BOB! Where's my freakin' saddle???

Team Etna Brew / DeSalvo Cycles has been tearing up the OR. cross scene the past  few weeks with no end in sight for the winning ways of Rebeccah (con carne) Bieri who has just won the woman's B race today at Cross Crusade #7 at Barton Park....At  the Bend races last weekend, on Sat. Rebeccah worked her way up to 4th place before busting a seat post.....Unwilling to abandon, she hung on for 13th.....then, on Sunday's costume fest. she fought he way up to 2nd place before getting nipped at the end to finish a solid 3rd.... Meanwhile Michael Vose came 10th in the Mstr.35+a's and Dave Reitz rode to a solid 13th in men's B's. on Sat. followed up by a sick podium 3rd on Sun. Way to go Dave.... and finaly, Reny's dad Jeff was 11th and 10th in 50+ and 2 yr.old Reason Townsend did his first cross race enduring a crash but still finishing......Way to go Team Brew...Stay tuned for more.....

CRAP!!!

Dirty Girl

2nd and 3rd place

White Trash!!!

WTF

Lot's of bling at Whiskeytown XC

Rebeccah "con carne" Bieri

H

Anthony

Bob,Shaun,Spencer

Belarusian Bear

From the HTC website coverage:

After Stage 2:

“Chloe Hosking and Ally Stacher did a great job protecting Judith, covering the breaks controlling the group,” says Sports Director Ronny Lauke. “Ina, Amber [Neben] and Amanda [Miller] took over toward the end and sent Judith into the break with plenty of strength left for the last 20km.”

"For me it wasn’t that hard until the last 20km,” says Judith, “The team did all the work for me, and I had a really nice time in the group.

“Ally and Chloe spent close to the entire stage riding in the front, keeping me in a good position.”

After Stage 3:

"It feels good to win my first race," said Teutenberg. "It's always tricky to know if you're fast enough at the beginning of the season."

Most of the day was controlled by Arndt and Teutenberg's teammates Ally Stacher, Amber Neben and Amanda Miller as they worked to defend Arndt's overall lead.

"There weren't any big climbs," explained Teutenberg, "Mostly rolling hills, ups and downs, but the wind came right at the end and made it a bit tricky."

"The girls kept it under control again. There was a small break for about half the race but they were able to keep it all together. Then Judith and Chloe did a great job of the leadout, especially into the strong headwind." 

After the final Stage:

February 25, 2011

Team HTC-Highroad was able to defend the lead of Judith Arndt throughout a challenging final stage of Tour of New Zealand and claim the overall race victory for their second tour victory this season.

"Today was quite hard for my teammates," said Arndt. "With so many attacks and breakaways it was difficult to keep control."

"They worked hard to bring back breaks and keep other breaks down to within a minute. It was a tough job today because we weren't getting a lot of time gaps."

The course was the same as two days prior but in the opposite direction, beginning with a big climb followed by rolling hills to the finish.

"The race started with several attacks from our main GC competitors as expected," said sport director Ronny Lauke, "but the girls did a good job countering and we sent Amber in a three rider break which gained up to a minute. The Kiwis were forced to chase and finally brought it back."

"Several more attacks followed and we were always present until we finally let a group of non-GC riders get up to one minute to assure that the bonuses would be taken away at the finish."

"The girls kept everything under control and managed to celebrate a well deserved overall win. It was a display of true teamwork as each of the girls contributed to the victory."

A quick scan of the stage photos on CyclingNews and you'll see a motivated Ally all over the front of the peloton.  Read the race coverage from Day 1 and you'll read about the teamwork that set Judith up and Ally recalling the stage as the only rider quoted in the story.

She is also rambling on her personal website now and offers an "Ally" perspective from inside the peloton.

http://www.allystacher.com/Ally_Stacher/Home.html

This is a long way from Kings Valley...

Other pre-ride preparation included Locker's Contador approved natural blood booster....the ingredients are top secret

The first major drama was on the descent of the the Col de Cecillville.... shaded areas on the road made it hard to spot rocks....Locker had some pretty dark glasses on, making it even harder to see.... well, he didn't see one grapefruit size rock, and let me tell you, the sound it made when he smacked it with his carbon clinchers was downright crazy....Amazingly, Shaun road the wheel all the way back down to Callahan on the rim!!! Even more amazing was the the smile on Shaun's face right after ruining a set of Reynolds wheels....WTF?? Guy must listen to Ekhart Tolle or something....

Why so happy???

Two tough guys heading up the Col de Cecillville

Late into the ride, just before the wall, John pulled out a double shot to share...

Here I am coming up to the top of Etna summit...

Sun was setting so we only made it down to Etna before it got dark....All in all, a very special day indeed....

A cold day at work......

I started 30 seconds ahead of Spencer and if that's not motivation to go fast I don't know what is.

Just waiting to go fast!

Spencer is thinking he's gonna catch me!