Weekend Crossings: Compton and Trebon Double Up in Boulder, Haywood and Bishop Win Tacchino

Compton and Trebon take the wins again. How many times will we see this headline this season?

Two riders suffering from leg problems have ignored the pain and taken back-to-back convincing wins this weekend in Boulder. These two winners were not a big surprise – perhaps the biggest surprise was Chris Horner, beating many ‘cross specialists with a strong 5th place finish.

Report by Brook Watts, Photos by Mark Legg Images:

Compton Makes it a Double

Starting in the blue jersey of UCI points leader Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo) of the SPIKE Shooter team was primed to take her second win of the weekend after a convincing win Saturday in The Redline Cup.

27 riders lined up for the start of 40 minutes of racing at Harlow Platts Park in South Boulder in front of a crowd that continued to build throughout the race in anticipation of the men’s race.

Perhaps using her skills from a monster mountain bike season, Georgia Gould (Ft Collins, Colo) of the Luna Chix got the hole shot with Compton on her wheel and Rachel Lloyd (Fairfax, Calif) of the PROMAN/PARADIGM Team a short few meter back

Compton and Gould created a split on the first run up, The TRP Brake Zone with only Lloyd able to keep them at a close gap but the two proceeded to increase the gap with every section

Before the end of lap one Compton had gotten clear of Gould and built a gap of 17 seconds with Lloyd in “no women’s land” another 8 seconds back. Wendy Williams (Portland, Ore.) of River City Bicycles sat in 4^th with Boulder resident Kerry Barnholt of Tokyo Joes/Van Dessel in 5^th well clear of all others.

Compton continued to pile on the time and built a gap of 35 seconds over Gould with Lloyd hanging on at another 10 seconds. Compton’s finesse showed as she easily danced up every grassy climb and rode flawlessly through the sandpit.

With 3 laps remaining Compton was unstoppable with a gap that grew to 40 seconds over Gould and another 10 seconds over Lloyd who continued to hang on. Behind it was a repeat of Saturday with Williams and Barnholt riding together in pursuit.

On her way to lapping most of the field, Compton only piled it on increasing her gap to Gould by 56 seconds while a tenacious Lloyd hung on at a constant 10 seconds. Behind them Williams shed Barnholt to take a solid grip on 4^th.

At the bell lap things were unchanged with Compton putting on a cross demonstration for the remainder of the field. Compton was clearly using the weekend of UCI cross racing in Boulder as an opportunity to prepare for a month long trip to Europe in a short few days and crossed the line with a strong advantage over Gould. Lloyd hung on for her 3^rd place with Williams in 4^th and Barnholt in 5^th.

Trebon Goes for Two

66 Elite Men lined up for introductions in front of a crowd that swelled to 2,500 by race time on a rare November afternoon with sunny skies and unseasonably warm temperatures in the mid 70’s. The warm temperatures had many riders aching for a feed zone while a crafty Chris Horner started the race with a bottle tucked in his jersey.

Tim Johnson Leads Barry Wicks © Mark Legg Images

At the end of the 300 meter slightly uphill start the charging pack was led by Danish National Champions Joachim Parbo followed by Barry Wicks (Santa Cruz, Calif) of Kona-Your Key Mortgage, Todd Wells (Durango, Colo.) of GT Bicycles, Jeff Kabush (Victoria BA) of Maxxis-Litespeed, Ryan Trebon (Bend, Ore) of Kona-Your Key Mortgage, and Danny Summerhill (Englewood, Colo) of the Clif Bar Development Team

Looking in control from the beginning, Trebon moved right to the front after the first trip through the TRP Brake Zone, the run up section in the first part of the course taking his teammate Wicks with him. A short time later, after the sand section Trebon was solo with a group of 3 Wicks, Powers and Tim Johnson at a short 7 seconds back.

Trebon looked untroubled by the physical ailments that plagued him in the last few days as he built his lead over Powers and Johnson with teammate Wicks doing his job of hanging on. Kabush came through in 5^th with Chris Horner (Bend Ore) of the Indiana Medical Center Team in a comfortable 6^th.

On the second of the 11 laps covered and tired of their passenger, Powers took off with Johnson quickly getting up to his wheel with the result of shedding Wicks from the pair.

At the line with the lap card showing 8 to go Trebon held a gap of 29 seconds over Johnson and Powers who worked jointly to build a short gap over Wicks. Meanwhile, Kabush continued to creep up on the leaders while Horner used his road fitness on the paved finish section to close in on his best cross finish ever.

40 seconds was the split from Trebon to the chasing pair of cyclocrossworld.com riders Johnson and Powers. Kabush looked to be desperate in his attempt to hold off the Tour de France veteran Horner.

Powers and Johnson pulled back a few seconds over the next lap, dropping it to a 35 second gap to Trebon while Horner looked like the fastest rider over the paved section closing in on Kabush.

With 5 laps to go Powers and Johnson lost some steam in the chase as the gap moved to 55 seconds and a charging Horner was bearing down on Kabush, the sand section being the spot where the mountain bike pro held the advantage. Horner made the catch on the paved section heading to the line with 4 to go but Kabush stuck to his wheel briefly before falling back.

Having shed Kabush at the line with 3 to go Horner put Wicks in his sights. Wicks was sitting only 12 seconds ahead of the ever smiling Horner. Meanwhile Trebon was in a world of his own maintaining a lead of over 1:30 over the chasing duo.

Heading out on the final lap Trebon looked to be on a parade lap with Johnson and Powers racing for 2^nd over 1:45 back. Johnson moved ahead of his teammate at the line.

Todd Wells’ New Sram Red Derailleur - Not Used as Intended? Mark Legg Images

Crossing the line for his Boulder Cup victory Trebon grabbed a toy sword from the crowd using the prop to vanquish his imaginary enemies. Rolling in for 2^nd was Johnson followed shortly by Powers. Behind the main action, Wicks increased his gap over Horner to preserve his 4^th place over the seasoned roadman. Kabush held on for 6^th place with a good gap over “Caveman” Erik Tonkin who was 7th. Todd Wells overcame mechanical problems for 8^th. Boulder’s Brandon Dwight finished 9^th with the Danish Champ Parbo popping a wheelie over the line for 10^th.

Trebon described today’s victory as a next step in his season preparation. He and “Twin Tower” Wicks will compete next week in the Single Speed World Championships in Portland.

Results – Men:

1. USA1981030 TREBON Ryan Kona-Your Key Mortgage Bend OR US 01:01:00.

2. USA1977080 JOHNSON Tim Cannondale-LEER-Cyclocrossworld.com MA US 01:02:21.

3. USA1983062 POWERS Jeremy Cyclocrossworld.com-LEER-Ridley Hadley MA US 01:02:52.

4. USA1981111 WICKS Barry Kona-Your Key Mortgage Seattle WA US 01:03:59.

5. USA1971102 HORNER Chris Ridley Bend OR US 01:04:28.

6. CAN1977041 KABUSH Geoff Maxxis-Litespeed Victoria BC CA 01:05:05.

7. USA1974082 TONKIN Erik Kona Portland OR 35742 US 01:05:28.

8. USA1975122 WELLS Todd Durango CO US 01:05:39.

9. USA1971111 DWIGHT Brandon Boulder Cycle Sport Boulder CO 90939 US 01:05:45.

10. DEN1974111 PARBO Joachim CCV-Protek Denmark DE 01:06:13.

Results – Women

1. USA1978120 COMPTON Katie SPIKE-Primus Mootry-ROL Wheels Colorado CO USA1978 US 00:37:52.

2. USA1980010 GOULD Georgia Luna Chix Fort Collins CO USA1980 US 00:39:08.

3. USA1975050 LLOYD Rachel Proman/Paradigm Fairfax CA 107283 US 00:39:32.

4. USA1969030 WILLIAMS Wendy River City Bicycles Portland OR 38437 US 00:40:01.

5. USA1972123 BARNHOLT Kerry Tokyo Joes / Van Dessel Boulder CO 150226 US 00:40:46.

6. AUS1976100 STARR Dellys Sports Garage/BMC Lakewood CO 208446 AU 00:41:47.

7. USA1987090 DOMBROSKI Amy Velo Bella – Kona Boulder CO 246803 US 00:41:57.

8. USA1971091 BUTLER Sue River City Bicycles Portland OR 211472 US 00:42:02.

9. USA1976010 HOWE Barbara Velo Bella Kona Larkspur CA 129067 US 00:42:20.

10. USA1982042 ELLIOT Megan Bend OR USA1982 US 00:44:53.

THE TACCHINO CICLIOCROSS (“Turkey Cyclocross”)
Report by Ken Getchell

November 4, 2007; Leesburg, VA, USA: The BikeReg.com MABRAcross Series wrapped-up it’s weekend double header in the beautiful southern town of Leesburg, Virginia with another strong entry that showed quality as well as quantity. Earlier in the day, during the first of the amateur classes, organizers received word that Trek-VW superstars Jeremiah Bishop and Sue Haywood had phoned and said they were coming to the race. What they didn’t realize was that another ‘cross superstar, Jonne Sundt (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) had decided that it was time to start his 2007 cyclocross program following a few recovery weeks from a long road season and was also headed to the course.

In all, well over 200 racers swarmed the hilly Ida Lee Park on a comfortable autumn day despite the fact that the race was the second half of a BikeReg.com MABRAcross weekend doubleheader, and was over two hours away from the previous day’s “Wayne Scott Memorial”. An indication of the continued growth of the “fastest-growing cycling series in America” is that half of all entries were in the novice classes, with the men’s Category 4 race accounting for 91 entries alone.

ELITE WOMEN: STOMP, THINK AND THE DRAMA QUEEN

The featured Elite Classes started with the Women’s race. Lining up beside Sue Haywood were some of the East Coast’s fastest women, including three-time Verge MAC champion Betsy Shogren (Fort Factory Team), defending BikeReg.com MABRAcross champion Lisa Vible, Team Kenda Tire’s Jennifer Maxwell, Vanderkitten’s Mandy Lozano and Libbey Sheldon of Tokyo Joe’s. Roaring out of the prologue loop, Shogren and Maxwell had the advantage as they powered up the finishing hill straight to begin the first of their laps. By the time they entered the backside of the course, which is out-of sight from the main spectator area, Shogren had a decisive lead and Haywood, in her first cyclocross race in two years, was charging. And then things got weird.

“We were climbing the short, hard hill in the back,” said Shogren after the race, “and I asked Sue what she thought the sound was that was coming from my bike.” Haywood’s quick assessment was that the sound was coming from Shogren’s cassette — it wasn’t. Moments later, Shogren’s left crankarm came off, with her foot still attached. Shortly afterwards the rest of her crankset fell off. “It was pretty funny,” said Shogren.

With Shogren running a quarter of the lap (after first retrieving the crankarm!), Haywood powered away and by the time they came back into view, Haywood had a commanding lead with Maxwell, Lozano and Jessica Hill (Trail’s End Cycling) forming the chase group. By the time Shogren ran to the pits, she was nearly half a lap behind. Up front, Haywood continued to grow her lead until the end of the race for a dominating win. Maxwell used a well-thought attack to separate herself from the other chasers and finished second. Eventually, however, the attention shifted back to Shogren.

Riding her single-speed pit bike that was significantly over-geared for the hilly course, Shogren began reeling in the riders in front of her. No stranger to single-speed riding (she finished 11th at this year’s XC mountain bike National Championships on a single speed), Shogren was dubbed the “drama queen” by race announcer Ken Getchell as she methodically passed rider after rider, eventually finishing third just seconds behind Maxwell.

Elite Men’s Race: Goin’ for it

With Jeremiah Bishop and Jonne Sundt on the starting line, none of the riders in the Elite men’s field had any illusions about how difficult the race was going to be. But BikeReg.com MABRAcross regular Greg Wittwer (FORT Factory Team) knew that it was going to be even more difficult the others thought because he had already decided that he was going to control the pace. “I haven’t won a race yet this year, and this is the race I wanted to win!” he said afterward. From the start, Wittwer attacked and forced Bishop to respond. Meanwhile, a good portion of the field, including Sundt, was lying in a pile between the barriers following a chain reaction crash. No injuries occurred and not much time was lost, but Sundt lost many positions.

Up front Wittwer matched every one of Bishop’s many accelerations. Riding above his usual level, Wittwer was determined not to let Bishop in front. Meanwhile, Sundt was laying down accelerations of his own as he ripped through the field. Eventually, Bishop did get into the lead, but Wittwer responded. After trading off the lead several times, Bishop was able to gap Wittwer just enough to prevent a counter attack. Once firmly in the lead, Bishop was able to extend the time gap. It appeared that Wittwer was closing in the final laps, but Bishop responded to take his first ‘cross win of the year.

Sundt eventually caught third place rider Steve Cummings (Indiana Regional Medical Center). Racing in his first ‘cross race of the year, Sundt said that he was surviving on his road fitness. “I don’t have that top-end yet,” he said. “It’s hard to get that, because it hurts.” Still, fitness and world-class technique help and Sundt was able to separate himself from Cummings for a third place finish.

Race Notes:

* 18 Year old sensation Nick Bax (Hot Tubes) was hounded all race by impressive 17 year-old newcomer Stephen Koebl of Blue Competition Cycles. Koebl was competing in just his second cyclocross race, and his first at the Elite level.
* Gunnar Shogren (FORT Factory Team), won the Elite Masters Category ahead of Randy Root (ABRT/Latitude) and points leader Marc Gwadz (DCMTB/City Bikes)

Results:
Men 1/2/3:

Women 1/2/3:

Junior:

Masters:

Press Contact Information: BikeReg.com MABRAcross Cyclocross Series
Ken Getchell, Media Director: [email protected]; 610-397-1950