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.
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!
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!
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. 
