Help Support the Future of Our Sport 11.30.04 (7:27 am) Hi everyone, I am passing this Pay Pal link along.  If you click on it you can make a donation to Brady Kappius for his two trips to Europe this winter.  He will be racing 2 world cups and possibly the world championships.  My only request is that if you do decide to make a donation that you also save some for my former team mechanic Adam McGrath aka- NEWT who will also be making the same two trips, I will have payment info up for Adam asap.  These trips will be experiances of a lifetime for these kids and if you are on the fence about sending them some dough, I will highly encourage it, and know that each will apreciate the donation and put it to great use. click on the box. Here is Brady in his own words-   Dear Friends and Family, In less than a month I will be embarking on a European Cyclo-Cross racing camp. Without a doubt this will be one of the most demanding and worthwhile challenges of my life.  I will be spending twelve days racing in Belgium, Holland and other countries, racing against other talented racers from around the world.  This will be my first foray into the European racing scene, and it has been one of my goals for many years now. And if I continue to ride well I am hoping to qualify for the US World Championships Team to race in Germany in late January 2005. Along with the physical and mental training that I have put forth in the past 17 years of my life, there is also a substantial price tag affixed to these trips.  I am writing to ask for your support. The costs for these two trips are expected to exceed $5000 and any donation will help me and my parents pay these expenses. I've set up a PayPal account to accept donations, and of course I can accept checks by mail. If you can afford to help support me during this holiday season I would greatly appreciate it. You can donate by clicking on the PayPal donation link below or you can send a check to me at the address below. Thank you so much for your support and generosity! If you cannot support me financially at this time, thank you for your encouragement and support during the year and have a wonderful holiday season. Brady Kappius Team TIAA-CREF/Clif Bar 10926 West Bowles Place Littleton, CO 80127 0 Comments   From Bernard 11.08.04 (6:45 am) This is a email sent from Bernard Moerman, Director Sportif of the ABC- Cycling Center Cycling Team and founder of the Cycling Center, one of the best options for development for an aspiring American Cyclist. And one hell of an incredible person. -Paco   “You are an American from Hertsberge huh, I saw you on TV.” The season 2004 is over, it was long, hard but very good. The results and the media-attention made it happen that the people of Hertsberge now talk about “Our Armeicans”. Our riders had very good results in both our own Cycling Center-jersey and the US National Team jersey. Those results start inspiring several Europeans to join the Cycling Center programs. But…. First things first. First of all we need to thank all of our sponsors who made this season as successful as it was. XANGO, SAFECO, BIONAL, ING-bank, RUDY PROJECT, LITESPEED, MAXXIS, COMPEX, PENTA-travel, Restaurant UYLENSPIEGEL, COMPUTRAINER,  CS-ware, FIZIK, Restaurant HET SCHAAK, ARTSON, BERRY-FLOOR, VOMAC, OVAL CONCEPTS, SAMDAM, SAMSONITE, TACX, COCA-COLA, INTERBREW, Volkswagen TAVERNIER and ALL-EVENTS. With these sponsors we could start the season after and entire winter of rebuilding and remodelling the actual facility in Hertsberge. The selection of riders we had this year has never been better. The mentality, the seriousness and the desire to find their limits was super. Our racing program was very hard but from May on, the group started to show big improvement. From then on we had lots of races where our riders played a big role in the end-decision. Lots of top-10 started to come. But what was even more impressive was the fact that we started to have several riders at the same time hitting good form and getting good results. The positive attitude and the good results of the riders were recognized by European riders and coaches as well. This way we build out friendships with teams such as Van Hemert (Holland) Credit Agricole (France) and Cyclingnews.com (Australia). The unique approach and the improvement of the riders was noticed  by the media. The result was over 30 minutes of Prime-Time TV in Belgium and Holland. Several major articles appeared in main newspapers and magazines in Belgium, Holland, France and the USA. Even Californian Scott Coady came by for some extra shots for his new DVD. Since our TV-appearance the riders became local heroes and are recognized all over the country now. Lots of times people come up to our riders saying: I saw you on TV. All these good things are resulting in even more ambition to grow to a higher level the next years. At this time we are finishing all plans for next season. Becoming the ultimate educational experience in cycling is even more then ever our goal. Therefore we are building out staff and equipment so that our selected team can compete with the best. Our riders are now finishing their rest-period. The time ‘zonder fiets’ (without bike). Now they are all home I want to say thanks for the season, the results, the efforts and the friendship. But before I say “goodbye, see you next season” I need to say THANK YOU to some very special people who contributed big time to this years’   success. Thanks Dr. Dag your guidance, knowledge and drive is incredible Thanks Barney King for all the help at the training camp and the races, Thanks Ben Sharp for all the assistance at the races, Thanks Francis Van Oost for all the massages and good spirit, Thanks Herman Boyden for all the support Thanks “Uncle” Gert De Mey for all the help, patience, introductions and friendship Thanks Ann, without you there is no Cycling Center Thank you for visiting and supporting and know that when you are in the area and you wear our team out-fit people might  come and say: “I know who you are, You are an American from Hertsberge huh, I saw you on TV.” See you next season, Bernard ===== "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." 0 Comments