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Team Rubicon-ORBEA brings message of Lance Armstrong Foundation to the peloton

Submitted by rubicon_admin on Tue, 2008-04-01 22:35

This year Team Rubicon-ORBEA hopes to bring even more awareness of the Lance Armstrong
Foundation (LAF) to the US cycling peloton. Gone from years past is the orange and blue
color which Rubicon-ORBEA has been known for. New for 2008, the team will be sporting
yellow and black team kits with the "Benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation"
logo proudly displayed center front and back of the team jersey.

"Our goal is to inspire people who have been affected in any way by cancer to take
control, face it head on, take no prisoners and reach out to others for support," said
team co-founder and director Norrene Godfrey, who lost both her parents to cancer.
"As a cycling team, we hope to visit as many hospitals as we can handing out as many
yellow wristbands as we can, to encourage those individuals to keep fighting, and let
them know they’re not alone."

Team Rubicon-ORBEA is made up of 13 riders, with 7 under the age of 23. The 6 older
riders will mentor the younger riders on and off the bike. Last year, two of the
team’s riders moved up in the pro-ranks, signing contracts with Slipstream-Chipotle
U23 squad and the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling team. "Where really excited to see Aaron and
Kirk move up into the pro-division," said Norrene, "we hope to lose more riders this
year to the pro squads."

Leading the team this year will be returning veteran Logan Hunn, 21 of New
Zealand and Brad Payne, 22 from Australia, also returning is sprint specialist Dean
Tracy, 22 from Oregon. New to the team are Carson Miller, 19 from Oregon, Josh
Bartlett, 23 from New Hampshire, Shaun Morris, 21 from Australia and Roman van Uden, 19
from New Zealand. The over the age of 24 riders who will guide the young lads are,
Norrene Godfrey, team co-founder and director, Darien Curl, team co-founder, David Godfrey,
director of sportif, Heather VanValkenburg sprint specialist, Chauncey Curl and
Jamie Mikami -all from the Portland, Oregon area.

"This team has some of the best sponsors in the industry," said Norrene,
"because not only do our sponsors support our team, they also create avenues in which
to donate money to the Lance Armstrong Foundation." Nike, long term partner of
Team Rubicon-ORBEA has created a LIVESTRONG collection which people can
purchase at LIVESTRONG.com or wearyellow.com where 100% of Nike’s profit
goes directly to the LAF foundation to help fight cancer.

ORBEA, who has been the teams long time partner and supporter will be stepping up
into the title sponsorship role this year. "We would not be here today if it wasn’t for
the continued support from all the crew over at ORBEA" said Norrene, "ORBEA is with us
every step of the way encouraging us to keep helping others through the sport of cycling."
Rubicon will have the unique opportunity to ride the 2009 ORCA. Rubicon-ORBEA’s
primary sponsors include, NIKE, SRAM, United Finance, Hammer Nutrition,
Bontrager and Laurelwood Brewery. The team’s other sponsors, whom we are very
grateful to have on board are, Oakley, Russ Auto, Giro, Park Tools, Schwalbe Tires,
Ez-Up Tent, Bike Gallery and Yakima racks.

The boys in yellow have a busy NRC and event calendar, with the goal of visiting at
least one children’s hospital per every NRC event we attend (If you’re reading this and
you would like the Rubicon guys to show up at your hospital or event, please send an
email to trubicon@comcast.net, we will do the best we can to make it happen).

Team Schedule -

April:

  • Willamette Stage Race
  • Sea Otter
  • Team Rollout Party

May:

  • Joe Martin Stage Race
  • LIVESTRONG Day, Little Rock Arkansas & Arkansas’ Children’s hospital
  • Mt. Hood Cycling Classic
  • LIVESTRONG Day, Portland Oregon

June:

  • PDX LIVESTRONG Challenge training ride
  • AT&T Austin Downtown Criterium
  • Tour of Pennsylvania UCI 2.1 Stage Race
  • LIVESTRONG Challenge Portland Oregon

July:

  • Cascade Cycling Classic
  • Gastown Criertium
  • Giro Di Burnaby
  • Tour De White Rock
  • Wells Fargo Twilight Criteirum

August:

  • U23 National Championships
  • Portland Healthnet Twilight Criterium
  • Tour of Utah

Each year the team raises funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and each year
the team gives away it’s spot in the Portland LIVESTRONG Challenge to a cancer survivor.
If you would like to nominate someone or want to nominate yourself, tell us your story,
we want to hear it! Send an email to trubicon@comcast.net,
type in the subject line - Nomination for PDX LIVESTRONG Challenge.