More Early Bird Smackdown

In addition to the below post denoting Cody's efforts at Patterson this past Saturday, it appears Alex's big brother Andreas decided to dish out a bit of pain himself in the Elite 3's race. If he was intimidated in any way by the older riders in the 3's field he didn't show it as Andreas powered to second in the Elite three race, a tall order indeed.

While it is only January it appears the big shoes left by TK, AwfoSho and Staz will be amply filled by a new crop of fresh faces who have earned their time in the spotlight.

Well done.

Early Birds & a Tapinator sighting at Patterson...

Yes it's still only January but many of the boys (and girls) have been busy. Not content to sit back and wait for the warmer drier weather we've had riders new and old out on the road. At the Early Bird Criterium Series in Fremont April has been spotted getting in her licks with the Women and then jumping in with the Juniors field late in the day. I suspect we'll see her at the front at the ToC Crit next month.

Newcomer Alex Huettis got his "feet wet" last weekend in Fremont and was roughly introduced to the pavement with a lap to go, along with April, when a rider apparently overlapped and reacted hard taking folks to the ground. Undaunted young Mr. Huettis promptly went home and rebuilt his "taco'd" wheel on Monday (yes he can turn a wrench all you teammates out there) and was fired up for the next race. Gotta love it.

And yesterday at the Patterson Road Race, the Tapinator played it cool and patient with Alex Freund sitting in early, gutted out the climb, bombed the harrowing descent (rocks, gravel, cattle-guards anyone...) and then jumped away from the lead group in the last K to snag a well deserved second place in the Elite 4's thus earning himself some mighty nice upgrade points in the process. Hmmm, patient, Cody... this could be dangerous.

Yes it's early, but clearly there is success to be savored and I'm sure much success to come.

Now, who likes Cherry Pie?

Livestrong Indeed

Wanted to make a quick post to the blog with a reference to the Velonews website. Thought you all might find a familiar face among those in the photos that accompany the following story. http://www.velonews.com/article/86531/the-trek-livestrong-u23-team-tunes-up-in-austin

For those new to the team that poised young guy second from the right in the front row was wearing the same kit you'll be in at this time last year. For those who were his mates last year each of you should feel a certain amount of pride in having contributed to his success.

Hat's off to Taylor and best of luck to him as he starts a whole new adventure. I can only imagine how proud his family must be right now, not to mention a certain juniors team director who recently stepped down after much success.

Carpe Diem...

Davis Amgen Toc Crit- Reg Open

All, a friendly reminder that the Davis Bike Club sponsored JUNIORS ONLY criterium that will follow the roll-out of the Amgen ToC Stage 1 start in Davis is now open for registration. This should be a very cool event indeed, so please get out to the web and register as soon as you can. It is not often that you will get the chance to be "the show" after the big guns roll out so get out their training, get fired up and plan to "get it on" come Sunday February 15th!

Reg is via sportsbaseonline, easy way to get there is via the NCNCA website road link for the event at www.ncnca.org/road .

Everyone should have a fresh new kit by then for the podium!

Greetings and Happy New Years one and all. I have been tracking the e-mail and keeping in touch with Mike and it sounds like many of you are already out on the road and well into getting that early season fitness. I have been hunkered down with school-work and holiday commitments but much of that is now behind me and I will start to work with Mike to get things in full-swing. A few quick reminders:

2009 License
Got it? Good. Need one? It's easy.

As a reminder if you have not done so you will need to renew your license (and or if you are new purchase one) before toeing the start line for 2009. It's simple and relatively painless to do this online and I would recommend this over the "day of race" approach which simply adds time and stress to the race day. Just go on-line to www.usacycling.org to get this done. Set up an account if needed and away you go. For juniors the annual license cost is only $15.00. Please remember to register as a rider for Davis Bike Club.

Also, print a copy of the receipt to show you indeed have a paid 2009 license until the real deal shows up via snail-mail.

Need help? Let me know and I can walk you through it.

Sponsors & Clothing
Sponsorship is wrapping up. Info will be forthcoming about the good folks who will support your hard work in 2009. Please remember these businesses and individuals give purely for the love of sport in support of all your hard work. Represent them accordingly on and off the bike.

As to clothing this is in the queue and will deliver the first week of February. Oh and did I mention I believe we are a "GO" for the all-white "check me out" bibs option. This should be a limited item for teams so you will indeed get noticed...

Race Results
Finally I wanted to post race results for those hearty early season warriors that braved the San Bruno Hillclimb on January 1. We snagged our first win, two top three placings and a fine showing by everyone, way to go guys. The honors to the "hard-men" are as follows:

Place: Name: Time:
1 Andreas Freund 16:47.79
3 Cody Tapley 17:09.18
10 Alexander Freund 20:02.80
13 AJ Snovel 20:33.58


See you soon on the road.

Shawn