Race Across Oregon Blog

Meet Teresa Robbins - Preistess, Venus de Miles

Vampires or Zombies? Vampires. I’m embarrassed to say that I read all of the Twilight books, some in one sitting.

Soundtrack to your life right now? I Want To Be Somebody by Kings of Leon. It gets me up every hill.

What sound do you love?
The sound of my boys Myles and Nico laughing – especially when tickling is involved.

Any hidden talents?
I’m a closet singer who can sing like Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs on a good day.

Personal goal?
Week 2 of not purchasing cheese for Mo and I. Cheese and the Robbins family need to separate their love affair for a bit.. Work: Don’t forget that the 1st 100 people to register for Venus in each state receive a box of full size LUNA bars. And, we’ll be offering a Valentines Day Special for the big day only as our treat to you – $20 off of registration. The discount code will go out in February.

Book you are currently reading:
Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids, and Life in a Half-Changed World by Peggy Orenstein

Movie you saw most recently?
I just started watching Grays Anatomy for the first time. I’m at Season 1.

For dinner last night I ate: Grilled tofu with mushrooms, onions, peppers and snap peas.

How many bikes in your garage: 10, and we ride all of them.

What is the most creative thing you do?
Dream up ideas for the Venus de Miles bike ride, in support of a cause that I’m passionate about, Greenhouse Scholars.

Please tune in to our podcast to learn more about Teresa, Venus de Miles and Greenhouse Scholars!

Chris Ragsdale By the Numbers!

Please tune into our podcast this evening to listen to our live interview with Chris!

What is the soundtrack to your life right now?
Dinosaur Jr. “feel the pain”

What is one of your favorite quote?
Right now, it would be one from World Champion Graeme Obree:
“Despite the fact that I had been gifted with an almost arrogant belief that I could do anything I set out to do, I would feel like a cornered animal that had to fight tooth and claw to survive…I had stumbled upon the most powerful of training aids: the intertwined emotions of total belief and total fear.”

What sound do you love?
The wind in the forest

What do you miss most about being a kid?
A very different perspective on time.

Book you are currently reading
A Dog in a Hat by Joe Parkin

What is the most recent movie you’ve seen?
Hugo

For dinner last night I ate ___
Third pound burger with grilled onions, Swiss cheese and bacon. And Garlic fries

What is your favorite sport to watch on television?
Track and Field

How many bikes in your garage ?
6

How many do you actually ride?
3

What foods motivate you on rides/in races?
Ice Cream

Most is the most creative thing you do?
Create different uses and forms for paper products used for marketing materials.

Can't Get Enough of that Texas Hill Country!

We just received a registration for a double…and we don’t mean the Double Century. Carol Pope is out to take on the Helotes loop course twice and therefore attempt our first Texas Hill Country 1200k! Good Luck Carol – I’m looking forward to the extra time out on the route watching you race.

Redemption

We are so happy to have John Caton coming back to settle up unfinished business at the Skins Hill Country 600k and Double Century! According to his spouse and crew chief Lena, John is feeling more refreshed and excited about cycling than he has in 6 years. Caton should put in a powerful performance this year and we look forward to seeing him flatten the Vanderpool climbs.

Saddle up

When I was in Helotes, TX last week working on our upcoming Skins Texas Hill Country 600k and Double Century, I spent a lot of time at my parents house. Since I moved away nearly 25 years ago, the home in which I grew up hasn’t changed a whole lot. One thing that has is the barn which housed my horses. The barn has been refurbished into a studio as well as storage unit. It was like walking into a museum to see my beautiful Campy Super Record 1985 Tommasini Criterium – the first real racing bike I ever owned – but funny to see my 35 year old western saddle hanging on the wall looking as new as ever. I started looking through the barn and finding all sorts of artifacts from my childhood. The one that blew me away the most: A pristine copy of the San Antonio newspaper with the headline JFK Assasinated…!

Skins Hill Country is shaping up to be a great event in 2012 and we look forward to seeing you there!

Athlete Spot Light - John Marino

Please join us for our podcast this Thursday evening 6PM Pacific Time for an interview with the father of ultramarathon cycling – John Marino

Vampires or Zombies?

Zombies, (relentless and you can’t reason with them)

What is one of your favorite quotes?

Fatigue is a disease and I don’t want it- Marino 1980

What sound do you love?

train horn

What do you miss most about being a kid?

Over-the-line tournaments

What was your first thought when you woke up this morning?

Which Starbucks should I go to

Any hidden talents?

Once mastered a tongue twister 10 times- “toy boat”. “Once” is the operative word.

Book you are currently reading?

Killing Lincoln

Movie you saw most recently?

Money Ball (loved it)

For dinner last night I ate

Wild Mushroom Ravioli by Buitoni

Do you commute by car, foot, bike, public transportation?

Ford work van

Favorite sport to watch on television

cycling, all football playoffs, Laker playoffs

How many bikes in your garage?

1 that works, 6 others in various stages of disrepair

How many do you actually ride?

1

Thoughts of what foods motivate you on rides/in races?

Perpetuem Cafe Latte mixed with Lemon Lime Heed

Most creative thing you do?

Occasionally solving construction problems.

Wild creature you’d most like to see in native habitat?

Rhino, fascinating to look at

Biggest thing on your bucket list?

Build a log cabin in the mountains

Hill Country 600 and Double Century Shaping Up

We just spent 4 days in San Antonio meeting old friends (yes Nick Milnor who I haven’t seen in 30 years and Will Rotzler who’s always fun to visit with each time I get to SA) and making new ones (the good folks at Tri-Sition Area Group) in preparation for the Texas Hill Country 600K and Double Century brought to you by Skins. One thing we’ve decided to address this year is the Lone Star division. We have received a LOT of inquiries about holding an unsupported division on this course. My concerns have always been safety and quality related. After two years of test rides we are comfortable with the safety aspect. (1) There is adequate food and water – a number of 24 hour convenience stores are open on the course throughout the event. (2) There is excellent cell phone coverage over much of the route (3) You all have learned that I expect Lone Star entrants to have experience doing this – you aren’t someone like me who’d show up with a tiny under the seat bag, keep my fingers crossed that nothing will go wrong and keep my toes crossed that, in the event something does go wrong, someone will be along to bail me out. So…YES Lone Star is OPEN!!!

Speaking of ‘open’. The registration glitch you’ve been having with OBRA membership has been taken care of. No one is required to be an OBRA member for the Hill Country events.

I grew up in the Texas Hill Country – lived there for 25 years. Though north San Antonio is getting built up, the route out of Helotes always feels like home. It’s great getting back there to see my folks – and now bring Amelia with me so she can visit her grandparents. We’ll be back for a few days the week of 2/6.

Athletes of the Week

RAO welcomes ultra icons Susan Notorangelo and Lon Haldeman! Join us for our inaguaral podcast with Lon and Susan on Thursday January 19, 2012!

Susan Notorangelo

What is one of your favorite quotes?
The harder I work the luckier I get
What sound do you love?
Water falls, rapids
What do you miss most about being a kid?
The lack of responsibility
*What was your first thought when you woke up this morning?
What is the temperature
Most recent FaceBook status update?
About snowshoeing this past weekend
What is the movie you saw most recently?
The Muppet Christmas Carol
For dinner last night I ate _?
Pizza
How many do you actually ride?
I’ve got three bikes – my shopping bike, my bike Friday and my litespeed
Most creative thing you do?
My garden
What wild creature you’d most like to see in native habitat?
Birds
Biggest thing on your bucket list?
Backpacking the Isle Royale in Michigan

Lon Haldeman

What is one of your favorite quotes?
“Machines don’t break records, muscles do”
What sound do you love?
Silk bike tires on a smooth road in a tailwind
What do you miss most about being a kid?
Being able to not worry
What was your first thought when you woke up this morning?
What do I need to do today?
Any hidden talents?
I enjoy wood working and I like making furniture
Book you are currently reading
2 books: trivia book about not so famous Illinois locations and Salt the history of salt around the world (it is actually more interesting than it sounds)
Movie you saw most recently
”Iron Lady” A new movie about Margaret Thatcher
For dinner last night I ate
I had a pizza while watching the football game
Do you commute by car, foot, bike?
I use Public transportation….(walk, bike and drive)…work at home or traveling on PAC Tour
Favorite sport to watch on television
Chicago Bears Football
How many bikes in your garage
3 bikes in the garage
How many do you actually ride?
all three 1
1 commuter mountain bike for going downtown to get the mail
1 Rivendell touring bike for going on morning breakfast rides
1 Seven racing bike I take on PAC Tour events Thoughts of what foods motivate you on rides/in races?
I like riding to old diners and cafes and trying their specialties.

Thanks Lon and Susan! Looking forward to hearing your interview on Thursday!

Off Season?

This week’s Guest Blog brought to you by NW Cycling Superstar Mick Walsh.

Off season?

Off season is supposed to be time to relax and recharge your “batteries,” but it seems like it gets shorter every year that passes.

The break is always welcome, but by January I’m usually itching to race again. This off season seems a little different; I’ve had less regular riding and gained more weight because of that, and a visit to family in Ireland at Thanksgiving.

I have done a few good 200k rides with Chris Ragsdale, Brian Ecker, and Bob Brudvik, including the Seattle International Randonneurs soltice 200k, starting at 7 pm. We hit some icy roads causing Brian to crash, but luckily he and bike were not badly hurt. The motto of that ride seems to be “bad decisions lead to great stories.”

I am, however, excited about my upcoming RAO/Imperial River Co. training camp in Borrego Springs. This will be my first pre-season training camp in the U.S., and I’ve been here a while. I’m hoping that, and a possible two-man race with Chris at Texas Hill Country 600k, will get me going for 2012.

I’m planning on a spring randonneurs series, along with RAO/IRC Maupin camp and Deschutes River Valley Time Trial stage race, then the Cascade 1200k randonee. A slightly different approach for me this year with less USA Cycling road racing. I’m hoping this will set me up for a good race in the 50+ category at Race Across Oregon.

I’m also excited about the great sponsors we have on Team RAO/Imperial River Co. and I’m looking forward to getting my new Kestrel bike soon.

Helotes Texas - Our host city for the HC 600 and Double Century

A little information on the town that will be hosting the start and finish to the Hill Country 600k and Double Century! Great overview on Helotes, Texas pinched from Wikipedia!

According to anthropologists, the area was occupied seasonally from about 5,000 B.C. by small bands of migrant Indians in search of food and game. The Lipan Apache moved into the area in the late 17th century and occupied it throughout the 18th century. However, the Lipan were forced from the area in the early 1820s by the Comanche Indians. A small farming and ranching community began to develop in the area shortly after the Texas Revolution in the late 1830s. The ranches suffered occasional attacks by the Comanches until the late 1870s. In 1858, a Scottish immigrant, Dr. George Marnoch, purchased the land that would later become the site of the town. Marnoch’s home at one time served as a stagecoach stop and a post office for cowboys driving their cattle from Bandera to auction in San Antonio. His heirs sold a portion of their property in 1880 to a Swiss immigrant, Arnold Gugger, who built a home and mercantile store around which the town of Helotes sprang to life.

In 1908, Gugger sold his property to Bert Hileman, who opened the town’s first dance hall. He was also instrumental in getting old Bandera Road paved and opening the town’s first filling station. He sold his property in downtown Helotes in 1919, when the town’s population declined. In 1946, the manager of San Antonio’s Majestic Theatre, John T. Floore, opened the landmark John T. Floore Country Store, which is actually a dance hall (or honky tonk) that draws top Country Western talent, such as Willie Nelson, who still plays there on occasion. Mr. Floore also financed the first annual Helotes Cornyval festival in the 1960s, which was held to celebrate the opening of a new post office. Corn played an important role in the heritage of Helotes. The local Indians planted corn, actually maize, in the fertile valleys of the area, and feed corn was a major crop grown in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The town name is derived from the Spanish word helote, which means “green maize,” but exactly how the town came to be called Helotes is still a subject of debate. As the urban sprawl of San Antonio expanded and approached the outskirts of Helotes in the 1970s, residents determined to take their fate into their own hands. After a decade of planning and negotiation, Helotes became an incorporated city in October 1981. To this day, residents still struggle with the dilemma of maintaining the city’s rugged country charm, while at the same time allowing for the development of modern suburban facilities and businesses. Helotes was the hometown of the late Texas state Senator Frank L. Madla, who perished after his home on the south side of San Antonio caught fire on November 24, 2006.