Nate's DCCX Recap.

Straight from the horses mouth, Nate himself, who along with about a bazillion other Team TOMS riders participated in this weekend's District of Columbia Cyclocross edition. Enjoy!

"There were 100 or so starters in the B field at DCCX - tough field because no travel was required. We started Matt, Ryan, Bryan, Greg, and myself. Unfortunately only Matt, Greg and I finished. Ryan rolled a tubular on the first turn, and Bryan had some rear wheel/brake trouble that I barely spotted when I rode past him. After the start, there was a huge stoppage on the left side of the course that caused everyone to go right, and then of course there was a huge stoppage on the right, which I was sort of caught in. I got out quick, but not as quick as Greg, who suddenly was in about 20th position, coming up from starting 70th. Some jokester rode Greg off the course a few turns later and I passed their mess and never spotted him again, but Greg ended up beating half the field on a singlespeed mountain bike! Huge showing from him, plus he's a great guy and I can't wait to ride with him more. Billionaire (Matt Bartlett) was ahead of me the whole race; I typically assume I can't catch him because he's superhuman, but I got him today! It was right after some jerk was shoulder-checking me for three straight corners (I beat him). Matt and I grouped up and rode the last lap pretty much together. I finished 27th, and I'm super pumped because I've never come close to that high in the B race before. So huge success for me, at least. I know everyone had fun hanging around after the race. TOMS was well-represented, I'm not sure there was a team who had more starters than we did."

Here is Matt's follow-up race recap:

"My races over the last couple of weekends were OK. Flatted at Granogue, but it was so muddy that I have no idea how long I was riding on the rim. 34th out of 94 in the 2/3/4 at Wissahickon. I felt pretty good about that race.

DCCX this weekend was good, but I didn't feel as strong as last week. 30th out of 100+ in 3/4. One dude took me out once, then nearly took me out a 2nd time. First time, he washed out on a corner and took me and the dude in front of me with him. 2nd time, he couldn't remount after the run-up and decided to run down the hill dragging his bike sideways by the handlebars behind him. He got a stern WTF look from me as I was riding over his wheels and frame through the 180-degree corner at the bottom. Nate blew by me on the last lap, and as hard as I tried to hold his wheel, it wasn't happening for me. Nate finished 27th I think. He looked really strong."

On another note, our resident Brit in Espana rode a stellar race today at a race whose name I can't for the life of me remember. But I think there might have been snow involved? Robert said he rode a stellar race until the final climb where he so poignantly explained that he "blew like a stuck pig." Better luck next time, oinker. ;-) Just kidding of course, love having some Euro-Flava' reppin' the One for One movement across the Atlantic! Looking forward to hearing more race reports from Mr. Vokes.

A-for effort guys! I gotta say the DC crew (or District Delinquents, as I like to call them) are a great group and I'm always super stoked to hear about their race successes and failures alike. Lots of talk has been passed around about some Charlottesville Urban Cross race. I'm thinking I may have to meet up with the Delinquents for this one! Please keep your fingers crossed my cross bike arrives in time so I can get my ass handed to me by Billionaire, Bryan, Capelle, Tim, Nate and Ryan.......well, maybe not Ryan. :-P

Gotta love the inter-team rivalries! 'Til next time...

Way Overdue, Way.

Fans, Friends and Persons Who Race Bicycles,

Team TOMS Shoes has been busy...it's cross season! And with the majority of our road and mountain bike racers competing in our sports' red-headed-stepchild-little-half-brothers of their own respective disciplines, (no offense to any little-stepchild-half-brothers that happen to be of the red-haired descent) cyclocross season is a busy one for our team.

Adding to the excitement, DeathRow Velo is busy manufacturing our brand spankin' new team kits...including our WAY badass new cross-specific thermal skinsuits. These new kits will be the perfect kick in the ass after a hard summer of riding on the road to get ya' back in the action on the bikes of the knobbier tire kind. A huge thanks go out to John Landino of DeathRow Velo and Jen Franko our designer (jenfranko.com) for all of their hard work and patience throughout this process! Badass status has been achieved by the both of them.

A shoutout goes out to Scott Gelbke, a new rider from NorCal who complete Levi's Gran Fondo, this past weekend. He was one of 3,500 riders including present and former PROS from all over the world. Not to mention it covered about 1-bagillion feet of climbing on some of Santa Rosa's toughest "hills" ...Scott Nydam went on to "win" the event, although technically it was not a race.

Before we get to the knitty-gritty details of early cross racing results and photos, I must take a moment to thank PezCyclingNews.com for their mention of Team TOMS Shoes. I should also take this moment to introduce and welcome our newest additions to the squad:

Aaron Malys is a badass blogger who lives and breathes all things bicycle, from New York state. He is also a talented designer, husband and father. His major goal for 2010 is to compete (and hopefully do really well) at the Tour of Battenkill. Erick Hirschorn is another new addition from the Big Apple. Craig McKnight is a fresh new addition to our Ohio crew along with Tyler Wolfcale who won't be too far while representing Team TOMS Shoes in Indiana. Tim Chiang is a new recruit who will be joining our "DC Delinquents." You will be seeing some photos of him from recent competitions, below. Rounding out our new additions while taking home the Most Distant Rider Award is Robert Vokes. Robert is a British-Native living, working and Riding in Alicante, Spain. He will be spreading the good word to riders across the pond, next year. On behalf of Kind Human Sports, TOMS Shoes, our team and our sponsors...WELCOME ABOARD!

I figure the best way to encapture all of the recent racing is to compile some photos and results for y'all to see in a cute and compact manner. Enjoy! :)

18 Hours of Scouts Honor (August 15, 2009)
Team: Mitch Franko, Ryan Dudek, Matt Bartlet, Guy Franko

7th place out of 10 finishing teams in the 4-Person Men's Team Catagory

Bear Creek Resort MASS Finals Weekend (September 13, 2009
Mitch Franko: In is first individual mountain bike race, he finished 7th place in the Beginner Junior 3 XC (16-18).

Charm City Cross (September 20, 2009)
Mitch Franko: 4th place out of 14 riders in the U19 Mens Category.

Bryan Billington: 56th out of 125 riders in the 2/3/4 Mens Category.

Nate Chenenko: 69th out of 125 riders in the 2/3/4 Mens Category.

Here are some photos from our guys and gals at Whirley Bird Cross and Ed Sanders Cross...all in all being the competitive, but really fun crew that they are!

As always, a huge bit of thanks go out to our supporters and sponsors alike. Formally I would like to thank my father Mark, Bill Messenger, Jeremy Johnson, Joe Cahoon, Chris Lowe, Greg and Robin Huff, Kyle Wardle and Tommy Wallace who have each purchased a Team TOMS Shoes p/b KindHuman Sports kit, helping our team spread the message across the globe!

Also, another huge set of thanks go out to Rob Richardson at Rudy Project, USA for his continued support with glasses and helmets for our team. Rob recently hooked me up with a new set of Photochromatic lenses for my ExoWind optics in a dire time of need! Thanks Rob!

Thanks for reading! Keep it rubber side, down and faster than the guy behind you! :)