by Ton Tran, Peace Coffee Race Team Manager

With the 1st year under our belt with the Peace Coffee Racing Team, I was really stoked about heading into our second year with updated uniforms and racing with the team. I had big ideas about what I wanted to accomplish personally, as well as what I wanted the team to accomplish in the 2006 racing season.

I decided that I would try to finish in the top 5 of my age group in mountain biking by putting in more training miles. One method was to ride my bike home from work as often as I could, which I hadn't done in past years. It was kind of an awakening for me. I felt so much more relaxed when I got home after biking the 25 mile route...ok maybe a little tired too, but just driving that same route can sometime be stressful. I pretty much kept up that ride until the thermostat dropped. As for finishing in the top five this season, I had a few, but I was really more impressed that riding in the big city after only a little training wasn't all that bad.

One thing I was hoping to accomplish this season for the team was to recruit some top riders from other teams in the metro area. These hammerheads, speed freaks,.....just plain fast riders, are hard to come by for any team. At one point, I was actually trying to recruit another rider as he was passing me during the race. He already had an obligation to ride with another team, but he said "that I shouldn't worry because the Peace Coffee Racing Team already has a pool of talented riders." As it turned out, he was right, because the 2006 team had quite a few accomplishments.

We achieved a top 3 finish in the MN State Championship Road Race by Mario Minelli, 3rd Place Overall Cat 4/5 at Superweek Stage Race by Tedd Jacobson, we had 7 riders who placed in the top 3 overall in the MN Mountain Bike Series that were Michael McBurney, Mike Minneti, Brad Dettman, Matt Nelson, Charlie Simacek, Jennifer Grant, and Kevin Knutson, an IRONMAN finisher who was Bob Albright, our highest finisher at Chequamgon Fattire 40 was Peter Maxwell in 27th out of 1700, and at the end of the season Kolyn Kirkham placed 3rd overall in the MN CycloCross Series

We had a great season, but our only dark cloud was when Matt Reier, one of our riders, unfortunately crashed at a mountain bike race and had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital and spent the next three days in the ICU. Thanks to Libby Johnson from Erik's bike shop and Melanee Meegan at Peace Coffee for rallying our bike community to help raise funds for his medical expenses. He is doing fine now and hopes to makes his comeback in the 2007 racing season.

It's amazing what you can appreciate after your sophomore season with the Peace Coffee Racing team. Like having great training routes doesn't always mean that you have to be out on country roads. And you don't have to look too far for a bunch of really awesome talented riders. Last but not least, there are a bunch of cool people out there in the bike community that really do care.

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