[Publisher’s note: As part of our ongoing racing coverage (made even better by our embedded racer and journalist Josh Liberles) we’ll be featuring profiles of local teams. From the super fast to the super silly, Portland is full of them! And, as the subject of our first profile proves, those attributes are not always mutually exclusive. — JM]

The Ironclad Performance Wear Cycling Team is a road-racing-centric team based in Portland that focuses on helping novice riders to develop. It’s a diverse bunch, ranging from an architect to a former army ranger to a semi-pro hippie, but somehow it all works, and amazingly well.

Team Ironclad (photographed by Catherine Leigh Cooper in August 2011).

[Read more…]

Detail from event flyer

The Portland-based Ironclad Cycling Team and the Oregon Food Bank have teamed up for what organizers call a “unique food drive”.

Dubbed “Underpants and Heavy Cans”, the event combines the competitive fun of an alleycat, the warm-fuzzies of helping feed folks in need, a huge list of prizes, and handmade underpants (I’ll explain that later).

Ironclad team manager Dave Aldersebaes the ride was “born from a want to help our fellow citizens, and what better way to do it than by bike?”.[Read more…]