My Adventures with Team Oakland

I bought my first road bike in January 2006 at Cycle Sports. I remember hanging out at the shop sometime in May '06 when sales rep, Mark Munoz, introduced me to TO racer, Sean Smith. Looking at Sean's big, muscular body, he struck me more as a body builder than a cyclist. Nonetheless, Sean was extremely friendly and invited me to join TO's casual Thursday night rides and the Tuesday night port rides. I took him up on his offer and showed up for both rides where I met more TO people.





I remember our first non-lycra ride was the Halloween ride where we all dressed in costumes and rode around town just being goofballs. I had a blast!



In January 2007, I officially joined TO and ventured out to the Early Birds. I was nervous as hell when I rode out the the Bart station for my first EB session. When I got to the 19th street station, I saw two cyclists waiting for a train. I walked over to them and asked them if they were headed out to the early birds. It turns out they were headed out there too so I asked them if I could join them, to which they said yes. This was my first introduction to Ms. Bad-Ass Quads and Racer, Beth Newell, and Mr. former racer but I-still-got-a-lot-of-fight-in-me, Fred. I almost made it through the race series crash-free. Almost. I ended up being part of a three-woman pile up in the 4th race. It shook me up and I almost didn't do the 5th race but teammate (and EB mentor) Andrew Hardardt encouraged me to set my fears aside and do the race. I did it and came in 13th out of 22 despite hanging out in the back of the pack for most of the race. (Beth was not so lucky, she was involved in two crashes, one which was pretty serious. However, she has proven to be absolutely fearless and tough as nails and is now kicking ass on the road and at the track!)



In February 2007, TO racer, Mel Schultz, initiated a Saturday morning women's group ride that welcomed women of all skill levels and riding experience. I've met a few good women on these rides, two of which joined TO this year (Laura Walpert and Lauren Haughey).








In the months that followed, there were races, TO group rides, parties, and Tuesday night dinners at Los Cantaros.














I can honestly say that Team Oakland has some of the friendliest, toughest, and funniest people I've ever met. I'm very grateful to have found a group of friends who inspire me and humor me. I love these guys.

I'm also happy to report that Team Oakland now has a myspace page. Yay! http://www.myspace.com/teamoaklandcycling

Here's to another great year with Team Oakland!