Was fantastic to find the following testimonial in my inbox. Helping an athlete progress and make a positive influence on their life is what its all about.  Thatcher was a great athlete to work with this past spring and summer, and I wish him all the best as he starts his freshman year at Duke University this fall.

"Coach George brought me from being last place in every race to several top ten finishes in three months. He taught me vital handling skills that can be applied to both the race environment and the training ride, introduced me to race strategy, and provided valuable feedback post-race to improve my performance. His expertise as an athlete and coach led to huge improvements in my fitness while at the same time keeping me healthily rested and injury free.

Coach George adapted my training schedule around my busy life as a student. He knew how to use what little time I could devote to exercise some days to reap the maximum gains in my fitness. More importantly, Coach George always responded to my questions promptly and in depth. His ease of communication paired with his expert knowledge and advice created the coach-athlete relationship I needed to make my performance improvements. COACH GEORGE IS THE BEST, PERIOD. #OtterForLife! :-) " Thatcher Owen, Junior, Cat 4, Triathlete

I have been a bit remiss with the blog updates and need to gt back on the wagon.  In order to re prime things, Otterhaus athletes have been busy throughout the country this summer, and here is an update on some athlete accomplishments over the past few months.

Cat 2 and U23 rider Stefan Zavislan (Air Force Academy/USMES) recently graduated from the Air Force Academy and has had a fantastic summer racing all over the United States.  He spent the summer visiting family and friends as he made his way from Colorado to New York to Wisconsin to Oregon and finally to California where he will be attending graduate school.  Stefan kicked off with a 10th place in the RR at the Collegiate National Championships in Virginia followed by a solid 37th at U23 Nationals in Wisconsin against the best U23 riders in the country (pro included) on a super tough course.  He followed that up with an impressive 4th on GC at the Cascade Cycling Classic Stage Race in Oregon including a 6th in the opening stage time trial.

Budding cyclist and triathlete Thatcher Owen (Annapolis Bicycle Racing Team/Otterhaus Performance Coaching) recently graduated from high school in Maryland and wanted to spend the summer improving his cycling and trying  (or should I say “tri”-ing) triathlons.  He started off the summer getting dropped at nearly every cycling race he started to pulling 2 top 10 finishes, and darn near pulling off a win in a daring late race escape that left more experienced juniors scrambling.  In addition, he finished 2nd in his age group and 12th overall at his first triathlon in June.  He followed that up in August by finishing 1st in his age group and 4th overall at the 14.06 Triathlon in Manassas, VA including the 2nd fastest run split overall!  We wish Thatcher luck as he starts college at Duke University later this month.

Cat 4 rider Matthew Medlock (Soler’s Sports) has been steadily improving in all areas and making progress towards his goal of making Cat 3.  He took over 4 minutes off of his 40k TT best, in addition he has taken 2 wins, a 2nd, a 3rd, a 5th and an 8th in local criterium and circuit race competition in San Antonio, TX.

Cat 2 and master’s athlete Matt Neigh (Annapolis Bicycle Racing Team) has seen improvement in all of his power numbers from 1 minute all the way to 60 minutes, but has had a heck of a time with mechanicals and bad luck this year.  Regardless, he still pulled a 2nd at the Poorhouse Farms road race in West Virginia, was 6th at the Page Valley RR in VA and was 4th in the Mid Atlantic Region Time Trial Championships in MD, improving his 40k best  by :25 seconds over prior 40k efforts.