Halloween Cross

The annual Cross Crusade Halloween costume race is an event not to be missed, unless of course you spent the previous night rocking the Clydesdale Championship of the Universe. Since all of us Porto's who made it to Bend weigh in a fair bit shy of 200 lbs. we don't have that excuse going for us.  However, when race time came, only the Mighty Matt Cline answered the call. Cline had a little unfinished business to settle with this course. At Nationals last year Matt barely made it 100 ft. before a pedal/cleat malfunction forced him out of the race.  Yesterday, during Day 1 of racing here in Bend Matt made it about 200 ft. before he managed to throw his chain and wedge it between the chain ring and the chain keeper (I'm still not sure how he accomplished that). So today Matt vowed to complete an entire lap or he was gonna give up bike racing forever. Fortunately for us, he made it about 10 ft. past the line after completing his first lap before he flatted! Nice one Matt!! Victory tastes so sweet.  For the USGP this year (which will be raced here in Bend, on this same course) Matt has set his sights high. Two laps or bust is his new mantra.

Despite our team's lack of results today all of the Porto's in attendance had a good time. We were treated to some great racing without the hassle of actually having to race ourselves.

There were some great costumes out there today. The Grundel Bruisers came with a mariachi band theme, Dia de los Muertos style!

Don't let the Cowardly Lion costume fool you, Serena Bishop was fierce out on the course. She easliy won both of the Elite Women's races this weekend.

Adam Craig pulled out all the stops for his first ever Halloween Crusade race. He rocked that lime green body suit to a second place finish today, and only a flat tire stood int he way of him and a victory.

Here's my man Ross Brody, tearing it up in a homemade chicken suit. Ross has had a great season so far. The dude was moving so fast the feather were flying everywhere.

The Femmebots were out in force today, representing Team S&M Feminine!

And last but not least, one of my personal favorites, the Rock Racing rider, complete with IV and blood bag!!

A Dust Bowl Steinbeck Would Have Been Proud Of

Today it felt as if Burning Man met the Cross Crusade. I always considered my worst dust experience to be getting caught out on the playa at Burning Man in a sand storm. Completely lost, wandering around in a daze, coated from head to toe in a fine powder, I felt like I was right back in Black Rock City (minus the drugs, nudity, and large burning objects).

 The two members of Team Portobello that had the courage to brave the biblical dust storm survived the experience relatively intact.  Marc managed to keep his streak of crashing alive, he is now five for five in Cross Crusade races. Today's crash was fairly mild; the toll = a minor abrasion, a decent amount of swelling, no real blood to speak of, and the bike was still rideable. Plus he hobbled his way to ninth place so it couldn't have been too bad (despite the amount of whining he engaged in afterwards).

Cline managed to keep a streak of his own alive, but we'll report more on that after tomorrows race, Day Two of the Cross Crusade Day of the Dead Celebration!!

Ouch!!!!!!

Well, Jeff managed to crash, AGAIN. But this time he at least drew some blood.  Now, judging by Jeff's smile you'd think that the little scrape above his eye is just a little scratch, and all that blood is just much ado about nothing. So to dispel that myth I give you exhibit A:

The best part is that the flapper still has wood chips from the livestock pen that Jeff crashed in. Here, lets get a closeup of that, shall we?

Wow, lets hope Jeff's tetanus shot is up to date! I have to admit, I was a little bummed after he went to the first aid tent and got cleaned up.  Blood dripping down your face makes you look like tough, and our Jeff truly is tough. He's so tough that not only did he jump right back on his bike after his forehead plant, but he finished the race in a very respectable 32nd place. And he did it while smiling the whole time!  Yeah, I'm not just saying that either. He really was smiling the whole time!

You are awesome Jeff!! Glad to hear the damage wasn't too bad, nothing that a little crazy glue couldn't fix anyway.  Looking forward to seeing you back on the race course!!

PIR Part 1, Heron Lakes

Beer! Lots and lots of beer. This week was the first venue that allows beer, and Team Portobello took full advantage of that.  We weren't the only team to bring a keg, but we were the only team to use bike power to deliver their full-sized keg to the venue.  Mike Cobb, you are my hero!  Mike wasn't even racing, he just wanted to pitch in and support the team. Mike's cargo bike is rated to 425 lbs., and a keg only weighs in at 160, so we figure next time he needs to bring two kegs, to even out the load!

As for the racing, a bunch of us raced, and some did pretty good. Mark A. got his best Cross Crusade result of the year (ok he DNF'd at his only other Crusade race this year but he got robbed on that one) and his wife Shannon made some really awesome treats for us, so he gets this soulful, black and white picture of himself in the post.

Justin really did look like a guy who started drinking before his race, but he managed to finish and he beat some people too.  The rest of us did just fine. Brent still doesn't have a team skinsuit so were not posting his picture. Erik raced hard but his son raced harder than all of us combined. Marc and Jeff managed to crash a few times.  Marc left more skin on the course than Jeff, but Jeff managed to crash in front of a bigger crowd of people, so he wins.  We all managed to stay awake to watch the singlespeed race and I think Hutch did great, but I'm not sure. I nodded off near the end.  However, you can check our sensational results here: http://obra.org/teams/13084/2011

Rebecca raced her first cross race of the year (yes we do have women on the team) and she managed to get the best result of the day for Portobello! I was too busy picking gravel out of my flesh to get a picture of her racing so this picture of Tina Brubaker will have to suffice. Tina is cool and she has a cool bike. Some day I'd like to have a bike like hers.

Rainier! Hooray for big hills!

Rainier! Big hill, lot so of off camber stuff, and great fun. As a bonus, everybody finished with a functioning bike (unlike last year). We even stuck around for the singlespeed race to let Hutch know he still has a team!  Here's photographic proof that at least one of our team members stuck around to watch Matt race. Great job Matt! Well, I really don't know if it was a great job to be honest. I just stuck around long enough to snap this picture of the first lap from my car window as we were getting the hell out of there. I think he finished. If you wanna know how he did just check our OBRA standings here: http://obra.org/teams/13084/2011

Matt had his first A race in the crusade and even beat a few people.

Marc only crashed once! That's a big improvement over last weekend!!

The Crusade Has Begun!!

Yes. Finally, the Crusade has begun.  This is the favorite time of year for the Portobello bike racing team and we are pumped to finally be racing cross.  We even got some rain last week to get the ground a little slick, and to get us salivating for what's to come.

It was quite a day! Brent was so excited for the start of the Crusade that he soiled his Portobello skinsuit!  Fortunately one of our awesome sponsors (Russell Cree/Upper Echelon Fitness) stepped up and gave Brent some new threads.  Brent sure is looking like a Euro pro in that tight, white skinsuit.  He also managed to kick some serious ass in the Master B race with a 4th place finish. Can an upgrade be far off? Stay tuned for details.

Jeff also had a great race. Despite racing against giants who were riding bikes with enormous tires.  Jeff pulled off an impressive 20th place.

This random fellow in a Rapha Kit looked like he was having a good time. He should be smiling, he's leading Tim Butler on the second lap of the Master A race. He might also be smiling because he's Slate Olson, the North American Rapha guru and he doesn't have to pay for his Rapha kit! However, it could be that Slate is demoing some special Rapha chamois creme for Jeremey Powers. I know that would make me smile! Let's hope Slate's smile didn't fade too much when Butler smoked by him on the way to 3rd place.

Well, a whole bunch of other Portos raced on Sunday, and we all did pretty good. If you want to see how good we did just check out our full 2011 team results here: http://obra.org/teams/13084/2011  Just do us a favor and don't check out the current standings for the Crusade team competition. We are holding strong in 52nd place, but at least we're ahead of Team Bacon! And as a bonus, none of us ended up like this guy: