This is an inspirational message of team work from John Akana on his experience doing Dick Evans on Sunday. Yes John, Cambio/Core is a special TEAM and the sacrifice each members makes for the success of the team is PRICELESS. Great to see everyone working together, because there is no I in TEAM. Enjoy John's story.

It was a great day for our team and it really was amazing to see five team mates around me when we dropped back to try and get a spare from the Mech vehicle only to realize there was no hope because there was no support vehicle.  It was a very slow leak so I was able to continue to ride and we rode back up to the pack as a team.  Barry had offered me his wheel and after a minute or so of thinking what to do next I realized I better take Barry up on his offer.   Thanks so much Barry for your wheel.  You are a great inspiration as we had seven of us in the lead pack and you totally sacrificed your race to allow me to stay in contention.  Nguyen, David, and I dropped back and Barry was right there with the Front wheel.  It is tough to get the front wheel off with the timing chip but we managed to and after a minute or so we were back on the road with Nguyen, David, and I working together to get back up to the lead pack.  I know that we not only have the strongest team but the only team that truly works together as a team.  I would not have been able to get back to the pack without everyone’s help.  Barry, David, and Nguyen had sacrificed there day with the lead pack at the moment they stayed back to help me.  The Lead pack has so much momentum and drafting that once you fall off it is so hard to come back and based on how you feel you know whether or not you will be able to come back.  When Barry, David, and Nguyen pulled off they did it for me and team and they knew there day was over with the lead pack.  That is such a big sacrifice and that’s why we are the only team that will wait up for another team member.  We are the only ones that go into this race as a team knowing that we might have to sacrifice our individual goals for the team and another team member.  I had eight team members personally sacrifice there goals for me and the team, first was the initial effort to fix the flat (Barry, Nguyen, David, Ricky, Tony) then there was the second effort to fix the flat (David, Nguyen, and Barry), Charles also made a huge sacrifice that you can read about in the following paragraph as well as did Eric and Thomas.  Nguyen had fallen off the effort to come back to the lead pack and than all of a sudden as I started to wonder if I was going to be able to make it back, Nguyen came by me and pulled me back into the effort mentally and physically.  Nguyen and I were able to work together the rest of the way back to the lead pack right before the feed at Temple Valley .  It was a long day and I was really hoping we would have 3 in the top 5 and at least 4 in the top 10 but the difference was our women and what an incredible ride they had.  Congratulations Tanya, Deneen, Charis, and all our women.  We missed Esther out there but know that she will be there next year and many more years to follow.  I would also like to thank Eric and Thomas for showing great team spirit and hanging back in the second group and not helping anyone in the second pack to get back up to the lead pack once the break was created at Olamana.  I know it was hard to hang back and not help because we all wanted to be there for the lead pack sprint.  It was a little disappointing on the final turn when half the second pack of riders crossed the center line and really gained a huge advantage for the final sprint.  It was nice to see the team cambio not cutting the center line but it also hurt us and no doubt the finish would have been different if everyone didn’t cross the center line.

Our team really looked great in our new team jersey and for those lucky enough to get a new helmet it sure felt great to sport all the new gear.  Thanks so much Ed, I hope we gave Mobi PCS and your new Hele service some great footage.

Congratulations to everyone that volunteered and participated because everyone makes a difference.  I personally was suffering and I’m sorry I didn’t acknowledge your cheers and support but it made a huge difference to keep me focused, positive, and motivated to continue to push myself as much as I could.  Thanks so much to Charles who pulled me up the hill into Kaneohe after Temple Valley .  I had just joined back on to the group after the flat and I was toasted and knew that it was going to be a huge struggle to stay on the lead pack after the feed.  It sure felt like an attack going into the temple valley feed and after it, there was no rest and I was falling back.  Charles came by and I grabbed his wheel and got down the hill with lots of speed but we were still at the back of the pack.  Charles pulled us up with great speed and totally sacrificed his race for me and enable me to make it up with the pack and continue on into Kailua .  Great job Charles and thanks so much.

I think we had five guys in the top 15 and six or more in the top 20, and our women were even better.  Let’s take a nice off season break and come back with a mind set to absolutely dominate next seasons races and Dick Evans.  It would be so awesome to have 5 guys in the top ten next year and 3 women in the top 5.  It is all about team.  Aloha JA

Congratulations again Cambio/Core. This is such a motivational story and it makes me want to get on my bike and start training for next years race already! (If I could only stay up in the front long enough to see all these events unfolding, that would be another story I'll save for next year. Yah, right!) ~Gay