2007 - Ready or not - here we come!

Well the new season is upon us whether we are prepared or not. Many have been slogging through the fourth quarter of 2006 laying down the base miles. Slowly, but surely the anticipation of a new race season approaches and the self doubt that always accompanies the unknown is here as well. To further add doubt is the fact that our team had such a good 2006 and who knows if we can repeat in 2007.

Our team was pretty good in terms of our size and riding experience. We have around 13 riders who did 10 or more races for a total of over 230 events. We had another 12 who did around 30 more events. Most of our team is in the lower end of the experience spectrum, so we are all learning the ropes rather than schooling the competition. Even so, look what the 13 riders turned out in 2006:

Mountain Bike

–Expert Woman Mountain Bike 11th - Nationally ‘06– Ursula Sandefur
–Sport Woman Mountain Bike 9th - Nationally ‘06- Nicki Sutherland
–Sport Men Mtn. Bike 3rd (19–24 year old) Nationally ‘06-Joseph Grimes

2006 Mountain Bike National Championships –Bronze Medal- Ursula Sandefurr (Expert women 45-49)

2006 Norba National series winner- Ursula Sandefur (Expert women 45-49)

2006 Georgia State Championship Mtb. Series – 2 top 10 series finishers
Women’s Sport – Nicki Sutherland
Men’s Sport – Jose Mendez


Road Racing

2006 Georgia State Champion
- Time Trial - Sheila Santa
- Road Race - Sheila Santa

–Individual Time Trial – US National ranking as of January 3, 2007:
• # 3 Men’s category 4 - Steve Murray
• # 3 Women’s category 4 - Sheila Santa
• # 5 Men’s category 4 - Scott Matty
• •
– Men’s Cat 4 Stage race– US National ranking as of January 3, 2007:
• # 4 Men’s cat 4 - Steve Murray

2006 Georgia Cup Series (road) – Yellow Jersey winner -Men’s cat 4 – Darren Sorrells
2006 Georgia Cup Series (road) – Masters 45+ top 5 for the series – Scott Matty

Triathlon

2006 Clermont Ironman Triathlon – 12th overall – Matt Ragan

*Matt's placing was better than most of the pro triathletes in the race!

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This is good and then if we include the number of podiums -39 or the number of top 10's - 81 our team had a great year. 2007 will be hard pressed to match our numbers for '06. But then again, many of our riders raced only a portion of the season as our team worked to prepare for a Norba sanctioned mtb. race held in Columbus. 2007 may be the next step in our evolution as a team. We have some new talented mountain bikers that are moving up from Beginner to Sport and several beginner road racers looking to test the road scene. Then we have cat 4's who are taking the plunge into master's - so we will be in for a tough riding season.

Good Luck and we hope to see you at the races!