(Photo above: Deschutes Brewery Cycling Team member Chris Moor | courtesy of the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association)
Bend Team Claims Top Honor in Nation’s Largest Cyclocross Series
The Deschutes Brewery Cycling Team won the overall team competition of the 2015 Cross Crusade Series which culminated with a double-header at Portland International Raceway. The Bend-based team finished ahead of almost 300 registered teams in the renowned cyclocross series.
“Taking first place this year in the largest cyclocross series in the country is quite an accomplishment,” said Team Director Craig Mavis. “To take this win over powerhouse teams in Portland and Washington is unbelievable to say the least. We have a dedicated team, and it was a group effort of consistent riding every week.”
Sanctioned by the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association (OBRA), Cross Crusade is the largest cyclocross series in the United States, and is an influential, grass-roots model for sustaining and growing the sport of cycling. This year’s eight-race series included two races over Halloween weekend on the grounds of Deschutes Brewery in Bend. While the popularity of cyclocross has grown world-wide in recent years, the roots of American cyclocross can be traced to the Pacific Northwest, where the first Cross Crusade series was held in 1993.
“I’d never even heard of cyclocross when I moved to Bend in 2006,” said Mavis, who is a project manager and plant engineer at Deschutes Brewery. “We began with a group of nine riders and no budget in 2011. The next year, we added more riders and established a core group that has helped elevate the team to a level of achievement and recognition we could never have dreamed of four years ago.”
The Cross Crusade team competition is a hotly contested race-within-a-race among Pacific Northwest teams, and a carefully constructed points system rewards the quality of results, not just participation. Although the Deschutes Brewery Cycling Team consists of 45 racers, spanning many categories and age groups, only the top 10 best results in any Cross Crusade race count toward the team competition.
“Our primary goal is to make sure we have fun along the way,” says Mavis, “and as witnessed by the smiling faces of everyone on our team throughout the season, I think we succeeded.”
See more information worth sharing on the Deschutes Brewery Cycling Team on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TeamDeschutes/
