Team Facts and Info

Hi Team,

This is year two of the CoreTechs Cycling Team, presented by Fitness 101 and Ironkey. Thought you would like to know a bit about where we are currently. We will call it our "State of the Brain" address. Hold your applause till the end please :). By the way, the logo on our kit is a "brain". CoreTechs = cortex = a brain…thus the logo (just in case you are asked and did not get it yourself).

There are 34 of us on the team. 21 of us are registered with USA Cycling who will/have/intend to race this year. We have 15 podium appearances this year already! Though our emphasis is on getting out there and just having fun with it, it is impressive to see the results. That said, do NOT be intimidated to jump in a race. We really do not care how you do, just that you do. Nobody on this team is getting paid to race, so have some fun with it.

We are well represented in local group rides as well. Yesterday (Tuesday) we had 6 team members out on the noon ride. Very fun and cool to see the kit in action and so well represented. I think the new "black" kit has been well received too. I have had a few guys both at races and in the group rides comment that they liked the look. It is all subjective of course, but I do think it is one of the better looking kits in the peloton, and looking good is more than half the battle…right? The kit is well made and I have received good reviews from most about the quality, though I have also heard from a few that there are some issues with cut and pocket sizes. Before ordering the next go round, I will send out a poll to see if we should try out another vendor. Personally, I think the shorts (the pad specifically) are very comfortable and the jersey is good too (though it could use bigger rear pockets).

We will be donating $500.00 this month to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in the name of the team as well.

Laura is leading our Wednesday and weekend group rides. She always comes up with some great routes, though expect hills in everything she does. Those rides kicked off this past weekend with seven team riders starting it off. Everyone is welcome to these and feel free to bring along a riding buddy if you want. Gordon runs a Thursday late morning ride at a sedate pace. If you are looking for a really easy/social spin, check out this ride.

We have a few "Key" races coming up for those that like to race. This is an event that I would love to get as many team riders out as possible. Nothing is mandatory, but it is highly encouraged! First "Key" race up on the agenda is the Top Sport Stage Race June 4/5. This event starts with a road race Saturday and then a circuit race and TT on Sunday. I did this race last year and thought is was very well run and a lot of fun. We have a free place to stay Saturday night 45 minutes from race site (race is in Copperopolis). It will be a fun, good bonding event. Registration is now open, so commit! (http://www.topsportcycling.com/events/topsport-stage-race/).

The next key race for the team will either be Dunnigan Hills or San Ardo in August. We can debate which one and choose closer to race date. We may also look at Winters as a key race. The final key race this year may be the Henleyville Road Race in September. John P. says this is a great race. It is fairly far away though, so we will have to figure that out closer to race date. In between there are many other races that we will be doing. Email each other when you are racing and of course, look for the race reports post race.

Finally, we will end the season in Santa Rosa this October at the Levi's Gran Fondo. We have 24 riders registered for this event right now! That is a huge number of us. Will make for some great team photos and should be a lot of fun. The Gran Fondo is closed for new registration, but you can probably buy entry on Craig's List. Also the other, shorter rides are still open. If you are not registered for this, think about getting registered. Don’t miss the fun.

In addition to our main sponsors (CoreTechs, Fitness 101, and Ironkey) we also have Menlo Velo as a shop sponsor. Rainer (owner of Menlo Velo) is offering the team great deals. Make sure to take advantage! We have Leopard Bikes and Clean Bottle sponsoring the team too with significant discounts on their products as well.

I update the team web site- www.coretechscycling.com - (blog page) with the race reports as well as the pics page with current pics. We also have the Face Book page that auto updates from the Blog as well as gets updates from us at least once or twice a week. Make sure to "like" the FB page to see the updates. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/CoreTechs-Cycling-Team/180873784101

I am always looking for ideas to improve the team. If you can think of something that would be fun or have seen something other teams do that looks interesting, please let me know.

We are always recruiting good people. If you know someone that would fit in with this group, recruit them! Finally, I will do another gear order in a month or two. It takes almost 2 months to get a gear order, so plan in advance (especially the Levi's riders).

See you on the road soon. Enjoy the sun!