Paul’s Cycling Team

Race No. 1- Jack Frost TT in Vancouver, WA- 02/24/2013

Racers (From top left to bottom right):
Ken Rodgers, Paul Brown, Dennis Sibilia-Young, Shirley Hofeld, Effie Siverts, Kristin Yarris, and Virginia Xing.
Great job, team! It’s a “win” the moment we chose to go out there and give it our best, wouldn’t you say?

Team support:
Special thanks to Joseph, Cliff, Lee, and Lesley for taking pictures and good care of us. Thanks James for great company and a good sport.

This is most definitely the fun that should be duplicated.

Introducing- 2013 Paul’s Cycling Team:

bicycleway.com/ Oregon Paddle Sports

Thank you, Sponsors!!

Local sponsors include (in alphabetical order)-

Dark30sports
Dutch Bros. Coffee
Newman’s Fish Co (http://www.newmansfish.com/)
Ninkasi Brewing
Oregon Paddle Sports (http://www.oregonpaddlesports.com/)
Rainbow Optics
The Register-Guard
Resource Revival
Rolf Prima wheels
Sweet Life Patisserie

Remote sponsors (in alphabetical order):
Bontrager
Champion System
Continental Tire
Easton-Bell Sports
GiroSportDesign
Pearl Izumi
Raleigh Bicycles
Strava Cycling
Tifosi Optics
Trek Bicycle

Previous Years

Kings Valley Race 2011

My Saturday started with a knock on the door from a giant Kiwi. The pre-race talk was on as we waited for Brian to meet us for the carpool. He was soon there and we were off. We made it to the race with plenty of time to register and hit the porta-potties but not much time for warming up. Luckily for us the pace of the race was really mellow from the get-go. For the first half of a lap or so we rolled along and the group seemed content to keep it all together and just enjoy the nice weather and smooth roads. I would guess about half way through that lap BVB decided to get the party started and jumped off the front and gained a 15-20 second advantage pretty quick. We let him hang out there for a while before groups of 2 began jumping off to join him. I and Doug made sure to hop on the wheels of anything bigger. Unfortunately and fortunately towards the end of that first lap the break was loosing ground pretty quick and were quickly being brought back into the fold. That’s when Doug asked me if I wanted to go. I figured I had to do my part knowing that when I was brought back Doug or Boyd would take the next flier and one of us was bound to get up the road. Just as we got back to the start line I jumped hard and was able to join the remnants of the earlier break but we were quickly all back together but after a few seconds I jumped again and stared down the front of the field. Nobody seemed interested in chasing so I stayed on it until I joined a rider who had snuck off the front and who I think was actually part of the initial break, this ended up being Ross who would work with me until the end. We also soon joined another really large rider who I had not even known was up the road. We all got rolling together and formed an awkward rotating pace line. The pace just kept getting higher and higher and we were kind of wearing ourselves out. The rollers were taking their toll on our larger breakaway companion and by the time we hit the finishing hill on lap 2, he was gone.

Lap 3 was pretty uneventful. Ross was still riding strong and I felt pretty good but I could feel the fatigue in the legs. I still felt confident we could hold it and it didn’t hurt that eventually we got the message from the lead car that we were over a minute up on the field. We kept plugging away. I let Ross lead up the hills because he seemed really charge the hills while I would try and pick up the slack in the flats. I also noticed that Ross was very eager to pull through and would rarely take his rest in my draft. No matter how hard I was pulling he would quickly try and work his way around me. I did my best not to ride in the same style and did my pulls and took my rest as we still had plenty miles left. Over the last few miles I definitely noticed that my buddy was losing his legs so I did what I could to pick up the slack. When we hit that last right hander up the steep climb I knew one of us was going to take it. We continued to alternate pulls until the 1000m sign where I pulled though just a bit harder than normal to see how Ross would respond…….he didn’t. I then punched it and every 100m or so I would look back and eventually he completely shut it down. I knew I had it but stayed on the gas until I hit the line. The crowd was super supportive and cheered me on the whole way, great feeling. By the time I finished I had nearly two minutes on the main field. I enjoyed my share of hi fives and congrats and was still able to get a great front row seat for the field sprint. Good to see our earlier friend from the break get 2nd in the group sprint.

I know it was tough for Doug, Boyd, and Brian to all sit in the field as I did my thing up the road but it really was a team effort to take the win. Looking forward to more racing with the team as I think we have the deepest cat 3 team in Oregon. I half hate the idea but I almost think we’ll need to put together a team for the state TT. On the way back we enjoyed burgers and beers at Block 15 in Corvallis. I still owe the guys beers as I was actually able to collect a few bucks for this race and I even got the bonus question. It was Cancellara in last year’s Tour of Flanders, easy five bucks. Best ever boys. Thanks for helping me get my first win of any kind on the bike.

That’s all I got for now. Sorry for the epic write up. Cheers, Matt

Just figured I’d get this week started for Paul’s with a quick ride recap.  I left Friday morning at 9:30 to meet up with Dave and his friends Bill and Ben at the MoC on Franklin Blvd.  After a quick get to know you session and some last minute grocery shopping we were on our way out of town for what would be for most of us a 3 day 2night tour down to the Umpqua and back.  The plan was to ride out to Sharps creek and summit and camp somewhere on the back side down towards Steamboat.  This was not to be as one of our guys was suffering from knee problems after about only 25 miles.  We decided to set up camp after about 60 miles which put us right at the base of the Sharps Creek climb.  Day two was a beast of a day but we lucked out with near perfect conditions as it stayed cool for our climbing bits and the sun came out for our flat stretch of the day along the Umpqua between Steamboat and Rock Creek Rd..  We made the grind over the Sharps Creek climb to start the day and although the group was slow we were steady and made decent time and stopped for a snack at the summit before descending down to Steam Boat which seemed to go on forever. The exit for this descent dumps us right onto the Hwy. 138 and the start of the Mott segment of the NUT. After a short break we rolled on to grab a quick lunch and a beer at the Steamboat Inn where some repair work was required on the trailer to keep me rolling.  This was a super nice spot and the prices were very reasonable, definitely worth checking out if you find yourself in the area.  We then continued a bit further down the road to find a beach where we could catch some sun, sip some whiskey and just relax before we hit the big climb of the weekend.This gave our injured rider a chance to ice his knee in the stream which seemed to revive him somewhat and he rallied for the 2nd half of the day.

If you haven’t done the Rock Creek Rd. climb it should definitely be added to your must do lists.  This thing is epic and huge. This is a steady 18 mile climb.  Outside of the first mile or so it is never very steep but it just goes on and on and on.  For much of the climb we were rewarded/punished with views of the ridgeline which always seem way too tall and way too far away.  The climb is mostly shaded so it was definitely chilly at times.  With a road rig this would be an amazing climb and I’m considering posting up doing a smaller version of this loop later this summer, stay tuned for what would be an all day120+ mile epic much like the Mary’s Peak Alsea Falls loop we just did last weekend.  We ended ups camping just shy of the summit at what ended up being a nice spot next to a man made pool which was labeled as a source of water for fighting fires. Everyone was pretty beat that evening which made for a much more quiet campfire but I still managed to get my fair share of s’more action and then some.  The final day came after what was a much warmer night than our first and after the much harder day two everyone seemed to sleep better. We broke camp at a leisurely pace and hit the road at sometime near 10:30.  The day started with a 3 mile or so climb before we drop into the huge descent down towards London and CG.  This is where we encountered all of the snow on our previous trip here a few months back but the road was almost completely clear with the exception of maybe a 100 foot patch but the tire tracks gave us a dry path to sneak through.  The road was almost totally clear of debris on our trip down and we only encountered maybe one truck and one motorcycle on trip down to the flats.  Bill decided to give his knee a break for the day and was looking to spend an extra night outside so we parted ways shortly after the descent we we continued on towards London.  We stopped at the gas station/deli for some snacks and to text all of our significant others to let everyone know we’re alive then we continued on towards CG.  We moved on and rode around Cottage Grove Lake until we came to town where we stopped for a burrito on the outskirts of town.  Finally after a beer and food we rolled on back the way we came to Sears Rd. We had the chance to be good Samaritans as we helped an old woman out of the ditch on the road side who had fallen while trying to harvest some wild flowers.  Dave then shortly after spotted a man passed out in the ditch on the other side of the road as we passed Creswell but it turns out this guy was fine and just passed out drunk in the sun.  We all rolled on until we came to Dillard where I made the call to head into town while Dave continued on to Seavey Loop.  Managed to make it over but took the wanker bypass of Old Dillard Rd. and the descent down into town was much less treacherous than I was anticipating.  Afterwards Dave reported that the total mileage of the trip was a hair over 180 miles from start to finish with almost 3 even 60 mile days.  With this much climbing, 60 miles, maybe 80 per day sounds about all I’d want to do, much more and we’d have to drive a much less enjoyable pace. With this being my first attempt at loaded touring I’m pretty stoked on how it all worked out and I’m looking forward to future trips. -Matt 6/2/2010

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May started off strong with a good showing in the Eugene Roubaix. Galen and Matt R. showed up in the 1/2 field, made a good day of it. In the 3′s we had a strong group composed of Brian, Abe, Matt B., and Brice. Brian ended up flatting out, but Matt put in a great breakaway move at the right time. With some strong riding of his own and help from the team in the pack, the break stuck and Matt scored a 2nd place. Doug rode to a good 6th place finish in probably his last race at a Cat 4. Doug completed the double by finishing first in his category at Mudslinger, way to go! Here are a few pictures of the weekend. 5-3-2010