We have two new blogs for you to check out: [tag]Chrissy Ruiter[/tag] of the [tag]Victory Brewing[/tag] Women’s Professional Team, and our very own [tag]Curtis Zimmerman[/tag] — cofounder, designer, former Cincinnati Jr. All City Sprint Champion.

Chrissy hails from Bend, Oregon and has already had some impressive results under her belt: 3rd Joe Martin Stage Race, 8th Redlands Bicycle classic, and an 8th place in the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

Assuming she’s able to get internet access, you can catch Chrissy’s updates from France at the [tag]Tour de l’Aude[/tag] (2.1) May 12-21. She and the rest of the US National Team will battle it out with all the top professional women cyclist in the world, including the 2005 defending champ [tag]Amber Neben[/tag] of the United States.
www.chrissyruiter.missingsaddle.com

When Curtis Zimmerman isn’t toiling away behind the scenes of missingsaddle.com — setting up blogs, making backroom deals, and designing cool logos — he’s busy being a family guy with his wife Stella and their two sons Sebastian and Oscar. I think they have a new dog too, but I’ll let him confirm… www.missingsaddle.com

[tag]Giro d’Italia[/tag] 2006
In race news, well, unless you’ve been under a rock you know by now McEwen won a bunch of stages and then [tag]Ivan Basso[/tag] put the smack down and took the Pink Jersey. The end. Defending champ [tag]Paolo Salvodelli[/tag] lost 2:20 to stage winner Basso and had this to say, “ooooh sh#@*!” — I’m paraphrasing of course.

[tag]NRC[/tag] News
On the domestic scene, [tag]Gord Fraser[/tag] of [tag]Healthnet p/b Maxxis[/tag] showed he’s still got what it takes and won the final stage criterium at the [tag]Joe Martin Stage Race[/tag] as well as the overall. Rounding out the top three were [tag]Toyota-United[/tag]’s [tag]Ivan Stevic[/tag] and Healthnet teammate [tag]Scott Moninger[/tag]. Recent Gila Monster stage winner [tag]Jason Donald[/tag] (Einsteins) continued his good form and finished in 9th overall.

Next up on the NRC circuit is the [tag]Tri Peaks Challenge[/tag] in Fayetteville, AR. Last year [tag]Mike Jones[/tag] led a Healthnet, top 4 sweep (also known as an peloton a%$#kicking) Can they repeat again? Stay tuned.

-jvm