Plus helps ad depth to the womens pelaton - right? IMHO if your getting points in the Oregon Cup then it's time to make the next step. You've earned it right? Lets keep building a strong women's pelaton!!! Any how great job to all the ladies that have been racing really hard all season! Please understand my statement above is meant to be positive.

Oh and special call out to Norrene Godfrey for doing the Mens 3's and the Women's race! This is something our ladies will be doing soon... it 's great training for NRC races as the speed is much higher and constant!!! Good Job Norrene.

Cheers
Mark

Mt. Hood Classic

2008-05-23T10:17:00.001-07:00

OK just some photo's!! I am stilled slammed in the warehouse/computer work to get anything else out. The ladies did awesome!! We had a little bad luck but overall we did GREAT!
Our view every morning from the trailer. Thanks to the Penningtons. They allowed us to park in their back yard, which is an orchard.

The girls getting ready for the TT!! We opted for the deep dish wheels instead of rear discs. Turns out we should have gone with the discs as there was a tail wind. Who would of thought!!

Mark Duff and Luke Pennington hanging out at the criterium!! Check out the new kit.

Alice getting some help from Hilary before the the start of the TT.

View of Hood from the backyard @ the Penningtons.

Tina being the trooper she always is... this lady is tuff. There was a group of 6 that could not catch her. 6 versus 1 and she still finished about 10 mins. ahead of them.

The group hanging out at the trailer after the finish on top of Mt. Hood. Only one day to go now...

Only the criterium is left now. Becka is stoked!!

Rolling out the rigs before the Crit!!!

Just before the start of the crit!!! The wind was blowing and the course was typical of every year. Dirty and the hard right hand descending radius turn had claimed Alice before the start. Basically because we had too stiff of a tire on for her. Even with the bad luck before and during the race (Alice got taken out by a Cheerwine rider) she never came out of the top 10.

Special thanks to everyone who helped out!!! Ted and Sharon Duff, Carrie Goodbrake, the Pennington Family. Susan for bringing the beer to the Crit. Tim "Hitman" Hittner for the loaning us his disc wheel set. John Weist, Carl "Cdog" Hoefer for loaning his disc. David Godfrey for helping me out before the prologue with the UCI. Luke for just making me laugh out loud!! And to all our sponsors for making the team happen. And last but not least all the girls for their hard work!!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Prologue

2008-05-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Laura McGraw for taking pictures and putting together this awesome 'poster'!!

A Big Thanks in advance to Carrie Goodbrake for all her help this week!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironcladcycling/2491661450/

Eugene Roubaix Video

2008-05-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

I was so busy with the company and team stuff. Better late than never, right??? I never got a chance to post our first sweep. Veloforma/Zym women went 1,2,3 at Roubaix which was way cool. They set up an executed everything perfectly. Tina and Becka got the gap they needed into the mile long gravel section and once they hit the berg it was Bye, Bye. They finished about 15 mins ahead of the field. Miranda won the field sprint of the remaining peleton to give Veloforma/Zym Elite there first podium sweep. Laura McGraw of the Veloforma developent squad, and all around hard woman, won her race as well. This lady knows how to dig deep into the pain cave. I couldn't believe how hard she finished. She is turning into quite a racer in her first season of bike racing.

Now on to the videos!!! Thanks to Zak Winter for the vids!

Well thanks for watching. In just a few days the ladies of Veloforma/Zym will be Racing in the Mt. Hood Classic Stage Race. Watch here for more details. Until then, have a wonderful day.
Cheers
Mark

Alice Pennington ROCKED Table Rock!!

2008-05-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

Click on this image to see the intensity in Alice's eyes. Eye of the tiger baby!!!

Table Rock weekend! It simply ROCKED!!! Thanks to all who came out and made the racing fun and fast. Thanks to the promoter, volunteers, obra officials. We all don’t say it enough but Thank You! For those who did not make the journey down, you missed out. The weather was off the hook!!! You also missed out on awesome burgers after the race, grilled up by the local 4H club, it looked as if there cook out was a hit. I hope they made an ample sum for there organization. This will now be an annual race for the Veloforma crew.

BIG BIG Thank You and Huge team hug to the Hartkop’s!!!! They opened there home to us and made the weekend that much more special. It was full of great racing, great people, wonderful food, good conversation and a true genuine feel of being at home. Thank you so much. Becka you have wonderful parents. Oh I almost forgot!!!Awesome coffee too. http://www.solarroast.com/ good stuff!!!! a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_LXy3H0XsvE8/SB-bem0Td1I/AAAAAAAAAHM/lfJjuHIBKY0/s1600-h/2008+OBRA+SAMS+VALLEY+RACE,+VELAFORMA+022.jpg">

NOW on to Racing!!! IT was a great weekend for theVeloforma ladies!!! We were fortunate to add super star Alice Pennington to the squad a few weeks back. In her rock star form she won the race in the final 200 meters, opening up a gap of about 10secs over teammate Becka Hartkop 3rd and Kori Kunz 2nd (poplollies). Look at the intensity in those eye’s (great shot Tom). All photo’s provided by Hartkop Productions.

Tina “earthquaker” Brubaker was 5th and still retains the Oregon Cup Lead! Where is the Oregon Cup leaders Jersey this year???? Miranda Moon was 10th and Susan Piethman was 14th. Great job to all the Veloforma/Zym ladies!!!

Our development squad rocked it as well going 1,2. Excellent job Ladies!!! Carrie Goodbrake showing her climb prowess add another win for the team. Laura Mcgraw is showing that she is developing into an all around rider. Great job ladies. They will soon be joining the elite ranks.
You can tell in the picture above Carrie is a natural born climber... look at that form!

Unofficial top 5 Oregon Cup Standings after Table Rock!!
Tina Brubaker 205 pts
Rebecka Hartkop 171 pts
Kori Kunz 167pts
Alice Pennington 140 pts
Heather Clark 90 pts
I think Alice has just put herself in the mix for sure! We now have 3 Veloforma ladies in the top 5. Way to go Ladies!!!!

Wish I had time to post more. But got to go!!! More pic's later in the week. Got to get the girls ready for Mt. Hood!!!!

This Week/Weekend and Beyond!!!

2008-04-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Happenings this week, weekend and beyond!!

Well the week is almost over! We had just about every type of weather. The weather is driving me nuts. Seems to be taking the same effect on others too. Eugene Roubaix is around the corner. Are you EXCITED!!! I am….  hope to not flat this year. I know the GIRLS plan on putting the GRRRRRRRRRR in girl at this race!! It’s looking like we are going to get a respite from the rain, snow, wind and hail. The tan line I got at kings Valley is fading so I am stoked to have some sunshine in the forecast for the weekend. The usual crew will be out at Roubaix this weekend and of course planning on racing hard.

Shout out to Becka Hartkop as today 4/25/08 is her Birthday!! Happy,Happy Birthday Becka!!!!! She is the one with the flowers, and the Queen of the Valley. Pictured with her are from left to right Laura, Becka, Miranda, and Tina.

Jennifer Withers is going to be at her final college race before nationals. Apr 26-27 WSU/UI, Conference Championship, Pullman WA and Moscow ID. I want to WISH her a Huge GOOD LUCK plus all the other PSU riders. Collegiate Nationals will be in my Home town of Ft. Collins May 9-11 National Road Championships, Fort Collins, CO. Wish I could be there to see the action and say hi to a few Friends.

By the time table rock rolls around we should have a few other riders in Veloforma Jerseys. It may be the first time we can have the whole team together. Which would be awesome!!!!

Please support the Brett Jarolimek Memorial Fund – This is May 1st @ the bike gallery. brettjarolimekmemorialfund.blogspot.com

I would like to announce that we have signed Alice Pennington to the Veloforma Elite women’s team. Her first race with us will be Table rock!! This has me extremely excited to have added another awesome all around rider with a good head on her shoulders. We have been very lucky to have signed so many good riders in our first year as a team. I know she can bring a lot to the table. Which has me excited!!! If you did not notice already!! 

We are stoked to be doing MT. HOOD!! www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com . The riders who will be on the start list for Veloforma team will be …
Hillary Billington
Tina Brubaker
Rebecka Hartkop
Miranda Moon
Alice Pennington
Veloforma Guest rider #1

Wow!!! The month of May is huge for Veloforma women!! Oregon Cup # 3 race May 4th. Which we are sitting 1,2,7 and12 in the overall series. Then there is the BIG UCI race called MT. HOOD May 13- 18 which is a big goal for three of our riders and will be a huge learning experience for us all. Then Orgeon Cup #4 May 24 which is also a the women’s state championship race from what I can tell. May 31st is the Team Time Trial Championships. So the month of May is a big one to say the least!!! We just need to make sure we keep every one healthy.

Thanks for reading.

Zym - our presenting sponsor!!

2008-04-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Zym is the presenting sponsor for Veloforma Elite this year. They have an awesome new product out called Catapult, I for one love the stuff.
Brian Koff - President of Zym was out at sea otter sitting in for ZYM spokes woman Eva Longoria and did a nice job. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Longoria But I think Eva might have gotten a little more attention.
Check it out.

We will have a bunch of this stuff at the Team trailer for every one to try out at Mt.Hood stage race. If you happen to go to Eugene Roubaix this weekend. We'll have some samples there as well.
It's a little windy out right now, but it's not raining. Go for a ride.
Cheers
Mark

Victory in Washington

2008-04-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

The Veloforma team continues to win - this time in Washington. Hilary won both road races associated with the Tour of Walla Walla this weekend. She won the Friday road race out of a break of six that put nearly five minutes on the field. That stage did not count toward the stage race classification (too bad, because she gave up too much time in the Saturday morning TT to fight for the overall win). On Saturday afernoon she won the road stage from a large group in an uphill finish. She's looking forward to Mt. Hood in just a few more weeks!

Stage one was VERY VERY windy by the Looks of the Average speed for both Pro Men and Women.

TOUR OF WALLA WALLA Presented by Banner Bank
USAC Permit #2008-588 April 18-20, 2008
RESULT: Kellog Hollow Road Race
Wom Pro-1-2
Average Speed of Winner 16.10 MPH 25.91 Km/H
Pl Bib Name Team Time Behind
1 218 Billington, Hilary Veloforma 1:53:39 @ 1:53:39
2 211 Stewart, Sarah Total Restoration Cycling Team " "
3 210 #Weldon, Suz Union Bay Cycling/Wines of Was " "
4 236 Bailey, Tricia Union Bay Cycling/Wines of Was " "
5 226 Hannah, Jessica Giant Canada/Team Whistler " "
6 209 Barber, Sarah Bobs-Bicycles.com " "
7 214 Roorda, Steph Giant Canada/Team Whistler 1:58:32 @ 4:53
8 230 Gaertner, Jenni Bobs-Bicycles.com " "
9 201 Stacher, Ally Bobs-Bicycles.com 1:58:35 @ 4:56
10 203 Macleod, Fiona Trek/Red Truck Racing presente " "

TOUR OF WALLA WALLA Presented by Banner Bank

USAC Permit #2008-588 April 19-20, 2008

RESULT: Waitsburg Road Race

Wom Pro-1-2

Average Speed of Winner 19.31 MPH 31.07 Km/H

 Pl  Bib Name                      Team

1  Billington, Hilary  Veloforma

2  Bailey, Tricia      Union Bay Cycling/Wines of WA

3  Stewart, Sarah      Total Restoration Cycling Team

4  Roorda, Steph       Giant Canada/Team Whistler

5  Turnbull, Lisa      Sound Velo/Team Group Health

6  Stacher, Ally       Bobs-Bicycles.com

7  Weldon, Suz         Union Bay Cycling/Wines of WA

8  Secrist, Robin      First Rate Mortgage

9  Beall, Allison      Bobs-Bicycles.com

10  Barber, Sarah      Bobs-Bicycles.com

The other impressive thing about Hilary's victories is she did it free lance. No team present to help her out. It will be a different case @ Mt. Hood. :) (input by Mark)
We actually have 3 ladies that will be able to ride high in the GC at Mt. Hood!!!

Guinness & Peaches

2008-04-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

The boys on the Guinness Cycling Team will be rocking Veloforma's this year.

Peaches aka Patrick Marzullo came by and we built his rig last night. While enjoying some mexican food. They are white and bright! You won't miss them in the pelaton that's for sure!

Check them out for your self...(you can click on an image for a larger format)

the finger test, patrick went to about a 100 finger curls before his finger got tired.

close ups of the cock pit and Guinness logo's

What a nice clean ride, it's a shame it's got to get dirty. Wonder what it will look like after Eugene Roubaix??

2008-04-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Good Weekend!!

Veloforma women had a good weekend, actually an AWESOME weekend. They brought home the big V for Victory. Four to be exact. Becka – Kings Valley, Miranda – Icebreaker, Laura – Icebreaker, Jennifer – CWU Ellensburg, WA.(lapping the field twice). But winning isn’t everything. They are also bonding as a team and figuring each other out. It’s one thing to have a bunch of strong women that race on a team, but when you can take that group and get them to work as one that’s when it gets exciting. For me, seeing this happen at Kings Valley was awesome. So much so that I started to think we should do Mt. Hood. Then I get an email forwarded to me from Eric Lynch and bang we’ve got it in the works. I can say I don’t like to do things rushed. I only like to do things if you are going to put your best foot forward. We’ve got a lot to get together before the first stage but right now it’s a go. So the Veloforma team will be at Mt. Hood and it is going to be a amazingly fun learning experience. Thanks for reading and keep looking for updates.

Cheers.

Oregon Cup # 2 Quick update.

2008-04-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Oregon cup # 2 is done. Becka got the win!!! Congratualtions Becka! I really need to say Congratulations to all the ladies. Team work is key and I'll have to say that they worked very well as a team today. I love the fact that these ladies are willing to work for each other and lay it on the line. Special thank you and Great Teammate award goes out to Hilary Billington!! Thank you Hilary. You put the definintion into team player today. Veloforama is sitting 1,2 in the oregon cup after today, Tina is still in the lead with Becka in 2nd, Hilary is 7th. My prediction for Oregon cup #3 will be similar. But you'll see Hilary moving up a bit. She is always game when it comes to killing it in a race. We should have our new addition to the team at #3 so Veloforma will be that much stronger!! I am having a tuff time trying to deciede who will be our remaining addition to the team, those that have sent me emails and have talked directly to me, you are still in consideration. I just need to make sure the fit is right. Any how... time to go play at the Icebreaker Crit. I love this race, wish more people would come out and do it. I know it's short but hey you can go for a great ride after you race in the wonderful country side of south Eugene.

2008-04-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Update!

Becka wins Willamette!!!!!

Things just continue to be busy in the Veloforma house hold. So much has been going on to report. I am way behind on updates...sorry!
The development squad has been doing awesome and will soon be joining the elite ranks at there current rate of success. Laura McGraw (cat 4) Won P.O.C - making the statement. Wow- Guess I can sprint. Yeah she can… she can climb too. She’s going to be another tuff cookie on the squad. Jennifer Withers is currently doing the collegiate season. In her first criterium she went solo from the gun and that was the last they saw of her. She won by a huge margin and took all the primes!! These two ladies have big motors that will complement our current roster once they move up.
Speaking of our current roster, we are still looking for one more elite lady. If you can work in a team environment, be a team player and have the desire to race hard. Contact me mark@veloforma.com
Negotiations. We are in negotiations with another huge northwest talent, more to be disclosed soon. I have to say we are going to be fairly dominating this year in any race weather we come with 3 or a full squad.
Congratulations to Hilary and her success at Redlands! She is on her way to un-corking a big one on the NRC circuit this year.
Congratualtions to Becka, Miranda and Tina for an EXCELLENT Job at Willamette Valley Stage Race!! With just three women they dominated. The Veloforma women lead on GC from the Alpine Road Race stage and held it to the finish. I can’t express how proud I am of these ladies and how hard they worked. The Final GC was Becka 1St,Tina 7th and Miranda 13th. We took two spots on the podium at the tt (2nd,3rd) two spots on the podium at Alpine RR going 2,3 again. Again two spots in the Crit. 1,2. Final stage we took the win and WIN overall on GC!! Below is final GC http://app.obra.org/results/event/12993 and congratulations to all the women that raced!!
Veloforma women are sitting 1,2,3 on BAR Tina, Miranda and Becka. They are leading the Oregon cup - Tina 1st, Becka is sitting 5th. Oregon Cup is a priority for sure.
I have to say that I feel very lucky to have these ladies and all the Veloforma women on our team. They are truly a great bunch!
If I left out anything that has happened I am sorry. I will work harder on keeping things updated. I look forward to the fun we are going to have as a group this season!!!
Next stop is Kings Valley Road Race on Saturday and Icebreaker on Sunday. It’s Oregon Cup (Kings Valley) and we plan on racing hard and keeping the Oregon Cup lead. See you out there.
Cheers.

Hilary's Redlands Update (by Scott)

2008-04-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hilary is flying back from Redlands tonight (Sunday), after a painful but rewarding six-day trip. Here's the brief story. Her prologue time Thursday put her in 43rd. Friday was a brutal circuit race (exactly what she excels at) and she cracked the Top 20, finishing 17th on the day in a small group that had lost the top, top girls about 10km before the finish - she finished with Suz Weldon that day. That moved her into 20th overall. Saturday she kept it upright and out of trouble in the criterium. She averaged 30 miles per hour for 60 minutes. She finished 38th, I think, and that kept her in 20th overall. Her recovery after the crit Saturday afternoon got a little out of whack due to team commitments, so she wasn't feeling 110% for Sunday's suffer-fest. Unfortunately, Sunday she came off the leaders before she wanted to and the time gaps started blowing out. She finished a very respectable 30th on the stage, and ended up finishing 30th overall (in the money!). For her first time at an NRC stage race outside of Oregon, she's pretty pleased. She's pissed, of course, that she didn't have a better day on Sunay, but is encouraged by knowing she's right there with the big girls and with more experience and tactical savvy she's only going to get better.

I've only seen one photo of her on line, on the Redlands web site from the crit. The picture doesn't do her beautiful Veloforma bike justice - in fact, what sticks out are her white arms and legs. . . all that beautiful winter riding in Oregon.

She's looking forward to hearing all about Willamette . . . . and to having a good time at Kings Valley Sunday.

Women's Elite Team

2008-03-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

VELOFORMA Fueled by ZYM Elite Women’s Cycling Team

We are please to announce the Roster of VELOFORMA – Fuel by ZYM Elite Women’s Team! This team is based on a core set of beliefs – passion, knowledge and experience. Based on hard work, determination and team work. These are the same values that can found in the Companies of VELOFORMA, ZYM and its supporting sponsors. We plan on exemplifying these values every day as athlete’s and professionals.

The VELOFORMA/ZYM program plans on bringing an exciting and truly unique approach to cycling. Both the elite team and development squad have been chosen not solely result based, but how well they can work in a team environment and represent there sponsors in and out of competition. We will show case the fact that we have built a vastly diversified team of strong, professionals that are true ambassadors to sport and life. VELOFORMA/ZYM is proud to be associated with these vibrant women. This group is capable of incredible things both on and off the bike, and come from all walks of life.

VELOFORMA Fueled by ZYM elite women’s cycling team is comprised of 6 elite women (currently looking for 2 more elites) and 3 development women (currently looking for 1 more development rider) all hailing from the Pacific Northwest. The Team will be doing a regional schedule in Oregon/Washington and select NRC races for 2008 and going to a full NRC schedule in 2009.

You can watch these women in action at these events.

Kings Valley Road Race* April 12
Table Rock Road Race* May 4th
Oregon Rehearsal Road Race* May 24th
Silverton Road Race* June 1st
Mt. Tabor Circuit Race* June 15th
Elkhorn Stage Race June 20th – 22nd
Cascade Cycling Classic July 9th – 13th
Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium July 19th
High Desert Road Race August 3rd
USA Cycling Elite National Road/TT Championships August 7th - 11th
Interbike (interbike criterium and Vegas cross) Sept 24th – 26th
*Oregon Cup Series
Most regional events in the Pacific Northwest.

Sponsors
Veloforma Bicycles – Title Sponsor. (www.veloforma.com)
ZYM Portable Electrolyte Drink – Presenting Sponsor (www.drinkzym.com)
Champion System Clothing – supporting sponsor (www.champ-sys.com)
Spiuk Helmets – Supporting Sponsor (www.dpmsports.com)
Gin Optics – Supporting Sponsor (www.ginoptics.com)
Ironclad – Supporting Sponsor (www.ironclad.com/)

Roster

Elite Team
Hilary Billington
Tina Brubaker
Rebecka Hartkop
Miranda Moon
Susan Pithman
Shari Shanks

Development Squad
Carolyn Goodbrake
Laura Mcgraw
Jennifer Withers

More extensive bios on the riders to follow in later posts.

Team Kit

2008-03-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

Wow! Seems like every day gets crazier!!! Just a ton of stuff going on...blah,blah blah. We have the final layout on the team Jersey for the elite and developmental women's team. Of course you will see a few old guys like myself in the kit as well. But with no further ado - I would like to Present The Veloforma - Fuel by ZYM Team kit.

Special thanks goes out to Mr. Spencer Williams on all his hard work to get this kit put together. I just spoke with Brian @ ZYM and we are both stoked about our relationship. Myself as well as the team would like to thank Brian Koff - President a BE Innovations, owner of ZYM portable electrolyte drink and his commitment to the team. If you have not tried there product talk to us at races. We'll get you a sample. You can check out there website at http://www.drinkzym.com/ (you pronounce zym as if it where spelled zim) Official team release to follow soon.

I know I keep saying it but the new website will be live soon I promise. Josh is hard a work and the preview I saw the other nite rocked.

Other team news development rider Jennifer Withers killed it at the OU/OSU omnium and won the Crit. and took all the primes in the B women's race. Look for her to be coming through the ranks fast. Congratulations to Jennifer on her first victory!!! She is a true motor. She is a great addition in so many ways. This young lady has a great energy, and it is truly infectious.

Thanks for reading! More to come soon...

SWEET!!!!

2008-03-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

Tina wins BB#3 to make it 3 in a row. Can you say on a role!!! I hear she had the help Becka keeping the pace high on the hills and Motor Moon giving a good 750 meter lead out. Hilary did awesome in the men's 3's today and road easy to the finish but I did note some strong attacks coming from this mother of two, to keep the boy honest!! Pretty cool! Pics and More information to come, as well as a post from Logan winning and just after a root canal!! The Veloforma crew is a rock'n it.

Tina showing the Ladies a clean set of wheels, after a textbook leadout. Good job ladies!

News Flash!

2008-03-10T10:51:00.001-07:00

We've been extremely busy!!! So a little lacking in posts. Just got back from the Seattle International bike show. All was good but a little stressful. I hide the stress well, although I lost some more hair. As if I had any more left in the first place. I had Miranda to keep me sane, so all was good!

Things on the home front for Veloforma have been shaping up!! We have a new presenting sponsor for the elite women's team (networking is such a great tool) and full details will be released soon. I hear the website is done for the most part... now I just need to approve it - many thanks to Josh on this one. Hopefully I can get over there in the next few days, so we can wrap it up. Spencer has been rocking our new team kit and is an awesome designer!!!

One of the new proto type track bikes done. Have two more to finalize, in the next few weeks. If all goes well we will have a full production carbon rig ready in late May. But of course a hand full will be out at the track soon.

Results!!! Veloforma Riders have been rocking it!!!
Logan Loader ((Sprint Club De Nice (Nice France)) has brought home our first International Victory for '08 winning on his F1R in Monaco in the espoirs and second overall as it was an open pro race. Great things are a coming for this young talent in Europe, as he is only 18.

Ironclad's - The Colonel took second at BB #1. Good Job!! These boys are way

stronger than they realize, plus it early in the year. I want to know when is Hundie (Greg Hudson) going to make it out. That guy can field sprint!!!

Miranda Moon (Veloforma Elite Team) won the Jack frost Time Trial for elite women and set a PR and course Record for women on her Veloforma Crono.
John Weist (NOMADS) set a PR at Jack Frost by 2mins!!! on the Veloforma Crono.
Tina Brubaker (Veloforma Elite Team)has been rocking it at BB1 and 2 with two Victory's back to back. Way to go Tina!!! (I think the women will take the Oregon cup 1,2,3 for sure). Now I just need to get Tina, her new team Frame. As I was supposed to deliver it before we went to the Show and of course get her registered with the right team.

As Well as Becca, Shari, Susan, and Hillary. Hillary will be racing in Redlands with Bicycle Johns and we wish her the BEST!!! This is a good race for her as she is a phenomenal stage racer. Speaking of the Elite women's team - they will be riding Veloforma F1R's or Ultra's depending on there type and style of riding and of course what fits them best. Proto types will be put in the line up when we need some feed back.

Sponsors - Like I said things have been crazy. We have Ironclad performance gloves to keep our hand safe and sweet free. Thanks Captain Evil aka Dave Aldersebaes! We have Spiuk as a new sponsor for helmets. The women's elite team will be wearing Spiuk helmets thanks to Ed at DPM Sports!! They will be rocking the Zirion on the road and the Kronos in the time trials. Of course in custom team colors to match there kits.
We are very thankful to Micheal Pruitt @ Gin Optics for the sun glass sponsorship! We are all going to look quite stylish this year!!!
Oh the time....More to come later as I have other work to get to now. Thanks for reading.
Cheers
Mark

Quenton - Team Issue Ironclad bike!

2008-02-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

So we just finished building up one of the team issue bikes for Ironclad. I have to say I was amazed when I finished the build. I grabbed the bike and thought Wow that's light!! So I grabbed a pair of race wheels and thru them on to see what was what. If I would have built this with Record, Red or Force. I wouldn't be so surprised that it was light and extremely light in a race set up. But this bike is built with a complete Campy Centaur Group. So long story short 15.65 lbs for a medium with 303 zipps not bad for an entry level groupo. I would say that I am starting to appreciate the lower end Campy stuff now. I still do not think it compares to Force or Red of course but it blows Rival, and mid and low level shimano a way!!!

Ironclad Team bikes

2008-02-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

When out at Jack Frost Time Trial, Team Ironclad got to check out there new rig's that Veloforma made for them this winter. For lack of a better word it is way COOL to support this Team, we are more than please to be supporting them in the coming years. Check out a few shots of the frames. More updates on how other sponsored teams and riders did at J.K. Later this week when they get the results out. Til then Check it....

Mark Duff (Veloforma) and Captain Evil, aka Dave Aldersebaes (Ironclad) showing off the new Ironclad team Frame!!! Is it me or is Mark short?? As soon as we get results from this weekend, we'll post how others have done. Till then get out there and ride... enjoy that sunshine while we have it.

Logan Loader

2008-02-25T07:33:00.000-08:00

Veloforma is pleased to announce that it has signed American espoir phenom Logan Loader. Last year Logan raced for the French development squad Sprinter Club de Nice. In 2008 Logan will be doing a full season for Sprint De Nice, and we are pleased to say that we will be supplying him with a Veloforma F1R with a full SRAM Force build. Most would think that going to France and being 18 to race your bike might be intimidating. But for Logan… well he seems to take the challenge very well. So well in fact, that in his first race in France he walked away with VICTORY in the Junior/Espoir race of the Grand Prix de Grasse. Logan went on to win SEVEN more races in his first season in Europe. So, it’s no surprise to see that he has been invited back. Logan’s results caught the eye of many, including Bissell Pro Cycling team management and the great Johan Bruyneel of Astana. But the best thing for Logan to do is race in Europe, honing his skills with the BEST – so that he can reach his goal of a Pro Tour Team. We are proud to be able to support Logan this season and wish him the BEST!!! Watch here for posts of what Logan is up to. Viva La France style. Until then…thanks for reading. Cheers Mark.

08' Ultra and F1R

2008-02-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

The F1R

The best just got a little better. For 2008 we use the same cutting edge technology as before, but we upgraded the carbon. Added an Alpha Q GS40 nano carbon fork. These new changes have made the bike 5% lighter and 20% stiffer. The F1R still has the proper compliance you need for proper ride feed back. This was the frame that started the integrated seat tube revolution. Unique tube shapes. High Modulus (3 part)Monocoque frame, with a blend of T700/800V carbon blends. We built the F1R with all the proper stress reinforcements for ride performance expected in a premium race rig. Only pure roadies need apply.

The unique down tube of the F1R! This bike sits at 14.5lbs but we don't even make a bike that doesn't sit in the 15lb catagory.

The Ultra

In the world of High Modulus carbon frames this is the ultra work horse. Same High Modulus carbon as in the F1R. Except this bike was design around carbon tubes, bonded to carbon lugs. Like all Veloforma’s we designed this bike with unique tube shapes. All designed to give a stiff, responsive and comfortable ride. Road race, Kermese, criterium, hill climb, this bike can do it all. Thus the name – the Ultra.

The classic lines of the Ultra - 14.75 lbs with 404's. I could race this bike anywhere as it is the do all machine that delivers time and time again.

It looks like a GT or a Ridley or, but its not...but it is, but it's not,but it is...not :)

2008-02-18T22:09:00.001-08:00

James Huang caught this image for cycling news and made an great observation!!!
Jelly Belly is sponsored by GT Bicycles but GT doesn't actually offer a TT frame so it apparently procured some frames from elsewhere although we couldn't tell exactly what they really were.
I'll let the cat out of the Bag!! It's a Veloforma. Hope Tuckie likes it, and all the other bean boys! Unless your to tall and then you'll have to ride some weird alloy thing...
:)

I know the boys at Predictor-Loto did... Check below, yes a Veloforma Crono (with Ridley decals) and a 3k weave. Used during the 07 season, this shot was take at the tour by the editor of protournews.com
a few close ups of our head tube and rear-end...

now check below and view the Veloforma Crono, it just looks good in so many colors. But it looks best in it's true colors.

'08 D'lusso & Crono - Full Descriptions

2008-02-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

Nano tube technology!!!

D’lusso
Veloforma is proud to introduce the “D’lusso”. One of the lightest, strongest, most technological advanced frames in the world. How can we claim this in the world of carbon hierarchy? Easy! Our frame average weight is 850 grams. We use tube to tube construction to make this supreme ride. We start the D’lusso with Toray T700 carbon. But we don’t stop there; we take it a step further by adding nano tube technology. This is the next step in the carbon fiber evolution. Nano technology makes the world’s strongest known material even stronger - without sacrificing weight. The D’lusso nano tech carbon boosts strength density ratio by an incredible 1600%. By incorporating carbon nanotubes into the D’lusso carbon resin matrix, we have greatly enhanced the impact strength, fatigue life and vastly improved ride quality where it counts. For 2008 this is going to be a limited production bike set at 50.

Crono - oh so FAST!!!

In the race against the clock this are no lies!!! What’s the truth about this ride? It’s FAST!!! So fast that it’s been one of the most copied models in the industry. Problem is they don’t have our carbon or bladder technologies to get it quite right. The Crono is designed for and conforms to UCI regulations. We have done extensive wind tunnel testing on this bike. It has been tested and proven at the highest level of sport. This is the ride for the time trialist in all of us.

'08 D'oro - full description.

2008-02-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

D’Oro
Veloforma’s unique line of bikes just became more so with it’s introduction of the D’Oro. Comfort, Speed, Frame design and ride quality. This combined with our passion for cycling makes each and every D’Oro special. But what makes it even more unique is its custom monocoque! We are the first in the industry to do it. If you’re serious about your ride, then this is the most essential tool to peak performance. Why? Or how you ask? Well the bike is your foundation; it anchors you to your pedal stroke. It must be rigid enough for proper power transfer. But compliant enough for proper feedback to the rider. Your frame is the most critical feature period. Nothing has more profound influence on comfort, power and performance than your frame. The D’Oro takes perfect fit one step further. If you want to go custom then the D’Oro has to be the bike of choice. 60 day turn around from the time we get your geometry and deposit.

08' line up quickie...

2008-02-11T18:53:00.000-08:00

Ok - here is our 08' line up for now it's going to be pictures and a little text, when we have more time we will add more detailed information to each photo. But for now check out the sweet carbon bike porn!!!!

So First on our list of sweet rides is our all new CUSTOM, yes full custom - full monocoque frame called the D'oro (pictured above). Don't think because it's custom it's going to take for ever. Average turn around is 60 days from the time we get the measurements to our factory in Italy and of course get that deposit!!
Next up and also new to our fine line of carbon rides for '08 is the D'lusso!! It's our nano carbon wonder boy, this rig is super light, super stiff and responsive. Average weight 850grams (we take the weight from all 5 frame sizes, when posting our weights).
Your going to need to act fast if you want to ride this rig cause in '08 it's going to be a limited production bike, sitting at 50 - yes 50, once we hit fifty, she's done.
If you look really hard this weekend at Cherry Pie a few locals will be on a couple, namely SteveO - Gentle Lovers and John - with Nomads.
Nano Technology!!!
Here are some more pictures... I'm getting sick of this computer stuff after being in the shop all day. Enjoy!!!!
Carbon Cross CX1 Can you say "CROSS CRUSADE!!!!

The CRONO!!
What about Jack Frost!! You need one of these if you want to go FAST!!!!

ULTRA - Do anything machine!!!

You'll see a few of the south town velo folks on the ultra, as well as Ironclad on there custom setups that match there kits soon!!!

The F1R
The bike that started the integrated seat tube revolution!!!!

Go Fast - Be well.
Cheers
Mark

Europe TEASERRRRR!

2008-02-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

Ok a little teaser before we make the official announcement. In the coming days Veloforma will be making a public announcement about a special rider we will have racing for us in France. A few clues are, he's not from Oregon, but from the good ol USA. He's under 23, actually under 20, but that's not to say he can't win a U23 race in Europe because he has... Actually more than a hand full,in '07. He won his first race ever enter in Europe and was invited to the Astana training camp!! We'll be more exact soon, and sooner than later. So stay tuned and watch for our official announcement on this young Phenom.

Veloforma to Sponsor PSU -Human Powered Vehicle

2008-02-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

Just a quick news post! Veloforma is proud to sponsor the PSU - human power vehicle.
Check them out at http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~asme/HPV/
We look forward to working on this project.
Cheers
Mark

Old news but something....

2008-01-28T22:05:00.000-08:00

OK - the weather stinks and I am sick of the rain. But yeah it's the Northwest so I should stop complaining. So here at little ole Veloforma we are hard at work in getting our new catalog out for the Seattle International Bike Expo. Plus getting our new booth ready for Seattle, Canada and Vegas shows later this year. When can we move to a 48 hour day? 'Cause right now there's not enough time in a day.

On a bummer of a note - got bumped from the NAHBS, which sucked and is BS, but it's just going to make us prove that we deserve to be there. Plus we have the right to be there... All of our bikes are designed here in the good ole USA and handmade by me and a few Italians over in Italy. So next year we plan on exhibiting at NAHBS!!! We are hard at work to prove we have the right to exhibit in '09.

Okay - back to what's at hand. We are hard at work on a new full carbon single speed cross rig, and doing prototypes for a full carbon 29er Mtn bike which is both geared and single speed. We're also working on improving our awesome TT rig, so it can be even faster. The nano has been moved to a limited addition for the '08 season. The woes of being a little company, dealing with a crummy dollar and a strong Euro...

This is just a little teaser, but we have a lot going on for our '09 product line and will have two new full custom models for '09. For '08 we are the only bike manufacturer in the US to offer a full custom monocoque frame, and it's just going to get better from here on out. The '08 product line will be posted on the blog soon, while we work on a revamp of the website.

So until then check out some old news about Veloforma from this past year.

http://www.roadbikereview.com/mfr/veloforma/triathlon-bike/PRD_410474_5677crx.aspx#reviews

http://www.roadbikereview.com/mfr/veloforma/road-bike/PRD_410473_5668crx.aspx#reviews

http://www.roadbikereview.com/mfr/veloforma/cyclocross-bike/PRD_410476_5670crx.aspx#reviews

http://plusonelap.blogspot.com/search/label/Sub%2018lb%20Cyclocross%20bikes

http://bikeportland.org/2007/01/31/racer-launches-new-bike-company/

http://plusonelap.blogspot.com/2007/11/lightweight-cyclocross-bike-40-marks.html

http://garysracing.blogspot.com/2007/02/per-bjesses-veloforma.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmarzullo/page9/

http://everydayathleteblog.com/2007/07/28/happy-37th-birthday-portland-velo-style/

http://pennyforathought.org/2007/06/23/update-from-elkhorn-day-2/

http://caramccauley.blogspot.com/2007/08/photo-photo-photos.html

Until our next post, may the wind be at your back and may you have a no chain day!!

Cheers,
Mark

Getting things rolling...

2008-01-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

Well it's '08 and time to get this blog rolling. We've had it for a year and this is the first post. In the next few weeks we should start to have more solid content. As for now, you can check out some of the blogs or websites that we have listed. They are mostly cycling related friends, racers or those in the industry we look to for guidance. We are excited for '08 as we have worked hard each year to bring something to the table for the industry to look at... this year is no exception.

We moved our manufacturing back to Italy after this years Eurobike. It was a move we wanted to make but wanted to do it slowly. As things turned out at Eurobike, it was time to move and move quickly. That being said, we now partner with Dedaicciai and LaVerMec in Italy and we are now back to our roots. We can now boast well over a 100 collective years of experience in the cycling ranks. We are now a strong manufacturing arm of said companies.

While many in the bicycle manufacturing are still figuring out the composite game, and relying on the Asia market, Veloforma is taking a different route in the industry. We are American owned, but our products will be Italian made, being one of the only US manufacturers to make their bikes in Italy. By the end of '08 we will be manufacturing 100% in Italy. We are extremely excited about the changes we have made, and we look forward in what we are going to bring to the market place.

Our goal in the industry is to be the foremost carbon fiber boutique manufacturer. We plan on doing this with what is possibly the most comprehensive line up of bikes in the industry. Our goal has always been to manufacture a frame in every medium carbon has to offer and do it in a high end product. No middle or low end bikes will come from Veloforma. This is my promise to the consumer.

All the industry marketing hype would have you believe that quality and performance of carbon is dependent solely on high modulus, but that doesn't always mean "better". We will back it up with our very distinctive proprietary process and industry relationships. But no where will that be more applicable than in ride and performance of our bikes. Ride one and we think you'll agree.

Until next time...may the wind always be at your back.

Cheers.