Portland Race Team

[MIN]

I'm thinking hooking up with a race team for the next season - what was your selection process for a team? I rode with Team Oregon back in the day...

Any suggestions for Portland teams for road racing?

[cmh]

I rode in PDX unattached for a year and started chatting up guys in the peleton to meet teams.

I looked for a team with:

1. A presence in Cat 3 road races in the area - at least a few riders each race and occasionally some results.
2. Good natured teamates that don't take racing too seriously. I have a family and full time job so I can't make a lot of races or team rides. I can't be on a team with any mandatory races or training rides.
3. A small to mid-sized team so I could get to know my team mates and know that we would help each other out in races.

I settled on Bridgetown Velo and I am very happy with my choice.

We aren't really looking for new team members right now, but you are welcome to come ride with us and meet some of the guys.

I can't really recommend other teams without knowing a bit more about you. What is your age and Cat? Road only or do you race track or mtn?

Also, you probably know this already, but there is a list of teams at obra.org, most with links to websites or other contact info.

[MIN]

I am cat 4 and 26 years old. I have family and office job obligations as well so a not-too-serious team is important for me as well.

I have a track bike, but I've only raced road races before...

[fishmel]

cmh, you guys on Bridgetown seem to have a good thing going, alot of strength and good tatics.

[botto]

I rode in PDX unattached for a year and started chatting up guys in the peleton to meet teams.

I looked for a team with:

1. A presence in Cat 3 road races in the area - at least a few riders each race and occasionally some results.
2. Good natured teamates that don't take racing too seriously. I have a family and full time job so I can't make a lot of races or team rides. I can't be on a team with any mandatory races or training rides.
3. A small to mid-sized team so I could get to know my team mates and know that we would help each other out in races.

I settled on Bridgetown Velo and I am very happy with my choice.

We aren't really looking for new team members right now, but you are welcome to come ride with us and meet some of the guys.

I can't really recommend other teams without knowing a bit more about you. What is your age and Cat? Road only or do you race track or mtn?

Also, you probably know this already, but there is a list of teams at obra.org, most with links to websites or other contact info.

is your team sponsored?

[cmh]

is your team sponsored?

Yes, we have sponsers, but nothing major. It amounts to good discounts for team members, and a small reimbursement for kits, but no other cash. We have an LBS that gives us discounts, a bike sponsor - Fuji (although I think this is changing), a component/wheel sponsor - Ritchey, and a few other sponsers that give the team cash for team dues and minor stuff - for example, we bought a team warm-up tent with extra cash we had this year.

Sponsorship is not related to us not looking for new members - it isn't like we want to keep all the schwag. We just feel like we have enough guys to have a good presence in races (mostly Cat 3s), but not so many that we don't know each other pretty well. We did expand a lot this year on the womens side with a concerted effort. We had 1 woman in '07 and we are going into '08 with 8 women.

EDIT: We'd be happy to add 'Botto Rules' to the back of our jersey for a small fee, in case that is why you were asking.

[cmh]

cmh, you guys on Bridgetown seem to have a good thing going, alot of strength and good tatics.

Thanks, fishmel.

[botto]

Yes, we have sponsers, but nothing major. It amounts to good discounts for team members, and a small reimbursement for kits, but no other cash. We have an LBS that gives us discounts, a bike sponsor - Fuji (although I think this is changing), a component/wheel sponsor - Ritchey, and a few other sponsers that give the team cash for team dues and minor stuff - for example, we bought a team warm-up tent with extra cash we had this year.

Sponsorship is not related to us not looking for new members - it isn't like we want to keep all the schwag. We just feel like we have enough guys to have a good presence in races (mostly Cat 3s), but not so many that we don't know each other pretty well. We did expand a lot this year on the womens side with a concerted effort. We had 1 woman in '07 and we are going into '08 with 8 women.

fair enough.

EDIT: We'd be happy to add 'Botto Rules' to the back of our jersey for a small fee, in case that is why you were asking.

if you want to do that, go ahead, just make sure you send me a set of the team kit as reimbursement.

[cmh]

if you want to do that, go ahead, just make sure you send me a set of the team kit as reimbursement.

The 'small fee' I was thinking is quite a bit more than the cost of a team kit.:)

[botto]

The 'small fee' I was thinking is quite a bit more than the cost of a team kit.:)

ok, if you're willing to pay more than that to use my name, no problem. i'll PM you my paypal address. ;)

[Treefox]

EDIT: We'd be happy to add 'Botto Rules' to the back of our jersey for a small fee, in case that is why you were asking.

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mans1210/photos/extras/legalizemybotto.jpg

[MIN]

Wow Portland Racing has a short attention span, apparently.

[cmh]

Wow Portland Racing has a short attention span, apparently.

We just got sidetracked. Also, I don't think there are too many racers from Portland on BF this time of year. Maybe a couple more when racing picks up in a couple months. You might try the regional forum as well or go on obra.com and send an email to the obra mailing list. You will get a big response there.

Good luck, and I hope to meet you out at the races in a couple months.

[yonderboy]

They had the Meet the Teams rides in September/October. I did a few of them, but I got the feeling that most of the teams that were recruiting this year were just looking for women. I saw Kenji sent out an email onto the list last week about another rider looking for a team. I don't know what kind of response he got. The OBRA Chat list is pretty high volume, but there's some good info on there.

The best way to find a team in Portland would be to show up at one of the club rides (http://www.obra.org/teams/rides.html) and show up at races.

I think at one point I counted about 10 or so racers on BF from the Portland/Vancouver area. I know Rad/55 was organizing rides for a while. Maybe we should put together a recovery ride or something.

[MIN]

Yonderboy, what team do you ride for?

Is the team pro-deal a big consideration for you guys? (To appease the bike schwag gods.)

[DinoShepherd]

I'm down for a meet and greet kind of ride. I missed all the race intro rides late last year.

Either way, I am looking for a new team this year. Don't really care too much about schwag or free stuff, I've got all my own gear and can pay my own way. Mostly looking for people to ride hard with in the Clackamas or PDX area. Lots of the fast rides seem to go from waaayyy on the West side. I am not going to drive 40 minutes one way to ride my bike.

I am mostly a road racer, but it would also be nice to see some friendly jerseys in my category at the PIR races.

I have been racing road and mountain for 15 years, but took the last few years off with family obligations. So I am going to be sent back to Cat V for sure.

cmh was nice enough to return a call regarding his team. Any other ideas would be appreciated. Let me know here or PM me.

Thanks,

-Z

[yonderboy]

Yonderboy, what team do you ride for?

I'm unattached again this year. I shopped around for teams this fall, but there are only so many on my side of town that are in dire need of Cat3/4s and has a schedule that I can work with. I would love to have a consistent group of people to train with. All the various rec group rides are a crapshoot if you're going to get some hammerheads or not. And I'm too lazy to drive out to Hillsboro at 9am on a Saturday.

Is the team pro-deal a big consideration for you guys? (To appease the bike schwag gods.)

It would be nice to have a shop discount somewhere for all the little things like tires, chains, cogs/cassettes, rings, etc. But, if you're smart about it, there are some shops in the area that give discounts to OBRA members. Unless you're someone who changes his setup every 3 months, I wouldn't make it a high priority for finding a team.

Some teams also only reimburse the rider if its one of their scheduled races, otherwise you're on your own. If you're like me, you probably have 30+ races scheduled, and at $15 to $25 a pop, those add up fast. Most of the promoters around here are good at keeping the fees manageable, but having a little support in the form of race fees would be desirable.

[cmh]

I have been racing road and mountain for 15 years, but took the last few years off with family obligations. So I am going to be sent back to Cat V for sure.


-Z

Just an FYI - you can always come back as a Cat 4 no matter how long you have been out of racing.

[MIN]

Just an FYI - you can always come back as a Cat 4 no matter how long you have been out of racing.

Does that count if I raced as a junior? I was in HS that last time I raced road.

[cmh]

Does that count if I raced as a junior? I was in HS that last time I raced road.

I am pretty sure it counts - any 10 mass start races works. I would email Kenji to check.

I raced over 20 years ago as a junior, then came back as a Cat 5 2 yrs ago. After 2 races I asked Candi if I could move to Cat 4 based on racing 20 yrs ago with no proof (I wasn't in the USCF database or anything) and I was upgraded.

[obra3]

Yeah... just shoot me an e-mail. I have a bunch of teams that responded to the original e-mail.