Bend, OR – In her first crack at the under-23 U.S. National Time Trial Championship, Jerika Hutchinson of Team TIBCO posted a strong 2nd place finish to earn the silver medal. Hutchinson, a month short of her 19th birthday, came in 0:14 behind Jacquelyn Crowell (Team Type 1), who posted a time of 53:44 on the hilly, 35 km circuit. Hutchinson’s time would have placed her solidly in the top 20 of the elite women’s group.

“It was a really challenging course,” Hutchinson said. “It was also really hot. I had a bag of ice on my back before I started, and a wet towel on my back for the ride trying to keep me cool.”

The course was similar to the course used for the Cascade Classic the week before, opening with a climb to the turn-around point 12 km out and return back to the start area. However, the national championship course added a 11 km loop with several rollers to bring it to 35 km.

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Los Altos, California – Make sure to check your local listings so you don’t miss Amber Rais and Team TIBCO at the Tour de Nez in her hometown of Reno, Nevada today and Friday.

Versus will air the Truckee and Reno stages of the race from 4:30 – 5:00 p.m. ET today, with the third stage from Northstar at Tahoe airing Friday from 4:30 – 5:00 ET. Please check your local listings to confirm the air time, as they may be airing the program at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time both days.

Rais won the first and third stages of the race and finished 2nd in the second stage to win the overall title.

Team captains Amber Rais (left) and Meredith Miller lead a deep Team TIBCO squad into the Cascade Classic, beginning Tuesday

Los Altos, California – Team TIBCO will bring one of the strongest, most balanced stage race rosters into this week’s Cascade Classic, which begins tomorrow.

“We have a lot of options with our roster,” said Meredith Miller, one of the team’s captains.

The squad includes three of last year’s top 10 finishers, including Canadian Julie Beveridge, who finished 3rd overall and won the best young rider competition. Amber Rais finished 8th overall last year, while Miller slotted in at 10th overall.

Add in Kiwi Joanne Kiesanowski, who has been one of the team’s most consistently strong riders this season, and it gives the Team TIBCO numerous options in the battle for the overall title.

“Looking at the overall, we have a lot of different cards to play this year,” Miller said. “Julie is probably our best climber, and Jo is climbing and sprinting really well. But above all, we want to make the race as hard as possible each day.”

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Come watch Team TIBCO bust it in Burlingame this Sunday!

Los Altos, California – This Sunday, Team TIBCO, the fastest start-up in Silicon Valley, will take its speed show to downtown Burlingame for the Burlingame Criterium. The women’s race, run around a tight, technical 0.7-mile course, starts at 1:30 p.m.

Team TIBCO is looking to dominate the race the same way it did the Santa Cruz Criterium in April, where the team stacked the podium. Leading the charge will be U.S. National Road and Criterium Champion Brooke Miller. Miller will have powerhouse support from Amber Rais, who dominated the Tour de Nez in her hometown of Reno last weekend. Also racing will be rising stars Alison Starnes and Rushlee Buchanan along with Katharine Carroll, Emma Rickards, and Alison Rosenthal, all experienced riders who have been key to many of the team’s top performances this year

“It’s not often you get to see one of the top teams in North America race in your own backyard,” said Team TIBCO founder and manager Linda Jackson. “We have a ton of supporters in the Bay area, and on the Peninsula and Silicon Valley in particular, who have been with us since we were a small startup just a few years ago. They’ve been critical to our growth and success. So it’s important to the team that we race close to home and invite all those people to join us and really make it more than just another race on the calendar, but a celebration of their contribution to the team’s success.”

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by Briggs Heaney

The final stage of the Tour de Nez tore through the Village at Northstar resort this Saturday, June 20th, and the crowd on hand was treated to an action-packed day of racing across all categories. Race leader and double stage winner Chad Gerlach had his hands full in defending his Omnium title against a rabid California Giant Berry Farms squad intent on putting Steve Reaney into the overall lead. In the end though Gerlach got it done, edging Reaney for the overall title in front of an elated crowd.

The final stage was contested on the difficult two mile Village circuit course at the Northstar-at-Tahoe resort that featured cobbled sections and tough climbs, as 62 of the top male riders in America took to the start line to contest the 90-minute timed event. Coming to the line out of an elite three man escape group, it was Jesse Moore who took top honors on the day, pulling away from Bissell’s Graham Howard and his teammate Justin England on the approach to the finish line.

Moore was the deserving winner on the day, as he went out on a solo escape just ten minutes into the 90-minute timed event. Behind him, a charging Howard was able to link up to create the twosome, while the main field chased behind. Never able to get closer than 25 seconds, the main chase group were unable to bring the twosome back in time to contest the finish. Meanwhile, with only about five laps to go, another California Giant Berry Farms rider, Justin England jumped away from the field managed to bridge up to the two escapees, giving California Giant two riders in the decisive three man group.

Down the stretch, it was England who turned himself inside out for his teammate, allowing Jesse Moore to finish things off for the northern California amateur powerhouse. Having come close on days one and two with Steven Reaney, Moore’s victory gave a hard-earned win to the California Giant Berry Farms team that had been knocking on the door all week.

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Los Altos, California – Team TIBCO brings its strongest roster ever into the first NRC stage race of the season this weekend, the Redlands Classic, beginning Thursday, March 26.

“We’re definitely focused on the overall,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. “It’s a wide open race. It’s not a pure GC rider’s race. Redlands isn’t for pure climbers or time trial specialists. Just about any one of our riders could be in contention for the overall. Someone like Lauren (Tamayo) or Kat (Carroll) could get in the right move on Beaumont (Friday) and get in contention.”

The team will still look to several riders in particular in pursuit of the overall title, including Carroll, who finished 3rd in the 2008 edition, and rising Canadian star Julie Beveridge, who posted a 9th overall last year.

The team also can look to Kiwi Joanne Kiesanowski, who finished 8th in the 2008 world championship road race, as well as veteran Aussie Emma Rickards, who returns to racing in the U.S. after four years with top-level teams in Europe and a 2nd place finish in the 2008 Geelong World Cup. Powerhouse Amber Rais gives the team yet another weapon for the overall and stage wins. For the downtown Redlands criterium, Tamayo is the top candidate for a sprint finish after posting strong results at the Tour of Qatar and the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium.

But Corbett adds that “We’re coming out of a really good training camp and everyone is going really well. I’ve been impressed. We’ll see how things go in the opening prologue. That often decides the hierarchy.”

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With the help of team mates Amber Rais and Rushlee Buchanan, Brooke Miller easily won the tight bunch sprint finish at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, June 29^th.

Jazz Apple was quite aggressive all race long. With two laps to go Alison Shanks built a 20 second lead before Team TIBCO sent Rais to chase the break down. “With five laps to go Jazz Apple went,” stated Miller. “Linda told us that we needed to bring that break back. Rushlee attacked first…then Amber went. That was great for me because Cheerwine had to chase it. Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) had to chase Amber which set me up perfectly. I knew I could fend for myself going into the finish. I needed to make sure I was in a good position. I wanted to be in the top 5 going into that last corner because I did not want to get swarmed or boxed in. With the curves in the backside it’s really easy to get pinched. One of the Vanderkitten riders (Melissa Sanborn) tried to go with about 500 meters….which was perfect. It caused everyone to jump so I didn’t have to worry about get swarmed. Jen McRae (Team Advil/Chapstick) followed….Van Gilder (Cheerwine) followed… Martina Patella (ValueAct Capital) followed….I followed. Coming around that last turn I was following third wheel which was great. The pace was fast so I could relax. Jen McRae then jumped which gave me a perfect bike lane to run. I was really fortunate to have it set up really well for me.”

Brooke Miller (Team TIBCO)
Amber and Rushlee did a fantastic job covering everything so that I could just sit in. I don’t often get amped or get nervous before a race but today I was like a chicken with its head cut off. It was so nice to have such great team mates to calm me down. I trust that are going to do their job…and sure enough they did. There was a lot of aggression trying to get breaks off. It was a nice and aggressive field with nice and aggressive riders.  

Linda Jackson (DS-Team TIBCO)
That was just a fantastic race. We really wanted to set up Amber to win today. Amber was going to try to go early and then she was going to try again with a few laps left to go. Alison Shanks (Jazz Apple)went off the front and Amber single handedly brought back Alison. That was a phenomenal ride by Amber. Brooke owes the win today to both Amber and Rushlee for all of their hard work. They did a fantastic job. Once it was a bunch sprint it was all Brooke. We didn’t care that she was up there alone. Get into a bunch sprint and Brooke can take care of herself.

Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine)
I had three of my team mates with me. We have really been having a good season. Kelly (Benjamin) has been winning a lot. Sarah (Bamberger) has won races. We raced with Ally in
Austin. We thought we had a super strong team. This is always a difficult course to have breakaways get away. Certainly a lot of the teams tried but felt pretty confident in our ability to keep things going our way. With two laps to go, the two rider breakaway definitely put the pressure on us  to bring it back. First Sarah tried to get across…then Ally (Brandt ) tried. There was a flurry of activity going into the finish. I thought there was going to be good competition for that sprint finish. I was probably about third, coming into the last corner, behind Jen (McRae) and Brooke (Miller). We kind of remained in that position. It’s still a long way to the finish after that turn. The wind made it a little trickier. It’s always windy here.

Amber Rais (Team TIBCO)
Sometimes on a course like this people can get complacent but it was pretty aggressive with lots of attacks. The attacks made it fun because we could counter and we could chase. Rushlee  was very active in the first part of the race covering everything so that we could have gas for the second half. Alison Shanks put in a good move off the front. I knew that we had to bring her back. I didn’t want to go right away because I didn’t want to be towing people. I waited for a few people to start chasing and railed the hairpin turn and just attacked straight out of it to get a gap. I kept that gap and caught her at the backside of the course. The group then caught the both of us at the straight section on the backside. We needed to have that happen for Brooke. Brooke got into a great position.

Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO)
I was just trying to go out and cover for the girls…do the work so that they could race. We only had three people and some teams were out there with six. We just had to go out there, watch and cover. Brooke was patient. She knew what she was doing…it was awesome.

Women Cat 1-2 Final Results: 

1          Brooke Miller (Team TIBCO)

2          Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine)

3          Jennifer McRae (Team Advil/Chapstick)

4          Melissa Sanborn (Vanderkitten Racing)

5          Beatriz Rodriguez (Southern California Velo)

6          Martina Patella (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team)

7          Lara Kroepsch (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team)

8          Rebecca Quinn ( South Bay Wheelmen)

9          Melodie Metzger (PROMAN)

10        Rachel Herring (Rock Racing)

All photos by Stephanie Gutowski

With a stage win in the 2008 Tour de Gila under her belt….and currently riding in the Tour de l’Aude with the USA National team, we thought it would be a great time to re-visit a fierce competitor and talented rider, who is also one of the nicest members of the peloton…Amber Rais of Team TIBCO.

Rais left Webcor Builders at the end of 2007 to join her coach, DS Linda Jackson, and Team TIBCO. “I was with Webcor for two years. I have never been on any other team. I felt like it was time for something new. Webcor was great but I am really excited about the riders on Team TIBCO. I feel there are riders on TIBCO invested in riding for TIBCO’s future. That’s really important to me.”

“I am viewing 2008 as more of a diesel engine type season. It’s taking a little while for me to get going this season,” commented Rais at Sea Otter this April, “but once I do, watch out.” Rais broke a rib during a training ride prior to the Sea Otter Classic race. After riding Tour de l’Aude, she is planning on racing the Triple Crown, Nature Valley, and many of the late season races. “I love riding for my coach. It’s been awesome. It’s like the stars have aligned for me this year. It’s going to be a good season.”

Rais entered cycling late. She earned an athletic scholarship to attend Stanford and compete on Stanford’s Swim Team, “I worked really hard for swimming and academics combined,” Rais said. “I swam there for three years but had to have shoulder surgery and stopped swimming. It was also becoming too much with school and everything else. After I stopped swimming I wanted to stay fit but I had burned out on swimming and didn’t set foot on a pool deck,” Rais continued. “I didn’t want to be competitive either. I would have been happy not participating in competitive sport ever again.”

Rais then moved to Monterey California to work on a research project at the Hopkins Marine Station. “I went down there and fell in love with marine biology,” Rais said. “I concentrated my studies on marine biology and environmental policies when I discovered the Earth Systems program that offered interdisciplinary courses based on environmental sciences, economics and sociology that impact the environment. I then graduated with a Masters of Science in Oceanography through the Earth Systems program at Stanford.”
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