SoCal Masters Vye for Masters Road National Championships Titles Next Week
8/25/11 - Over 850 riders are registered for the 2011 USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships which will begin on Wednesday, August 31 in Bend, Oregon. Cyclists 30 years and older will vie for more than 60 national titles in the road race, criterium, and time trial events. In addition to the individual events being awarded, USA Cycling will present a male and female Best All-Around Rider award for each age group, as well as crown the Best All-Around Team. Awards will be determined by total points accumulated throughout the event.
Among those competing is 1972 and 1976 Olympian Wayne Stetina (Mission Viejo, CA/Breakaway-UBS Elite Masters). Stetina, whose nephew, Peter, races for Garmin-Cervelo, contested the team time trial at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany and in 1976 at the Olympic Games in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Another prominent contestant is 84-year-old Link Lindquist (Foothill Ranch, CA/Team Velosport Club), who found the podium three times in the men's 80-84 category, last year. In 2010, Lindquist won the criterium, earned the silver medal in the time trial and the bronze in the road race. Look for 35 + National Criterium Champion, Chris Demarchi (Chino, CA, SKLZ-Pista Palace) to try for a repeat performance to capture the stars and stripes. In addition, the on form Richard Meeker (Corona Del Mar, CA/Breakaway-UBS Elite Masters) will look to continue his winning streak with a Championship Title.
35+ National Criterium Champion Chris DeMarchi (SKLZ-Pista Palace), who recently edged
out Gary Douville (Platinum Performance), heads to Masters Nats in Bend, OR looking to repeat.
photo © SoCalCycling.com
The five-day competition starts on August 31 with time trials at Summit High School in southwestern Bend. Contestants will compete in the criterium over the next two days. Women 40-and-over and men 60-and-over will contest the criterium at Northwest Crossing near Compass Park in western Bend on Sept. 1. Men 30-59 and women 30-39 will race the criterium on September 2 in downtown Bend. The road race, held at Summit High School, will be the featured event of the final two days in Bend.
The Time Trial Course starting at Summit High School, which will be contested on Wednesday, August 31, climbs varying distances before turning around and looping around Tetherow Golf Club and returning to the finish line.
The one-kilometer Criterium Course at Northwest Crossing, which will be contested on Thursday, Sept. 1, consists of four corners and two bends. The Criterium Course in Downtown Bend is a rectangular, four-corner course spanning 1.2 kilometers.
The road race, which also starts at Summit High School and will be contested on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3-4, almost immediately goes into a steep descent, dropping over 1,000 feet of altitude in a nine-mile stretch before nearly recovering all of that altitude as it climbs Tumalo Butte to complete the circuit. Different age groups will perform different lap counts for their road race.
