DC Crewnesssss...

Today, at a cross race somewhere in Virginia, or Maryland or Delaware or Pennsylvania...wherever the DC Crew was at, we reeled in some great results! You can tell there's a lot of inter-team rivlary because the fellas always seem to place within a couple places of each other...new addition to the team Rez finished 18th, with Greg following at 19th, Matt at 20th and Ryan rolling in around 34th. Pretty solid. I'm pretty sure if Nate had raced he would've been somwhere between Rez and Matt, that's just his style. Ryan is still suffering from a bout with bad karma after chasing InTheCrosshair's Bill around Urban CX at IX with a broken grip shifter. This upset the cycling gods which lead to Ryan breaking his own shifter in the middle of the following race. Ryan, my advice to you, just race singlespeed...I mean you ARE a copy cat and got a bike JUST LIKE MINE...you might as well ride it. haha. Ryan knows I love him and I'm kidding, he'll probably beat my ass come NCCX Winter Series. Jen finished in a solid 16th place, but she's a sand bagger and if she would have actually went for it, she probably would have won. She's basically a PRO. Great job fellas and Jen!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey y'all,

I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Whether you're spending it at home or travelling to see family and friends, be sure to enjoy this day. I like to put aside all of the "bads" for one day and concentrate on all of the "goods" in my world. For example, BAD: bonking at mile 79 on a 98 mile ride. GOOD: not being pulled from the Urban Cross at IX race. In all seriousness, I'm really thankful to have you all on board with the team. 2009 was in fact a great year for the team in terms of growth, in terms of finding itself and also in terms of garnering lots of great coverage for our mission and the whole One for One movement. I've had countless emails from people who have seen our riders at races and were immediate fans when they heard about/saw what we were all about. DailyPeloton and PezCyclingNews took notice as well! On this Thanksgiving I want to give thanks to you all (the team) because you're the people that make these things happen. After we get all of the triptophan out of our systems and we ride a little closer to Christmas time and the New Year, I hope that you all are as excited as I am for all of the good things to come.

Thanks for everything guys and gals. To you and your family, Happy Thanksgiving!

Can't You Feel The Spanish Flava?

How fitting is it that on the same weekend that Robert is racing a giant road race in Spain that Sean would be racing the inaugural edition of the Vuelta a Miami! I know both of these guys were pretty amped for these events and rightfully so.

Here are their write ups with some photos, unfortunately, I haven't found any pics from the Vuelta of Sean but we were able to dig up some photos of Robert in the breakaway as well as his very loud orange skinsuit (he hasn't received our team gear, yet). Enjoy...

ROBERT VOKES: BENIDORM RACE
"It was bloody windy, decent temperature +19C and the course is the same one as every year. The funny thing is that I'm no where as fit as last year, but this year the race plan worked better than last year, I got the script in 1999, when I won here. Last year it worked, but being with 3 pros wasn't a good plan, and I got a very good working over! This year I only had Guillermo (Olympic Silver Medal at the track pursuit in Beijing.. he has also ridden a number of world cup track events, came back from one this week.. so no slouch on the bike) and, having him tell me before the start that he'd attack me if we were in the same group, just because he cant kick my ass in the sprint was a fair warning!! (he was my lead out man for 2 years.. so we do get on well, and know each others weaknesses.. but hes screaming fit at the moment, and I'm dragging my ass).

So anywhy, I followed the script, saw 3 guys come along with me, and waited to see what would happen, next lap Guillermo and Lorenzana (ex-Masters World Champ, current European Masters Champion) bridged up..the race unfolded more or less to plan until the final prime, where I lead out one of my friends and going up the hill Lorenzana attacked... I didn't have the gas to go, and got dropped, but.. as luck would have it, and my knowledge of the circuit, i eased up, on the hill, just enough to make the best of the descent, and really rode for my life... took me 1.5km to catch up. One lap to go, Lorenzana attacked again, I was out of position to chase and ended up with 4th place... If I'd have been offered 4th for one of my feet before the race I'd have happily signed!!!"

SEAN O'NEILL : VUELTA a MIAMI
The most anticipated road race of the year! The Vuelta a Miami. With the winner getting $1000 and 14th place getting $100 this thing attracted the big guns. Frank Trevisio (winner of NRC Pro12 races and Las Vegas USA Crits) and Yosvany Falcon (NRC podium finisher) were present. Other Pros came out of the wood work to stake claim to the cash prizes.

No race like this has ever taken place in Florida. A road race starting and finishing within the city limits with a serious rolling enclosure on heavily used roads made this a MUST event for all serious Florida racers.

All week the weather has been partly sunny with periods of mostly cloudy and seriously windy conditions. Intent on making the Vuelta a Miami akin to a Ardennes spring classic, mother nature saved the best for the race. The race conditions were as follows: Temp: about 80 degrees, mostly sunny, Wind: from the E at 22mph with gusts up to 35 mph! Yep, if felt like springtime in Belgium (save the temp).

The Course is a 72 miles out and back loop which starts out heading west and slightly south and west again for the first 5 miles. Then it runs North and slightly East and North again before turning back. So, the last 5-7 miles are directly into the headwind. Lots of fun! The first five miles were run with speeds reach over 38+ due to the tailwind. Then we turned into the wind.

Prior to turning into the wind I moved up into the front third of the field knowing that once we the wind hit us the field would split quickly. And boy did it split. Barely 20 minutes into the race a breakaway with about 8 pros got off and the peloton as shattered into chase groups. We were strung out across both lanes (this rolling enclosure thing is nice!) and I as in the gutter of the first chase group of about 30 riders with the next chase group about 40 seconds behind and various groups formed after that. We were going 29 mph into a 22 mph crosswind and I was getting no protection from the wind in the gutter. At almost 6' tall and 148 lbs, I'm not built for these conditions! My HR was at 190 (my max for my age) and I was praying for a couple echelons to form... Wait, this is Miami, these guys aren't thinking about setting up echelons! Actually, to give them some credit, not many people can think while enduring the death march that the Vuelta quickly became. I could not continue at that clip so a sat up and jumped on the next group... and then the next. I quickly discovered that most of the people who I regularly race with (Cat 3s) got caught out behind my and I was rolling with the Pros before my heart almost exploded in my chest! from here (mile 20 or so I was just trying to pull my weight and get this thing over with! The Wind (yes I capitalized it) never let up. I was one of 3-4 people actually taking pulls and we would shed riders and pick up the leftovers from the chase groups ahead...and then shed those riders.

Eventually we saw the leaders come by us on the other side of the 4 lane highway separated by a large grass ditch. I thought to myself, at least I'm almost half way done. The Wind continued to batter people all the way back and then we hit that 5 miles directly into the wind. All I can say is... not fun. I started to pick up the pace about a kilometer out from the finish and sprinted got passed and tucked in behind the guy who passed me and sprinted again across the line (this as a seating sprint since I had almost nothing left in the tank. I have no idea where I finished, but I know it couldn't be worse than 40th."
All I have to say is helluva a job fellas. I know Robert seems to be at peak fitness nearly year-round...so we can expect to hear more fun stories (with a British accent) from Spain.

Sean only keeps progressing and I think he is building some great confidence as well as race fitness for 2010. he is going to kill it in the Cat 3s next year!

Great job fellas!

Mitch Gets His First Win!

It's been a long time coming now and much deserved. We've seen Mitch's progress each and every time he throws a leg over his bike. You gotta owe it to the kid, he's got some talent and for what talent he is still developing, he makes up for with a sheer will to win. He's a great kid that comes from a great family and an very supportive crew by way of the Team TOMS Shoes DC Crew. Here's what Mitch had to say about the race... "On Saturday, I raced the Wayne Scott Memorial Cyclocross race in Fair Hill, Maryland. It was a great race, and the course really leant itself to my riding style. The juniors start at the back of the B Women's race, which is cool, but also creates a bit of a bottleneck. I had a pretty good start and found myself riding with the two leaders of the MAC juniors series. The sand pit was awful and I had a hard time with it, I hadn't really ridden sand pits before, but over the barriers I felt great. Must have been the PRO-tips from Ben Popper at the SpectaCross clinic over the summer.

I rode my race and made some moves, Julian Meier from Bean's Bikes would make his moves, and we attacked back and forth for forty minutes. Justin Mauch from NCVC ended up cramping up and dropping back, so it was basically a race for first and second. Julian was having a few issues throughout the race - a dropped chain, somebody going through the tape in front of us and the tape getting caught up in his wheel. On the last lap, I put in an effort that created a good gap into the downhill and first set of barriers only to have him bridge right back by the cement barrier. I had an issue getting back into the pedals, but Julian was running around one of the women, so when I kicked my front wheel from the mis-clip it wasn't that bad. In the barriers in the barn, I put in another move and he was behind me going around the last turn into the uphill finish sprint on the road. I put in every ounce I had left and got my first win. It was awesome, people were cheering for me and the team had a huge showing of people cheering me on throughout the course. It's pretty awesome to have people yelling for you and letting you know what was happening in the race, and the encouragement was awesome as well.

Sunday, I raced at the Spring Mount PACX Series race. It was a really hard course and there was some real power sucking mud and long grass sections with a few technical sections between them. My legs were a bit tired from such an effort the day before, but I rode a pretty good race. I ended up getting third place in the Juniors race. Julian Meier from Bean's Bikes was racing in the C's, so it was my goal to catch him even though he had a two minute head start. Well, I reached my goal, and we talked a bit after the race. We both said how much harder the effort seemed because of Saturday. He finished up 24th overall in the Men's C, great job Julian! I can't wait to race again."

Mitch is such a humble character and a real clas act for his age. Can't wait to see him develop out of the amateur ranks...at this rate, he'll be giving Popper tips in the PROS in a short amount of time. :)

You Should All Be Here...

...the team is having a stellar weekend here in Charlottesville, VA, in preperation for Urban Cross. After a fantastic spin amongst the University of Virginia football fans sprawling around the college campus, we stopped for an amazing lunch at The Main Street Cafe. Mmm....tuna melt with roasted tomato spread and sharp Spanish chedder cheese next to a white bean salad. Perfect. We got lost a little bit trying to find our way home from the course recon mission, then had more food.

Unfortunately, Bryan is feeling a bit under the weather. We're hoping he shapes up for tomorrow.

About the course, let's put it this way: there are no straightaways, about 10% of the course is flat, there is a foot deep sand pit, curbs, stairs, barriers, grass, mud and an abandoned warehouse.

I'm scared, not gonna lie...but it's going to be a hell of a time! Stay tuned....

Choonimals partners with Team TOMS Shoes!

I'm proud to announce that Team TOMS Shoes p/b KindHuman Sports is partnering up with Choonimals Clothing Co. for some fun, casual wear for 2010 and beyond! Choonimals is a cool, fun company founded by some cool, fun people. They are huge fans of TOMS Shoes and recently participated in a "Style Your Shoe" event at Ohio State University, along with many other TOMS related events.

You can check out some photos from the event here: http://www.choonimalsclothing.blogspot.com/

They also support a really great charity called Develop Africa, Inc. Choonimals will donate 20% of all proceeds of thier trademark Grauf t-shirts to help support this non-profit fund. Very, very cool.

So head on over to www.choonimals.com to see more about what they are all about!

Look What I Got...

Jealous? Best part about it...because I bought these, another child who doesn't have shoes gets a pair just like 'em! Cool, huh? You should go buy a pair, like, yesterday. Based on my shoe collection, twelve kids have shoes who didn't have them before. Just sayin' ...get to work! :)

One for One!

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Click here to view these pictures larger

All Hollow's Cross!

Team TOMS Shoes had a great showing at All Hollow's Cross and I'm regretting very much that I didn't take my Potsy Weber from Happy Days costume a few hours north to join in on the fun in the mud with the game. Two weeks, figners crossed...two week for Urban Cross! Below a race report from noneotherthan Matt Bartlett, himself with photos of the crew. Lots of photos. :) ""All Hallows was pretty fun this weekend. It wasn't very heavily attended, being a non-series race on Halloween, but it was a good showing for Kindhuman. Tim represented in the Cat4 race, and me, Ryan, Nate, and Bryan were all in the cat 3/4 race. The course was almost pancake flat, but the rain made it kinda boggy in places. There was one section of single-track-ish stuff that was pretty fun. Other than that, the course was a hammer fest.

I had a pretty good race. I felt much better than I did last week. I had an issue with my glasses fogging up, then falling out of my shirt collar in the 2nd or 3rd lap, so I ended up doing most of the race with fuzzy vision. It really wasn't a big deal, except for all of the roots in the single-track. I was really worried about pinch-flatting because I was taking horrible lines. By the end of the 4th lap, I had worked my way solidly into no-man's-land between 5th and 7th. At that point, I changed my strategy from trying to catch 5th place to finishing clean and holding 6th. I was pretty sure I'd end up washing out on a corner or pinch-flatting in the woods if I pushed it much harder, since I couldn't really see the good lines very well, so I decided a 6th place was better than a DNF.

Bryan finished right behind me, and Nate was just behind him. 6th, 7th, and 9th and Ryan finished in 12th.""

Great job to all involved! I have to say though Nate's "Triathlete" costume was pretty superb, but Ryan definitely takes the cake for the inter-team costume competition as your favorite cop from Reno reality television and mine: Lieutenant Jim Dangle of Reno 911 fame! His brand new, all purple custom Rock Lobster bike definitely fits the character's bill to boot. :)

Lieutenant Dangle also took a shot at the Best Barrier Competition...here's how that went down...
The Lieutenant after making solid front wheel contact with the earth...

Right about now is when the human body is left to gravity's fate...
Houstan, we have landed.......HARD!

Thanks to his Rudy Project Kontact helmet, the Lieutenant survived. Gleeeeeeeeee!

Many thanks go out to the DC Crew for these fun photos and memories! Can't wait for Urban Cross!

The Googe's recap of "12 Hours of the Hill of Truth"

"This weekend I joined my old team from last year to compete in the 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth. Last year we competed on singlespeeds in the open class and finished second by only a few minutes. This year team Asswipé (az-weep-ay) was looking to win. In addition to the team that beat us last year, there was a collegiate team from Union College and another local singlespeed team looking to spice things up in the open class.

Morning of the race saw over 2 inches of rain on a place that usually takes a week or two to dry out. I lined up as the first rider to go off. Determined to win, we hoped that by adopting the strategy of having everyone do two laps at a time would gives us an advantage (and provide more time to sit around and drink beer between laps and less time in a muddy chammy). I took off on the first lap and kept pace with the leaders until 3/4 the way through the first lap when we hit the Hill of Truth. The Hill of Truth consists of a mile long drag up a powerline cut about about 10-16% grade. Trying to conserve for the second lap, I walked up the hill and lost contact with the front group. After my two laps were done we were in 3rd place in the open division, where we would remain for the rest of the day. Due to the slow pace of laps, I didn't have to get back out and do any more laps. Instead, we ate a deep fried turkey, drank beer, and spectated for the Huffy jump/toss (jump a Huffy off of a ramp as far as you can, then see who can throw it the furthest when said Huffy is no longer rideable).

Overall, team Asswipé finished in 3rd place. Rest assured we will be back next year."

Great job Matt and Team Asswipé! Next time, instead of rocking the oldschool Specialized kit in place of the Team TOMS kit...I think Matt and his old pals should get on with a an all brown skinsuit, or maybe a slightly less tasteful white skinsuit with brown skidmarks. haha

Great job fellas!