Race Across Oregon Blog


Another Great Weekend

Sunday September 7, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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in Maupin – I am uploading some photos now to Flickr from the weekend’s race – stay tuned for some great shots, wonderful scenery, and a peak at our fabulous racers!

Thanks again to everyone for racing and crewing. Thanks to our super duper volunteers this weekend; Gregg Geser – who should be a partner in Race Across Oregon, LLC he does so much to make our events happen. Lynn Harris, volunteer extraordinare, who always lends a hand to help out at our event in Maupin. Jane Nicolai, who is just an amazing human being and wonderful to be around!

Race Across Oregon would also like to thank our sponsors:
Co-Motion Cycles This year’s ultra cup winner and recipient of the Co-Motion Espresso Frameset is Glen Johnson.

Hammer Nutrition – we simply could not run our events with out them – and especially Steve Born, who has been a tireless supporter of George and I in both our racing lives and our events.

Detours Sports- whose killer line of bags makes giving our prizes so fun! DECIDE 2 RIDE and check them out – they make the best gear for the road!

We were lucky enough this year to have some wonderful prizes given to us in the spirit of racing:
Mike Olson of Olson’s Bicycles sponsored the first place prize to the 12 Hour winner Chip Keyes – a wonderful Spiuk helmet – George and I both got our helmets from Mike last year – and I LOVE the Spiuk stuff – it’s the best fitting helmet I’ve ever owned.

Mick Walsh donated a really cool pair of Smith sunglasses to the prize pile. It was awarded to Joanne Heilinger for putting in the slowest lap of the day! (JoAnne was also our 50+ 12 hour women’s winner)

Again, thank you to everyone who supports our events through the year – we couldn’t do it without you!

Best
Terri & George

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We're Here

Friday September 5, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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We’re Crazy! Get use to it!

It’s the eve of Ring of Fire version 2008 – and I can’t wait to see how it will all turn out. The crowd racing this year looks tougher than ever – lots of new faces and a couple we’ve seen before!

I think some new records are going to be set in the next 36 hours…..

Stay tuned!

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Riding for a Cause

Thursday August 21, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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Riding For Guiding Paws

September 6, 2008, Angela Horton Gapay will be riding the Ring of Fire to benefit Guiding Paws, a local club of puppy raisers for Guide Dogs for the Blind. The Ring of Fire is a 12/24 Time Trail in which cyclists try to ride as many miles as possible on a course that begins and ends in Maupin, OR. After the initial day loop of 112 miles for 12-hour riders, and 157 miles for 24-hour riders, the night loop of 26 miles begins. The Ring of Fire Time Trial is put on by Race Across Oregon, LLC, headquarted in Hood River, Oregon. Race Directors are George Thomas and Terri Gooch. Check out race detail and get live updates at: http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/roftt.

Guiding Paws, a Forest Grove, OR club of Guide Dogs for the Blind is lead by Kristin Tarnowski who began raising puppies as a student at Forest Grove High School. More recently she has inspired a number of children and families to get involved in raising puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. You can learn more about the organization at: Guidedogs.com.

As a teacher at Elizabeth Perry Montessori School, Ms. Tarnowski, has included the students in the raising of her last three puppies. In turn several families have joined the club and serve as puppy sitters. Many of the children plan to become primary puppy raisers when they are old/responsible enough. In the meantime, Horton Gapay, mother of two of those students, is riding to raise money to support the efforts of the local club. In fact, Ms. Tarnowski, along with Dewitt her 8 month old guide dog in training, will join the families and support crews at this year’s Ring of Fire.

You can support the Guiding Paws club and inspire Horton Gapay to ride diligently for 12 hours by pledging your support. While our goal is to raise at least $10.00 from fifty people, you can also make a per/mile pledge. Considering inspiring Angela with a $1.00/mi. pledge. Your donation is tax deductible. Please make checks out to: Guide Dogs for the Blind w/a memo “GUIDING PAWS” and send them to: Guiding Paws, C/O Krisitn Tarnowski, 1737 Birch St. Forest Grove, OR 97116. For further information or to pledge your support contact Angela at ahgapay@comcast.net or 971.235.0432.

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Picture Updates

Thursday July 24, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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Hey Everyone! I’ve continued to update the pictures on Flickr – and will continue to do so as people send me more images – thank you all for doing so!
Please keep checking in as I add more!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Brian Ecker who spent Sunday night in the ICU at the Gresham Hospital – appears that he was suffering from pulmonary edema.

I’d love to have links to blogs, updates, photos – all of it – please send it all my way!

Thank you all again for making RAO such a wonderful special event for George, Amelia and I.

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Banquet Tonight

Monday July 21, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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Please join George, myself and all of the amazing RAO staff at the Airport Holiday Inn at 6PM tonight for fun and festivities.

Tickets are $20.00 and are still available – if you have a large party, please come early so that you may find seating together!

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Friday morning - Day before the start

Friday July 18, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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This is annually one of the biggest weekends of my year. Like a kid before Christmas, it’s hard for me to go to sleep and I wake up early. My adrenaline is as high as if I was racing. I look forward to meeting all the new faces this year as well as seeing old friends. I enjoy the vehicle inspections, the pre-race meetings, the late night fueling up the officials vehicles and even later at night set up of the starting line. Saturday morning it’s always fun to burn off some of the butterflies by joining the the riders for the neutral starts (and even more fun to be able to hop in the van prior to the first climb). The nerves all comes back as I follow along hoping everyone gets safely out of Portland and Sandy…watching rule after rule get broken leaving me to wonder if anyone actually listened during the rider meetings. It’s always fun to leapfrog the field shooting pictures up the easy slope to Government Camp and then watching the individual races begin to unfold as the field spreads apart. I always camp out on one of the Monument climb hairpins and watch the lead solo riders climb through the waning daylight then drive to Long Creek to phone in Time Station splits for a few hours. Then its a quick nap on hwy 26 prior to watching some solos climb Ochoco as the sun comes up. It’s always a little sad to come back to civilization as the course passes through Prineville and Madras but maybe that just intensifies the desolate beauty of Warm Springs where we begin to overtake the lead teams. It’s hard to leave the teams because the racing is usually intense through the Reservation but we have to hustle up to Timberline to set up the finish. We settle in for the sleepless night ahead and get food from Timberline’s Ram’s Head Bar. Once the last rider crosses the finish line we break it down, catch another quick nap and then head to the Dollar Store in Hood River to do some of the most fun shopping of the year. I have no idea why squirt guns, bottles of dish soap, oven mitts, action figures or bobble head clown dolls remind us of moments on the race course – maybe it’s the sleep deprivation – but it sure is fun to browse the store for a couple of hours reminiscing about the race as we select everyone’s ‘special’ prizes. Then it’s back to Portland for the post-race party and the weekend wrap up where we say goodbye and start planning for next year.

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Meet the Four Person Teams!

Thursday July 17, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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Well this is going to be easier than I thought. We’re basically looking at some great competition in the 4 man division. We’ll start with our first ever team of Junior racers. Lead by Lito Nicolai, the Aardvarks are made up of four sixteen year olds from Oregon Episcopal School. This is going to be a heck of a summer adventure weekend for these young men. I’ve seen Lito (son of the ageless Bill) race this year at the Deschutes Time Trial Festival where he won the junior division. I think the Aardvarks are going to have to dig deep to overcome some obstacles but I’m confident they are going to finish.

The Four Person Open Division pits Three Rivers Racing against the RAOd Warriors. The only racer I’m familiar with is Richard Haight who teamed with John Spurgeon last year on team Handicapped Mountain Goats. I spent some time on Google and found that these are two evenly matched teams. I checked OBRA results and it looks like these guys race each other in all sorts of OBRA events including cyclocross, TTs, crits and road races (3, 4, 5 and Masters). I’m happy to see so many OBRA riders testing themselves at RAO this year!

Four Person Men’s 50+ is also going to be a good race. The Master Blasters set the time to beat last year when they raced to a new 50+ record of 32:58. The team has been spending a lot of time preparing for RAO this year and return with an excellent crew. Their talent and experience will make them difficult to defeat. However, the Old Goats are certainly going to try. Fellow Providence employee John Murray Nicholas heads up a strong team including Cary Mallon, Kevin Van Dyke and J Michael Manning who’ve put quite a few race miles under their tires this year.

410 Three Rivers Racing

Nick Blacklock – Happy Valley, OR
Chris Blacklock – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Keith Willis – Vancouver, WA
Richard Haight – Longview, WA

411 RAOd Warriors

David Longdon, Seattle, WA (Blog)
Mike Stafford, Eugene, OR
Mark Mirante, Bellevue, WA
Vic Steuber, Eugene, OR

416 Aardvarks (Junior Men)

Lito Nicolai, Vancouver WA
Jonathan Von Offenheim, Portland OR
Owen Bley-Male, Portland OR
TBD

Relay Team, 4 Person, Men’s 50+
451 The Master Blasters

Dennis Funk, Vancouver, WA
Harry Gardner, Vancouver, WA
Lap Lai, Vancouver, WA
Tom Dollemore, Vancouver, WA

452 Old Goats 4 CycleOne

John Murray Nicholas, Portland, OR
Kevin Van Dyke, Forest Grove, OR
Cary Mallon, Sandy OR
J. Michael Manning, Portland, OR

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Meet the 2 Person Recumbents!

Thursday July 17, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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This is another tough call for me. I’m using the same format as I did for the Recuprights but for totally different reasons. I was very familiar with Plath and Kern’s results and had watched Clark and Atehortu race in ’06 and ’07. I don’t know anything about the riding backgrounds of either the Raven Lunatics or Team Flat Tired. However I am VERY familiar with the crew that these teams have assembled. Raven Lunatic David Bradley has been the equivalent of a young Lee Mitchell for recumbent racers over the past few years. Bradley has crewed multiple RAOs (including Kern’s solo record), 508s and RAAMs. The Lunatics crew chief Adrienne Ruggles has almost as much experience as David. Bradley is probably sick of the RAO course by now as he designed the 2008 Route Books. Flat Tired has the services of now legendary crew chief Captain Robert Johnson. The Captain organized the amazing RAO Speedwagon teams and then kicked back for a relaxing race last year crewing for the Handicapped Mountain Goats (John Spurgeon on his single speed and Richard Haight who’s racing for 4 Man Team Three Rivers Racing this year). Johnson is used to crewing for winners and is incredibly organized. This division’s a toss up.

202 Team Raven Lunatics

David Bradley, Arcata, CA
William Spaeth, Arcata, CA

204 Team Flat Tired

Dana Lieberman, Valley Village, CA
John Lauer, Elk Grove, CA

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Meet the Two Person Recuprights!

Thursday July 17, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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This has the potential to be the most ferocious head to head competition in the race. We have two of the most accomplished ultra distance recumbent racers in the world (that is not an exaggeration) between Kern and Plath. Jim has the RAO Solo Recumbent record (set when placed 3rd overall solo in 2005), has surpassed 500 miles a couple of times at the Sebring 24 hr and was on pace to become the first solo recumbent finisher at RAAM until he was sidelined with respiratory problems. Fortunately for us bystanders he is going up against Phil Plath. This will be Phil’s third RAO racing in the Recupright Division which he invented. In 2006 Plath raced as Team Dik-Dik with teammate Tim Clark. 2006 was the year of the heat wave and Dik-Dik placed 2nd overall in the Two Person Open division with a time of 32:22. After setting the 2 Person Recumbent record in Race Across America with John Schlitter in ’07, he returned to RAO as part of Team Dik-Less (I don’t think this was in reference to residual numbness suffered during RAAM…). Teamed with Karta Purkh Atehortu, Dik-Less broke the Recupright record with a time of 31:47. Clark and Atehortu showed us what excellent climbers they are in ’06 and ’07. I’m sure I’m offending one or both of the recuprights here but that’s what I’m good at – I don’t have a clue which team has the edge. All the racers are familiar with the route. Clark and Atehortu have both done the brunt of the climbs and were still willing to come back. This is going to be a great race.

210 Team Orthros
James Kern, Sunnyvale, CA (Recumbent)
Karta Purkh Atehortu, Palo Alto, CA (Upright)

208 Team The Second Coming
Phil Plath, Half Moon Bay, CA (Recumbent)
Tim Clark (Upright)

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Meet the Two Person Teams!

Thursday July 17, 2008 by Terri Gooch
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203 Team Bag Balm – Richard Seton, Portland, OR & Scott Salsbury, Seaside, OR – Bag Balm returns for its third RAO. Seton and Salsbury teamed up on both Bag Balm 4 person teams (setting the 4 Person Mixed record in 2006) but decided they wanted to get a little more riding in this time. Seton is on fine form and Salsbury is as fast as ever so, combined with their experience, this will be a competitive team. One thing is for sure – Bag Balm will be saddle sore free and have surprisingly soft udders at the finish line.

205 Team Haul’n Oats: The Man Eaters – Adam Garmon, Portland, OR &
DJ DeAustria, Tualitin, OR – Adam Garmon had a strong solo finish last year. Wanting to participate with a little less pain this year he teamed up with DJ DeAustria to race Two Person. Unfortunately Adam will be racing in plenty of pain as he took a hard spill during a training ride last week. DeAustria is plenty fit as he was planning on racing solo if Adam was unable to race. Garmon recently placed first at Glenn Johnson’s Lewis and Clark 12 hour. If his injuries don’t slow him down too much this will be a tough team to beat.

207 Team Too Dumb to Quit – Doug Peterson, Hillsboro, OR &
TBA – It’s all up to TBA. Peterson is one fast & determined rider. He had one of the most inspiring solo finishes in RAO history overcoming a motherlode of obstacles to nab his official finish. He returned the following 2 years as the title star of the 4 Person Team ‘Doug and the Descenders’ (winning the 4 person open division in ’07). I’m not too sure about TBA’s resume but with Doug’s talent whether TBA is male, female, upright, recumbent or other thiswill be a competitive team.

209 Team Abrupt Edge – Craig Rowley, Portland, OR & Glenn Johnson, Vancouver, WA – This will be Glenn’s third RAO. He raced 2 Person in ’06 and showed what a great teammate he is by soloing in from Prineville when his partner became too ill to ride. Johnson decided to go solo last year finishing second and taking Rookie of the Year honors. We met Craig Rowley at the Lewis and Clark 12/24 where he put in a strong performance. This is a wide open division and we look for some amazing racing among the 2 Person Open competitors.

Relay Team, Two Person, Masters 50+

201 Team Varmint – Mark Newsome, Corvallis, OR &
John Henry Maurice, Keizer, OR – Mark Newsome has been participating in RAO almost since its inception. Mark has raced 4 person for Team HP, Gazette-Times & Half-Gassed Fellows. He’s participated in 3 and 4 Day Training Camps. He knows this course as well as anyone. John Henry Maurice has completed two RAO Training Camps. Both Maurice and Newsome crewed last year for Team She-Cat Flash (Sandy Earl & Patti Jo Struve). Sandy is now crewing for the Varmints. Sandy knows these racers well – She was crew chief for John Henry during his successful 508 solo finish in 2006 and again for Mark for his 2007 508 official finish. The Varmints are in the unique position of being competitive in the open group while chasing the 50+ record of Headhunter Cannibal Kings Bill Nicolai and Michael Frommlet (Nicolai is racing solo this year with Frommlet crewing for him). Bill and Michael set a fast time but John Henry and Mark have a good shot at breaking it.

Relay Team, Two Person, Mixed 60+

260 Team Old Spokes – Fred Boethling, Boulder, CO &
Bobbi Fisher, Burbank, CA – I’m not familiar with Bobbi’s results so I apologize to you and will focus on Fred. While new to RAO Boethling is no stranger to the 2 Man event. Fred teamed with Dan Crain to set 60+ 2 Man records across Utah and at Race Across America. In 2006 Fred broke Peter Lekisch’s 60+ solo RAAM record and had so much fun he decided to become CEO of RAAM, LLC. Boethling is highly competitive and I’m certain he is out to set a record that will be tough to beat.

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