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Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood: Trebon hits the road

Published: Dec. 1, 2006
Trebon may get to avoid the mud a few times next year
Trebon may get to avoid the mud a few times next year

Recent Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series winner RyanTrebon, who races ’cross and the national cross-country circuit for Kona,has been confirmed as a key member of the 2007 KodakGallery Pro CyclingTeam, presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. The team announced its12-rider roster Thursday, with former Canadian national champion Mark Waltersand Trebon listed as its marquee riders.

Returning riders include criterium specialist and team leader Pete Lopinto,six-time national junior and U-23 cyclo-cross champion Jesse Anthony, second-yearpro Mike Dietrich and young workhorse Skyler Bishop. In addition to Waltersand Trebon, new signings include 2006 Canadian national champ DominiqueRollin, six-time junior national track champion Cody O’Reilly, former juniornational road champion JoshThorton, stage winner at the 2006 UCI Vuelta a El Salvador Ben Raby,national team pursuit silver medalist Jamiel Danesh, and New York stateroad champ Dan Timmerman.

“Ryan will ride with us on a part-time basis,” said KodakGallery-SierraNevada marketing director Rob O’Dea. “He’s going to split the season withus and his mountain-bike racing. He’ll be there for the big tours.”

While the team’s press release said KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada had finalizedits team roster, team manager Robin Zellner said the team “looks forwardto announcing several exciting and innovative additions to our sponsorroster in the coming week.”

I caught up with Trebon two weeks ago in Tacoma, Washington, for a cover-storyinterview (check for issue 21, with complete USGP coverage, in mailboxesand on newsstands in the coming days). Trebon, 25, discussed the likelihoodof his part-time riding with KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada, on the conditionthat it was “off the record” until his contract had been signed, whichis why you will only read about it in vague terms in the magazine article.(“As he’s done the past few years,” I wrote, “Trebon will also ride selectroad races in 2007.”)

Jesse Anthony will be the other 'crosser on Kodak
Jesse Anthony will be the other 'crosser on Kodak
Photo: Neal Rogers

Trebon’s past road results riding with AEG-Toshiba include a secondplace at the 2006 Mt. Hood stage race prologue, nine seconds behind HealthNet-Maxxis rider Nathan O’Neill but ahead of Scott Moninger and Navigators’Phil Zajicek. Trebon finished fifth overall. Trebon, who won July’s nationalcross-country championship in Sonoma, California, first had to clear theKodakGallery-Sierra Nevada deal with his Kona sponsors. A broken wristat the 2005 Tour of Altoona ended his cross-country season, pleasing Konanone too much.

“I had to miss out on three NORBAs,” he said, “so it’s kind of a gamblefor them to say, ‘Well Ryan, if you want to go do these races, if you gethurt, there are going to be consequences, because you’re not racing forKona at the time.’ But I really like to do those road races and I’d liketo do more. With Sierra, they’re talking about doing the big U.S. ProTourraces like Georgia and California.”

In Tacoma Trebon was still holding on to hope that things would workout between Kona and KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada. He and his coach, CarmichaelTraining Systems coach Jim Lehman, feel that his road racing enhances his’cross racing as much as his mountain biking.

“I think it’s awesome training for the ’cross, when you’re out thereracing for like five hours and you’re really depleted and towards the end,you’re just hanging on,” Trebon said. “Those guys, they’re pretty fast,and when they are going, you’re just head down, suffering pretty good.That’s all ’cross racing is, especially in Europe. You just have to learnto suffer through these fast laps. Everyone tells me I should race on theroad, that it’s a better fit for ’cross. I think you get those real hardaccelerations, and it teaches you to suffer more. In mountain biking, youcan only go as hard as you can. In road you have to go as hard as everyoneelse to keep up.”

Kona team director Mark Peterson told me that Trebon’s recently signedtwo-year deal with Kona stresses his World Cup cyclo-cross ambitions firstand foremost.

“Ryan is a Kona Factory rider, and together we’ll work out a schedulethat will work for him and his training, and make sure that we do whateveris the best for him, for his goals and dreams of being a World Cup ’crossracer,” Peterson said. “We have to look at all the schedules and see how[road racing] matches up with the NORBAs and the World Cups, and whichroad races actually fit in. But our goal is Word Cup ’cross, and that’shis goal, and that’s where we want to make sure we end up going.”

O’Dea agreed that signing Trebon was a matter of making sure the dealworked for Trebon, Kona and KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada. “I think everyonewants to see Ryan live up to his potential on the road,” he said. “We haveMark Walters there, to give him some guidance, and some strong young bucksready to ride for them. They should be an awesome combination.”

“I like riding time trials, that’s one thing I want to find on the roadscene this year,” Trebon said. “I got tenth in 2005 at Redlands in theuphillprologue on my ’cross bike with 32-hole training wheels. I went upto the weigh in, where they check your bike to see if you have proper setback,and they weighed the bike. And what’s the UCI weight limit — 6.8 kilosor something? Mine was 10 kilos, so it was a 22-pound ’cross bike. Theguy just looked at me like, ‘What happened?’”

Upon winning the USGP series, Trebon returned to Europe to race cyclo-cross.His first event was the November 25 KoksijdeWorld Cup, where he finished ninth last year. The event was not a WorldCup in 2005, but it was a UCI C1 event, and was won by World Cup champSven Nys, with all the usual suspects in attendance.

“I like that race a lot,” Trebon told me in Tacoma. “It’s hard. It’sreal sandy, there’s quite a bit of running. It’s a cool race. It’s uphilland downhill sand, there’s uphill running sand and downhill riding sand.It’s just really hard. Sometimes you are good in the sand, and sometimesyou suck.”

At this year’s race, the lanky Kona rider finished a disappointing 25th,5:10 behind Nys, winner for the second consecutive year. On hisWeb site, Trebon wrote that his race was a comedy of errors.

“Halfway through the race things were going pretty good,” Trebon wrote.“I was riding in 15th with Radomir Simunek. After running up one of thesand dunes and going down the backside, which is a steep bumpy downhillin the sand, I slipped a pedal and landed full weight on my seat. Normallynot a problem, but when the seatpost snaps and you have the speed dialturned up to 11 without being clipped in, life takes a turn for the worsereally fast. I pretty much fell off the back of the bike landingon the rear tire with my left leg and my chest landing on the freshly brokennub of a seatpost sticking out of the frame. Felt pretty fantastic,almost as good as the ensuing endo. The crowd cheered and I ran to pitsto get a new bike and finished the two laps I had left to finish 25th.”

For a comprehensive look at Trebon’s results in USCF and NORBA events,clickhere.

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