An Ode Through Photo to Ryan's Second MTB Race

This is Ryan Dudeck. He races for Team TOMS p/b KindHuman Sports. He along with his fantastic girlfriend Jen Franko, are responsible for our company's upcoming website. Legit, right?

Ryan prefers our white bibshorts over the the black bibshorts, for obvious reasons. Bow chicka bow bow!

Ryan also has really sweet tattoos. All over.

Today, was Ryan's second mountain bike race EVER! He's a cross-nut come the fall. He claims he made a sweet pass over a log somewhere right around when this photo was taken.

Soon thereafter, Ryan almost crashed through the creek and had to hike-a-bike for a little while. No worries though, Ryan battled back.

Obviously, Ryan didn't crash through this creek. RAD! Ryan isn't quite sure yet where he finished, but one thing is sure, he did it in style! Congrats on a great race Ryan...and your continued badass status for your website work and your support for our charitable initiatives.

That's enough Ryan for now. 'Til next time, enjoy this next photo...

...Helllloooooo, Ladies!

Happy Birthday TOMS!

Yesterday, was TOMS Shoes third birthday! Congratulations to everyone at TOMS Shoes for making it all the way to the big three!

Check the photos...the first is John Proppe on his way to winning another Sport Senior Mountain Bike Race in Waverly, West Virginia! JP is killing it this year! Great work homie.

Double-B, Bryan Billington, droped the hammer again this weekend. I love pictures of Bryan racing...he looks so intense! It's like he's got everything under control. Badass.

Check out Bryan's race report, here: http://neverendingheadwind.blogspot.com/2009/05/holy-crap-i-feel-like-i-got-run-over-by.html

Miami to Cali-forn-i-a.

Is this not one of the greatest images you have ever seen? Below, John Nguyen, on of our NorCal riders is seen post race just doused with mud. Beautiful!
John, a relative newbie to cycling, raced a mountain endurance event this weekend. There was a field of over 700 riders and through all the rain, muck and mud...John managed to finish the race! Big congratulations for sticking it out! Way to go John!

Team TOMS had a good showing last weekend. Widely known as Florida's most challenging circuit course, the zMotion Heat Race Criterium...was a scorcher! Sean O'Neill and our newest addition to Team TOMS, Joel Llopiz, used perfect team tactics to pull off some great results. Sean went away with an early group of five. When the break was caught Joel attacked and managed to stay away for 3rd place. Sean won the field sprint for an impressive 5th place!

The next day, both Sean and Joel were marked men at the Sunrise Circuit Race. Joel tried his best to jump the group on a number of occassions only to be reeled in. Sean, playing the perfect role of teammate covered any attacks and managed the pace at the front of the group. After speaking with Sean, he mentioned that he could hear the disgruntled jawwing from their competitors: " Hey, these TOMS Shoes guys are for real don't let 'em get away!" No podiums on Sunday, but the congratulations and recognition that Sean and Joel recieved after the race from other racers was better than any first place. People were congratulating them on their perfect team work and taking general interest in Team TOMS. Just doing the best they can to spread the good word.

I'd like to wish a huge congratulations to Joel and Sean!

On another note, a Friend of Team TOMS, Josh Tucker of Clemmons Bicycle raced as a Cat 2 in the Athens Twilight Criterium. Since Josh is a 24-year-old that owns his own bike shop, he wasn't able to make it to qualifying so I helped a brotha' out by making a couple calls and getting him an invite to take the starting line on saturday night. With only 74 out of 150 starters finishing the race...Josh, after two flat tires, finished 41st on the day amongst some of the nations best crit racers. Sure, at about lap 35, he looked like he was Return Of The Dead on a bike...but he did a damn fine job of holding things in place and finishing one of the toughest crits in the USA. Congrats Tucker!

Weekend Follow-Up.

I gotta say, the team's first official outing on the roads and the mountains has been more successful than I could have imagined! As I mentioned in my last post, Sean O'Neill took a third place in a tough and extremely windy road race on Saturday. And I just got word that he took another third place finish holding off one of his biggest rivals in the short sprint for the finish on a crit course, yesterday!

Sean is really starting to come into form. He's been strong all winter and racing every weekend since about, February. It won't be long before Sean is catting-up! Not only is Sean getting better and better, the more he races. He's also one of TOMS Shoes biggest supporters. He and his beautiful wife, hope to participate in a Shoe Drop at some point in the future. Many congratulations go out to him on his early season success..keep those podiums coming Sean!


Also, check out B-Bills, also known as Bryan Billington, sitting stealthily at the front of the paceline. He's usually the guy pulling at the front, bringing the rest of the peloton to lactic threshold. In this photo, I'm pretty sure he's practicing his crouching tiger, hidden pipped-at-the-line.

B-Bills was an active player on the day. He covered all of the breaks and kept control of the pack. He finished top-20. Bryan will surely be peaking in the near future. When that time comes, I really feel bad for any Cat-3 racers in the Greater D.C. Area. It's gonna hurt.

Weekend Recap: 4.18/19.2009

This weekend marked Team TOMS Shoes' first official weekend rocking the TOMS Shoes kits at races across the country. I'll talk more on Sean O'Neill's 3rd place finish later...but a big congratulations on his podium spot is due. So, BIG CONGRATS SEAN!!!

John Proppe, our resident badass from Ohio, competed in his second race of the OMBC Series in Wooster, Ohio. After a poor starting position, John was able to work his way through the field and even managed a nice little gap off the front until POP! Fiiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzz. Flat. After struggling with his flatted tire and finding the assistance from neutral support, John found him self dead-last way off the back of the pack.Fortunate for John, unfortunate for the other racers in Wooster, he had the legs to work back to the front of the group and managed a 5th place finish on the day! We've all been there and know how frustrating mechanical problems mid-race can be...but John kept his composure, never panicked and made the best of the situation! A big congratulations are due to John and a huge thank you to the guys and girls that managed the neutral support tent for getting JP back up and running!
I have to say, I think the new team kit looks delightful when splattered with mud and bugs! Good work John!

Time To Breath, New and Exciting Things.

First of all, Wow. It has been a long time since I have been active on the Team Blog. Many apologies to any readers, if you're out there. :)

Next on my list, I'd like to extend a Happy Easter to all celebrating this weekend. Hope that your time spent with family, friends, animals or atop of a bike is/was spent happily. I'm lucky to have family in town this weekend and had beautiful, but windy, weather for a round of golf this morning with my father and brother-in-law. My dad played so well today, I really am proud of him. For a 50 year old man, he can still beat the crap out of the ball! I on the other hand, struggled more than I should have. Speaking of golf...

...it's Masters Weekend! What does that mean to any non-golfers? It's only the greatest American golf tournament in the history of American golf. Not to mention, the winner get's a really funky cool green blazer to commemorate his Masters win. What else does Masters Weekend mean? It means that TOMS Shoes officially made it's television commercial debut on behalf of AT&T modile/wireless services. In the commercial we see Blake (Chief Shoe Giver) and friends delivering shoes to children across the world. I was so excited to have seen the commercial with my family. It was a great bit of insight that I could share with them about what TOMS Shoes is truly all about. I think they now have a better understanding as to why I put so much time and effort into Team TOMS. My brother-in-law even bought a pair of Burlap TOMS! So cool.

The past few weeks have been quite hectic trying to get our jersey orders locked, produced and shipped to our TOMetes across the country. I must say, what a relief.

Many thanks go out to Sal at Champion Systems. Sans one tiny mishap with our alternative shorts, everything turned out great! Better then I had hoped! I think it's safe to say that Team TOMS riders will be looking fly come race time, turning heads from start to finish at races all over the States. To the team, thanks for all of your patience-without you, Team TOMS does not exist.

I also have to give a big shout out to Julie and Peyton at TOMS Shoes. You two have been so helpful in getting us off the ground. I promise that I will give you a couple weeks to breathe before I start bugging you about our next Team TOMS project. :)

What's next to come? Athens Twilight is at the end of this month-myself and Josh Tucker from Clemmons Bicycle plan to make the trip, rock the TOMS kit and spread the good word to discerning cyclists and drunken college coeds, alike. Should anyone like to take part, feel free to make the trip...should be good time for all to have!

Also, the Sub-3K Dream Bike from Velo Vie Bicycles that I am reviewing for DailyPeloton.com should be arriving soon. After I put a hurtin' on this bike on some of North Western North Cackalacky's toughest climbs...I'll have a full tech/ride report for y'all to check out. I'm super excited as Dan Barnes, at Velo Vie, has promised me many good things about the new Vitesse 300SE. Stoked.

Y'all take care of yourselves, check back soon for race photos and reports!

Sneak Peak-Team Jerseys.