17, January 2007

Greetings -

As the season ends and the Richard Sachs Cyclocross Team updates
are now fewer and far between, it's a good time to share some thoughts
with all of you that follow us all year long. Recently, I asked all the riders
to pen some words regarding the 2006 season. There were no limits,
and nothing special need(ed) to be covered in the texts. I simply wanted
some random musings about the experience regarding the team, or the
racing, or the sponsors, or the expectations, or all or none of the above. ?
Today I will share two of those texts with you.

From Justin Spinelli:
Another cross season has come and gone and I can't believe it was
some eight years ago that I rode my first season on Team Richard Sachs.
That first season was a good one and we walked away with a lot of medals
at the 1998 Ft. Devens Course. After a long leave of absence from Team
Atmo, I was welcomed back in 2004. Cycling had all but forgot about me
at this point and mille grazie to Richard and Dave for bringing me back
to the races and re- kindling the passion for cycling which burned so
strong in my late teens and early twenties. After three seasons on
Team Richard Sachs racing, training, traveling and learning how to
race again I feel I have finally made it back into the sport. National
Championships are without doubt more challenging that they were back
in the days of Devens and I am very proud of my 13th place in Providence
and this ride was good enough to catch the attention of the US Worlds
Selection Team Committee. We are hoping that I will be selected for
Worlds this January in Belgium and if so I will represent the USA and
Team Richard Sachs with pride.This team has given me so much support
and means to re-develop myself back into (and even better now imho)
the strong and motivated cyclist I was some 8 years ago. I don't think
I could have done this without the support of Team RS and of course
our Sponsors. THANK YOU!

From Amy Wallace:
Well, I had some pretty high expectations of myself for this past season.
After a successful first year at cross in 2005, I decided to really go for it
in 2006. I got a coach, started training for a more serious road racing
season and a more serious (and hopefully more successful) cross season
in 2006. The cross season started off unbelievably well for me in September,
I was feeling very fit, and I won my first four out of four races, including a
UCI event in Vermont.
After this perfect start to the season, things started to go a little downhill;
a warmup crash at the Southampton UCI race caused me to reinjure a
recovering shoulder which i'd fractured in the summer in a criterium.
Needless to say, the races that weekend didn't go well, nor did they go
well the next week at Gloucester when I crashed on my face at the end
of the first lap. October was a month of recovery, and also a month of
being extremely busy at work.I found it much more difficult to balance a
full-time job, proper training and recovery, racing, and sanity this fall.
November began sort of a comeback month for me results-wise, but I
never felt it was to the level of strength i had a few months earlier. it had
been a long season of racing that had started back in April. Although my
cross results in 2006 were comparable to my cross results in 2005, I would
be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with how I raced this fall. After putting
so much effort into improving on what i'd started in 2005 and putting so much
pressure on myself to get results, it was hard to keep sight of my real bottom
line goal, which was to love cross and race with only that in mind. I'm still
undecided on how i'm going to tackle my training/life schedule for cross
season 2007, but it's going to have to be a little different than this past year!
Results aside, the season was AMAZING. I've never been on a team quite
like the Richard Sachs Team. The level of support I received from my
teammates was incredible, and I needed it this year. I don't know what
would've come of my 'cross destiny after this fall if not for this team!
We are a family that anyone could be jealous of, and I think everyone is.
The travel together, the weekends at races, the cheering and the dinners
and the emails and the friendships are things that i'll remember forever,
and overwhelmingly occupy my thoughts about this past season. It's
easy to forget about things like struggles with a busy schedule or a result
I got in a particular race when I think of everything else this season meant
to me and did for me. I learned a lot from racing this fall, and while the
racing itself may have been hard, it's always worth it and I wouldn't trade
my place on this team for the world. So, the season ends with a smile,
and of course, I can't wait until next September :)

More to come in a day or so -
Thanks for reading!
e-RICHIE©™®
______________________________
Thank you for your interest and support.
The Richard Sachs Cyclocross Team is sponsored by RGM Watches,
Rex Chiu, Radix Group LLC, as well as by Cane Creek, Crank Brothers,
Rudy Project, Oval Concepts, Challenge Tires, VergeSport, Selle San Marco,
JB Custom Paint, Pacenti Cycle Design, The Wheatmarket, and Nelly's Deli.
TEAM WEBSITE:
http://www.richardsachs.com/rsachscybc.html
RESULTS/UPDATES:
http://www.richardsachs.com/articles/cybc0607crossresults.html
NATZ PICS (2006):
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/bobbesrs/album/576460762381933695
TEAM PICS (2006):
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/bobbesrs/album/576460762315839264?pm_pageoption=ALL
TEAM PICS (2005):
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/bobbesrs/album/576460762315885087
BLATANT TEAM BIKE PICS:
http://richardsachs.com/2006_cx_gallery/index.html
AWESOME 'CROSS PORN:
http://www.volarebikes.com/richie/rgm/
RICHARD SACHS 'CROSS BLOG:
http://rscyclocross.blogspot.com