(Orca…whale, get it?)

Sponsorship Director Joao Correia reached into his magic hat and pulled out 5
Orbea Orca’s for exclusive use by the CRCA Jr Development “A” team this season. We love Orbea for a number of reasons, not the least because they have been extraordinarily generous to us. Orbea’s are beautiful, handmade bikes that go rather well with our kit (think stylish blue accents) but most importantly the company itself is a worker-owned cooperative. Our relationship with Orbea allows CRCA Junior Development to pursue our goal of developing a stable of bikes for distribution to incoming development riders. At the end of the season the old bikes will be given to new riders while the “A” squad will receive a fresh crop. Major props to Tony Karklins at Orbea, Joao Correia and the Bicycling Magazine crew for setting this up.
(Update: it has since come to my attention -courtesy of one of the juniors who actually notices these subtle branding nuances- that the bikes Orbea is providing us with are Opals not Orcas. Oops. The whales stay.)