Bulletin E-Edition:
more photosCurrent U.S. Cyclocross champion and Bend resident Ryan Trebon, left, is followed through the barriers Saturday afternoon by eventual men’s A category winner Barry Wicks at the Seventh Mountain Resort during the Crossaflixion Cup cyclocross race.
Photos by Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Locals and pros hit the course at ‘cross event
Crossaflixion Cup cyclocross race in Bend is fun, fast affair
By Katie Brauns / The Bulletin
Published: November 29. 2009 4:00AM PSTBikers who are into cyclocross are competitors.
They are in it for the thrill of the ride, the stack of the pack, the mud splats, the snow spray, the ice patches and all the rest. Recreational ’cross riding doesn’t really exist. The sport is strictly racing. As cyclocross enthusiasts will tell you, the recreation comes when they are done with laps and can cheer on — or heckle — friends in other racing categories.
Saturday’s Crossaflixion Cup cyclocross races started in the chilly morning and carried through into the sunny afternoon. Beginner, intermediate and elite men, women and junior racers took on a wet and snowy 1.8-mile loop at the Seventh Mountain Resort southwest of Bend.
The object of a cyclocross race is to complete as many laps as possible in the time allotted. Skill level determines the duration of the race — at Saturday’s Crossaflixion event, the elite men (Men’s A) raced for one hour; beginners raced for 30 minutes.
“If you are going to get a cyclocross bike, you usually race it,” said first Women’s Master A finisher Renee Scott, 36, of Bend, who also was the first female finisher overall.
Scott said she has been cyclocross racing for three years and just moved up from the Women’s Master B category this season. The middle school math teacher said she is also a regular runner.
“It’s the most fun bike racing, and people are nice,” said Scott shortly after finishing. “We can’t take ourselves too seriously when we’re running with our bike.”
The atmosphere was jovial at Saturday’s event. Even in the moments before the start times for each wave, competitors joked and laughed.
“It’s great to see it (cyclocross) growing, but I still like the little races,” said Women’s A division winner Tina Brubaker, of Salem, who has watched the women’s competitive fields expand throughout her 14 years of racing.
With more than 100 competitors in Saturday’s event, Brubaker considered Crossaflixion small compared with some Portland-area races like the Cross Crusades that are usually more than a thousand deep.
Leading the Men’s A category Saturday were Barry Wicks, of Corvallis, and Bend’s Ryan Trebon, both 28. The two towering Kona-FSA teammates — both stand 6 feet 4 inches tall — are repeatedly competing against each other for the win at cyclocross races around the globe. Often, Bend’s Trebon gets the best of Wicks. But here, in Trebon’s hometown, Wicks snatched the victory with more than a minute to spare.
“He (Ryan Trebon) lives over here so it’s nice to come to his neighborhood and beat him up,” said Wicks, laughing in the bright afternoon sun. “Whenever the Bend guys come over to the (Willamette) Valley they beat us up, and then whenever we come over here we beat them up. I think it’s something about being in enemy territory. It gets you a little bit more excited.”
In the top 10 in the all the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross races this season, Wicks has been cyclocross racing for 11 years, though he started out as a mountain bike racer at age 14. He was the 2005 short-track mountain bike national champion.
Trebon, who took second to Wicks, said it was nice to be home. But he admitted that many distractions keep him from resting as he knows he should.
“It’s nice to just support the local races and just come out and have fun,” noted Trebon. “It’s a whole different ballgame when you go to big races. You take it a lot more serious. This is just for fun. ... Other times, it’s for work.”
Trebon captured the 2004 and 2006 U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series championships.
He, along with many other top racers, will head to Portland next weekend for the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross finals — known as the Stanley Portland Cup.
Next up will be the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships staged Dec. 10-13 in Bend.
Saturday’s Crossaflixion Cup was the second session in the inaugural two-race series. Many of the competitors called the event a “warm-up” for nationals. And all the riders, whether world-class elite cyclists or first-time masters, are turning their wheels in anticipation of the big event to be held next month on a course around the Deschutes Brewery in southwest Bend.
“The whole idea was to lead up to nationals,” said Gina Miller, Crossaflixion race director, “so people have an opportunity to race in the snow and the cold weather.”
“It’s a personal challenge,” said Bend’s Sandy Gilliard. At age 62, Gilliard was the oldest woman racing Saturday (Women’s Master B). She noted that she plans to compete in the national cyclocross event.
“You are such an inspiration to be out there,” fellow Women’s Master B racer Flo Leibowitz, 58, of Corvallis, said to Gilliard after their race. “I just want to know that in a couple of years I will still be out here doing this.
“I just don’t want it to ever end.”
Katie Brauns can be reached at 541-383-0393 or at kbrauns@bendbulletin.com.
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