Lowering Carbon Footprints and Staying the Course

Having these two most controversial topics, "Lowering Carbon Footprints" and "Staying The Course" in any newsletter would cause major debate, but as it turn out these topics fit our racing season recapping just fine. (No,no,no... this is not an article from The Onion's Newsletter!)

The 2007 season started out differently, but very exciting at the same time. Peace Coffee had just hired a new director before the racing season started and it seemed that the team's future was uncertain. Thankfully, Melanee Meegan (Peace Coffee Marketing director) reassured all of us that they were committed to the Peace Coffee Racing Team (cycling team) all the way to the end of this decade and beyond (...bless you Melanee). That was definitely exciting news for the team; cause oh, how we just can't get enough of their coffee. With our renewed sponsorship, the whole new racing season was ahead of us. We had racers coming back with high goals and expectations, along with just having fun. As it turned out some of those top racers were injured during the season, but quite a few of our new team members plus some veteran racers really stepped-up to make it a great year. These were the PCRs (Peace Coffee Racers) nominated for 2007 Peace Coffee Recognition Awards for placing high overall in there racing class divisions or were very instrumental in keeping our team on a winning tradition this season.

Most Valuable Teammate: 
Brad Dettman (awarded winner), Kolyn Kirkham

Most Outstanding Achievement: 
Bob Albright (Ironman finisher)

Most Outstanding Female MTBs: 
Jacklyn Carlson, Julie Ward (awarded winner), Jennifer Grant

Most Outstanding Male MTBs: 
Andy Sieben (awarded winner), Matt Dowling, Scott Schultz

Most Outstanding Female Athletes (dualthlete/triathlete): 
Ann Moyer, Darcy Franklin (awarded winner)

Most Outstanding Male Athletes (duathlete/triathlete):
Joe Moyer (awarded winner), Jason Sinwell

Most Improved Racers: 
Dan Berhow, Tom Mcdonald, Michael Mcburney (awarded winner)

Most Promising Racers: 
Chris Van Ert, Aaron Deutchman (awarded winner), Dana Schoppe

Super Domestiques: 
Jamison Bessiwenger (awarded winner), Joe Pederson , Colin Fields

Also, at the 2007 Minnesota Mountain bike series award (MNSCS), our Men's Mountain bike racers received awards for 1st Place in the Team Comp-division, 3rd Place in the Team Sport-division, and our Women's Mountain bike racers received an award for 2nd place in the Team Sport-divsion, plus Darcy Franklin was chosen for the Women's 2007 Minnesota Multi-sport Team (du/triathlete all-star team).

At the end of the racing season, my significant other (Kerry) and I usually make our annual pilgrimage to a couple of the nation's National Treasures (Parks) to pay homage to the great splendors of ol' mother nature's creations. When we arrived at Zion National Park in Utah, (which I highly recommend hiking Angel's Landing trail if you ever get a chance to visit there) it was really nice to have shuttle buses take you to the majority of the trailheads or the nearest towns. Riding those shuttle buses was like being in a very big carpooling system, because you often get to see the same people using it through out the whole day.

This reminded me of the carpooling through out our 2007 racing season. We would cram as much bike gear and racers into the old station wagon (AKA PCRs team bus), and headed off to races or events. I really didn't mind the company, beside it kept me from going crazy singing to myself. Actually, this year seemed like more people were willing (requesting) to carpool to the races then any other year. The best part about a group of bikers driving to the races together was the great dialogues (bikes, biking, and racing bikes; of course) and the other nice part was that setting up the team tent/equipment was quick and easy because the help was available as soon as we arrived at the events.

Although, I couldn't totally sum up the whole racing season with the two topics I mentioned in the beginning, I could say with appreciation, that the Peace Coffee Racing Team and the crew behind the scene (Mario Minelli, Joe Moskowitz, Kerry Fields, and Melanee) helped us stay the course of a successful season, along with just having a good time in the process like other years. If racers were worrying about lowering their carbon footprints or the cost of high gas prices by carpooling during the season (more of the later); either way, I really enjoyed the camaraderie that came along with sharing the awesome 2007 racing seasonwith PCRs and I can't wait till the 2008 racing season to starts up...

Thanks,

Ton Tran
Peace Coffee Racing Team Director & Super Tough Mountain Bike Racer

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