I Ride COURAGE

Changing Gears

2011-02-08T20:42:00.007-06:00

I was in Asheville, North Carolina, at the airport with a little time to kill. It was late summer of 2007 and I hadn't talked with Aaron in a couple of months so I rang him in Portland to catch up. He told me he was going to UBI to try his hand at making custom bikes. Aaron needed to be reinvigorated - he had burned himself out designing traditional consumer products and saw handmade bikes as an opportunity to be inspired again. By the time we got off the phone I had involved my self in Aaron's adventure - I wasn't going to be there to make the bikes, but I new I could support him in many other ways. Game on.

Aaron is the most methodical and talented designer I've ever worked with. I knew we could make something valuable, a product, a brand - a statement cyclists could get excited about. Well, here we are, three and a half years later, and we've done it. Using design as our voice, and with the support of a lot of good people, we have an established channel for expressing our opinions about what makes a good bike and how best to invigorate cyclists - purpose, honesty, beauty.

However, we're making a few changes at COURAGE. We will continue to use design as our voice for engaging the cycling world. We will continue to produce bikes. We will continue to explore how to be a productive entity in the bike industry. The main change you will see is Aaron will not be making bespoked frames, not for the foreseeable future. I'm testing the best ways to build limited run race bikes to embody our ideas and create valuable products.

COURAGE is not done exploring. Watch for new projects and new inspiration to come out of the studio. You can stay tuned to the latest happenings at Chicago.CX, where COURAGE is proudly supporting their elite race team.

Group B Videos

2011-01-05T12:01:00.004-06:00

Liftoff

Source: Un Poco de Todo

You all know Group B rally racing is rad. I stumbled across two great videos last night. One is set poetically in slow-mo to classical music, the other is guns-blazing-full-boost-crowd-threatening-raw.

Chicago Bike Community

2011-01-02T13:36:00.009-06:00

Can I help you?

Pic: Luke Seeman

I started this season in April with a desperate, empty attempt to stay on an RVB group ride. I failed, hard. I was still 20 miles from home and seriously hurting. We're all big kids out there, everyone knows if you get dropped, you need to be ready to handle it on your own - equipment, fuel, and the know-how to get home. However, for me, at that moment I wasn't just physically empty, I was mentally checked out.

We've all been there. Unable to assess the situation, so shelled you couldn't even form a survival plan. It could be a drawn out moment, 60 miles into a grueling Saturday ride as the pace steadily picks up and you steadily fade. It can also be instantaneous, like charging towards a set of barriers without a thought in the world about dismounting because there is no blood going to your brain.

On that sunny April day I got lucky when my buddy Jim turned around and road back to me. He assessed the situation, got me to eat, then told me to sit in and proceeded to pull me back to the group over the next 30 minutes. We made the catch with just a couple miles left. Instead of wondering why my form was so far off and stew around the house all afternoon, I was pumped all day. Thanks Jim.

We can also find ourselves in need of help off the bike. This season I got some incredible support from the crew at Roscoe Village Bikes. Shipping logistics, last minute repairs, locating hard to get parts, planning, etc - these guys really helped Mike and I run a successful 2010 campaign for COURAGE.

Ever have a change of plans that's free up a weekend and offers another chance to race, only to find out cyclocross is so popular in Chicago that the race is full? I'll use an alias in case it's somehow against the rules to help a guy out, but race promoter "Jris Chensen" did me a big solid by getting me in the race in exchange for a $20 gift certificate to use as a prime for his race. Word.

Every weekend at the ChiCrossCup events I saw people helping each other out. Need a tube? A beer? A place to warm up? Need encouragement? Bacon? Advice about the fastest line? The Chicago cycling community has got your back.

Awesome.

One Small Step

2010-12-17T14:01:00.017-06:00

Montrose Harbor is home to my favorite race of the year. It was where I watched my first cross race, where later I competed in my first cross race and where I had my best finish, ever. The crap conditions, technical nature of the courses and huge crowds feed every craving my cyclocross super-ego begs of me.

Pic: Tipping Point Photo

This year about mid-way through the season, when I finally got into the call ups, I knew I wanted to podium at Montrose. That desire became serious motivation at 5:ooam on bitter cold, pitch black mornings.

This year, Montrose once again delivered all the best parts of cyclocross. What follows is the launch sequence and subsequent flight that is The Illinois State Cyclocross Championships.

T-4 Weeks
The race in Woodstock was run on a great new course. More compact and more technical. I cracked the top five for the first time all season and was seeing my form take shape. I was in the call ups and feeling good.

Pic: Luke Seemann

T-3 Weeks
Indian Lakes Day 2 was hard. The wind was relentless and insulting, and ended up being a major player. I had a good race and was able to dig deeper than I had all Fall. I finally beat young David Lambardo - kid is fast - realized I was starting to put together clean races on demanding courses. 8th place felt good.

T-2 Weeks
Northbrook was another great course. After a per-ride, I thought a top five was doable. The course suited me, I had been on the bike a lot, and I knew the railroad ties and a few other spots would let me open up gaps on some of the less technical guys.

Pic: Chip Williams

Hole shot. Then David Lombardo and I took off with a gap. Chip Williams made me look like a star with a beautiful shot of me skying the railroad ties. I got around the first lap in the top five or six, then I tired to ride the run up out of the woods. I had cleaned it on my pre-ride and first lap, but ended up jamming my chain under the inner keeper and loosing about 10 spots. Then I crashed trying to catch back on, then I through my chain again trying to revenge the run-up. I finished 25th... and barely stayed in the points for the call up at Montrose. Lesson learned, run up the run-up.

BTW, that was my fist and second dropped chain on my bike in almost three years of racing.

T-1 Week
Thanksgiving weekend I had my whole family in town and was going to host a five course avant-garde meal. Laura and I had been planning, practicing and prepping for weeks. Then I got sick. Horribly sick. Just like last year, but not on the weekend of the race. I was able to serve Thanksgiving on Saturday and it turned out pretty good. However, I'm already looking forward to a simple, delicious, classic meal at next years Thanksgiving.

T-3 Days
The weather man says snow. I'm getting pumped.

T-1 Hour
I pre-ride the course for a second time - it was perfect. Turin built a great variation on last year's course and Mother Nature coated it in a crusty white layer of awesome. I found a few corners where the worn line was pretty icy, but with a different apex you could get around faster if you were confident in the deeper snow. This was the first time I also stopped and tried a few different lines in a pre-ride. It was a confidence booster.

T-30 Minutes
Hemme makes his move in the 1/2/3 race. Fourth place is meaningless, he wanted in, he wanted on the podium.

T-10 Minutes
Hemme is on the podium and everyone is cheering like mad. Hemme gets a lot of love out here - dude is fast, exciting to watch and couldn't be nicer. Word.

Pic: Velogrrl

T-5 Minutes
I get out of the car, high five some of the Roscoe Village guys, and eat a caffeinated gu.

T-2 Minutes
Snuggy off.

Pic: Velogrrl

00:00:00
Hole shot!

Pic: Luke Seemann

T+5 Minutes
I'm holding everyone off and real thoughts of the podium begin coursing through my head.

T+ 6 Minutes
I'm loving the course - it sucks so good.

Pic: Insightful Exposures

T+8 Minutes
Just gave up my lead to Bryan Lee and an overly aggressive junior from EXPO. I cannot loose another place or the podium is gone.

T+10 Minutes
The three of us battle pretty aggressively after the big lake front sand pit. In the following half a dozen corners I think there were five passes made and I finally get back ahead of them. Then I hear them tangle and I step on the gas to open up a gap.

T+14 Minutes
Brian Hague comes flying by. I had been hoping the fast man of the 4As wouldn't be able to get his power down in the shitty course conditions, but it wasn't the case.

T+20 Minutes
Tim Holt of BSM comes by me with a lot of speed on a straight and I just couldn't react in time. I worked hard to stay close but he's riding fast and smooth.

T+24 Minutes
Lew from Rhythm Racing had been giving me splits throughout the race - helpful on such a stressful course. Turns out my friendly nemesis all season long, Half Acre's own, Paul-Brian Mcinerney was closing... I know Paul-Brian is a mountain biker so he's loving this course too, and he's fast and knows he can beat me, so I have to start digging deeper. Anyone have a flashlight?

T+28 Minutes
I'm keeping it together. I haven't crashed, and I have the course figured out. I just have to keep it together up and over Cricket Hill and around a few more icy corners.

T+30 Minutes
Finish line in sight. Third place! I did it, and it felt good.

T+35 Minutes
While the third place finisher doesn't actually have a step on the CCC podium, it still felt like being on the podium to me. I think next year I'm going to donate a 2'x2' sheet of plywood just for all the third place finishers.

Pic: Velogrrl

Quick Thanks
Thank you CCC, thank you Turin, and thank you officials, fans, and racers. I'm organizing a longer community focused thank you entry to get into more details, but until then, you all rock.

Nobody Does it Better...

2010-11-03T15:48:00.002-05:00

...than the Chicago Cross Cup!

Word

Pic: Chip Williams

COURAGE Bicycles on Velonews

2010-10-27T13:05:00.003-05:00

Who doesn't love a little press? Looks like COURAGE's Joel Madrone made it on Velonews.com.

Sunny and muddy?

Pic: Pat Malach for Oregon Cycling Action

CCC Race Catch Up

2010-10-20T12:54:00.007-05:00

Hello Blog, it's me, Jonathan... It's been a while but for my own vanity I want to drop a few brief race reports. Later in the week I've got a big community post that'll go up.

Hup Hup Hup

DeKalb set

I love Half Acre Cycling, and I love Iowa, so how could I say no to the Dekalb race. Fun course, some awesome high speed flowy corners, but lacking some really tech stuff. Unless you count the flyover - which was awesome. It's fast downhill approach, short top deck, and g-out transition quickly separated the mountain bikers from the road guys.

I had a good race. Battled out front for a bit then found my groove and held on for my first top 20 finish of the year.

Dirt Bags

Elvis Cross set

Beverly Bike Vee-Pak went two for two with their race. Last year they introduced a real crusher of a course, and this year it was more of the same, plus Elvis and all his accoutrements. Even with some of the big power sections this was a mountain biker's course - killer hill, tight loomy corners, and a few gravity fed sections that required more skill and less braking.

If you were comfortable laying the bike through the corners and getting a little drift in your skift then there were big time gains to be had. I'm born and raised a dirt bag and I railed corners all day on the south side to close gaps on the guys that are typically faster than me. I walked a way with my first top 10 of the year and huge grin.

My dirt bag instincts were on high alert as John Kalnins (pictured above) flew by me in one of the downhill sweepers. I later learned he was a factory DH racer - awesome.

Charge!

Pic: Luke Seemann

I was a double looser last weekend at Psycho Cross. First, I lost the opening lap prime in the last 50m even with a solid holeshot. I had given it everything, lost the lead, picked it back up, stayed on the gas, lost the lead, launched a big attack at the double barrier, got the lead, got passed with 50m to go, got passed with 30m to go, then made it up the flyover - so close, yet so far.

Then after suffering on the power course (curse you long straightaways!) and earning my way into overall top 10 standings I couldn't make the Sunday race and missed out on a call up (curse you responsibility!). Kyle and Brian, I'm coming for you.

As a lead in to my next post I've got to say the guys racing in the 4As are awesome. We heckled, encouraged, and raced hard against each other all in the name of good fun and maybe a little post race puke. The community that is Chicagoland cyclocross rocks.

Madison USGP: Shouda' Been a Gunslinger

2010-09-27T12:45:00.020-05:00

This is going to be a long one. Big props, new faces, some tech notes, an R rated description of PRO cyclocross, a couple of tails from a gunslinger, tips on buying craft jerky, and how to bet on pigs.

Big Props

Sunday morning at registration I overheard 487 people were registered to race. I inquired how many more they expected to register and was told if it was like Saturday maybe 20 or 25 more racers would be on the final manifest.

The Chi Cross Cup opener in Jackson Park had 541. Bam x 30 peeps yo! Chicago is getting it done with huge, fast fields and a great scene. Word.

Saturday Cat 4

Too hot to handle

This was my first USGP event. When I preroad the course a few details jump out at me. It is walled from start to finish, very video game like. Where it's not taped there are full on walls made with sponsor banners - not forgiving of sloppy handling. This was made more dramatic by how tight some of the course got. There were going to be some major bottlenecks on the first couple laps. All in all it was an exceptional course with a lot of varied terrain and a wicked run up.

Aaron's advice to me was go until you think you're going to puke, then back off a bit. I took that one to the bank. I got a front row start and was feeling pretty jumpy. When the gun went off so did I - I gave it everything. Holeshot baby! I had it, I couldn't believe it. I ran through the gears and entered the first corner with a gap. WTF?! A gap. They announced my name over the PA! I made it to the back side of the course where Laura and my girls were cheering and I totally surprised them. It was awesome. Then I started to feel the tempo rob me of power. In hindsight I think I burned about five of my eight matches on the first lap. Four laps to go.

I started counting spots. Can I hold on to top five? Top 10? When Forest from Johnny Sprokets and Mike Gregor from RVBR came ripping by, I new I was going down. Those two were moving at into the top 10 and I couldn't hold on. I did my best impression of a washed up heavy weight prize fighter sloggin it out until the twelth round. When the bell rang for the last lap I swore to myself I was going to pass someone. It took until the last 50m, but I did it at the line again for 18th. Race one in the bag and not far from my goal of a top 15. I needed to refuel.

Food

The fam and I rolled into Madison for the farmers market to find some much needed nutriment. We had the famous cheese bread. It was good, like a nice savory challah with cheese and crushed red pepper, but it was pretty low tech. I was looking for something to really blow my mind. Like a decedent, blueberry and cheese danish. Home run. It was flaky, a little chewy, and had a deep center overflowing with sweet marscarpone cheese and fresh blueberry filling.

Butter, sugar, cheese, fruit

Next up was some local cheese. A sheep and cow mix with a beer washed skin. Firmer than I expected it to be but delicious sliced on a fresh baguette. Last but not least, home made jerky. Here's some advice, if the jerky has a litany of ingredients it won't be good.

Pro

The pro race was incredible. Almost indescribable, but I'm going to take a shot at what it looked like watching Hemme represent COURAGE in the biggest show on Earth.

Run for your life!

Check out some more USGP pics

Imagine how hard you would push yourself if you were being chased by an angry, hungry bear. How fast would you run knowing a half ton animal wanted to spread your abdominal kit all over the woods? Now imagine you're being chased down a twisty narrow gauntlet with various incarnations of slick, catawampus surfaces. Can you feel the bear getting closer? Finally, top it all off by wearing an ego mincing, one piece spandex clown suit while you're heckled by hundreds of spectators until your certain death.

When the moment arrives, your will succumbs and the predator flays you. You stare out into the nearly silent world with only your heart beat pounding in your head and you beginning to wonder why you volunteered your life for such a spectacle.

Then, as the fear exits the fibers of your body, and you realize your still alive and there was no bear, just the fastest cyclocrossers on the continent, you remember why you race. Incalculable glory. Men cheer, women throw cupcakes, children shout your name and want to stand next to you. People take your picture and blog about it. You just survived 60 minutes of Jurasic Park meets Running Man. You are a god among mortals. On Saturday, watching Mike Hemme race for COURAGE as a pro was awesome. Mike, you are the man.

People

It was great to see so many Chicago people up in the land of cheese. Roscoe Village Bikes Racing had some great finishes in the Cat 4. A lot of Pegasus, Johnny Sprocket, xXx and The Bone Bell regulars where representing Chicago. And The Pony Shop saw strong finishes from the always fast Holly Klug, 13th in the Pro women event, and Mike Sheer with an awesome 25th place in the Pro mens race.

I got to hang with the the My Wife Inc crew a bit too - good folks from Kansas City and Milwaukee. They made the vibe in parking lot PRO and chill all at once.

Race Tech

Talking with Molly I got a nice look at her one-off Indy Fab carbon cross bike. It is exceptional up close. For a first gen/prototype the fit and finish were superb. Based on all the hard work that went into the bike expect IF to be selling these next season.

PRO

Pic: Sage Brown

"All the pros run tubies." Nope. The French National Champion, Francis Mourey, the dude that is winning everything in the States right now, he did it all on clinchers. I have one less excuse in my arsenal.

Sunday Cat 4

Give 'er

Pic: Nikki Cyp

I got the same front row starting spot on Sunday. Bang! gun goes off and I took a monster holeshot again. I should have been a gunslinger. My fast twitch muscles were dialed all weekend. This time I kept the lead well into the second lap. Then setting up for a fast gravel corner I washed out in the wet, greasy corner before it. Shit. I lost so much ground in the second lap the MC heckled me about getting lost when I came through so far back.

I was going as deep as I could. I fought better for position on Sunday, then I suffered the obligatory mid race pass from Forest and Mike and a few more guys. I was racing better, I made a few big moves on the last lap and took back two additional spots on the last run up and in the final straight. 15th place, mission accomplished.

Apple Holler

Holeshot!

My family could not have been a better cheering section for me this weekend. Thanks girls. After Sunday's race we headed to Apple Holler south of Milwaukee. Brats, pig races (always pick the ringer that lines up backwards), pony rides and of course a bunch of apple pickin'. It was a nice way to wrap up the weekend.

Little travlers

Jackson Park Race Weekend

2010-09-20T11:14:00.010-05:00

Drum roll please. And the winner of the Chicago Cross Cup Tshirt contest is... Word Jumper. Duh. With all the voting shenanigans that went on in the last few days I feel a bit like Jan Ullrich on the podium next to Lance Armstrong. Be sure to get a tshirt to support the CCC, WBR and show the world there is such a thing as cyclocross.

Always a bridesmaid...

Pro/2/3

I was heckled pretty well yesterday, but mostly because Hemme is my teammate. The context: Hemme had a great race earlier in the day, me, not so much.

Mike started in the second row which can cause a few problems for the guys who got the lottery-system first row call ups for the season opener. When an elite racer hears the whistle it's like dropping a match in five gallon bucket of gasoline. Bam! Equal parts instantaneous power and complete disregard for anything around. I'm sure Mike's aggressiveness caught a few guys in the front row by surprise. After a 150m drag race and a couple of corners he sat in fifth wheel.

Battle

Pic: Insightful Exposures

The lead group opened a pretty big gap on the nearly 2 mile first lap. Then it was classic battle, swords bloodied, shields dented. McLaughlin opened a gap a few laps in, Mike made some big pulls, then I saw him contemplating if he should rip his rear shifter off the bike. The hood had rotated 180 degrees and jacked his shifting. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The 15 or 20 seconds it would have taken to fix it would have meant a nearly impossible chase back to the lead group. Mike road it out for a great fourth place finish to officially kick off his cross season.

4A

My Hemme face

Pic: Sage Brown

I had about one of everything in Sunday's race. It started with a call up to the second row as a consolation prize for being the first looser in the tshirt contest.

Cole Trickle

Next up, I caused a pretty little ditty of a crash in the second corner. Sorry everyone. I was sitting just outside the top ten when I tried to set up for the corner and tuned my wheel directly into the back of someone. I almost saved it but instead ended up getting a tire burn on my arm as I made my way to mother Earth. I got up quick and tried to keep it together.

The second lap was a little clumsy too, I was stopped once behind a wreck and got slowed down going over someone's bike that went down directly in front of me. I'm pretty sure someone called me Slow Hemme as I came by - like Danny Devito and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Lap three was my best. I was warmed up and pretty clear headed, and wanted to do some productive racing. I made four passes, three of them in the more technical parts of the course and the final one was a bike throw at the line for 22nd place.

All. Most. There.

Pic: Dave Cushman

Big thanks to the Chicago Cross Cup and xXx for starting the season off right. It should be interesting to see how the growth of the sport, the new rules, and all the new faces shape this season. If there is one barometer we can use to judge the health of our local scene it is the participation of so many badass women racers. As it has been since the beginning of time, where there are women, there will be men.

Mountain Biking Plus Hoonage Equals Cyclocross

2010-09-16T12:43:00.006-05:00

Surfing a few of my favorite blogs this week turned up some premium video watching.

MTB+H11=CX

First I ran into the Life Cycles clip on Benlikesbikes. I cannot figure out how the teaser eluded my radar for so long. It is stunning. Then I saw a new Ken Block Gymkhana video on Autoblog. Ken always takes hoonage to 11.

Enjoy!

Chicago Cross Cup Tshirt Contest

2010-09-10T11:26:00.006-05:00

I don't spend enough of my time designing for the pure joy of it. When I saw the Chicago Cross Cup was hosting a tshirt contest I decided to give it a go, albeit a late go. I submitted my design 45 minutes before the midnight deadline this morning...

The Concept

Where will the 2010 Chi Cross Cup take us? Deep into the bowels of the Pain Cave? Sure. But also on a Autumn mecca from one race course to the next. Each stop providing a slue of experiences.

The Sketch

A little doodle with Ruby the other night after dinner proved I could make something clever out the the map concept.

The Execution

I'm pleased with my final submission. A graphic that will let the racers and the rest of the traveling circus anticipate what will happen, then as the season unfolds, provide a trigger to recall the experiences they had at each event. You can check out the comp here to watch it unfold.

Unseasonally Cyclocross Weather

2010-09-04T11:29:00.010-05:00

Few things make me smile when I get up at 6am on a Saturday morning - but a surprise 53 degree weather report in early September somehow pulled one from my tired face. Had I not been headed to Montrose for a little off road workout the cool temps would have been a bummer, but with cross just around the corner it gave the ride a bit more validity.

A few other signs I encountered this week said the cross season is here...

Fresh kits

The smell of rotting leaves

Little girls imitating dad's weekend shenanigans

A big pile of stolen dreams

My seasonal farewell to The Tube-I-Hate-to-Love

I've had this pesky tube for three years. Its valve is 2mm shy of being the perfect length. Everytime I fill up my front tire I have to do this obnoxious little dance where I hold the pump to the valve with one hand and use my gut to pump the last 10 psi because my arm is too weak to get the tire all the way to 105psi. I'm usually doing this half asleep at 5am in a poorly lit basement with my sunglasses on. I'm talking real pain in the ass here. But the tube keeps on ticking - never a flat. It's been remounted four or five times with three different tires and it just keeps going. I hope I didn't just jinx the poor thing.

Design and Bikes

2010-08-31T07:45:00.003-05:00

Nice bicycle related design pieces from two of my favorite sites.

Information design

Source: Flowing Data

Social communication

Source: Good

Too Much Fun

2010-08-30T08:48:00.008-05:00

Diagram 1

Last weekend's tag team race set the bar high for this years CX season. xXx designed a fun course with a good mix to get us ready for the fall - multiple surface transitions, a few loomy spots, a never ending spiral, good power sections, some high speed bob and weave corners, and an off cambered section that felt like a pump track on its side. The day was sweltering, beg-for-mercy hot. And the tag team element set the perfect tone for letting everyone go full tilt but not taking anything too seriously. Lucky me, my girls were there too to cheer me on too.

I raced in the 30+ Master with Mike as my partner, all COURAGE all the time. We went off in a combined race with the 40+ guys too. This meant I was sharing the race course with most of the fastest racers around Chicago. Fortunately, I was partnered with one of them. For all my Cat 4 brethren, let it be know these fast men put down the kind of power that makes you feel like you're in reverse when they pass you. Awesome and embarrassing in one short moment.

The start was chaos, see diagram 1 above. The racers taking the first lap lined up Le Mans style, sans bike, about 50 meters away on the start/finish line. The partners stood in the hand off zone holding their partners bike to prevent $30k with of carbon fiber catastrophes as the stampede came through.

Mike Hemme is fast, bullet train fast, and tall, basketball player tall. So when he came charging through the bikes at me I felt like I was the idiot who decided to run with the bulls in Pamplona on a dare. Of course after Mike there were 40 or 50 other guys too. Chaos, pure chaos, and fun!

So Mike puts down the kind of opening lap I needed him to. With two other guys he opens a huge gap, maybe 20 seconds. I jump on and give it my all. I hold off all but one guy. Make it back to him and nearly take myself out in the hand off zone trying to sprint to Mike. When you race with someone like Mike you do anything you can to respect the time he puts into the competition.

The race goes on and on, 75 minutes in total. There were many hand offs, a lot of super fast laps from Mike, a lot of sweat, a lot of laps where I tried my best, and in the end we pulled out a 4th place.

By the time I made it home Mike was lining up for the 1/2/3 (he took 2nd with Scott McLaughlin of SRAM!). In that crazy heat I cannot believe all those guys raced again, and for 90 minutes. Insane.

Click here to check out a set of a pics of what the hand offs looked like.

Thanks again to xXx for starting things off right!

Preseason

2010-08-27T14:42:00.006-05:00

You don't want any of this

Tag team! Mike and I are going to rumble in the 30+ at Sundays xXx Relay Cross. My CX bike is in pieces at the moment and Mike is going to be jetting in from some where last minute so we'll probably be a pretty clumsy duo. I've got to credit xXx for planning a clever preseason race to help us warm up to the cold, grim reality of cross. Grim reality like later in the day Mike is going to punish himself with Chicago fast man Scott McLaughlin in the 1/2/3.

Speaking of fast men, James Lalonde moved to Chitown a few weeks ago and will be making his presence known in a lot of the Chi Cross Cup races. He'll be flying Planet Bike colors, but is often found on a gorgeous single speed Ellis.

Cyclists Take Heed

2010-08-19T12:52:00.006-05:00

From today's New York Times-

"Federal authorities have decided to indict Roger Clemens on charges of making false statements to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to two people briefed on the matter."

Holiday

2010-08-17T13:30:00.004-05:00

Free ride

I was in Pittsburgh and the Laurel Mountains last week spending time with the family and celebrating my aunt and uncle's 50th.

I spent one day with my cousin bombing down the mountain at Seven Springs Ski Resort. I haven't been treated to gravity assisted trail riding since my last trip to Whistler in 2001 - and I have no idea why I waited so long. Seven Springs has a nice, if limited, trail network but everything was super flowy and well maintained. Now I'm motivated to hit the pump track in The Garden at Clark Park.

Crafty

In Pittsburgh I noticed this trick paint job on a fixie outside the Apple store. Look closely and you'll notice its blue masking tape with whiteout checkers and a packaging tape clear coat. From five feet away looked original.

I was stoked to see so many people on bikes in Pittsburgh. The city has some wildly large hills that don't seem to deter anyone. And while it's safe to say the bike culture in Pittsburgh is alive and well, I must say the lamb is dead and medium.

Who doesn't spit roast a lamb for family gatherings?

Good Morning

2010-08-04T08:19:00.004-05:00

Belmont Harbor 05:15

Monroe Harbor 06:20

By 07:00 the sky was asphalt grey. At 07:05 sheets of rain where drenching downtown Chicago. Fortunately, I was already at Intelligentsia enjoying a proper double espresso.

It Hurts So Good

2010-08-02T08:01:00.008-05:00

Flying

Source: letterlust

What a difference an hour makes. My weekend rides typically begin at 6am - I roll out of Roscoe Village Bikes with a few friends and we make our way north. However, Saturday we gifted ourselves an extra hour of shuteye and it changed the whole day.

What I had expected to be three of us riding tempo instantaneously became six, when three more guys where lingering out side the shop. Austin on his CX bike, Alex, back on the bike after a nasty crash, and Hemme, with some "Don't worry, I raced, put in an extra 50 miles, and drank a lot of beer yesterday" story about how he promised not to crush us.

15 minutes later the growing group trend continued when we saw two Half Acre kits up the road. Hemme turned the screws and we made the catch to discover Zach and Sean. Zach and I have been talking about trying to ride together all year - and as luck would have it, there we were, on the same ride. This extra hour was already having a dramatic effect on my ride.

But hey, why stop at eight guys. At a red light in Evanston the Judson ride came by and we saw a few familiar face. Lew, from Rhythm Racing calls me out, and Alex seems to know half the guys so we catch onto the back of Judson when the light turns. Like Zach, Lew and I have been trying to find a way to ride together, but my early schedule doesn't jive with Lew's late schedule. The day was shaping up to be good, real good.

Of course, this was supposed to be a tempo day with a couple of friends. Now I was in the tail end of one of Chicago's fastest group rides. 10 minutes later me and 70 guys are ripping along, at one point I look down and were doing 35mph. BTW, after an 18 month hiatus I've got a computer on my bike.

A few miles past Highland Park the fractured remains of our original eight peel off for some hill work around Fort Sheridan. Ouch.

At this point everyone is feeling a little beat up so Hemme settles in up front and pulls us south at a steady 23/24mph. I'm freaked by two things about this little fact. First, Hemme is without a computer but keeps the speed super consistent, second, this is supposed to be his easy pace...

Enter the scooter. On Sheridan Road, just south of Tower we open it up a little more, 26, 27, then over our left shoulder we hear the droning buzz of a scooter. Hemme doesn't think twice and calmly pulls in behind the driver. I've motor paced a Jeep and a landscaping trailer with mixed results this year in the same place, but this time the driver was cool with us. Game on.

We hit 30 and Hemme is trying to get the guy to go faster but no dice, so I jump off and give it my all to escape. I pull by and maintain for about 30 seconds until my legs start to fade and the train comes by me. I burn one more match to catch back on and we go for a while longer before the scooter pulls off the road. Hot damn! That was fun.

Somewhere near Devon Hemme declares his intentions to finish his ride at bake. It's important to know Mike Hemme takes food seriously, and when he starts talking about how it was started by someone from the Ritz and it's been a long time since he tasted a better use of butter I was happy to give it a try. After digging into a heirloom tomato tart, a savory scone with sweet jam and some of Hemme's super crazy delicous muffin with cream and fruit I was sold. If you're cruising around Wicker Park and need a treat - stop by bake.

Had I rolled out for my normal 6am ride my day would have been so different...

I Don't Care - All Natural, Jiffy, Peter Pan - Just Make It Smooth

2010-07-26T12:42:00.007-05:00

Extreme

On Saturday Ruby and I checked out some wild BMX action at the Dew Tour. These BMX kids are crazy smooth. When Nys bunny hops a barrier we all get giddy, but when a 16 year old rocks a 1080 Turn Down off a six foot kicker and lands ninja quite ten feet from you face there is just no way to compare the two. A big old fat "What the fuck!" is all I could piece together in my head. Even after two hours of course side action Ruby and I were mesmerized. Check out some of the action here.

The gear head in me also noticed a lot of ti spokes. Seemed strange until I heard an interview of a PRO talking about how much he liked the way they looked. Kids.

BTW, check out Part II from the the Boston Globe's TdF cover in The Big Picture.

Rest Day

2010-07-21T08:16:00.008-05:00

Will power

pic: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

For all of us used to viewing Tour photography in low res on cyclingnews.com, velonews.com etc. I gift you this link to The Boston Globe's, The Big Picture section. While you're pining for tomorrows battle, enjoy these beautiful shots from the first half of the race.

Function

Un-rest-day-like, I met up with Hemme, Ben, and some friendly Half Acre guys for coffee after everyone suffered in their own private hells masked with the unassuming name of "My Workout." I love the bikes of fast men like Hemme and Ben, they have sweet hi-po bikes set up for getting faster, not looking faster - frame pumps, mismatch wheels, various computers and their associated wires, grim. Standing still the bikes are a little gorky and unassuming - at speed your imagination erases the training paraphernalia and replaces it with your jealous aspirations.

Horribly Hilly Hundreds

2010-06-25T14:08:00.017-05:00

Friday
21:00 Rollout - I hit the road for my 4th year at the Horribly Hilly Hundreds. I'm meeting up with some of the RVBR guys and an old friend in Madison. The event always delivers. Its roads are a bulk of the proposed 2016 Olympic course, part of the Madison Ironman, and were featured last year in a Rapha Continental ride. No one completes the course wanting for more, except a few Ironmen-to-be who feel compelled to swap shoes and eek out a run afterwords just to erase any chance of leaving lovely Blue Mounds, WI with a smile on their face.

22:00 Deluge - The threat of rain materializes into a traffic halting display of wind, water and voltage. I average 30 mph behind a semi for nearly an hour.

23:30 The Peoples Hotel - This year I try out a new travel/sleeping arrangement to ensure I arrive at the start on time and rested. I arrive in the parking lot of Mount Horeb High School where I intend to get six hours of sleep in my VW. In years past I tried various combinations of rollout times and sleeping accommodations and was never able to get more than three or four hours of shuteye before the ride. I thought I had a surefire plan to beat that measly record.

Saturday
02:20 Fire Drill - I was in a deep, satisfying sleep in the back of my car - windows cracked, a cool 65 degrees with a light breeze keeping my three season bag comfy. When out of the darkness a huge blaring fire truck parks 100 feet from my car. Sigh. Apparently the fire alarm went off in the high school. An hour later it's quite and I'm asleep.

05:30 Damn it's Bright - The sun is up and so am I. Sigh. I think I got about four hours of disjointed sleep. Not what I wanted before a 68 mile ride in the hilliest corner or Wisconsin.

07:30 An Embarrassing Display - Mike and Chris of RVBR and our friend Randy drop into the valley from atop the 1200' peak of Blue Mounds State Park where the event culminates and our cars are parked. I know I picked on Ironmen earlier, but at least they're tough. A quarter of the way down the road from the peak there were two gravel sections, each about 100' long. Nothing treacherous, nothing step, nothing to worry about for anyone with enough experience to dare the Horribly Hilly - so how come 90% of the participants walked the sections?! Come on roadies, step it up a little. It was tamped down gravel. In half the world it would have been called a paved road. Is this acceptable roadie etiquette? I think not.

08:15 Lost No More - Last year my friend and I made every wrong turn imaginable. This year I was error free and got to ride the first nasty climb of the course. It felt good. I kept a solid tempo up the 700 vertical foot jaunt and wasn't deterred by the 18% gradient. It was going to be a good day.

09:00" Say Cheese Curds" - We stop to take a picture, l to r, Randy, Mike and Chris. After logging thousands of miles in and around Chicago it's always a treat to get out in the county.

12:00 Clear Signals - Unlike last year, as I approaching the final climb I was feeling good. No cramping, no excuses, just the will to clean the last three miles and 900' of elevation in one strong push.

12:?? Finish with Nothing - Back in the 90's one of my friends who had just started racing for the University of Missouri taught me to finish with nothing. Race or not - always finish strong. I've really taken this to heart. Every cross race, every Saturday sprint, whether I have much to give or not, I give it.

The beauty of riding the same route each year means now I can anticipate the most difficult sections. When I new I was entering the last 100 meters, where all the family members hang out to cheer you on over then last 23% pitch, I was able to drop a handful of gears. I flew towards the finish much to the surprise of the labored, red, sweaty faces of my fellow participants. 20 feet after the finish line I was laid out in the shade loving the euphoric emptiness in my body. I didn't leave a thing on top of that hill and it hurt so good.

Really? You Walked it Both Ways? - I'd venture a guess that a third of the participents walk a significant portion of the last hill. That's how it goes for a lot of us Mid Westerners who never climb anything taller than an overpass. But what struck me was all the guys who were riding the hill, had the capacity to clean the whole thing, but dismounted, and even shouldered their bikes to cross the gravel sections. These guys have probably been busy all week lying to their friends and saying they road the whole thing - they didn't. Am I'm making too big a deal out of this?

Nicest Ride Award - Someone showed up on this tricked out ride. I've got more detailed shots of the rack set up if anyone wants to see them. I couldn't tell if the rack was custom made or not, but it was dialed in. The fork and bars went 90 degrees clockwise and the front wheel mounted on the very outside. Trick, trick, trick.

03:30 BK N TIME - On my drive home last year I saw a jacked up Delorean. This year the highway freak show was a trailer with Shrinermobiles form the year 2020.

Word Up - A big thanks to the organizers, volunteers, and residence of Blue Mounds that make the Horribly Hilly Hundreds such a great event year after year. I'd tell everyone to register, but the 1000+ spots fill up in minutes and I don't want to be left out next year.

Material Value

2010-06-10T13:07:00.005-05:00

Craftsman

Aaron showing some skills. With this level of polish there is nowhere to hid imperfections. This is going to build up into a beautiful new COURAGE.

Another great reason to love steel - you can bend is back. Last week I was riding in a six man paceline enjoying a huge tailwind. Suddenly someone yells, "gravel!" Bang, one after the other we bunny hop a big dug out section of road. I land and get back on the gas but the cranks don't want to turn. I glance down expecting a dropped chain, but instead find my front derailleur pointed north-northwest. Scheisse! Bent front hanger.

Turns out I'm able to loosen it and spin back to Roscoe Village Bikes in the little ring. Hesitant to test my feel for when the hanger will yield versus spring back I let John work his magic and it's bent back and readjusted in 2 minutes. Word.

Repaired

Nutrition

2010-06-08T07:17:00.007-05:00

Jet fuel

To say I'm a little slower and a little softer than I was last year at this time would be an understatement. However, I started to pay closer attention to my nutrition on and off the bike and I think its helping.

A couple of weeks ago I was locked on to Debbie Dust going mach speed on a nice straight stretch of Green Bay Road when she opened it up. I do not ride with a cyclometer it's not clear how fast we were going - but my eye's were about to pop out of my head and a few days later she set a new course record and a new personal best in a 20K TT - so let's call it 30 mph. I held on, barely, but a few miles later I was all alone - out of gas.

Last weekend, determined to hang on all day, I focused on fueling. As an experiment I ate a caffeinated Clif Shot every 45 minutes. Magic. I held on all day, and even pulled passed Alex at nearly 30mph after he had escaped the group while drafting a jeep.

Lesson learned. Eat.

And oh boy have I been eating. With the kids it's not always easy to escape for a long ride, but we do a lot of fun family stuff at home, like cooking. A few weeks ago I read an article in the NYTs about burgers. It lead me to try grinding my own meat. Hallelujah!

Last Sunday Ruby and I pulled out the Kitchenaid to make some lean, spicy Italian sausages to grill up. Ruby loves the meat grinder because its just like her Playdough extruder, I love it because it's easy and makes every ground meat product deliciously fresh. I've also become a bit hyper sensitive to what is in my food - I want to know. When you buy a two pound hunk of pork shoulder and add all the spices you know what you're eating.

Long story short. Fennel, garlic, paprika, red pepper, parsley, and the obligatory salt and pepper converted a dull block of protein into a low fat Italian grill fest.

You need a little fat for the grill - this was about 20%

Flavor!

Roll'm if you got'm

Smelling good!

Served with fresh pomodoro, grilled asparagus with a garlic and pistachio mash, and a buttery white wine - lunch is on

BTW, my bathroom rehab that started in October 09 wrapped up a few weeks ago. That took forever. And went like this: Flooded, insurance catastrophe, asshole neighbor, construction zone, spend too much money, contractor messed up, contractor messed up again, asshole neighbor, lawyer?, spent too much money, contractor messed up, insurance catastrophe, finished bathroom.

No, I don't shave my legs

Save the Tour of Missouri!

2010-04-05T17:52:00.003-05:00

Good times in the Show-Me state

Pic: Notley

I've escaped from my dark, labored, slog of a winter and am seeking a little help. The Tour of Missouri is in jeopardy of loosing critical state funding. The vote is on Tuesday or Wednesday (TBD) and if you have half a heart you'll send an email to one or all of the Missouri Senate Appropriation Committee members.

This link makes it incredibly easy to fire off a bunch of emails. Do it for all the malnourished pro cyclists, do it for my lovely home state, do it because if your not for it your against it - and that's not very American.

PS
I'll be back soon with a cry-me-a-river update full of legal innuendo, billions of small pieces, and the ski trip from hell. Then I promise regular, fun filled posts.

Dedication: Singular Focus

2009-12-22T13:32:00.009-06:00

Here come all the, "If I, I should've, next time, next Spring, next year..." It's natural to start setting goals for 2010, not because it a new year, but because it's the next chance. Want to be harder when the thaw comes? Me too.

I'll never be this fit

The question is what can we all do. 15 months ago Mike Hemme was a Cat 3, now he's looking back on a season where he raced as a PRO. Born with the DNA to be fast, Mike also has the dedication to train hard and fearlessness to ride with guys who would turn me into a feature on the race course. Me, I've got a wicked fast bike and a bit of ego - I don't think that's enough.

So what will it take to get a competitive 4, who is 80% fit, to podium? Coaching and dedication. Will I get a coach? Who knows, but Mike reminded me that a coach will help you make the most of the time you have, not ask you to spend more time. Sounds good, and logical to me.

Harder

Pic: Gym Jones

If anyone is looking for good motivation check out some of the essays on the Gym Jones site. The theory behind Gym Jones is about singular focus, give up anything that slows you down. If what you're doing isn't furthering your goal, stop it. The stories cover a range of athletic endeavors like alpine sports, Ironman, UFC fighting, and will make great sitting-on-the-couch-while-you-get-fat holiday reading

Back to the ballerina. Ruby, my four year old daughter loves ballet. I of course want to see her interested in cycling and teams sports. But I've realized it almost doesn't matter what sport she picks it's how dedicated and focused she can be at achieving her goals that will matter more than the goal itself. Based on her attention span and dedication to wearing a tutu everyday I'm guessing Ruby is going to be pretty damn fast.

2009 CX Season Review

2009-12-12T20:39:00.044-06:00

Holeshot!

Centerfold

2009 started of with a bang. Rocking the holeshot on my first start was good enough. I even had visions of podiums and champagne, but all the gravy came in the form of press. Major press. The Chicago Tribune ran an online story, had a one pager in the printed edition, and the Chicago Red Eye ran a centerfold shot of me leading out the first race of the season. OK, go ahead and call me "Mr. Friday, September 24th," I don't mind.

Luke Seemann's articles wasn't about me, it was about the joys of cyclocross. However, the image did capture the peak of my season.

Power to Weight

Watts are a measure of heat

Pic: Ed White

The COURAGE Chicago race team had a few new faces this year. Holly and Kevin Klug had outstanding seasons. I cannot begin to list off all their accomplishments, but a few wins, a bunch of podiums and Kevin wrapping up the the series overall in Wisconsin just scratches the surface.

Mike Hemme is just plain crazy. Last year he was racing as a Cat 3, this year he lined up with the PROs in fiveUCI races. He wrapped up the year with his first podium in a Cat 1/2/3 race.

All three of them did battle in Bend, OR for Nationals and while Holly won her Woman's 30-35 B race (awesome!), the boys both got caught by national press doing their thing: Hemme on Velonews in the gallery at the bottom, and Kevin on Cycling News. Sweet!

I want to thank the three of them for representing COURAGE and our sponsors with a tons of watts and a positive attitude.

While I'm here, thanks to Chris King and EDGE for making wicked good parts, and thanks to Roscoe Village Bikes for keeping us running smooth all season long.

Heckle Me Once, Shame on You, Heckle Me Twice!

Power to the people

Pic: Liz Novak

Chicago has the best fans in America. Importantly, a lot of the fans are not racers. This points to the beauty of cyclocross - it's a great spectator sport. At some of the hill tops and sand pits this year you would have thought it was the Super Bowl. Freakishly animated fans screaming and shouting, and hysterics as the last man came through, the last man!

Damn You're Cute

Lucky me

I have to admit I don't make Autumn easy for my girls. A low key race day easily eats up six hours, likely more, but I work hard to make it up to them. Sometimes it means I get home and am giving the kids baths before I can even change out of my kit. Mostly it means I do all my training and prep work in the inky black hours that no one should have to function in. Either way I owe them big time for letting me race a very full season. However, Ruby did pull a last minute stunt that prevented me from racing the USGP in Louisville... Next year.

From a fathers perspective the most encourage things I see out at the races are all the kids in the crowds and the juniors on the race course. Good to know some of America's youth won't think it's strange to wear spandex while you jump barriers and eat sandy Twinkies.

Yeah, I'd Do that Again

The Buffet

Pic: Luke Seemann

I enjoyed the hell out of every race this year. The CCC and the independent promoters all did a spectacular job of setting up wicked race courses. However, there will always be favorites.

Dan Ryan Woods delivered pain in spades. Like it technical, like the hills, like it fast? Cool, Beverly Bike-Vee Pak will give it to you.

St. Charles is always worth the drive (it's WAY out there). This year's mud made a great course epic. So it's not so cool to use the word epic, but if you where there you know what I mean. Nice job Bicycle Heaven.

Special props to The South Chicago Wheelmen for putting on a complete event at the Indian Hills Hilton. Let's see that become a two day race in 2010.

Montrose! Montrose! Montrose! Every year it is spectacular. Thanks to Turin for making some magic. Read about my UCI idea here.

Foundation

The first in the country?

Pic: Luke Seemann

I've been singing the praises of the Chicago Cross Cup all year. These guys are doing wonderful things for cyclocross, and the cycling industry as a whole. I'm not going to rehash all my old love-fest blog entries but I will remind everyone to thank the CCC, the sponsors, the officials, and all the volunteers at every race. These people are solid gold.

On the Horizon

Whoa!

Pic: Aaron's mom

There is plenty more to share even though the US race season is ending. There will be lots of NAHBS stuff surfacing, and I'll be writing a series of entries focusing on "Old." Maybe I can get Aaron to post a bit too.

Get fat, sleep in and stay tuned.

Montrose Equals Cyclocross

2009-12-07T20:47:00.019-06:00

Wow. It's over.

I'm saving my exhaustive season wrap up for another day. Instead I'm diving squarely into the Illinois State Championship weekend at Montrose Harbor.

I'm going to through down the gauntlet now and challenge the power behind the Chicago Cross Cup to bring a UCI event to Montrose Harbor. This was my third year racing, forth year as a spectator, and every race, every year has been inspiring. What's so good about it? To start with, everything.

This crash laden, demolition derby we call a season finale always delivers with spectacular terrain, huge, eager crowds, and Old Man Winter's best weather. Add some of the important logistical details like cheap flights from all over the world, hotels within, wait for it, biking distance, and Mayor "Yeah, I can probably make that happen" Daley. What more do we need? Jason, you listening? I'm down to help with threatening phone calls to whomever gets in your way.

COURAGE

Let's cut to the faster 3/4 of the Chicago COURAGE squad. While Hemme was out west cracking the whip in the Lion's Den, the Klugs where busy padding their palmares' with two great finishes. I was late to show up on Sunday, more on that later, so I can only say Kevin's third place and Holly's second place must have meant that a few other racers brought their best, because staying ahead of these two is not easy. Way to go guys!

Pace Odyssey

Pic: COURAGE

Truckin'

Pic: Ed White

The stylish one

Pic: Velogrrl

My race report is all preamble. It starts on Thursday morning, about 4am, with Ruby crying for mom. I dadded up and got out of bed to see what the deal was, unfortunately I was able to diagnose the problem with my nose. Puke. Welcome to parent hood. Kids do this every once in a while, but when Frances pulled the same stunt on Laura around 8am I knew our home had been invaded.

Cue Friday night, my company's holiday party. Take one part open bar, two parts over worked, shake from 6pm til 2am and you get straight pounded. Yes, people had to check their receipts to verify where we rocked the after party. Yes, a car was slept in, and another car was puked on. And yes, Monday morning my team was declared to be the friendliest bunch of drunk pirates this side of the Atlantic.

Friday night carbo load

Saturday, at eight in the morning, I was logically feeling 70% while Ruby and I shopped for tile at Home Depot. However, after lunch, around one o'clock, I got bit hard by "The Bug." Whatever the kids had brought home earlier in the week ripped through my hungover, defenseless body like a DR Trimmer on rocket fuel. I was fucked until Sunday morning.

I couldn't even get this down

I set myself up with high expectation by inviting a bunch of non-cyclist to the race. A lot of friends and colleagues where going to come see the freak show I rave about every Monday. How could I not race? I'll tell you how. At noon on Sunday I couldn't sit up straight I was in so much pain. I hadn't had more than a glass of water and a bite of toast that wasn't rejected by my body in over 24 hours. If I couldn't walk comfortably from the bedroom to the living room how on Earth was I going to get my bike on top of the car, let alone race? Ego, that's how.

At one o'clock I made the decision to race. I'm glad I did because I'd have regretted it for months if I chickened out. Not to mention I had, a bunch of people willing to stand in the cold to humor me and I made a COURAGE Snuggie earlier in the week I wanted to rock on the start line.

Real men ride the sand

Pic: Velogrrl

Oh yeah the race... I showed up 40 minutes before the race, registered, pined up, road the trainer for 10 minutes, and stood around in my Snuggie for 10 minutes. I lined up back row, to avoid slowing anyone down, and to add to the drama of moving up through the pack. It seemed to worked, I made some nice passes in the first two laps of the race, I only had to run the sand once, and I didn't puke on anyone.

I was most pleased my my riding in the sand and the heckling I received from the guys I work with. I was called Sally once, told I looked funny with hairy legs, and I was chastised for loosing to Santa. All in all I felt like I had been telling good cyclocross stories if everyone was able to heckle so well at their first race.

I'm glad I survived the race, and sad to see the season close. An obvious thanks to Turin and the CCC for shutting down the party with style.

Classic Moments in Cyclcross

The season's final Classic Moments in Cyclcross comes from Bradley of the Cuttin' Crew, who exemplifies all there is to love about cyclcross: commitment, pain, and making the crowd to wild.

Give'er!

Pic: nerobro

As Seen on TV

2009-12-04T12:53:00.005-06:00

I picked up a little something special for Montrose.

And seriously, I hope I can find all my gear, my house is a total mess from construction.

Luxury

Dedication: The Darkness

2009-11-24T20:27:00.007-06:00

It's that time of year again when I'm putting in all my miles in the dark.

Belmont Harbor in the morning

Back home in the rain

I like the adventure aspect of a ride like tonight's. Strobes reflecting off the front wheel spray, feet soaked to the core, wicked head winds, and hands so cold you can't get the silicon band off your Night Rider. And the reward for putting thousands of miles on the Lake Front Path? Instinct to guide you around the tricky seems in the asphalt hidden by the glare of your halogen off the wet surface.

I hope Old Man Winter makes a mess of Montrose.

Two For the Price of One + An Important Lesson

2009-11-23T08:07:00.036-06:00

Part 1: Elite Action

Hemme tagged his first CCC 1/2/3 podium - behold the power of the look. Mike has been talking about reaching his peak form by this time of year, and true to his word it's arrived.

Vulgar Display of Power

The ruthless tempo of his first lap looked freakish, and quickly a selection of four was made. About 300 calories later he shook Ben, who maybe got tangled in a chair entering a corner hot, or maybe he was putting on a bunny suit.

With a growing gap at three to go Mike was looking solid, unfortunately his saddle was not. Snap! He came by the tents shouting something about a broken saddle and 19cm... I turned to Alex with a look of despair, ever calm, Alex said, "27.2 right?" Yep. A quick aside - Mike is so loved out here that in 30 seconds the people in earshot of me offered up two complete bikes and half a dozen seat post assemblies.

Ben the Bunny likes nuts

Alex had the pit prepped, and I back tracked the course to let Mike know we had a solution. But by the time Mike came around to the pit with two more to go, the case group, lead by Ben (sans Bunny suit), was closing in. Mike made the call to risk the busted saddle until the end, sensing his 15 second gap was too valuable to give up. Mike kept it together, the saddle kept it together, and a hard earned third place was had.

Compare the factual variances of Mike and I here.

I've yet to hear how the Klugs did in Wisco this weekend, but be sure they didn't leave anything out on the race course. Those two are always racing for the win.

Part 2: Elite-ish Action

My race was remarkably different than my druken rampage in Indian Hills, however, my placing wasn't so different. Hummm. This time out I was on a mission. Last weekend Lew, from Rhythm Racing, enjoyed even more brewhahas than I did. And in our drunken ramblings he gave me the "We're racin' next weekend" ultimatum. So we raced. Lew, Alex, and I we're at the very end of another huge field.

Poker Face - 20 minutes before the race

Gun goes off, and, and, and, no one around me is moving for way too long. The rollout from that far back in the field is spooky slow. So the three of us start moving up in the field. About a half a lap in I'm feeling OK. Exiting the tightest toilet bowl to date, I can see I've got a few seconds and about a dozen people between me and my competition. Then a few moments later Lew comes flying by me. WTF?!

Three things. Lew is a smoker, Lew has been off the bike with a bust rib for a quite few weeks, and Lew raced earlier in the day. Granted I've been sick, but really I should have the advantage here.

I love this

Pic: Chris Strahm

I lock onto his wheel. As he tows me around for a lap I realize that we're busy passing a lot of people. Lew knows how to race - fight for position before the technical sections, drop gears and get on the gas when everyone else is catching their breath at the top of the hill, attack, attack, attack. But I'm learning too.

Entering The Buffet line

Pic: Velogrrl

We enter The Buffet 1, 2 (or 33, 34). I watch him remount right after the barrier and I attack on foot and sprint up the hill for a pass. I've got 30 feet on him and try not to let up, but a minute later he makes another move around me. Duh! I lock on again and we play the exact same game. We move through some guys, and when we get to The Buffet on the bell lap he remounts and I sprint. I've got him again, and this time I burn the whole book of matches and put two more guys between me and Lew before the final decent. I was not going to leave it to a finish line sprint with someone that has a big ring and major leg speed. 29th isn't the same as 1st, but yesterday it was good enough for me. Lew kept me scared for 30 minutes straight - bravo.

Lew is a fighter

An Important Lesson

This weeks Classic Moments in Cyclocross brings us an important lesson. The Chicago Cross Cup is one of America's most valuable racing series, period. Making bike racing, not just cyclocross, fun, accessible, and competitive is imperative to the overall growth of cycling. Our race scene will promote the growth of the bicycle industry and help further the integration of bicycles into the civic population. When people outside the sport of cycling see us on bikes having fun, they are more likely to be a part of it. At a minimum it will no longer be a foreign concept to them.

Someone get this on the cover of a national mag!

Pic: Luke Seemann

This billboard is awesome, not "dude that's awesome," but awesome like the force of an erupting volcano. Walid Abu-Ghazaleh at Van Wagner is the man for making this happen, but Jason Knauff has done us a huge favor by building a community of fans, racers, and business that want to participate - that is the key. The Chicago Cross Cup has become ours. We're emotionally invested, we're dedicated, and holy shit Montrose going to be off the hook.

Drunk

2009-11-16T13:05:00.011-06:00

Chicago Cross Cup stop eight in Indian Lakes was a drunken feast, and after a stint in the UK I was beat, over worked and ready to relax. So yeah, I lined up to race, because we all know how relaxing that can be... Thanks to Chicago Cross Cup and South Chicago Wheelman for putting on a sizzler at the Indian Lakes Hilton.

Tasty

Pic: Luke Seemann

Suspicious

Pic: Luke Seemann

Sauced

Pic: dirt+beer

My race in brief: good start, crash, Twinkie, beer, beer, beer, whiskey, beer, crash.

Best part of my race: spouting drunkenly, and out of breadth, to someone he had a flat tire - then watching him look down as I made my pass.

Classic Moments in Cyclocross brings you drunkenness in a hot tub thanks to the pre race party. Props to Ben for making it into the hottest tubs each and ever time.

Pic: MYoung 14

Lo-Fi UK

2009-11-12T17:00:00.007-06:00

My last minute call up to London proved to be a good time even thought I had to work my ass off. Laura was able to make it out for six very well earned days of holiday. It was nice to have a side kick on such a long trip away from home. What follows is my Lo-Fi/iPhone London report. I'll follow up with a glossy report too.

The trip started out on a high note when saw COURAGE get a call out in Bicycling Magazine. We made a pretty short list of talented builders and got a nice pic of Arron's latest stainless dropout.

I eat my way through long flights. Fresh, bag stable ingredients like bread, cheese, chocolate, olives, and cured meats make eight static hours in coach bearable. I also enjoyed the Tyson documentary to kill a little time. It doesn't address the question of his moral station - it simply tells his hardened story. Well worth a watch.

I took off at 5:30pm, landed at 6:30am and went straight to the office for a 11 hour day. Between the Tube and my office I saw the following sign and the coolest bike in London. Honestly, I never saw a single bicycle that made me drop jawed, but the shear number of cyclist in the city was inspiring. I'll cover that a bit more in the Hi-Fi write up.

The Condor store is a couple blocks from our office so I made a lunch time trip to check it out. Condor owns Rapha. From a retailing study the store was exquisite, if a bit cold. It didn't have the worn in history I would have expected (and wanted) from a such an established London institution. However, they had a fit rig that was out of this world, complete with a patina produced by putting 100's of cyclist through fit sessions - maybe this was all the history a pro shop needs.

Now it's official.

The flight home was made all the better by some stinky, unpasteurized French cheese and sardine filled olives.

Roscoe Village Bikes Gives Back

2009-11-09T03:52:00.005-06:00

One word, awesome. Roscoe Village Bikes, a COURAGE sponsor, steps up again to show it's commitment to community building by joining A100. Audubon, Roscoe Village's award winning public K-8 school where Ruby is a student, benefits greatly through the A100 program. A100 business offer financial support to the school. This additional budget enables technology and arts programs that would otherwise be underfunded or non existent.

Thanks RVB!

Yes Sir!

2009-11-02T08:55:00.011-06:00

Ruby the Friendly Ghost

Thursday I was told to go home from work because I was working too much... That was nice. Friday morning I took my little ghost to school and walked in to the office about 9am - two hours later than usual. At 9:15 I got an email from the Strategy Director in London. He was wondering if I could be in London next week... Yes sir. Too much, not enough, who knows, but this time I'm bringing Laura with me to London and leaving the little ones with the grandparents. Oh yeah, my place is still a total construction zone from the flood. Oops. I won't be back in the country until the 11th, so I'll miss the Green Monster at Northbrook.

Work, shmurk. Sunday was awesome.

Cruella De Vil

Pic: Madcross

Everyone's form is coming on strong. Holly took the top step of the podium again! She's really showing her strength, coming out swinging from lap one in every race. Well done Holly.

Classic day in the mud

Pic: Nikki Cyp

How about the boys digging deep Sunday afternoon. Kevin and Mike were making major watts for 60 minutes straight. They battled hard back and moving between 2nd and 5th, trading leads, falling back, moving up... Exciting. Racing as it should be. In the end Kevin saw through the pain and put another late move together to secure 2nd place. But everyone notice that Hemme's form is seriously improving and it won't be long before he's on the podium too. Some more great pics of the guys racing in the mud here.

I cracked back in to the top 20 with a strong finishing lap. I made three passes in the last muddy, barrier laden section of the course and felt good about putting some technical skills to use. So many times this season guys have blown by me on the straights, at least I know I have a card to play too. It helped that I got a call up for dressing as a cyclocross racer...

Let's give Bicycle Heaven and the CCC a big word-to-the wise for continuing with the momentum from the first half of the season. Spectacular course, well organized as always, and another great crowd to cheer everyone on. I managed two piece's of cake (thanks Julie), a little limp bacon, M&Ms and $101!

This week's Classic Moments in Cyclocross comes from the newly formed RVBR team.

If your not having fun, what are you having?

Pic: James Linehan

Long Winded

2009-10-26T13:06:00.027-05:00

Pic: Luke Seemann

Word up to the Chicago Cross Cup for putting on and incredible first half of the season. There have been five races with awesome courses. The CCC has responded to concerns with real action. Race results are posted before I can even get home and finish dinner. And the races are consistently seeing record turn out. This is good for everyone - racers, sponsors, local business, bike shops, bike companies, etc. Hell yes.

Win, Podium, Survive

Blast off!

Pic: Pony Shop

It's Holly this week who wanted it the most. Congrats to Holly for her dominating first win this year in the Womens 1/2/3. Kevin had a solid performance to earn a third place in the Mens 1/2/3. He kept his cool and got it done on the last lap breaking away form a strong chase group of five guys.

Mach 1

Pic: Greg Heck

Mike Hemme is alive! After his first trip in the Lion's Den he came out in one piece. When I asked him how it was he responded, "Fast." Going head to head with the nation's fastest is something I will never do. Hunt down Mike at the next race to ask him about beating Jeremy Powers. You the man Mike.

I was supposed to be in Louisville to race the 4s. I was looking forward to racing against a bunch of unknowns and in a world class setting. However, as a dad, things came up, like the temperature of Ruby. Below is the report from my Louisville experience, minute by minute - kind of:

Friday afternoon

11:00 - I took a half day at work to hit the road early

11:45 - Organized a ton of clean gear

12:30 - Packed the car

13:00 - Hit the road? No. 103 and a cough meant I had to bag the trip...

Saturday morning

08:30 - The whistle blows, pretty good start

08:35 - Damn this course is buttery smooth

Great recommendation Helge

08:42 - I must have hit 20mph bridging up to the leaders

09:09 - Get it together man!

09:10 - Podium!

Anyway...

My race in Bartlett on Sunday was good. I lined up 15 minutes before the race and ended up in up way in the back. I had a good, aggressive start, narrowly missed a big crash and made it up into the top twenty by the time I got over the triple barriers.

Estimating the gap that was about to form behind me...

Pic: Luke Seemann

The rest of my race was status quo - kept the pressure up best I could and stuck Heckler Hill three times straight. Undoubtedly some of the best heckling of the year on that greasy little lump.

Classic moments in Chi Cross Cup brought to you by me.

100% classy

Pic: Ed "I Should Have Said Something" White

Perseverance

2009-10-20T07:29:00.006-05:00

Who's next?!

Pic: Onegearmanygods

Huge props to Kevin for cracking skulls this weekend and earning his first big win in 2009.

Kevin, Mike and Holly are slowly turning the screws on their competition. This season has been fraught with the complexities of growing a race team, sorting out sophisticated race bikes, and piecing together a race weekend without any hiccups, mess up, or mechanicals. These three have been unfazed and continue to focus on the prize. Watch out.

More success came this weekend with Holly's pair of third places, and Mike working out another 2nd place in the 30+ Masters.

Heard on the street:
"Big money available at Wisconsin races."
"The Carpentersville 4Bs race was faster than the 4As!?"

I bagged my race on Sunday morning before I even got our of bed. I'm suffering from something my preschooler brought home, and because I'll be in Louisville next weekend I had to make sure I had everything sorted within my construction zone I call a home. Honestly, not racing to deal with family stuff was one of the most adult decisions I've made in a while.

I'm pumped about racing at a UCI/USGP venue. I missed the Madison round due to an important family event and don't think I'll be at Nats or Jingle Rock so this is my best chance all season to hit up a big event. Anyone know any other Chicago area 4s that are racing?

Press!

COURAGE (Aaron in navy) got a solid write up in Ready Made magazine. It's always cool to get coverage outside the bike industry. Our cross bike was also featured in the ever classy Road Bike Action. Unfortunately, I can't find it on any newsstand in Chicago so I'll just have to take Aaron's word for it.

Watch for a big debrief post Louisville and be sure to wish Hemme luck as he enters the lion's den to race with the UCI Elite Men.

Run!

Original pic: xmatic

Dehydrated

2009-10-13T14:48:00.004-05:00

This sucks

You don't ever want a Mega Blower Super Dry 5000 (above) or its even louder cousin The Reverse Swampinator in your home. For the last eight days and nights my girls and I have been dealing with a ton of water damage and a dozen, loud, heat producing, humidity sucking devices. They will all be gone soon enough to make way for the construction crew...

Word up to Beverly Bike-Vee Pak for crafting a maniacally fun race course. The experience of the CCC and all the people putting on these events for the last few years is clearly shinning through.

Check out the race reports from the Kevin, Holly and Mike - they put in a 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively last weekend. I put in a 2 and a 4 to equal 24th.

Midas Touch

2009-10-05T13:34:00.013-05:00

Beat that drum!

I'm going to start with Ben and Helge because that's where I left off last time. This pic, stolen from Jason Henry, and used just about everywhere, is classic cyclocross and sums up the kind of fun you can expect from Half Acre. These guys are skilled at executing good ideas - beautiful poster art, innovative races, trucks, parties in Iowa - everything they touch seems to turn to gold. Thanks to Half Acre and North Central Cyclery for putting on an other stellar Chi Cross Cup event.

After a pre ride of the course I feared it was not going to be technical enough to suit my strengths. However, once the we where off and running I realized how sweet the course was (if a bit long).

The start was totally berserkers. Downhill for 150 feet, then an abrupt left turn. Awesome. I started second row and made it through the corner 8th wheel, ahead of some pretty nasty mashing, crashing and shouting. I kept it together pretty well and was able to work the corners to my advantage. I held a lot of speed going in and didn't have to work so hard on the exit. In the end this probably kept me fresh enough to make two passes on the last lap. Helge's relentless heckling help too.

The twin offcambered corners where tretcherous. I managed to get kicked by a guy flying off his bike. However, the most brutal features where the mischievously spaced barriers in the woods. At first I thought it was stupid and ruined my rhythm, then the second time around I realized the beauty of the features. They ruined my rhythm. By the last lap, in a punch drunk, whippet kind of state, I think I actually laughed as I approached them.

Diggin' on the bike

Fast and wide for one more place

I felt better about this race than my higher place finish at Jackson Park. I road much more aggressively and was able to keep tabs on the guys around me so I knew when to attack. But, while I'm contemplating how to finish top ten, the big COURAGE players are all itching for the top spot of the podium. Check out the last few race reports from Kevin, Holly and Mike. The Klugs put in overtime in the Lion's Den - racing with the pros in the USPG round one event in Madison. Mike nearly cleaned up in the 2/3 race on Sunday (2nd) and finished the weekend with two top 10s.

Look at those calves!?

Press, lots of press, more to come in the next few days, but damn was the Red Eye shot cool.

Dad's "Brush your teeth now!" face

I'll close with another classic cyclocross moment. Lew Chin, of the newly official Rhythm Racing, showing how your hands should look after a proper go.

Risk/Reward

Stay Tuned, I'm Almost Back on the Radar

2009-10-05T10:31:00.003-05:00

Lot's of news to come...

Wednesday to Sunday in One Breath

2009-09-21T14:23:00.016-05:00

I'm going to take the way back machine for a ride and start this post on Wednesday the 16th.

Wednesday afternoon

Fresh out the box

Anyone with experience building a high po race bike from the frame up understands the intricacies of getting it to all come together smoothly. Alex had the chore of doing it for two racers in about two days, while he ran his shop. On top of it all, the bikes are set up very differently from one another, from brakes and cockpits, to the differences of Campy vs SRAM. To further the pressure these bikes where going to be put under Kevin Klug and Mike Hemme, guys that make crazy power. And of course the final straw, bikes where going to be raced a couple days after they where picked up and wouldn't have any time to be broken in and tweaked. Somehow Alex pulled it off and on Friday afternoon both guys got their race bikes.

Friday evening

Hemme's busted bike

Mike tells me he'll be a good tester because he breaks a lot of stuff... Well, his bike wasn't an hour old before he sent the pic above.

Friday late night

Alex working on his bike deep into the PM

Friday night I hung out at RVB until about midnight working on my race bike while Alex finally had a chance to assemble his... His dedication got COURAGE on the race course this Sunday.

Sunday afternoon

Podium

Holly got COURAGE off to a great start taking second in the womens 1/2/3. She has set the bar high for the rest of us. Kevin had a tough start and a couple bike swaps but did what he does best and ruthlessly put the power down for 60 minutes and pick off as many guys as he could for a 10th place finish. You can read about his race on his blog. Thanks to Gavin Gould for the great pics of the Klugs.

Hunting

Hemme rolled into town a little too late from a wedding the night before in DC. Yes, Mike thought it was no big deal to party all night half way across the country then get on a plane at the crack of dawn, and go straight to the race. He didn't make the start but he strutted around Jackson Park in full kit on his new bike and had a chance to get in a few laps between races.

My race was a big question mark for me. I didn't prepare quite as well this year and I moved up to the 4As, but I have a lot of experience from last year and I put it to use on the start. I grabbed the holeshot and made it out of the dust pit first and was able to put some distance on guys who were a bit faster than me. I did my best to hold them off but in the last two laps I had to race at my tempo and slowly slipped to 15th by the end.

First one out of...

...the dust bowl.

I was happy with my race. I was targeting a top ten and wasn't too far off. I only lost two positions to mistakes. Once flying at the railroad ties behind someone who couldn't get over them very fast. I had to slam the breaks and got passed on the out side. And another time I was starting to loose focus and took a sloppy line around the 180 degree barrier and got passed on the inside.

I love the scene at the races. Props to xXx, Chi Cross Cup and the volunteers for putting on a great season opener. I leave you with this classic moment brought to you by Ben Popper and Half Acre.

Dude, there's a dollar...

...in Ben's crotch!

Classic Portland Dust Bowl?

2009-09-16T12:35:00.004-05:00

Check out COURAGE's Matt Wills working overtime in an uncharacteristically dusty cross race outside of Portland. Pain on the Peak seemed to have delivered, but Matt survived to finish sixth (Ryan Trebon claimed the top step on the podium).

Expect to see more of Matt on the blog as the race season gets rolling. Image from Oregon Cycling Action.

Head to Toe

2009-09-13T19:00:00.004-05:00

I spent a couple enjoyable hours in the front yard with Ruby today. My race bike has been begging for a good scrub down, and after this mornings muddy practice it was time. In the past three weeks Ruby added hacksaw, chain breaker and chain whip to her tool arsenal.

I put my bottle of El Duke degreaser to use for the first time. It effortlessly removed a ground in layer of gunk from my chain ring and cassette, and left them with that awesome fresh from the factory, lightly oiled sheen. The product's value is made greater becuase I was comfortable letting my daughter do the dirty work without any concern it was made from nuclear waste and synthetic hormones.

This morning a few of us were booted from the Lane Tech yard for riding our bikes in the grass... Kind of lame. It had been a few years since I've been on the other end of someone else's rule book. We set up a new course in Clark Park and experienced the muddy result of morning dew and dusty soccer fields. It was good to practice with mud caked tires, but I'm bummed we won't be able to practice at Lane tech anymore. We had dialed in a fun, punchy little course.

Getting everyone's race bike together has proven to be more complicated that negotiations with North Korea. We've got frames and and most of the parts sitting at Roscoe Village Bikes, but a few key parts are 'in the mail.' Thank God we've got Alex, it just makes me feel better knowing he's building all the bikes.

I can't believe Jackson park is next week!? I'm looking forward to seeing everyone out at the races.

Moth Balls and Prep Work

2009-09-12T15:28:00.007-05:00

I think my road bike has been parked for the remainder of the year. I've spent the last two weeks on my cross bike and have enjoyed it more than a three year old with a gallon of Rocky Road ice cream. I didn't intend to hang up my road bike, but with cross on my mind I can't fathom what would get me back on the road.

I'm wrapping up my second serious weekend of cross practice and have begun to hone some of the skills required. I'm feeling good on my dismounts and through the corners, but I just can't get the stutter step out of my remount. I swear we all could have been prodigal junior cross racer had we know such a thing existed in our youth - at the age of 10 what kid couldn't jump on and off their bike at speed with total confidence?

If Your Not having Fun, What Are You Having?

2009-09-05T17:54:00.007-05:00

I was walking up to Roscoe Village Bikes to pick up an extra pair of team socks and stumbled into an impromptu three ring bike culture circus. Out front of RVB where three friends who represent wide range of Chicago's bike scene. Isaac from WIG, Nick from El Duke and Charlie, the Director of Mayor Daley's Bicycle Ambassadors.

These guys are like bike culture dealers. They hanging out on corners giving out a little taste of the good stuff, hoping you want in and come back for more. All three of them depend on the bike industry for their livelihood, but our conversation wasn't about their product. We talked about how to fit a family on a bike, shops in Chicago, sewing machines, and wicked fork details.

I did score a sample of El Duke Degreaser from Nick and plan to put it to work on my cross bike. I'll report back on how I like it sooner than later. However, without even using it I trust that it is truly environmentally sound, just check out this vid.

More than any single element or discipline of cycling I love the culture - the immeasurable, enlightening fun of sharing your passion for bikes with other bikers. After my last post I realized I was getting a little whinny about having to dig deep to keep getting up and on the bike. In retrospect, I don't have to dig deep to get on the bike, just to out of bed.

In the end if you're not having fun, what are you having?

Dedication, Aches and Moving Pictures

2009-09-03T10:56:00.008-05:00

Getting on the bike at 5:15am isn't as much fun as it used to be.

Today

A few weeks ago

Same spot, same time, different feeling. I'm beginning to tap into my reserve stash of dedication to keep getting up so early in the morning. My reality is hard - a 60 hour a week job, family, COURAGE and a host of other responsibilities. The ass crack of dawn is my only personal time.

The reward of these early morning shenanigans is a newly welcomed ache deep in my legs. The strangely refreshing sensation that I'm worked and tired and love it.

***

For all you mountain bikers check out a slick little vid of the Palos Meltdown staring the Klugs and Mike Hemme... ...and some other people...

Arts and Crafts

2009-08-30T21:56:00.010-05:00

I finally scored some proper tape to do custom decals on the team helmets. I'm pleased with the end result. I had originally invisioned a pretty detailed and dramatic idea. After I mocked up a few of them in Illustrator, then tested the taping and triming process, I decided to stick with something simple that could be executed well. I found the vinyl tape at Tape Brothers. They have a good selection of colors (for tape), the price is low, and the application process was easier than I anticipated. Check it.

Check final concept out on in Illustrator-

Test taping technique on old lid-

Check spacing-

Tape-

Trim-

Trim-

Rock-

Show and Tell: Part 2

2009-08-25T19:19:00.007-05:00

COURAGE has received more complimentary coverage from our Denver outing. James Huang at Cyclingnews.com loved the townie Aaron brought and posted quite a few pics along with the story behind the details on the bike.

I'm still surprised no one has pic up on this...

...UPDATE Picked up here.

Show and Tell

2009-08-23T15:51:00.003-05:00

Aaron's in Denver for the Rocky Mountain Bike Show and got a little coverage on Velonews. Note the photo comment is incorrect. The bike is a four speed (not single) built with a Schlumpf heel operated two speed transmission and a flip-flip rear hub with two cogs per side.

We'll have more photos of the finished bike on our Flickr page soon, but you can check out the process shots in the meantime.

Motorsports

2009-08-09T18:53:00.012-05:00

Jimmy Udall is busy mimicing Formula 1 - Rocket fast. Motion blur. Eurostyle. Last Friday he went head to headd with the big boys in the Pro/1/2 race at Portland's Twilight Crit. Aaron said it was almost hard to watch the display of speed because he knew all those guys where chest deep in suffocating pain.

Mike Hemme has been sporting the COURAGE colors in a few local Wednesday night crits in Chicago. If you look carefully at this pic you'll notice Mike is doing his best imitation of Formula D[rift]. Yes, that's a little reverse lock on a road bike. Mike is no roadie, but he's a wicked good trail rider, and I think he just cashed in some of his trail creed to save his ass on the road. Somehow Mike kept it up on two wheels when he had an explosive blowout half a second before this pic was taken. Thanks to Gavin Gould for the perfectly timed pic.

Holly and Kevin have been flexing some monster truck skills in the WORS events - both found success in their last race. Holly even had the balls to go into the race with a little smack talk on her blog. Word up to velogrrrl for the pics of the Klugs. BTW, Kevin has a motorsport fetish of his own that I'll report on in more detail once I get a ride in his latest track day special. Unfortunately, while Kevin gets to experiment with lateral g-force in a car with a G and a T legitimately in its name I'm religated to making two stroke motorcycle sounds at the start line of bike races...

All this gets us to the WRC, aka the cyclocross of motorsports. I have to thank Audi for having incredible race imagery of one of the most exciting race disciplines ever. I'll never understand why the crowds at WRC events feel safe enough to stand 'handup' close to the action... Like most of us out there, I can't wait for cross to start.

Blapp, blapppp, blapppapppapppapp!

Not a Podium

2009-07-29T13:06:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I check 'race a crit' off my annual to do list. I've used the Chicago Crit to fulfill the obligation for the last two years. The event was spectacular, my race, not as.

I don't have much to say except I finished better this year than last, and it was fun to get back on a start line. I haven't heard the whistle blow since December. Big props to John Villena for representing cross racers by taking second in the sprint, then pluging cross on the podium interview.

Coolest pic from the day - dude showing up fully armed to race and enjoy the afternoon.

Random pic from later that day - this one is for Ben.

National Pride

2009-07-27T14:46:00.010-05:00

I'm not myopic enough to be nationalistic, but I am moved when I hear The Star Spangled Banner during a ceremony for which I've emotionally involved myself. So when I saw the following at the bottom of a velonews.com article had to reread it to make sure I had had right:

The newspaper also called the accidental playing of the Danish national anthem when Contador stepped up to the podium as an "unforgivable mistake".

This is an awful error to make. This is not the Olympics where the podium gets worked out every 10 minutes, this is a month long singular event with one winner. Imagine competing at the highest level, pouring your life into an event while exposing yourself within arms length of millions of fans in an international sport where nations vie for bragging rights - and you win. Then at the emotional, ceremonious conclusion, with long neglected but loving family present, sponsors, dignitaries, hundreds of fans, and a worldwide audience channeled through the television - they play the wrong song?! Talk about an emotional cluster fuck. Major party foul.

Podium!

2009-07-16T07:08:00.004-05:00

I love this picture, it has it all - bags of money, smiling Olympic officials, and Mike Hemme rocking his first podium for COURAGE. Hemme's blog doesn't get into the exciting details of the race (he's too modest), and while I wasn't there I did get a couple of phone calls from people giving me the story as it unfolded. Here are the two main details: he almost lapped the field competing for a $20 preem and he won the thing in a sprint. I think if John Vande Velde had added a six pack of Bells to the $20 offer Mike would have made it all the way around...

The Super Tempo

2009-07-05T15:03:00.010-05:00

The Super Tempo Hard, rather than fast.

This ethos resonates with me, as do the two guys behind the content of the site. Between Naz and Zach I follow them across six content streams, and I don't use Twitter (yet). When I ran into Zach the other night he was too modest to mention The Super Tempo, fortunately someone else stepped in and gave me the story. As Zach relinquished more detail the whole concept made sense to me.

Hard, rather than fast. To me it means competing against personal expectation. Hard because most of your rides begin at 5am. Hard because even though it's easy to get in the car and hit the grocery store you do it on your bike. Hard because what you thought you couldn't do, you did.

I feel the same way about COURAGE. It's a personal thing. A way to be motivated by yourself and the people you choose to surround yourself with.

Enjoy The Super Tempo.

Never Stop

2009-07-04T10:46:00.003-05:00

Get ready. Aaron and I have been busy putting a lot of ideas in motion. The latest to come to life is the new COURAGE vertical dropout. Peep it here and here.

We've got a lot more coming in the next couple of months. Racer bios, show bikes, R&D prototypes, travel, and maybe a little champagne next time someone from the race team gets back on the podium.

Stay tuned.

Diagram

2009-06-30T14:07:00.004-05:00

I found this here, via Flowing Data. My team creates a lot of infographics at work - wish I had time to do pieces about cycling. For you designers out there check out Flowing Data if you haven't already.

Mitochondria and the six minute workout

2009-06-25T15:29:00.009-05:00

Can you build endurance from six minutes of working out a week? I ran across this on The New York Times site:

Since mitochondria enable muscle cells to use oxygen to create energy, “changes in the volume of the mitochondria can have a big impact on endurance performance.” In other words, six minutes or so a week of hard exercise (plus the time spent warming up, cooling down, and resting between the bouts of intense work) had proven to be as good as multiple hours of working out for achieving fitness.

More industry support

2009-06-25T12:36:00.005-05:00

We recently got our first shipment of team product from our industry friends at GIRO. We can't thank them enough for supporting our race program with world class equipment.

We got our first podium spot on the road from Jimmy and are just a few months away from seeing who can do it first for COURAGE in the mud. The cross season approaches...

Horribly Hilly Almost Hundreds

2009-06-21T17:16:00.028-05:00

Sunday was the Horribly Hilly Hundreds. This was my third consecutive HHH, and as always, lived up to its name. I do the easy 100K course with nearly 6000 feet of vertical. There is also a 2000K course with double the climbing. Both rides culminate at the top of Blue Mound State Park with a three and a half mile grind through the last 900 feet of elevation gain.

These are the roads that comprise the tentative Olympic course. The quality of the roads are fantastic, and the brutality of the terrain is undeniable. It would make for an awesome single day race. This year, for me, it was horribly, it was hilly, but it was just shy of the hundreds. What follows is a play by play of the comical, painful, and delicious moments of the day.

03:00 Wake Up - My eyes burned pretty bad after a scant three and a half hours of sleep.

03:05 High Pressure Explosion - I had a violent, hot and messy explosion trying to relieve a little pressure from the espresso machine. Lesson learned.

03:30 Pick up - Picked up John Dell'Osso and hit the road.

04:48 Good Morning Officer - Got pulled over for going 9 over. The cop was cordial and maybe a little disappointed that we weren't drugged out, drunk driving club kids headed back to the safety of the suburbs. Lost 20 minutes, but feel lucky to have escaped without a ticked.

05:30 Live Bait - Stopped at a gas station that had a serious live bait setup with six 80 gallon percolating tanks and two big refrigeration units. Fatheads, leaches and a variety of insects made for a pretty awesome site.

06:00 Wrong Turn - Now we're going to be 30 minutes later than we thought.

06:30 Another Wrong Turn - I'm being to think we're going to miss our launch window and all of the sudden feel more comfortable speeding.

07:00 Horribly Hilly Mass Start

07:25 Register - Got there late, but it didn't seem to be a problem as riders where still rolling out.

08:00 Set Sail - We bomb down 900 vertical feet to start the ride. Hell yeah!

08:30 Last Wrong Turn of the Day - A few miles in to the ride I realize we've made our third wrong turn of the day (first and only wrong turn on the bike). We're still with a bunch of riders but we missed the first seven miles of the course and a really nasty climb.

09:30 Big Talk - John and I start talking about climbing the last hill twice to make up for what we missed.

10:30 More Big Talk - We're feeling really good and figure we should ride the first seven miles we missed to properly make up for our navigational error.

11:45 Reality - A stint on a 16% grade ended all conversations about riding the few miles we missed at the beginning.

12:25 Foreign Language - As we approach the last climb my quads send a strange, garbled message to my brain. Everyone we're riding with is very quite and I empty all but a a few ounces of my water bottles to prevent carrying any unnecessary weight.

12:30 A Presto - We begin the final climb. A three and a half mile grind through the last 900 feet of elevation gain.

12:32 Que Catso Fai?! - My right leg says "what the fuck, I'm done." A nasty cramp totally locked out my leg. I had never cramped that bad in my life and found that Sunday morning, 18 hours after the ride, I was still seven pounds lighter than I should have been even after drinking tons of water.

12:33 Prego Mi Gambi! - I'm back on the bike after delivering a pep talk to right leg and giving it a quick stretch.

12:5? Victory - 150 feet behind John, I roll across the finish line with my pride in tacked and a personal victory achieved. Not unlike Giuseppi Guerini winning on top of le Alpe d'Huez shortly after being knock over by a fan, I felt good about over coming something that for a moment seemed insurmountable. I've got a great Guerini story to tell, but I'll wait until next winter when there's nothing to blog about...

13:15 Paulina Meat Market - John and I sit down for some proper post ride nutriment: spicy lamb and honey pork sticks from Paulina Meat Market, prosciutto, baguette, Laughing Cow, fruit, ice cold soda, frozen Snickers...

16:00 Back to the Future - Since when did Flux Capacitors look like lawn chairs?

18:00 Home - I get home and plow a huge plate of fish tacos while my girls hear every detail of the ride. Ruby was as captivated by my flailing arms and vacuum-like appetite as she was to hear I climbed a mountain.

***

The most important thing I learned about myself this year at the HHH was that having more responsibility at work, a second child, and being a year older has taken a little out of me. I'm going to have to get focused asap for cross season.

Thanks to all the people who put on a great event. If anyone plans to do it next year watch out, registration fills up in minutes.

Kids These Days...

2009-06-14T22:15:00.006-05:00

Sunday at 6am I was headed north with the Roscoe Village Bike guys and we ran into an awesomely offensive, hijacked road sign. It was on Montrose, just west of Damen. I'm going to let your imagination fill in the second screen of this message...

SPRING!

2009-05-14T09:37:00.003-05:00

I'd like to officially welcome Spring to Chicago. The last few weeks have hinted at the joys of leaving winter behind, but now that everything is in full bloom and the mornings don't require head warmers I thing we can comfortably assume we're done with snow and ice in the near-term.

I pop a shot every once in a while walking through the Lurie Garden on my way to work from the commuter station - the changes these last few weeks have been dramatic.

Fresh Kit

2009-05-07T12:16:00.006-05:00

The new road team kit is here! We're rockin the white for staying cool in the warmer months and because it's PRO to match your race bike. Aaron has a few extra available if anyone is interested.

Spring Setup

2009-05-04T08:24:00.016-05:00

I love riding this time of year. It's cool and dark in the mornings, my legs start feeling better, I'm inspired to be on the bike again, and there is just enough foul weather to make each ride feel like an adventure.

Every spring I find my bikes setup a little bit different from the year before. I put the SRB away last year after I raced it at the Jackson Park Chicago Cross Cup opener. I'm still rocking the single vertical bottle cage, but I swapped the not CX appropriate 700x26c slicks for something faster. I'm trying a 10mm longer stem and am thinking about raising my saddle just a hair. Anyone have experience raising a saddle after years of the exact same saddle to BB measurement?

Refreshingly, I've been with out a cyclometer on the bike all winter and spring. I don't have any sophisticated workouts, and have enjoyed relying on the 'sensations' from my legs. However, I do expect the cyclometer will be back soon...

I love the Chris King / EDGE wheels on the road. I get that they are totally overkill at this point in the season, but my DT wheels are wrapped in the free, steel beaded 26c tires and I really wanted to try out my CX race wheels on the road. During the cross season I spent some time on the road with these but it was cold, icy and they were shod in 32c knobbies. During the races I was dealing with all the typical drag inducing scenarios that rob any sense of speed. However, the wheels provide an advantage in the sand and mud and the whole wheel set (clinchers) are light at just over 1400g.

On the asphalt they are fast fast fast, and buttery smooth. The 38mm profile is quick but completely unbothered by gusty winds from any direction (I did have some trouble over the winter with these on windy, icy days). And the Chris King hubs are such a treat on the road. I've had two set of CK hubs on a few different mountain bikes and always enjoyed the performance, easy maintenance, and screaming windup buzz they make when you catch nice air. In a CX race you just appreciate that they are the most reliable hub you could build a set of wheels on - there is just not enough blood in the head to think about anything else. However, on the road you can really enjoy the smooth power delivery, and the sound the freehub makes at 30+ mph is awesome! You never hit that speed on a mountain bike in a setting where you can hear anything.

After a hard 5:30am effort last Friday my bike and I both had a proper layer of winter thaw. Equal parts rain, mud and street grime makes for a photogenic patina and a good excuse to pull out the camera.

Jens Voigt / HTATBL

2009-04-27T12:45:00.006-05:00

Originally I was going to send out a link to the Jens Voigt interview below, but How to Avoid the Bummer Life never disappoints and they had another gem posted recently...

I don't find myself with an abundant amount of time to surf so I rely on a few sites to aggregate the relevant minutia for me. For hilarious, bike related, barely work safe content I always head straight to HTATBL.

Jens Voigt interview - Jens is my favorite roadie in the peloton today. Friendly, selfless, and always exciting to watch. His commentary about ignoring the messages your body sends your brain has been helpful the last couple of weeks as I desperately try and find a little form.

Powersliding - Redonkulous.

Friday night at Double Door: The best band ever!

2009-04-21T07:18:00.011-05:00

A quick departure from bikes - I want to let everyone know my brother's band, Kinetix, will be rocking the Double Door Friday night. They're a funk rock band and give 110% on stage. If you like fun, dancing, drinking, big hair, or funky music you will thoroughly entertained. Promise.

Info:
This Friday April 24
Double Door
1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. (Milwaukee & North)
$10
Kinetix goes on about 11pm after two good opening bands.

Fun,

Fun,

More fun!

Unoffical COURAGE history

2009-04-16T16:22:00.010-05:00

In 2002 I learned how to TIG weld. I needed to build a sitting buck prototype for a new office chair I was working on, complete with FOX coil over shock from my ripped in half Chuck (remember those from back in the day?). After a weekend in the shop I was making strong, reliable welds. They weren't pretty but they did the job. I knew I wanted to build a bike, but without access to proper jigs, cutting tools, or knowledge I was relegated to building dumpster bikes.

Below is a pic of Ruby and I from last weekend riding Courage Choppers bike #2. This bike is part Trek 820 and a no name bike, both found in dumpsters, a stretch Nerve dual crown fork, and about 12 feet of 1.25" straight gauge steel tubing. I also sourced a banana seat, pegs, fresh 24" wheels, and two gold chains from the ultimate cheap part bike site, Lovely Lowriders.

Yep, long before Aaron was building gorgeous, high performance bikes I was making choppers out of found bike parts under the same moniker. The name came from two distinct directions. First was the mockery of tough guy biker gangs. I'm not a tough guy, but the chopper is undoubtedly the tough guys prime transportation choice. The second direction was from Laura. She would get all dolled up to go out with her girlfriends but she'd let me pedal her to the bar on the back of my ridiculous bikes - a sign of true love, and courage.

I moved out of the country and sold one of the bike to my friend at SRAM where it lived on the test track for a few years. The pictured bike ended up in my parents basement. Now the bike comes out for special occasions like birthday parties and Easter egg hunts. I'm way popular with the 5-12 year old crowd.

In it's newest, most appropriate incarnation, COURAGE takes on a new meaning to Aaron and I. Its less about biker gangs and and hot chicks, and more about exploiting the real emotions behind the word. The most courageous guy that lines up at the race is likely to finish dead last - he knew he would but still showed up. Someone who wants to build a bike and circumnavigate the planet is courageous - he's not winning a race, no dollar handups, just wild, risk laden, introspective adventures.

You don't have to be the fastest to be the most courageous.

Ruby and the Wright Bros.

2009-04-03T07:59:00.009-05:00

Ruby, my 3 year old, has achieved an important milestone. Yesterday she experienced balancing on two wheels over a significant distance. It may have only been 5 or 6 (very small) bike lengths but is was her first spellbinding, giggle inducing, physics reinforced taste of freedom only a bike can provide.

Of course moments later she got all urban shredder on me and went for a huge move that I haven't even tried yet.

The progress is happening quickly. Like the Write brothers first flight of a few hundred feet, I hope this is all Ruby needs to be inspired to ride further.

Pro Photo

2009-04-01T08:11:00.002-05:00

Aaron has some nice pro photography of the team bikes on the COURAGE flickr site.

Check it.

Happy Birthday Roscoe Village Bikes!

2009-03-30T12:42:00.005-05:00

A big happy 2nd birthday to Roscoe Village Bikes. As a friend of, and sponsorship recipient of RVB, I'm hugely biased when I say that it is one of the finest bike shops I've ever had the pleasure of fraternizing. However, you'd be hard presses to find anyone who thought otherwise.

Alex and Lesley have made RVB the definitive modern mom and pop shop. From smart mid level commuter bikes, to an expert level service center that has built as many deep dish carbon wheel sets as they have rebuilt coaster brakes - the shop has the know how and patience to please any customer.

Congratulations!

Half Acre Cycling: Lessons on community building

2009-03-27T08:23:00.003-05:00

These guys rock! I've read race report after race report of people having a blast at Kevin's Crit this week. Now they've pulled out all the stops and are letting the ladies race for free today?!

The whole concept of the race series is genius, plus Tati through in a super deal for the ladies, and now what you have is honest to goodness bike community building.

That is how you get it done. Bravo.

I love Road Bike Action, and they love me back

2009-03-18T13:01:00.005-05:00

Some nice front page coverage from the Seattle Bike Expo via Road Bike Action. We got a little press from these guys last year in their print coverage of NAHBS.

This is the bike our Portland-based elite road team will be racing.

Check the coverage!

NAHBS 2009: Sharing the love

2009-03-06T07:24:00.011-06:00

NAHBS was incredible this year. Here is my much delayed, heavily link, general wrap up. We had a chance to meet and hang with a lot of great people (in all states of dress), we strengthened our Portland-Chicago connection, and we walked away confident that the cycling community believes in our goal of building two distinct lines of bikes.

The first two points are tied pretty close together. It starts with a ton of partying with builders, racers, industry folk, and a bunch of Half Acre Guys, and ends with the official announcement of our expanded COURAGE race team.

Embrocation and Independent Fabrication through a swanky little soiree Saturday night. Once everyone had their drink on Jordan Hufnagel had a burning desire to get in the hot tub. On the Thursday night before the show the Hot Tub Club was formed at Jordan's dad's house. But now, at the hotel Jordan wanted to go for round two. One one else really wanted to get in, but in a moment of clarity Nate, from Signal, realized that the hot tub was closed so we could all just play along to appease Jordan then bail when he learned it was closed. About ten of us showed up at the hotel's pool room to find the maintenance staff hard at work. We were told sorry it's closed...

However, a moment later Jordan, Ben and a dude with a rockin' stash produced 60 bones and the maintenance guy took off after showing us where the towels were. So much to everyone's surprise we all made fast friends in the huge hot tub. I'm eagerly anticipating a wicked Hot Tub Club t-shirt at next year's show.

A little less intimate, but even more important to our long-term goals, we announced our Chicago based Elite 'cross team. Mike Hemme, and Kevin and Holly Klug will be flying the team colors moving forward. Aaron and I couldn't be more excited to have them on board. They are all super friendly, and all PRO on the race course.

If you haven't heard the story yet, or don't know Mike, he moved through the categories at will this year (his second full season). You can read his full write up here but basically after getting shafted on some upgrade points he won a 6 hour mtb race with a partner on Saturday, crushed the 3s for a win Sunday morning, upgraded, and wrapped up the day with a 6th place finish in the 1/2s. He may have logged more hours racing in one weekend than I did all year. I can't wait to see what he does next season.

And of course who wouldn't be thrilled to have the fastest husband and wife cyclocross team in the Midwest representing them. Kevin and Holly both had great season and each finished up with 2nd place finishes in the Illinois State Championships - experiencing their drive first hand leads me to believe they will push each other harder than Aaron or I ever could.

On top of an expanded stable, we also added another stellar team sponsor, Roscoe Village Bikes. Alex Tweedie will be providing the team expert mechanical support. So along with our Chris King and Edge Composites sponsorships we now have a reliable source for keeping our team machines running.

We wrapped our team building weekend with a nice dinner and a few rounds of drinks so everyone could get to know each other - in the end Aaron was double pumped to have such a strong Midwest representation.

On the business end we came to the show with a more refined brand direction represented in our bikes. We're now offering two distinct directions tied together with the common thread that we build purpose driven, beautiful bikes. On one side Aaron is building stunning, thoughtful custom bikes designed to thrill customers and support the way they want to ride. On the other side he's building limited run high performance race chassis. These super chassis (same as our team bikes) still come with custom geometry, but other than choosing a navy or white paint scheme we've limited the options. The race bikes have some wicked details like our custom race specific dropouts, and a mixed and modified tube set that comes together to make 3.25 lbs steel race bike. There will be a lot more info about these bikes on the new website, but check the flickr site next week for some pro photography of the 'cross and road bikes. The reception from all of the 3000+ show attendees was very positive and they believed that we could legitimately bridge the custom built and high performance race categories.

Oh yeah, watch out, we're also entering the component business. I'm going to have to cover that one later.

We've had some good press from the show and are eager to see what comes out in print. Some of the coverage I'm most proud of was from CX Magazine. Two years in a row we've shared their coverage with the likes of Vanilla, Serotta, Parlee and Richard Sachs - serious company. Check out some of the press highlights:

CX Magazine 2009 , CX Magazine 2008

Cyclingnews.com

Embrocation

Bike Blog Chicago

Fixed Gear Gallery

Another really encouraging thing started happening early on the last day of the show. Guys like Bob Parlee, Carl Strong, and Joe Bell came to our both to talk about our bikes. They we're impressed, and happy to see we we're pushing really beautiful, purposeful bikes. Bob and I talked for a while about starting race teams (he's sponsoring Team Fly V Austraila and had rebranded bikes under pros like Tyler Hamilton). Carl shared a lot of sage advice for succeeding in the bike biz based on his 16 years of experience. And Joe, who has painted a few of our bikes and gets to see everyone's handy work before it gets covered up with paint, repeatedly complimented Aaron's craftsmanship as some of the best he's seen. Getting established veterans like these guys believing in COURAGE is incredibly gratifying.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but for now that's all I've got. As the weather gets better the blog will pick up steam. Word to the wise.

2009-01-22T07:28:00.007-06:00

What weighs three and a quarter pounds and goes like the devil? You'll have to come down to NAHBS to see.

Since it's inception Aaron has been determined to make COURAGE a performance brand. We've been busy the last four moths backing that up with a couple of important developments - stay tuned for all the details...

The proof is in the pudding

2009-01-08T15:41:00.007-06:00

I have to make this quick. When Aaron told me about a year and a half ago he wanted to start a bike company I responded instantaneously, "I'm in!" His attention to detail, aesthetic, and unwillingness to compromise was all the reason I needed.

Today he just dropped some pics of the new COURAGE SL road dropouts...

Dude does not disapoint.

It’s not you, it’s me. But we can still be friends…

2008-12-26T08:53:00.004-06:00

I haven’t dated since high school, I married my senior prom date. So I’m a little out of practice with breaking up. However, I feel like I’ve been dumped pretty hard by cyclocross, my trouble making Twany Kataen of a girl friend.

Where did I go wrong?
Why do I wake up every Sunday on edge and ready to race?
Is getting chubby and slow after a break up normal?
Is it wrong that when I walk on an icy downtown sidewalk I pass people and think to myself, I’m not a true power walker, but I’ve got the technical skills to win today?
What is wrong with me?

Everyone’s blogs have been letting up. We get a trickle of news from Europe, but I have a hard time pronouncing the races and racers names. Really, what am I supposed to do with myself? Prepping for NAHBS is my only saving grace, but it’s not quite the same as lining up to race every weekend.

I’m sure in the spring I’ll crush out on my road bike and get out on the trails a few times too. But what is eating me up is that I know next fall I’m going to slut it up and take cyclocross back like a hot heavy metal girl friend from the wrong side of the tracks.

The morning commute

2008-12-17T10:39:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Naz for sharing Camerabag.

2008: Greatest Hits

2008-12-12T13:58:00.013-06:00

My 2008 cross season started one year ago at Montrose with my first cyclocross race. I lined up dead last on my freeride bike. The goal was pass someone, anyone. It was also an important proof of concept for me - would I like cyclocross? Aaron was in the early stages of starting COURAGE and I was considering having him build me a cross bike, but I needed to make sure I would use it. Affirmative. I had a blast. I crossed the line knowing I'd be back for more.

In college I raced mountain bikes for ASU, but that was about cheap parts and was less organized than a beer run. A few years ago my friend Moshe got me out to my first crit. Since then I've been getting major beatdowns in the 5s, typically racing three or four crits in a season. However, knowing that I'd be representing COURAGE I really wanted to piece together a decent cyclocross season. I never formed any plan more in depth than ride my bike a ton, but I can at least claim to have stuck to that plan pretty well.

With a bunch of spring and summer miles in my legs I showed up to Jackson Park with Laura, Ruby, and a seriously hot road bike. Unfortunately my team cross bike got hung up in shipping. I was determining to represent COURAGE in the race so the Intense stayed home and my skinny tired bike came to play instead.

I love crap conditions for cross. Cold, wet, windy, slick, you name it and it will probably put a smile on my face. But better minds would prevail and I was happy to see the weather dry, a nice compliment to my tractionless tires.

The race went well. I finished 12th and had a great final sprint. I was able to close a decent gap in the last 100 meters to take one more spot. However, it was practically cheating as I opened a huge sprint in a 50x12 closing on Tim McGovern on a fixed cross bike with a kiddy trailer hitch.

My next race, at Hawthorn Woods with the first sled hill of the season, I finished 9th. This time Tim held me off on the last lap. He and I had a few laughs about our finish line duels.

I got my first call up at Carpentersville. That was pretty cool. Felt like I was delivering for my sponsors. The next big highlight for me was the sand pit there. I crushed it hard and felt good about putting my dusty old mountain bike skills to use. Also, at this point in the season people were staring to recognize COURAGE - tons of cheering and a bunch more questions about the bikes. The season was starting to gel.

All I remember from Bartlett was having to pedal down hill on the finishing straight in 40+ mph gusts. Ouch.

St. Charles was a spectacular course and I was doing my first really active racing at the front of the pack. John Villena, Adrian Redd and I were battling for 3-5. We constantly swapped positions until I got in front of them on the backside of the final lap just before the course got technical. I held them off to the line for 3rd place. It was my first bit of strategic racing and it felt good. All of this was made sweeter by the Half Acre posse at the bottom of the hill cheering like mad for everyone.

Another great course at Northbook. I loved the hill and figured I did the equivalent of 16 flights of stairs in my little four lap race. Double ouch.

The sand pit at Lansing made the race and made me $2. Those 25 meters of tube sock deep Cream of Wheat combined with the loudest and most involved heckling of the year brought out the best of me even though I had one of my worst finishes. All I wanted to do was crush that sand pit with everything I had so people would cheer louder. Easy on lap one, harder there after. I think I made it 4 for 6 through the sand. Most importantly I powered out the last time through with major crowd participation. I exited the backside on the last go round so jacked I was able to close a gap on one more guy before the line. A special thanks to Mike Hemme for bring the insanity to a new level...

Then the ultimate highlight of my season, Frances Marjorie Fairman, born November 18th. My second little girl. I'll skip a lot of the personal family stuff, but I want to take a moment to give my wife Laura a huge thank you for being so supportive of me this fall while managing a three year old, me and a pregnancy. You did it with grace.

Here we are at the end, IL State Championships in Montrose Harbor. I'll make this brief. I had my first hole shot of the season and managed to keep everyone behind me but John Villena. It felt really good to race that well and make the call home to Laura. I finished out the season in 4th place overall and feel really good about going into 2009 with a lot of valuable experience.

I'm a little jealous of everyone in balmy KC this weekend. I can't wait to hear all the stories.

Thanks to everyone who volunteered or got underpaid to run the ChiCrossCup circus. Thanks sponsors, racers, photographers, spouses, kids, dogs, and metal cover bands for making such a great scene.

The Calamity Dance

2008-12-08T12:53:00.004-06:00

Sunday’s race at Montrose Harbor delivered like Merckx in the 60’s and 70’s - hard, fast, and unrelenting. John Villena even lived up to the Cannibal moniker by drinking his own blood for most of our race. John is a hardman and earned the win the hard way.

Who set up that course? Turin? Someone please enlighten me. Big props for making it fun as hell. Great use of the lake front features, some super technical spots and the frozen dune was the closest thing to a kicker all season. Again and again the terrain at the harbor provides the foundation for a great race, and three years straight Mother Nature provided the goods to make it a proper cyclocross affair – straight nasty (somewhere in the back of my mind I’m hearing a Fishbone song about nastiness). Am I the only one wondering why there isn’t a mid-season race there in addition to the State Championship? Bring more cross into the city!

I wrapped up the season with a second place, my best finish of the year. I’d been using a special Navy Seal training regime, code named New Born, for the last few weeks to really up my game. It mostly consists of not sleeping for three weeks before a race and bullying your expectations so low that you ignore all better judgment and push yourself into the redzone.

Cyclocross has the best fans. You all rock for sticking around and cheering on COURAGE and the rest of the 4Bs in the freezing cold darkness. Word!

My week in commuting

2008-12-05T14:32:00.000-06:00

Funny time of year to start a bike blog, but here I go. Trust you will see many changes in the coming weeks.

This was the first week Chicago’s wintry weather put our metal to the test. I would describe my rides as playing Labyrinth, the tilting top marble maze game, with Pearl Izumi Lobster Claws. Lot of slipping around and a total lack of confidence to do anything about it. Take a healthy coating of ice, gusting winds, 38mm profile rims, darkness and cold, and you are asking for all kinds of trouble. At the end of each ride my hands ached from the stress of continuously feeling like you were going to hit the deck. If it wasn’t ice it was wind. No wind, ice. And sometimes, like when I was going north bound at top speed from Michigan Ave to the inner drive from the wrong lane it was both. Yes, I know it’s a bit silly to risk my race bike commuting in such crappy conditions but I’ve been trying to turn my commute into a training ride by doing intervals in the grass and snow front of the zoo.

Every year I try and make sure I ride into work on a subzero and 100+ degree day. Sometimes you have to wait until deep winter sets in to get that subzero day. I’m not sure that we’ll have to wait so long this year. Only in the Midwest do cyclists have to have gear for a 100 degree range.

I can’t wait for the State Championships this weekend. It’s going to be perfect cross weather. I’ve been letting the beard get thick in anticipation of the cold.

I’ve convinced a bunch of non-cyclist to come out and watch the 4’s performance of the Calamity Dance. I encourage all you to do the same!

I'm a little nervous about all this crazy blog stuff...

2008-11-30T20:57:00.001-06:00

This is a test. Is it really as easy to keep a blog as Ben says?