Please check out the links below for some great coverage!

• 8/16/2008 - With her collegiate career as a soccer player concluded, and a degree in history from Vanderbilt University, Sausalito’s Katherine Carroll thought she'd graduate, give up sports, and settle for the life of a recreational athlete. Think again. Five years after leaving school, she found herself wheel-to-wheel with two of cycling’s biggest stars at the U.S. Elite Women’s National Championship road race last week in Southern California. Racing for the Aaron’s Pro Cycling team, Carroll battled with five-time national criterium winner Tina Pic, and 2005 collegiate national champ Brooke Miller.
  
  
  
  Miller got the win, Pic was second and Carroll finished third. Not bad for someone who never expected to race professionally. But, she says, "I don't mind being third to them." Carroll, 27, knows she could have done better. She could have won.
  
  "My biggest regret is that I should have just jumped and gotten a gap," Carroll said. "I waited until 250 meters to go, and at that same time, Brooke was coming up on the left-hand side, and Tina kind of jumped around. We all ended up on different parts of the road than where we started."
  
  And Carroll ended up third. Third in America, in the biggest race of her career, behind two of the best cyclists in the country. But she’s not awed by their presence. To her, Miller and Pic were just two other riders in her race.
  
  "They’re my peers," she said. "Maybe the first time that happens, as a younger rider, you look around and say, ‘Oh my God! I can’t believe I’m here!’ You’re just happy to be there."
  
  And now? "That’s the difference in the last year and a half. I see myself as someone who can beat riders like that."
  
  Like every bike-racing newcomer, Carroll had to start at the bottom. Her first win was in the Category 4 state championships back home in Tennessee, in 2004, riding for the Gran Fondo team.
  
  What’s Gran Fondo? That’s her family’s bike shop in Nashville. In those days, Carroll split her time between racing her bike and working in the shop. Given the choice of the two, she’d have preferred to race more, and work less. All the standing around at the shop had a bad impact on her race results.
  
  "In stage races, I usually did better in the third or forth day when I was recovered from working," Carroll said.
  
  So in early 2006, she made the big leap, leaving the security of the family bike business in Tennessee and relocating to California, to become a full-time pro racer. Her real reasons for moving here aren't all that different from many California newcomers.
  
  "I don’t really like winter time," Carroll said. "I had this illusion that California was warm and sunny all the time. I came out to California that first year to escape winter time." Little did she know that the winter of 2005-2006 would turn out to be one of the wettest on record.
  
  "That was when San Anselmo flooded," she recalled. "In March, it rained 28 out of 31 days. It was an ironic welcoming to California." But thankfully, it did get better. "Since then the weather has been pretty fantastic."
  
  Just two years after relocating from Tennessee, Carroll has become a one-person chamber of commerce for this part of the Golden State, telling her friends and family back home, "Come out to California. Come ride your bike and drink wine. We have some of the best things in the world out here." She’s seen a whole lot of the world since turning pro on her bike. "I got to travel a fair amount for soccer when I played, but I feel really lucky that I kind of stumbled into the cycling thing." And now? "Now this is my life. I’m going all over the world to ride my bike."
  
  Bike racing has taken her from New Zealand to Italy, and points in between. Back home in Marin, her job sounds very idyllic. "My day at the office is drinking coffee, sitting on my saddle and eating a big meal when I get home. It’s a pretty good life." She can live that life thanks in part to the support of her partner, an environmental attorney in San Francisco, allowing Carroll to concentrate on racing as a pro.
  
  It’s a life much different from what she left back home in Tennessee. Both her personal and professional achievements have exceeded her expectations, but Carroll firmly believes she can do better. Third place last week was nice, but she wants to be a national champion, and wear the stars-and-stripes jersey that goes to the winner.
  
  "Nobody remembers anything but who’s wearing the stars and stripes," she said.
  
  Remember the name Katherine Carroll. She could bring the red, white and blue back to Marin someday soon.
  
  
• 7/25/2008 - Currently 5 Aaron's riders are racing in Europe at the Thuringen Rundfarhrt der Frauen (2.1 UCI event) in Germany with their respective National Teams. At the conclusion of Stage 3, Felicia Gomez had pulled on the Queen of the Mountain Jersey and has opened up her lead in the competition in today's Stage 4 of the event.
• 7/17/2008 - Catherine Powers and Meredith Miller Attend Specialized event in Copper, CO - Team members Meredith Miller and Catherine Powers were able to squeeze in a trip up to Copper Mountain for the Specialized Dealer Event as representatives of the Designs for Women brand. Meredith and Catherine ride with two dealer from Mexico and Columbia.
• 7/17/2008 - Aaron's Visit to Erik's Bicycle Shop - While the Aaron's Team puts a lot of their energy into racing, the team is also spending time connecting with Specialized Dealers and their customers. Here are a couple of photos from the team's visit to Erik's Bicycle Shop in Minneapolis during the Nature Valley Grand Prix. It was a really fun group ride and the ride leader even managed to squeeze in a trip up the finishing climb of the time trial!
  
• 4/24/2008 - An interview that Kat Carroll did during the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Kat has also been given a video camera and we will be excited to see what her creativity brings us! - Read More
• 3/18/2008 - Check out the coverage on IBN World Cycling Channel! Click below to watch the Sequoia Classic Kid's Race! - Read More
• 3/6/2008 - Another great article featuring an Aaron's Rider. Featured here is one on Anna Lang from La Jolla, CA. - Read More
• 2/27/2008 - Aaron's Team Member, Katharine Carroll (Green Sprinters Jersey) makes podium after Day 1 of the NZCT Women's Tour of New Zealand!
  
• 2/21/2008 - The Aaron's Women were invited to attended a VIP Grand Opening Event at the newest Specialized Concept Store in California after the Amgen Tour of California.
  
• Aaron's, Felicia Gomez, will be the guest speaker on Aussie Radio "Triple R's - Run Like You Stole Something". Interviewing her is her long time mate, Justin Kemp. He will be speaking to her about her current research as well as cycling and the Aaron's Team! This should be airing Friday at 2:00pm Pacific Time which makes it 5:00pm Eastern Time tomorrow so hope you can listen in! - Read More
• 2/8/2008 - Check out another nice write-up on the Daily Peloton site! - Read More
• 2/4/2008 - Here is another release of the ATOC Women's Criterium with quote from ACF Anna Lang on the dailypeloton. - Read More
• 2/4/2008 - Cycling News blurb on the ATOC Women's Criterium - Read More
• Team preview on Road Bike Review - Read More
• Gear preview on Road Bike Review - Read More
• Visit Specialized to see our Team's Profile Page - Read More
• 2 Members make the US National Team:
  This season both Carmen McNellis and Katharine Carroll will racing several races with the US National Team abroad. In January they were part of the US National Team's annual and testing camp in Murray, UT.
  You can read more at:
  USA Cycling.org - Read More
  Daily Peloton.com - Read More
• Check out Katharine Carroll
  Cycling News.com - Read More
  NBC Olympics.com - Read More