Christie, Teri, Papo say goodbye...

It's true, Backbone had seen little Christie Miller become Christie Pleiss. She started out coming to Desi and I as a Sport racer from the mid-west (Expert there), who was eager to grow in the sport of cycling. We were CFR then, and I had big plans for the team. The team at that time consisted of Desi and I, Bert, and Tommy. Christie would become California's exemplary Sport class racer, then move to Expert. She became the State Champ, Am Cup Champ, and even the Rim Nordic Champ. At Big Bear's NCS race in 2004, she placed an astounding SECOND in Expert XC, and even did her first Short track race.
She and Greg have been everywhere with me, from Solvang Centuries, to Utah, to the "DirtyBird." Christie "White Chocolate" Pleiss is a consummate competitor, who will exploit every angle to whip your ass, then take you out for beers after. She has been a great friend, and helped me to build Backbone into the super-team it has become over the past year. Without Christie (and Bert), we would have had no "backbone" to Backbone, and she will be greatly missed. Christie heads to the TREK/K&N FILTER TEAM for 2006. Wish her luck, along with ex-Backbone sister Teri "Playa" Strayer.
Teri was introduced to us with her DH Semi-Pro Hubbie, Jay, in 2004. Teri also came in as a Sport racer, but quickly turned Expert as 2005 approached. She has been the bubbly, french-manicured, always late but always on the podium wing-woman that spearheaded the Backbone ladies races. I have not had the FOUR plus years of time to get to know Teri, but look forward to watching her mature as a Pro racer, and Christie's teammate on the K&N Filter team.
Ray "Papo" Caballero has also announced his desire to fly other colors for 2006. Papo trains every day with the boys over at HELEN's cyclery. He will be representing the gold and green for 2006, and will be missed as well. Papo has been one of the surprises of my managerial career. In the beginning, on a tip from James, I tried to get him on when we were still CFR. It didn't work out then, but I was glad it did last year. Papo tore up the Expert field, and always managed to seem like he just smoked about 47 pounds of weed! This guy is so chilled out, you'd think he was sleeping...if he weren't pounding your ass all over the mountain! Props to Papo, we will miss him greatly.
As you all can imagine, this has taken a tremendous toll on me personally. I put 110% of myself not just in to the team, but to all of you individually as well. To lose ANY of you is like a heart attack for me. I promised myself that when I started this team, I would do everything possible to see that you all had a great cycling experience, regardless of category or results. The mere fact that Christie, Teri and Papo were able to move from Sport racers to Pro's and experts in such a short time I guess is a testament to that devotion and hard work, no just by me, but by all of you. Thanks for the past few years, Christie, and the past season or two from Papo and Teri. Good Luck, and knock 'em dead...

Cap'n Chris