ABD Update: Thank You Volunteers!

Thanks to all the ABD volunteers who helped to start 2007 off with a fantastic indoor TT event. All the feedback I've received has been very positive, and everyone is looking forward to round 2. Personally, I had a lot of fun and it was great to see the senior ABD'ers coaching the newbies through both the racing and the working! It also seems like the new venue is going to work out well (once we sorted out the electricity!), and the School is excited to have the event. If you have any feedback, don't hesitate to shoot me an e-mail: ebert@abdcycling.com

A couple of important reminders:

And They're Off! ABD Indoor TT#1 Results Are Posted!

Results for ABD Cycle Club's First Indoor TT of 2007 are Posted at www.ABDCycling.com 

A huge thanks to all of the ABD Volunteers and representatives of the Winfield School District that helped off a great event at our new venue!  

Kudos as well to Prairie Path Cycles and Larry Lorenz of Serfas for their support. 

Most importantly, thanks to all the participants that came out and rode their hearts out! (...and for their patience as we worked out a couple of kinks with the venue).

Congratulations to our 3 Fastest Men & Women of the day:

1.  Mark Swartzendruber Indy Velo/Team Delta 14:00.28

2.  Dan Verner Redline Racing 14:10.26

3. Mark Swarzendruber Indy Velo/Team Delta 14:20.61 

No misprint... Mark also posted the 4th fastest time of the day with a 14:39.63!!!

1. Susan Peithman ABD 16:19.56

2. Christine Palmquist The Bike Shop/Training Bible  16:52.38

3. Maya Tubic ABD 17:24.76

Profile Design Raffle Winner: Jim Saplis!

Registration is open for the remaining events in the series, go to www.ABDcycling.com for more details.

The 2007 Indoor Time Trial Series features over $3,000 in overall and daily cash and prizes, including the return of the Fastest Men and Women Challenge - $50, $30, and $20 to the three fastest men and women of the day. Plus, all participants are eligible for the Profile equipment raffle at each event.

3 best times from the Indoor events and the Outdoor TT qualify for overall prizes. 

Best flat AND rolling time of the indoor events goes towards MATTS and ROTY points.

Normal entry fees are $22 a race for adults, $12 for Juniors.

Second race of the day is $17 for seniors, $10 for Juniors.

The remaining 2007 ABD Cycle Club Time Trial Series Dates are:

TT #2 - SUN, Jan. 28th - ROLLING 10k @ WMS featuring Trek, Sidi & Easton

TT #3 - SUN, Feb. 18th - FLAT 10k @ WMS featuring Bongrager Components

TT #4 - SUN, Mar. 4th - ROLLING 10k @ WMS featuring LeMond Bikes

SERIES FINALE - SUN, April 1st: John Fraser Memorial 10 MI Outdoor TT in Maple Park(map)

SPONSORED BY: PRAIRIE PATH CYCLES, ATHLETES BY DESIGN, TREK, BONTRAGER, SERFAS, EMERGEN-C, POWERBAR, PROFILE, CYCLOPS TRAINERS.

PROMOTED BY: THE ABD CYCLE CLUB, HELD UNDER ABR EVENT PERMIT 

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Questions?  Interested in sponsoring the ABD Club or one of their events? E-mail ebert@abdcycling.com or call 630-890-6767.

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The ABD Cycle Club e-mail list is held and maintained solely to update ABD event participants on our activities.  E-mail addresses are NOT distributed or sold – because we don't like spam either! To unsubscribe from the ABD Cycle Club list, reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject.

A Thank You From Reid Mumford

I wanted to drop you all a line to thank you for the wonderful time
that I've had being a part of the Athletes by Design cycling club.

First and foremost, I need to thank all of my elite team team-mates.
You have been a great group of guys to travel with, race with, and
learn from. I include as part of the team my wife, Jenni. She has
been a huge help this year. Much of the year she traveled with the
team to nearly all of our races. She is an expert feeder and
photographer and patient enough to deal with an entire team of
psychotic bicycle racers. I don't think that any of us even know how
to mix Gatorade now thanks to Jenni.

Second. I need to thank Mike and Mary Lee for all of their support.
Without them and their excitement for our racing we couldn't have
accomplished what we have the past couple of years.

Third. I'd like to send a specific thank you to Rob Jungels. I don't
think that we realize how lucky we are to have such a gifted and
generous mechanic as part of our club. Jungels, you're the man.
Thank you for all of your help and advice.

Fourth. Last but not least, I'd like to thank all of you the club
members. Your enthusiasm and dedication to bicycle riding and racing
is fantastic. Your dedication to the club has enabled our elite team
to be the highest ranked amateur team (based on NRC points) in 2006.
Your financial dedication to our success has been very generous and I
thank you for it. Your cheering voices whenever we raced here in the
Midwest has also been fantastic. Its always nice to race with a bit
of a hometown advantage; all we seem to need is a couple of you and
ABD is immediately the loudest cheering section on the entire course.

For the 2007 season, I have signed a contract with the Kelly Benefit
Strategies/Medifast professional cycling team. The team management
is based in Minneapolis and is being directed by Jonas Carney. The
title sponsors are both businesses that are based in Baltimore. I am
looking forward to the new opportunity to learn and develop as a
bicycle racer. Our first race in 2007 will be the Tour of the Bahamas
over the first weekend of February. I'm planning on hitting the
first couple of ABD indoor TT events so hopefully I'll see many of you
around then.

Thanks for all of your support, encouragement, and help. You've been
a great club and I'm proud to be one of you the past couple of years.

reid

ABD New Year's Ride

They did it! 20 ABD'ers braved the not-so-frigid temps to log the official mile for every degree on New Year's Day: 38 to be exact!

A Note From Ben Raby

Hello ABD'rs

It's late December and I have been doing 4 hour rides in the Chicago
area. My motivation? Being hired as a professional cyclist, my dream.
I have received a contract with Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada for the
'07 season. I see it as an opportunity to continue using my talent,
desire and drive to succeed in this sport. Not simply being satisfied
with a "Pro" status on my cycling license. I feel that my career to
date has prepared me well, giving me the confidence to meet the
challenges with riding on a professional cycling team.

I would like to express gratitude to the ABD club as to my
development as a road cyclist. I started my racing career on the
mountain bike. As a junior, I raced with the Schwinn national team
where I was introduced to Mike Farrell as a coach. I remember
vividly, meeting with him and Mike Ebert one night at his old shop
for a heart-rate zone test. I straddled an awkward bike (a "road
bike") set on a Computrainer, perhaps my first time on a road bike.
Shortly after, Farrell supported me with my first road bike and began
persuading me to ride more and more on it. With his vast experience,
I feel he had an inkling that I would enjoy it. He was right. Ebert
and I soon bonded as new teammates on an early ABD cycling team. He
guided me during my start as a roadie, as well as Farrell, who mainly
focused on me not being a "Fred".

The years have quickly past. I've spent some of the years going back
and forth to Europe and Latin America but continuously racing my bike
and being adventurous at the same time. ABD has grown and Prairie
Path Cycles has expanded, but their fundamentals on developing young
cyclists have not. It's been proved just recently with Reid and Bryce
both signing as well. It's a phenomenal club to be involved with and
for those looking to grow in this sport and who live in the Chicago
area, ABD is the cycling team to start with and begin growth as a
cyclist.

I am off to Boulder, Colorado at the beginning of the year. My wife
and I will treat it as our base for next season. There have been some
small changes with Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada and they wanted to use
Boulder as a center for some of their riders in addition to
California. I may have to put a small plow on the front of my bike
for the first few months, but perhaps just living at altitude will
get me in shape and I won't have to worry about riding in the snow.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Ben Raby.

Reid Mumford signs with new US Pro Squad!

Extra! Extra!  

Check out the Decmeber 13th "Latest Cycling News" at Cyclingnews.com to read about the latest ABD'er to ink a pro deal! Local boy and one of our own, Reid Mumford,  signed on with the newly established Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast Pro Cycling Team for 2007.  Congratulations, Reid!

- ABD Reloads for 2007- Announces Elite Team Roster

With last week's announcement of the 8th annual ABD Indoor Time Trial Series (the largest event of it's kind in the U.S.), the members of ABD Cycle Club are hard at work preparing for another successful run in 2007. They have their work cut out for them after a productive 2006 season that included organizing 21 sanctioned events, winning their first USA Cycling National Title with junior rider Jackie Kurth, and the Men's Elite team finishing as the numer one amatuer team in the country in USAC's National Racing Calendar team standings(and even received a 2006 Druber Award to top it all off).

Much of the Elite team's success was due to riders Frank Dierking, Bryce Mead and Reid Mumford - and the club is very excited that all three of these riders have taken the step up to bigger programs for next year. Mead recently signed with the US Continental Jelly Belly squad and Mumford is also finalizing arrangements with an undisclosed Continental squad. In addition, ABD alumni Ben Raby (2002-2004) recently inked a deal with the KodakGallery.Com/Sierra Nevada team and Frank Pipp (2003) moved to Healthnet, the U.S.'s number one Pro squad. The most winning ABD rider to date, sprinter John Puffer, is undecided on his plans for next season. "We have a lot of horsepower to try and replace," says team manager, Mike Ebert," but I'm very happy for all of those guys. ABD is all about developing riders, and every club member can take pride in seeing our riders move to the next level."

With rider development in mind, the team looked for riders with a mix of experience and talent that could be ready to head to the professional ranks within a year or two as well. They've found just such a mix in riders Ryan Baumann (Madison, WI), Josh Carter (Fairview Heights,IL), Jeff Schroetlin (Decatur, IL), Alex Sharon (Wheaton, IL) and Brett Stewart (Munster, IN). Both Carter and Schroetlin have raced the Midwest circuit and numerous NRC races for the past few years, whereas Stewart and Sharon are 21 year old ABD "veterans" who started out with the club as Category 4 riders and moved their way up. 20-yer old Baumann is a very promising young rider who's worked under the guidance of Jelly Belly Pro rider Nick Reistad for the past season.

The ABD Club at large, with over 200 members and growing, is also looking forward to another busy and successful season. Winter training classes in the ABD Cycling Center at Prairie Path Cycles are almost completely booked through March and the club has plans for promoting at least 12 outdoor races once the Midwest weather warms up. Ebert adds, "There are so many dedicated people not only in our club but all over the upper-Midwest. Everyone is working hard to ensure that 2007 is the best schedule we can offer for riders at all levels." More details and the most up-to-date Midwest calendar are available at www.ABDcycling.com.

ABD'ers Play in the Snow at IL Cross Championships

A hearty congratulations to the three ABD riders who participated in Sunday's IL State 'Cross Championship at Montrose Park:

Gina "didn't she just have a baby" Kenny and blonde-bombshell Jonathan Tenney represented the blue and orange in the Women's 4 and Men's 3, respectively, and Tom Knoebl brought home the hardware with a silver medal (3rd Overall) in the Adidas Men's 45+ race!

2007 ABD App/Renewal & Volunteer Sign-Ups

The 2007 ABD Membership Application/Renewal Form is available!  Please take a moment to read through the updated information and apply for or renew your membership for next season.

New for 2007! We're building on our Standard, Silver and Gold membership levels with the option to use your ABD volunteer credits in three different ways: race for FREE, stock up on PowerBar goodies, or redeem credits for ABD Voler Clothing! Some restrictions apply.

We are also currently seeking ABD'ers to help out with several of our annual duties, and the ones right around the corner include:

- Assistant Membership Coordinator: Excel knowledge helpful 

- Indoor Time Trial Pre-Race Volunteer Coordinator

- Indoor TT On-Site Volunteer Coordinator: (to share duties with Pre-Race coordinator)

- ABD Reports Coordinator: will be responsible for posting reports to the ABD site.  No coding or web design experience required, but web savvy-ness is a plus.

Last but not least, please be sure to carefully read through the ABD Rider Release & Code of Conduct on the final page.

Thanks,

Ebert

Another ABD'er goes Pro!

The KodakGallery 2007 roster posted at Cyclingnews.com this morning includes perpetual ABD'er Ben Raby!  Congrats, Ben!