1er avril 2005

Allan Steeland and Mirjam Swanson

OAK GLEN - The young Canadian woman with the unmistakable French accent is hanging out with a fun-lovin' group of women from Oklahoma, Kansas, Florida and Texas this week.

The Bicycle Store squad is doing everything it can to keep up with Genevieve Jeanson, who has, among other accomplishments, won the Redlands Bicycle Classic twice, raced in the Olympics and captured a junior world title.

"We knew we'd be in a situation where you have the best rider, basically, in the world on your team," The Bicycle Store's Sherri Stedje said.

Since 2000, Jeanson's primary sponsor has been Rona, a sort of Canadian Home Depot/Wal-Mart.

But Rona decided against sponsoring a team around Jeanson this season, choosing instead to support only the star rider.

Jeanson rode unattached in her first two races this season but accepted The Bicycle Store's invitation to join the squad in Redlands.

Though it's not exactly a match made in heaven -- "We're doing all we can do with the level of fitness we all have, and obviously Genevieve is way above us," Stedje said -- Jeanson couldn't stop smiling after Friday's Oak Glen Road Race.

She finished uncharacteristically out of the medals after losing contact with the leaders halfway up the final 3.7-mile climb, but Magen Long's wisecracks about feeling "like a salt lick" and Stedje's lessons in Florida slang turned Friday's effort into something worth grinning about.

It's All in the Head
Annette Beutler won Friday's stage with a strong climb up Oak Glen.

"I know I am a strong climber," said Beutler, who was added to the Quark team for that particular talent.

But that wasn't always the case with the Swiss rider.

"I started as a sprinter," she said. "I always said climbing was not for me, but now I do it. Climbing is all in the head."

Each team tries to add a strong climber to its lineup and the Oak Glen course may be one of the toughest, concluding a four-hour ride with a 5,000-foot climb to the finish line.

And the criteria for a strong climber ?

"You must like the mountains," Beutler said.

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