Two young cyclists from Northwest in Tour de Georgia

Two cyclists from the Pacific Northwest — Doug Ollerenshaw, left, of Portland and Tom Peterson, right, of North Bend, Washington — are among the 115-some racers at this week's Tour de Georgia.

Ollerenshaw, a member of the Health Net pro cycling team, gained the distinction of jumping on the right breakaway on Monday and finishing in 2nd place, 29 seconds behind the winner, Daniele Contrini.

Peterson, a member of the much talked about Team Slipstream, is currently ranked in 3rd place in the competition for Best Young Rider at the Tour de Georgia. He won that distinction at the 2006 Tour of California.

Portland native

Ollerenshaw is apparently well-known around Portland. He participates in some Portland bike events, such as last year's Halloween Cross Crusade, according to BikePortland, which has a picture of him as PacMac for the event.

Writing in his online journal after the race on Monday, Ollerenshaw said Contrini was clearly the stronger rider on the first stage.

“Obviously I'm thrilled with a second place finish, but it's a little tough to come that close to a win in a race this big and not to pull it off.”

According to his Health Net bio, Ollerenshaw suffered a broken hip last year in France, after winning the Sea Otter Classic in California. The 27-year-old has been a pro for three years.

He has the further distinction of appearing on the back cover of the Herald Sun (1 million circulation) in Australia with both skinned ass checks hanging out of his cycling shorts after a bike race crash last year.

Young rider

Peterson, just 20 years old, already has a list of distinctions. In addition to winning the Best Young Rider of the 2006 Tour of California, Peterson has finished 3rd overall in the Tour of Taiwan in 2005 and 1st in the US Junior National Road Race Championship in 2004.

What are his secrets to winning this year's Tour de Georgia? They're listed at his blog, Life on Two Wheels:

“For winning the Tour of Georgia…
380-400 watts in the tt
and
400 watts up Brasstown.”

He ain't kidding about Brasstown; Peterson wore the King of the Mountains jersey for a time at this year's Tour of California and is known as a climbing specialist.

Let's wish luck to both these guys.