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Member Spotlight on: Cecil Reniche-Smith |
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Written by PV Webmaster
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Thursday, 15 July 2010 16:11 |
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Cecil is one of the most hard-core cyclists I know. She did some insane ride a year or so ago where you ride for something like a week without sleep. (Maybe it was less than that, but still, in my book, anything over 24 hours where you don’t get to sleep is just ridiculous!) I guess someone like Cecil apparently considers that “normal”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cecil not smiling while on her bike, or heard her complain. Anyway, she’s been around Portland Velo for quite a while so I figured she’d been riding for a while, I just had no idea how many years. She sets a very good example for how efficient cycling can be as a primary means of transportation. She’s done some really impressive riding to tell stories about, and I’m sure she has many more where these came from! I only wish I had as rich a cycling history as Cecil has!
How did you find Portland Velo, and what has your experience been with the club the past few years?
I started riding with Portland Velo sometime in the summer of 2006. I had recently met Lynne Fitzsimmons, and she had told me about what was then a pretty small club that was doing rides out on the west side. I'd been living in Oregon for almost 10 years by this point, and had yet to find many people here that I enjoyed riding with. But my husband was encouraging me to start riding with groups because he hated the fact that I'd go out alone all day. "What if you crash in the middle of nowhere?" "Um, I'll die?" I enjoyed riding with Lynne, though, and figured that any folks she enjoyed riding with must be okay. So I started coming out for rides and met a whole bunch of people as cool as Lynne. After decades of riding mostly on my own, however, it was very weird to ride with a group. It took some time for me to get used to having someone to talk to while riding (but as most folks know, I got used to it pretty quickly; now you can't shut me up!). I have since ridden with Velo enough to be asked to join the Ride Leader Team, and I even manage to lead a ride now and then. Over the years I have been amazed by how quickly and large the club has grown; gone are the days when I knew the name of every member
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Last Updated on Monday, 20 February 2012 19:08 |
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Member Spotlight on: Sasha Lacey |
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Written by Linda Jellison
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Saturday, 24 July 2010 03:13 |
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Sasha is one of those guys in Portland that everyone has probably seen on the road at some time or another. He’s out there training all the time. I remember reading an email that I posted on the forum a while back about a cyclist new to the Portland area who was extremely grateful to have Sasha’s wheel (and his encouragement) on a long difficult ride. Sasha is always gracious, friendly and willing to share his expertise and help his fellow cyclists. He’s an amazing example of all that is good about cycling, local bike racing and Portland Velo.
How/when did you find Portland Velo, and what has your experience been with the club the past few years?
When I first moved from Chicago to Portland five years ago I was a recreational rider who hadn’t had a hill to climb in more than fifteen years. In fact, I didn’t ride a bike at all for about ten of those years. However, the barrier to racing in the NW is so low – so many events, so many disciplines, so many categories – that once I came to Portland it soon became a question of when, rather than if, I would race. We moved in December and I entered my first race – one of the Banana Belts - just two months later. Despite the cold and wet, cramping on the final climb and some accidental handlebar-to-handlebar contact, I was hooked.
I initially raced with Veloshop – at 39, I was their oldest rider. It was a small team still looking to define itself, but it was a great introduction to bike racing in the NW. However, I soon yearned for more structure and teammates. I did a couple of H&N rides with PV and I remember Dennis Petross asking me whether I was interested in joining the club – I don’t think that the race team had yet formed.
Being a member on the PV race team has been great. It is well run and largely drama-free (other than the occasional crash) and everyone is very supportive of each other. While, of course, there is pressure to always race more, train more – the team is sufficiently diverse that there is a niche for everyone.
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Last Updated on Monday, 20 February 2012 19:08 |
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