Chris Sheppard went solo with about 40 minutes remaining in the men's race. Photo: Pat Malach | Oregon.CyclingAction.com
Rocky Mountain Bicycles’ Chris Sheppard made the most of a long-distance double weekend Sunday by winning the Cross Crusade series opener at Alpenrose Dairy in Portland. Sue Butler (Hudz-Subaru) decided to stay close to home for the weekend and easily won the women’s race.
More than 1,500 riders showed up for the first event of the 2010 Crusade series, breaking the one-day participation record set just last year at the same race. The official tally of 1,506 doesn’t include the 256 cutthroat racers who battled for glory in the Kiddie Kilo.
Sheppard, of Bend, raced Saturday at the UCI Kross-toberfest in San Dimas, California, where he placed seventh, and then flew back to Oregon for the Sunday afternoon race in Portland.
Sheppard had an eventful day Saturday, making a solo attack before crashing and injuring his left thumb.
“Yesterday I decided to do the middle half of the race off the front, and it was really stupid,” Sheppard said. “So today I was willing to sit back and watch a little bit.”
A “little bit” is about all the time Sheppard spent watching. Fellow Bend rider Damian Schmitt (Sunnyside Sports) powered off the front of the race from the starting gun and built a small lead on the field. Sheppard paused and then powered up to and past Schmitt about 20 minutes into the 60-minute race. From there, he set about the business of staying upright and maintaining his advantage.
With teammates Donald Reeb and Ben Thompson positioned in the first chase group along with Shannon Skerritt (Corsa Concepts), Erik Tonkin (Kona), Brett Luelling (BuyLocal.com) and Schmitt, Sheppard was able to benefit from some team dynamics despite not feeling smooth on the bike.
“I just kept steady, but really inefficient, like 70 rpm,” he said. “It seemed like I was humping my bike today.”
Sheppard fought his bike all the way to the line to win by 18 seconds over Skerritt, who won a two-up sprint for second over Reeb. Tonkin crossed the line about six seconds later for fourth. Thompson finished fifth, putting Rocky Mountain riders in three of the top five spots.
Butler rides carefully, commandingly
Sue Butler (Hudz-Subaru) wasted little time taking a big lead in the women's race. Photo: Pat Malach | Oregon.CyclingAction.com
Portland’s dynamic pro Butler decided to skip this weekend’s UCI events in California and Massachusetts in favor of racing one of her favorite events in her own backyard. The Hudz-Subaru rider started building her advantage almost immediately and was quickly catching the tail end of the Masters A field, which had started the course minutes before the women.
“I was just picking my way through traffic,” Butler said of her early effort. “I saw Alice (Pennington) back there in every corner, and then finally I didn’t see her so I figured I was good.”
Like Sheppard, Butler focused on being steady and careful once she was off the front.
“I saw plenty of wipeouts on the back part of the course,” she said. “Guys were doing head plants because they went too fast into the bumpy stuff.”
Butler sailed over the course and by the finish had built a lead of several minutes over Team S&M’s Pennington, who scratched out a second-place finish ahead of last year’s overall winner Wendy Williams (River City Bicycles).
Williams’ teammate Brigette Brown crossed the line fourth, with Sunnyside Sports’ Serena Bishop grabbing fifth.
The win and the series lead went to Butler, who probably won’t be around enough this year to contest the overall series battle. Butler said she’s in the middle of a training block for the upcoming UCI races in Ohio and then a planned trip to Europe for the World Cups.
“I didn’t know how I’d feel today,” she said. “But I felt really good, so that’s encouraging.”
The Cross Crusade continues next Sunday, October 10, at Rainier High School.
Men’s A
1. Chris Sheppard, Rocky Mountain Bicycles P/b Shimano
2. Shannon Skerritt, Corsa Concepts
3. Donald Reeb, Rocky Mountain Blues
4. Erik Tonkin, Team S+m
5. Ben Thompson, Rocky Mtn Bicycles
6. Damian Schmitt, Sunnyside Sports
7. Brett Luelling, Buy Local Cycling
8. Michael Gallagher, Cyclocrossracing.com P/t Blue
9. Eric Sheagley, Veloce Racing
10. Ian Brown, River City Bicycles/tonic Fab
11. Brett Nichols, Scott Usa
12. Ben Chaddock, Rubicon-Orbea Benefiting The Lance Armstrong Foundation
13. Steven Hunter, Embrocation Cycling Journal
14. Patrick Jackson, Buy Local Cycling
15. Michael Benno, Veloce Racing
16. Benjamin Kubas, Therapeutic Associates Cycling/genr8
17. Tony Kic, Gentle Lovers
18. Matthew Wills, Courage Cycles
19. Eirik Schulz, Specialized River City Bicycles
20. Ryan Weaver, River City Bicycles
21. Seth Patla, River City Bicycles
22. Neal Bibler, Team S+m
23. Matt Fox, Sunnyside Sports
24. Chad Swanson, Team S+m
25. Steve Carwile,
26. Ian Leitheiser, Cyclepath Racing
27. Jeff Curtes, Embrocation/speedvagen Racing
28. Jeremy Dunn, Embrocation Cycling Journal
29. Scott Bradway, Team S&m/sellwood Cycle Repair
30. Andrew Bennett, Team Specialized Racing
31. Doug Wilmes, Portland Bicycle Studio
32. Brennan Wodtli, Hutch’s
33. John Leonard, Rapha Racing
34. Alex Wentz, Team Oregon Presented By Laurelwood Brewing
35. Brad Winn, Primal-First Bank
36. Brendon Gallant, Guinness Cycling Team
37. Colin Rowan, Corner Cycle
38. Ross Brody, Capitol Velo P/b Lifesource
39. Landon Masterfield, Revolver-Cascadia
40. Cary Miller, Team S+m
41. Patrick Means, Team S+m
42. Ross Bowden, Specialized/dumonde Tech
43. Adrian Olmstead, Portland Bicycle Studio
44. Dave Messenheimer, Team Oregon Presented By Laurelwood Brewing
45. James Cecorulli, Team Dirt/mudslinger Events
46. Mathew Hall, Ira Ryan
47. Nat Johnson, Green Submarine Records
48. Paul Lacava, Giant Bicycles
49. William Warburton, Therapeutic Associates Cycling/genr8
50. Joshua Liberles, Corsa Concepts
51. Kolben Preble, Clif Bar Development Cyclocross Team
52. Spencer Moersfelder, River City Bicycles
53. Russell Williford, Fulcrum
54. Brian Schultz, Gründelbrüisers/stewie Bicycles
55. Andrew Willis, Ironclad Performance Wear
56. Erik Fabrizius, Montage-Veloshop
. Garrett Mcallister,
. Mike Kath, Cyclepath Racing
. Dan Menscher, Gentle Lovers
. Tim Joslin, Cyclepath
. Jonathan Myers, Team S+m
. Aaron Tuckerman, Corsa Concepts
. Conner Burck,
. Joel Madrone, Courage Cycles
. Christopher Bagghletes Lounge
. Jeremy Garbellano, Life Cycle Bike Shop
. Branden Taggart, Team Lazy Tarantulas
Women’s A
1. Sue Butler, Hudz Subaru Cycling Team
2. Alice Pennington, Team S+m
3. Wendy Williams, River City Bicycles
4. Brigette Brown, River City Bicycles
5. Serena Bishop, Sunnyside Sports
6. Tina Brubaker, Veloforma
7. Julie Browning, Cyclepath Racing
8. Renee Scott, Sunnyside Sports
9. Anne Davis Usher, Bridgetown Velo
10. Heather Clark, Bend Memorial Clinic Total Care Racing Team
11. Abby Watson, Embrocation Cycling Journal
12. Becky Bjork, Bend Memorial Clinic Total Care
13. Anona Whitley, Ironclad Performance Wear
14. Colleen Mcclenahan, Sorrella Forte
15. Rachel Bagley, Motor Dome
16. Anna Vaughn, Hammer Velo
17. Christy Love,
18. Lindsay Jones, Htfu
19. Kim Forte, Sorrella Forte
20. Laura Winberry, Elite Endurance
21. Sarah Tisdale, Sorrella Forte
22. Audrey Brown, Team S+m
23. Karen Oppenheimer, Bend Memorial Clinic Total Care Racing Team
. Marila Alvares, Signal Cycles
. Heather Willis, Embrocation Cycling Journal
. Brenna Lopez-Otero, Bend Memorial Clinic Total Care Racing Team
