Stuff for this week

Congrats to Casey for her 3rd place finish at the kid's race at the Snow Cone Criterium in Richmond, VA! Great work. If you get the chance, check out Matt's Facebook page for pics of Casey during the event. Check out the smile on her face afterwards!

Some good news this week: Beginning this Friday (2/4/11) we will begin practicing at Eastern Panhandle Bicycle Co. in Martinsburg. Practice will be held at the same time on Friday nights (7:00p). This gives us much more space than we've had for the past 6 weeks. If you get a chance, make sure you thank Brian for letting us use the space.

The weather is looking a little better each week (barring all the recent WINDS!), so we should start being able to get back outside for some more "extra" practices. I'll keep you posted.

T-shirts: let me know if anybody else needs to order. I'll be putting the order in on Tuesday.

It's official: I am now a certified USAC coach! As the team grows, I'll probably look for other people to help out with the coaching. Especially while were riding outdoors. Let me know anybody is interested in also becoming a USAC coach. I can point you in the right direction on the USAC website for the info.

We've had a great first 6 weeks! The work ethic of the kids has been amazing, and I've had a great time working with them. Let's keep the positive momentum going!

Bryan

Updates

Practices continue to go well. Last night's practice was an easy one, since we've been going strong for about 4 weeks. To keep the mood light, we played Mad Libs while on the trainers. Some of the stories got pretty interesting!

Since the Vint Hill Criterium was cancelled on 3/20, let's plan to go to Richmond for the RIR crit. I know it's going to make for an early morning (Junior's racing starts at 9a), but it's a unique experience, and a good race. Let me know if you plan to attend, and I will try to get the team registered by tomorrow (2/20). I want to be sure we get in before the event fills up (it was completely full last year). I will pay the registration fees, and you can repay me at practice (junior fees are $10).  Here's a link for the event: Click Here

Next week, we will be welcoming a new member to the team! Christian Cugini (12 years old) will join us for his first practice on Friday at my house.

Clothing: I spoke with my contact at Canari, who stated that we can place an order for more clothing twice within 8 months, without having to meet another minimum requirement. I will set these dates as April 1, and July 1. If you would like to purchase additional clothing items, those would be the times. July would be a good time to start thinking about winter clothing for the athletes that are able to wear adult sized items.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

Today, we had our first ride outdoors. Only part of the group was able to attend, but we had a very productive day! We worked on the skills required for drafting and riding in a paceline. Everybody learned quickly, and had a great time riding. It was pretty windy, but we ended up riding about 15 miles. The picture above, is our "bonus" lap on the Rt. 9 bike path. You can see Jared pulling strong at the front, and Michael just behind him waiting for his turn at the front. This was late in the day, as you can see Corbin in the background, wishing the wind hadn't been so tough today! Thanks to those who could make it, and especially to Dave and Laura for lending a helping hand.

New Logo In The Works?

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY!!

I've been working on a few ideas for a new team logo. I created a survey to see what everyone thinks. Click on the link above to see the images and then take the survey to let me know which one you like (there's even a button to click if you don't like any of them!)

Thanks!

-Bryan

New Logo In The Works?

 

I've been playing around with some logo ideas recently. Here's one I came up with. What do you think?

Yet another great practice!

Tonight, we put another great practice in the books. I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids to coach. The work ethic is amazing, and I love how well everybody gets along. The kids have been laughing, joking, telling stories, and poking fun at one another ever since we got going 3 weeks ago. It really is fantastic to watch.

Thanks again, to the Yates' for letting us use their home. It looks like we'll try to alternate weeks between locations, so that it's less of a drive for some. Next week, we'll be back at my house.

See you all next Friday!

Bryan

Type 1 Diabetes Article

Here's a cool (short) interview that talks about cycling with Type 1 diabetes. With the Tour du Cure being in the media recently, it's neat to understand some of what these athletes must deal with. It also goes to show that when you have goals and dreams, NOTHING can stop you!

http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/04/five-minutes-with-phil-southerland-type-1-diabetes-competitive-cycling-hero.html

Great exercises for hip flexibility

Anybody who rides a bike should check this out. As someone who's had A LOT of hip pain, I can tell you that these exercises (dynamic stretches, really) provide some good relief. We'll start incorporating some of these into our practices!

7 AWESOME dynamic stretches for hips

Weekly Update

The Hammer Nutrition order has arrived! Since the products are in limited supply to us this year, I am going to keep hold of the gels, and we'll use them once we start riding outdoors. The Recoverite can go home with the athletes. It's a recovery drink, so they're welcome to use it after any workout. Just keep in mind that once it's gone, it's gone. The flavors are probably a little bland compared to what they're used to, but I've found that mixing it with vanilla ice cream is pretty good.

I've reached another *small* snafu with the clothing company, but hopefully I'll have it ironed out within a day. The ship date they have given us is 3/22, which means that we will have to wear what we have for our first race.

The MABRA junior's race calendar is still evolving, but I've received a good portion of it. It looks like there will be PLENTY of opportunities for racing this year! Within the next couple weeks, I'll try to further solidify our race schedule for the year, and will immediately make it available to everybody.

This week's practice is going to be at the Yates' home in Falling Waters. If you need the address again, send me an email. Weather-depending, I'll see everybody there at 7p!


Bryan