The Keller Rohrback Road Race of 2012 will be held on February 26, 2012 in Eatonville, Washington.  Michael Pruitt has planned a race that is guaranteed to please everyone with an opportunity to test your winter training and set your goals for 2012.  This is a fully paved race featuring rolling hills over a 6.5 mile loop.  Sweet prizes and glory on offer.  Register today!

Full details? CLICK HERE

Thanks to our sponsors, volunteers, members, and member families! We appreciate your help, time, and support very much. Thank You for contributing to a great 2011 season.

2012 is coming very soon. We’d like to remember the great moments of the 2011 season and share our goals for the year ahead.

Nick Z: 2011 Highlight was joining the KR Elite squad! Nick’s 2012 goal is to contribute to overall team success by making strides as a bike racer and learning from experienced teammates and competitors.

Karl C: 2011’s highlight was finishing two Cat ½ stage races. The Capital Stage Race and the Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic. Both races featured KR riders on the podiums! For 2012, Karl plans on making his much anticipated track-racing debut. He also wants to podium at the Tacoma Criterium.

Ivy A: The 2011 season highlight was winning the category three criterium at the Mt. Hood Stage Race, along with four out of five of the primes in the same stage. As a Cat 2 now, Ivy’s 2012 goal is to play an active role in getting KR women on the GC podium for targeted stage races!

Erik S: 2011 highlights were getting out and creating opportunities for teammates in local races. Also staying upright was a great highlight! In 2012 Erik hopes to make a great impact for our Masters Squad and plans on racing at Masters Nationals in Bend.

Jamie S: Winning more races than he has fingers.  A key highlight was winning the Tour of Walla Walla against an international field of professional and top-level amateurs.  Utter domination of the season was the result of a maniacal preparation that left everyone in the region in the dust.  Looking forward to more suffering and big victories in 2012.

Jim F: 2011 Highlight was overall win at Marymoor GP and the Masters Win at the Joe Matava crit. For 2012 Jim has hired a coach to work on cleaning up the podiums in local Crits! He also looks to clean up on the track and close out the season at Masters Track Nationals.

Spencer P: Among others things the 2011 highlight was team bonding in the rain, sleet and snow during the team training camp in Santa Barbara CA. Spencer also made the 2012 Olympics United States-Long Team for Cross-Country Mountain Biking. He’ll be focusing on getting to London in 2012.

Ian M: 2011 highlghts included helping Jamie Stangeland win the Tour of Walla Walla, and taking the Seward Park Series for the THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR. Ian also scored a huge 2^nd place on GC at the Capital Stage Race. On the Track, with Jamie Stangeland in the Madison, Ian swung the axe to take-it-to a prestigious international field of track racers at the Marymoor Grand Prix. No small feat. In 2012 the goal is to win the State Road Race.

Randy S: The Highlight was forging a good bond with his teammates on the road and track, in the process racking up several wins. He’d like to continue his blazing-fast lead-outs at Pacific Raceways in 2012.

Jeff D: 2011 Highlight was winning the Cat3 Men’s Twilight Crit in Portland and a Podium spot in the Cat 3’s at the Tour of Walla Walla. Jeff Also upgraded to Cat 2 on the road. His 2012 Goals are to upgrade to Cat 2 on the Track, have better performances in hilly races, and to target a podium spot at Masters Nationals in both Road and Track.

Nicholas B: Nicholas survived a cross-country move in 2011 but he has managed to make impressive results on the road. On his first day in Washington after moving, he won the Keller Rohrback Category ½ Men’s elite race. Nick also scored a 2^nd place at the Grand Prix of Beverly, Massachusetts with Shawn Milne taking the win. After settling in Washington, Nick managed a 4^th overall in the Lake WA Velo series. For 2012 Nick will bring his decade+ of racing experience to help support our stage and road racers. He will focus on bringing his top-end-speed to select crits and circuit races.

Tricia B: TB’s season highlight was working for Steph Peters to help her win the State Road Race when the KR ladies were seriously outnumbered. She also looks back happily on exposing a KR composite team to some NRC racing at Mt. Hood. Kristin Armstrong used TB as an example of what a good teammate should be doing when talking to fellow racer Rhae Shaw.

Stephanie P: In 2011, winning the State Road Race at Vance Creek was the season highlight. It was an amazing team effort and it wouldn’t have happened without full team support. Steph looks forward to racing in 2012 with a new and more diverse ladies squad.

Ross G: Ross’s 2011 was highlighted by a win at the Cheney Rock Road Race. He is excited to race with the KR squad and really hopes to contribue to a successful 2012. Ross is looking for redemption in the 2012 Ronde van Palouse.

Jocelyn S: Jocelyn had a blazing 2011 scoring wins and podiums all season long. She also got her Cat 1 upgrade, in the process, netting a 2nd overall in the WSBA rankings. The Tour of Walla Walla Crit, Wenatchee Crit (and Omnium) were her favorite wins of 2011. In 2012, Jocelyn wants to work hard and achieve success in all of the KR races that the ladies target. She’d also like to do some NRC or NCC races.

Mike Hainsworth: Mike was a new addition in 2010 and chalked up a few key wins for the masters squad. He also tore the legs off of all challengers at many-a-Seward park Thursday nighter. Mike sent me a nice email with his highlights, so I’ll let him speak for himself.

The highlight of the season for me at the KR team was somewhat intangible; its the fact that the team sold out for whoever was going well at the time and then spread the love around later.

The person who was the donkey one week was the stallion later.

For example, the whole mens team put their personal GC aspirations aside to ride shotgun for Jamie as he rode on to win the overall Walla Walla Stage Race against a bunch of full time bike racers.

Later in the year, if Jamie wasn’t already off the front, he would line out the Crits giving me or Ian leadouts.   There are countless other situations like this which would take more than my word limit to describe.

I myself benefited from this teamwork by being guided to several wins and podiums.

Most notable to me was sitting behind Jim Flynn and Ron while they gave me a 4 lap lead out on the way to winning the masters state criterium championships.

Results are available here

THE KELLER ROHRBACK ROAD RACE 2011

The Keller Rohrback Road Race is the first event in the Northwest Summer Cup of races including the Boston Harbor Circuit Race and Ronde Ohop that evoke the Belgian tradition of short, fast summer races. Running through the town of Eatonville the race includes a mix of city and country roads.

Click here for a PDF of the flyer, including clickable links:

Keller Rohrback Race Event Information

EVENT:  Keller Rohrback Road Race.

WHEN:  July 24, 2011

WHERE:  Eatonville, Washington

Course description: Race starts at 9am. 11 mile route with a few punchy climbs. Course description & profiles can be found at http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/41140116/.

Questions: Michael Pruitt: axleyusa@hotmail.com

Stage 1

A circuit with a hill, about 10 miles per lap to be ridden a total of eight laps. After rolling out of the parking lot, the attacks were fast and furious.

People took chances to get into breakaways by racing aggressively, making for a very on-or-off feeling. Either we were flying, or we were crawling. My lone teammate Ian Mensher and I took turns getting into the breakaway moves until something stuck. Ian was a little more aggressive, and he got in the move that would be the break du jour. It consisted of 10 guys. After working together for the better part of ~60 miles, they put a fair amount of time into the chase group of about forty riders.

With three laps to go, a 2 man move of Lang Reynolds and Joe Holmes went up the road and quickly got about 25-45 seconds. I could see that it had the chance of staying away from the group so I attacked to get into the move. After bridging and joining them, we quickly gained an advantage over the field until we were out of sight. Joe dropped back to the main field and Lang and I drilled it until the finish. I came in lucky 13th after we caught a straggler from the Garage Team, John Sindell. I was a few minutes back on GC, but in 13th place overall. I was extremely happy to learn that my teammate Ian Mensher had WON the group sprint and taken the leader’s jersey on the first day!

Ian Winning Stage 1

Ian after the podium presentation.

Stage 2: Time Trial

Short: 3.5 miles. Out and back. Very fast. Not much to say here. I went out pretty hard, and tried to maintain as best as possible before pouring it on in the final few minutes.

I clocked a time of 7:21, and came in 12th. Only about 20 seconds back of the 1st place finisher. I was still 13th place on GC, but Ian had lost his spot in the Pink Jersey and was now tied for 3rd.

Hurting in the time trial.

Ian in the time trial.

Stage 3: Capitol Crit

At the foot of the Capitol Building in Olympia. A hilly technical course which suits my personal strengths. I went out with big goals of racing toward the front and making the race hard for everyone else! After 20 minutes of racing, Logan Owen was solo off of the front all by his lonesome. I decided to attack to try to bridge the gap with the possibility of taking the win and moving up a few spots on the overall. Unfortunately, soon after attacking I had a mechanical problem, and a mental lapse. I stopped racing my bike halfway through the following lap. Thinking that I would be awarded a free lap for having a flat tire, I pulled into the pit, but to my surprise, my tire was not flat. After jumping back into the race, I chased until getting pulled by the officials, getting a pro-rated time. It was an interesting Criterium and a learning experience. Next time I think I’ve got a flat, I will take my time, and get a free lap.

Ian did have a good criterium. He cleaned up the scraps of the time-bonus primes (Logan Owen and Colin Gibson took most from their breakaway) to move into 3rd overall, putting the guy he was tied with a few seconds behind him. Steve Fisher rounded out the podium for the crit stage behind teammates Logan 2nd and Colin 1st.

Making laps before mental lapse.

Stage 4 : Queen Stage–Road Race

The longest and hardest stage of the race at 90 miles with several climbs. Since Ian had stayed in good position in the Criterium, and I had moved back on the overall by over two minutes, I had to swallow my pride and race for Ian’s hopes at overall victory. He and I marked attacks early, knowing that Hagens Berman had a lot to gain and almost nothing to lose. They had several strong riders and would seek to stamp their authority on the last road stage. Ian and I both went up the road in attacks that didn’t stick for long. Lang went solo and Steve joined him after the first climb, but before the second. About 1/3 of the way through the race, Ian flatted at the base of the second climb. The wheel car stopped quickly but proceeded to give Ian less than perfect wheel-change. After the flat was fixed, the car sped up the road leaving Ian and I to pace ourselves back up the hill about a minute behind the peloton which was making their way up the climb. I got in front of Ian and just drilled it until we were within sight of the pack. Ian ended up catching the group right over the top of the hill. Ian had to leave me because if he didn’t finish with the leaders we’d be out of the money. So I began to chase. And I chased and chased and chased. I chased for about an hour. A car on the road motor-paced a group of stragglers (myself included) and after a long while, we made our way back up to the pack. From there, I greeted Ian happily. The race stayed together for the most-part until the final few climbs. I fell back after the chase effort and finished in a group of a few guys several minutes behind the leaders. Ian was in the lead group and took second overall in the stage race! Logan Owen won the final stage.

Great shot of the chasers on stage four from GC Racing LLC.

Check out the full results here: http://www.capitalstagerace.com/index.html

Big Thanks to Raleigh Bicycles, Keller Rohrback, The Cunningham Family (for hosting and feeding) and Erik Anderson for hosting a great race!

Also, thanks to Rob at GC Racing for giving great timing and sweet finish photos. Thanks towww.rideonphoto.com for the race photos!

In the women’s field, Michele took first and Audrey was second.  Both posted impressive times and took over the podium.  Michele repeated her efforts from last year and Audrey showed her strength and form as a new upgrade!
In the mens race, we essentially won, with Jamie coming in second place to Ian McSickness.  Why did we win?  Well, McSicko should really be racing the Tour de France and not pissing all over us amateurs.  But be that as it may, we still claimed second.  Our Ian was 4th and John O’Donnel was a solid 9th place.

Last State Championship is a criterium race on July 3 in Bellingham.  It should be a fast and hard-fought race between KR and HB.