All I can say is WOW!!!
The first month of racing is under the belt for the new Team Cycle U squad and I have been blown away by the coolness of the whole thing! Everyone we signed on has been a great addition and given a great effort to get out there and try cross racing. Coach Toby has been leading the crew and doing a great job on race day taking care of everyone and setting up the tents and trainers (and showing everyone how it is done by winning or nearly winning the Elite race every week!). Coach Kristi has done the same and really been a great example of what a racer is: fun, focused and determined to do their best.
I also need to brag a bit, because not only do Toby and Kristi win the elite categories, some of our new racers have also done exceedingly well! Kenton Berg won his first race on Sunday at a very tough Steilacoom course with a brutal run up (I could barely walk it by the 7th lap)and is currently 2nd in the Cat. 4 series along with hard man Cameron Mallory near the top 10. Monica DeWald was 3rd this past weekend and is currently 2nd in the very competitive womens Cat. 4 series (with a win earlier in the month) with her teammate Jen Akeroyd sitting in 5th for the series after finishing 6th on Sunday ( and taking awesome photo's). That is incredible since these folks have come into cyclocross pretty green and jumped ahead of many very talented and dedicated racers who have been at it a few years or are coming from road, track or MTB racing. I have been Super impressed.
I also want to mention a few others: Karyn Abraham, Bill Lear, Stephen Bond and Eric Mamroth have been doing great, Thom DeBuys and Taraneh Shafi are my vote for the most inspirational on the team for their persistence and fire in getting starting when they hadn't even seen a cross race until recently. Brad Loetel is sitting 20th in the Masters 4's with consistent good efforts and Richard Lotz has also been out there working on his game and getting dirty every weekend and improving. Cross is not easy, and as any of these new racers will tell you, it takes guts and courage to go the line and race such challenging courses each week and not only learn to ride at your limit, but to negotiate logs, mud, barriers and running while you are blurry eyed.
OK, proud papa will take a break, I just wanted to say that whether you are first or last, the fact that you joined the team and made a commitment to trying racing and stretching yourself has impressed me. I look forward to many more great memories this season and I am very excited about our new road team that is starting up this weekend as well.
Spin to win,
Coach Craig
The first month of racing is under the belt for the new Team Cycle U squad and I have been blown away by the coolness of the whole thing! Everyone we signed on has been a great addition and given a great effort to get out there and try cross racing. Coach Toby has been leading the crew and doing a great job on race day taking care of everyone and setting up the tents and trainers (and showing everyone how it is done by winning or nearly winning the Elite race every week!). Coach Kristi has done the same and really been a great example of what a racer is: fun, focused and determined to do their best.
I also need to brag a bit, because not only do Toby and Kristi win the elite categories, some of our new racers have also done exceedingly well! Kenton Berg won his first race on Sunday at a very tough Steilacoom course with a brutal run up (I could barely walk it by the 7th lap)and is currently 2nd in the Cat. 4 series along with hard man Cameron Mallory near the top 10. Monica DeWald was 3rd this past weekend and is currently 2nd in the very competitive womens Cat. 4 series (with a win earlier in the month) with her teammate Jen Akeroyd sitting in 5th for the series after finishing 6th on Sunday ( and taking awesome photo's). That is incredible since these folks have come into cyclocross pretty green and jumped ahead of many very talented and dedicated racers who have been at it a few years or are coming from road, track or MTB racing. I have been Super impressed.
I also want to mention a few others: Karyn Abraham, Bill Lear, Stephen Bond and Eric Mamroth have been doing great, Thom DeBuys and Taraneh Shafi are my vote for the most inspirational on the team for their persistence and fire in getting starting when they hadn't even seen a cross race until recently. Brad Loetel is sitting 20th in the Masters 4's with consistent good efforts and Richard Lotz has also been out there working on his game and getting dirty every weekend and improving. Cross is not easy, and as any of these new racers will tell you, it takes guts and courage to go the line and race such challenging courses each week and not only learn to ride at your limit, but to negotiate logs, mud, barriers and running while you are blurry eyed.
OK, proud papa will take a break, I just wanted to say that whether you are first or last, the fact that you joined the team and made a commitment to trying racing and stretching yourself has impressed me. I look forward to many more great memories this season and I am very excited about our new road team that is starting up this weekend as well.
Spin to win,
Coach Craig
