Dec 18, 02:26 PM |

Jeremy is still waxing poetic about cyclocross season out in the west coast, having just attended the extravaganza that is Nationals. Over on the east coast, I’ve moved past cross and am firmly ensconced in planning for road season. It’s going to be the first FULL season fielding the Embrocation Cycling Journal team and I’m greatly excited about all the goings on and the possibilities of the season to come.

But, time for one more look back at the cross season before I completely focus my gaze forward. Peter Bradshaw did a good job at capturing and editing the two races at Sterling, MA this year. There’s some good footage of a fast race with great weather.

2009 Bay State Cyclocross Sterling, MA from Peter Bradshaw on Vimeo.

Now, onto the road side of things. It’s all coming together now. Bikes are ordered, parts are ordered, kits are coming and I’m getting psyched.

In the coming weeks we’ll be bringing our team fans more information about our team sponsors and equipment, but here’s a little look at how the team is shaping up for this coming season.

For starters our roster has taken final form as well with all riders from last year coming back and we’ve added two racers to the road squad:

Steve “Franny” Francisco has been a friend of mine and Jeremy’s for quite a few years now. For a couple years in a row Steve and I were friendly competitors on the local road scene, one of us always beating the other by half a wheel. I came to know him as good racer with keen tactical sense who took a great deal of joy in races whether or not he had a good result. Steve is also a member of the Rapha Continental team along with Jeremy and Pierre.

Off the bike, Franny is the CEO of JDK Design, a design and marketing firm based in Burlington, VT. They’re a company full of young, talented designers who have come up with some of the best marketing campaigns around, including the Will You Make the Leap? campaign for SRAM’s road parts. Good stuff; good marketing; Franny at the helm.

Colin Holmes Murphy has been a staple of the Boston area racing scene for some years now. As a long-time member of the Garneau, later Kenda/Raleigh, later Kenda/Spooky team, Colin has a good deal of experience racing in elite road races across the northeast. He’s a highly committed racer who’s known affectionately for his fondness of the stationary trainer and his low alcohol tolerance. We’ve all enjoyed racing against Colin the past couple years, but I’m sure we’ll all far prefer racing with him this next year.

So, two new riders plus Ridley coming back on board as a road bike sponsor, International Bicycle Centers coming on as a hugely helpful retail sponsor, Giordana clothing, SRAM component groups, and Bontrager wheel systems we’re looking like we’re going to be pretty hooked up for the coming year, stay tuned.