CoreTechs Staffing Cycling Team

The 2010 season has come to an end (at least as far as racing goes). What a great inaugural year for the CoreTechs Cycling Team. We have 28 team members right now, with the group split evenly between those that race and those that ride. We have five Cat 4 racers, six Cat 5 racers and one Cat 3. All of our racers are in the 35+ age category, though that would not prevent us from having younger folks race with us. Cat 5 is the entry level. You need 10 Cat 5 races and then you can upgrade to a 4. I encourage anyone interested in racing to try it out. It really is a lot of fun. There is no judgment on results, just go out and have some fun. Woman can race too by the way! We will be looking to add a few new teammates for the 2011 season, so when out riding, start recruiting riders to join us. Just have them email you and then forward to me or go to our web site for contact info (www.coretechscycling.com).

I wanted to give special thanks to Gordon at Fitness 101 and Dave at Ironkey for the tremendous support they provided. Really could not ask for better sponsors. The GREAT news is both have agreed to again sponsor the team in 2011 (along with CoreTechs). So, we will be back for year two! If there is any way you can support these businesses, do so! Check them out at www.fitness101.com and www.ironkey.com.

We also had some great non financial sponsors, including Menlo Velo (located in Menlo Park on El Camino). They offered the team some significant discounts on service, bikes and gear. Now that the off season is here, get your bike tuned up or get an upgrade from them. The discount they offered is fantastic, but regardless, their service and advice has always been top notch. Make sure to mention you are part of the team to get the discount.

Michael Kim (CoreTechs team rider) has gotten into the bike fit game. He took a week long course from the bike fit guru in Seattle and came back fully armed with knowledge. I admit I was skeptical at first, but I had Michael fit me to my bikes (two of them). He did a Fantastic job. He uses a laser machine to monitor pedal stroke and really dials in the position. If you are interested, email him at mykim@prodigy.net.

Through your membership the team was also able to donate $1500.00 to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. This is a not for profit team, so any and all funds that are not used for equipment or sponsoring riders, goes directly to this charity. On this note, your 2011 dues will be $30.00 bucks. What a deal! To entice you to sign up early, as long as I have your size in stock, I will get you a pair of team socks with the sign up…as they say, while supplies last! For our sponsored riders (Cat 3/4 team we cover this. More incentive to upgrade for those interested)

So what do we have planned for year two? I would like to be able to donate even more to the Packard Children's Hospital next year! I was also thinking about a potential team bonding/training day up in Bear Valley during the winter. They have a great cross country ski area there. Thought we could get a good work out in and have some fun doing that for the day. Since Laura is an expert level cross country skier, I thought we could recruit her to help us out. All the team is invited and we would have a place to stay that weekend or if you want to bring the family, there are some very reasonable rentals in the area. We will also have our second annual team BBQ and many group rides.

Our race team will have a four "key" events in 2011. The full schedule will be announced once the race schedule comes out. We will though do one stage race in late March. The Top Sport Stage race in Copperopolis, CA - 2hrs from Bay Area. It is a two day race. They have a circuit race and a TT on Saturday and a road race on Sunday. Another team building event!

I think the whole team would enjoy the Levi Gran Fondo in Santa Rosa. That is a century ride that can be done at any pace you like. It occurred just this last weekend, Oct 9th. Jon H did the ride and loved it. His ride report will be posted just after this note. (URL: http://www.levisgranfondo.com). Could be fun for all of us.

We have lots of gear left as well. If you don’t have a full kit (jersey and shorts), make sure to contact Gordon (gbliss@fitness101.com). He can hook you up with the jersey's or shorts. Also looking for gear input. I have lots of thoughts, but would like to hear from you as to what gear you would like us to get.

I am contemplating ordering an alternative kit to go with our current white kit. One thought is basically the same kit but in reverse colors. So where there is white, it would be black and where black, it would be white (except on the shorts. Don’t need white shorts. They become a bit see through and I certainly don’t need that view when you guys go to the front). Kind of a Winter kit or cooler temp kit (since the darker color would be good for that).

If you use FaceBook, make sure to become a "friend" of our team. Just search under CoreTechs Cycling Team on FB to find us.

Finally, give me some feedback. Is there anything you want to see or do in the 2011 or anything we can do to make this a better team? Would love to hear from all of you!

Stay in shape over winter!