Winningest Weeekend Wever

Before I tell you about all the things that the Cuttin Crew did in this past week, I'd like to give a shout out to our 2014 Sponsors who keep us rolling along every year. Without our sponsors we wouldn't be registered for races all across the country and the globe, we wouldn't be able to support our Juniors, we wouldn't be able to munch down more pizza and bagels than you, and look good while we do it. We wouldn't have a place to stay when we're down state,  we wouldn't have stellar legal advice for every situation the Crew can get themselves into, and we've gotten into a few. Anyway mostly what we're saying is; WE LOVE OUR SPONSORS. 

Things that happened this weekend.

SATURDAY

1. Daphne, Gabe and I traveled down to Bloomington for the State Championship Criterium. Gabe took pictures of our adventures and there will be lots more showing up on his blog in the next few weeks. 

2. Lucky for me it was raining. Growing up in Ireland (land of rain) will give you a natural advantage. I had the un-natural advantage of fat fat tires and low tire pressure which made me feel confident and smooth on a pretty technical course in pretty dire conditions. Then this happened: 

W3/4 PODIUM Photo by Gabe Galloway

3. I raced again in the Women's Open. Hoping to support Daphne in any way I could, and just hoping to hang on to the wheels of some of the fastest women in the state, and in the region. Jeannie Kuhajek (VanderKitten) and Skylar Scheinder (Team Tibco) as well as super fast women from Scarlet Fire, Balance and xXx all made for a fast and aggressive race. An unfortunate late crash gave Jeannie the gap that she needed, despite a strong chase, it was too late and Daphne took a well deserved second place on the podium. I hung on for 9th place. 

Daphne and niece Cora take applause from the crowd at the Bloomington Criterium

4. Judy (Daphne's Mom) schooled us on the use of an iphone and took some amazing slo-mo videos. 

5. While all this action was going on, simultaneously, Nico and friends threw the Minneapolis pre NACCC event, also known as the Cuttin Crew Classic.  Al won the Lower Wacker Time Trial with Christina (CCC Alum) and Jake placing in the top 5. Nikki Munivez and Mike Malone took 1st dude and 1st dudette!

Joshua knows how to make a trophy!

6. Word to your mom, we had a messenger prom. 

7. Ella and Lang competed in the Junior Tri. Ella took 5th out of 80 in the 13-14 girls and Lang was 1st fixed. 

Lang was too tired to avoid this picture. 

SUNDAY

8. Teeners Galeeners agreed to be my partner for the xXx Relay Race in Jackson Park again, and bettering our results from last year, took 3rd! 

This is a photo of me that now exists in the world. Thank you Randy Warren. 

9. Jake and his pal Zach took 2nd in the mens 4/5!

Photo by www.jayloo.com

10. Ella and Tess Anderson (Spin Doctor CycleWerks) finished first females in the Junior 15-18. 

11. The Cuttin Crew and family fielded five teams for the CoEd division. All of those 5 teams placed in the top 20, with 3 in the top 10. Team Nature Walks was saved by Mike Morell's ever-preparedness (he wears a CCC kit under his clothes at all times). 

Snowy Mountain captured the chaos of the Relay Cross

12. We had the best team names of the weekend including;

                         -        braaaaap pack

                         -        Nature Walks p/b Chicago Cuttin Crew

                         -        Speed Mutants from Planet Azzip

                         -        Walter needs a New Pair of Shoes

13. The Cuttin Crew podium'd in all categories in every discipline (sanctioned and unsanctioned racing) we entered in this weekend! 

Max and I barely held off a couple of Panda's to take 4th place in the CoEd. Photo by TSH

WHATTAWEEKENDYOUGUYS!

Junior Girls Cyclocross Clinic

We here at the CCC are dedicated to the advancement of junior girls cycling. From medals to cheers we do our best to encourage the young ladies of the Chicagoland area to do their very best. In that spirit we are extremely pleased to announce that the Cuttin Crew has been working with the organizers of the Trek CxC Cup to put on a Junior Girls Cyclocross Clinic! 

Who better to inspire the girls of the Chicrosscup than some of the strongest, most successful cyclocross racers in the US. Leading the clinic will be 10 time National Champion and World Cup Champion Katie Compton, along with U23 National Champ Kaitie Antonneau, with assistance from Emma Swartz, a multi-discipline race-winner and UCI-ranked junior from Team Wheel & Sprocket.

If you want to improve your skills alongside the best lady racers in the county now is your chance!


Where: Trek CxC Cup @ Trek Factory Headquaters, Waterloo, Wisconisn

When: 5.30-6.30pm, 19th of September 2014

You must be:

A junior girl aged 9-18

EXCITED ABOUT CYCLOCROSS

You must bring: 

A cyclocross bike (preferred) or Mountain Bike.

A helmet.

A USAC license (if you don't have a license you can purchase a one day license online when registering or day of)

We will supply:

The Trek CxC Cup Course. You will be doing drills and skills on the challenging UCI course set up for the weekend's racing. 

Current National Cyclocross Champion & Current Cyclocross World Cup Champion KATIE COMPTON of Trek Factory Racing. 

KFC

Current U23 National Cyclocross Champion & Collegiate Champion (and former Chicrosscup participant) KAITIE ANTONNEAU of Team Cannondale p/b cyclocrossworld.com

Water

Snacks  


Registration for the clinic will open at midnight on the 22nd of August. There will be 20 spots available and the clinic will be free of charge. Please only register if you will be able to attend as these spots are precious. We would also encourage any girls (plus their parents) who are attending to take their newly learned skills and put them to the test at the Trek CxC Cup junior race the next day. 

 Clinic Registration Page 

Trek CxC Cup Registration Page

 

 

Roadtrip to Paris: Cuttin Crew Goes International

After the launch of La Course, Marianne Vos and her friends sat down and came up with a plan. They are going to cycle to Paris and cheer her on! Starting on July 23rd in Utrecht and finishing on July 26 in Paris, the 550km trip will pass through Holland, Belgium, and France. Once in Paris they will soak up the atmosphere, enjoy the city and await the arrival of the Tour de France and of course the first ever edition of La Course. 

Vos and her friends have invited 35 other women from around the world to join the Roadtrip to Paris. The Cuttin Crew is happy to announce that our very own rider Daphne will be representing the U.S. and Chicago in this once in a lifetime trip. After a few Prairie State races, she's headed to Utrecht, Netherlands on July 21. Not only will she get to witness the first edition of La Course (and the end of the Tour de France..), but she will return to us with training tips and advice from Marianne Vos herself—so make sure to pick her brain when she gets back!

Marianne Vos and her friends

Marianne Vos and her friends

A special thanks to T S H for helping make this trip possible, and continuing to give a face to women's cycling. Be sure to follow @tsh_women on Instagram for updates during the trip!

Thank you to our sponsors who continue to support the crew through all their cycling adventures! 

A Recent Interview with Marianne Vos

Le Tour de France Starts July 5th

More on the Passion, Pitfalls, and Power of Women's Professional Cycling

Universal Sports will be airing La Course LIVE on July 27th. This is the route:




Hillsboro: Town of Pizza, Land of Cannoli

75 women raced the Hillsboro Roubaix 3/4 on Saturday. An impressively large field of ladies from all over the Midwest. It was also our first debut with the new jersey, in typical Larkinator style, I got so excited about wearing it that I clean forgot mine. With a borrowed, and pinned neon dream jersey from Al (size large) I rolled up to the start line.

Marie and I raced the women's 3/4, and unfortunately a crash took me out of the running with just 3 miles to go. A fast crash, and a slow motion crash all in one. No time to react, time to watch it all happen. The lead group was cut in half. 

After a few well chosen curse words, I managed to collect myself and my bike. Marie had sacrificed her own race in the hope of helping to pace me back up to the field. But alas it was too late, I yelled at her to continue on while I tried to release my chain which was stuck fast beneath the chain catcher. A passing stranger (I can't remember what category or team) kindly gave me a tool, and off I went again.

I slow rolled to the finish line, really not wanting to do the final hill, but one of the team mottos was ringing in my ears.

DEATH BEFORE DNF.

I finished up 39 out of 75.

Marie finished 28 of out 75. 

A few words from Ms Snyder;

'As one of the largest fields we have raced in, the journey did not come without it's own novel challenges. We had to fight for position, bump some elbows, and ride some gravel just to keep with the peloton -- all of the best parts of bike racing! Also lovely to see so many new faces in beautiful weather.'

Jason and Al, our most excellent pilot and co-pilot for the journey down there, hung in it with the lead group til the final climb.

Al 29th, Jason 32nd

They both saved my skin (literally) on a couple of occasions. Providing me with jerseys and band aids to sooth my road rash. Josh just finished up becoming a life saver, and it was his first race back after a couple of seasons out. A tough race, he hung in there and finished up in 60th place. 

Here's a couple of quick snaps I took;

1. Al adjusts

2. Marie Snyder has the best post race steez game you've ever seen.

3. Gianni's Pizza is some of the best pizza in the world

4. Cannoli's give you the eye when you're hungry

Thank you to the Fergurson's for kindly putting us up for the night. A comfy bed and oatmeal in the morning really ease the pre-race nerves. They're also one of our 2014 sponsors! If you're ever in need of some insurance downstate, you know just the fam to call.

How many thousand ft?

Maria and I headed to San Francisco for a little spring training (April 6-14).  We arrived just in time for the most beautiful weather San Francisco has to offer. Here is a recap of our adventure and some routes that we based our rides off of. Special thanks to Francine HaasComrade Cycles and Johnny Sprockets for keeping us rolling. And Jefferson and Gary for the great stay our first 3 nights in the Mission. 

Monday "Feelin It Out"

We hit the road to Alpine Dam. Our first day out on the roads was overcome with stops for map views and backtracking but by the end of the day we had the hang of it. We made friends with Market Street Cycles after they double checked our bike assembly capabilities and loaned us a map for the day. We would frequent this shop a handful of times over our stay.

Maria's first words on San Francisco: "Everyone here is living in a paradise island of happiness. THIS PLACE IS LIKE A PARADISE ISLAND"

70.5 Miles logged (we cut out the Paradise Loop section and climbed Mt. Tam twice :) )

6766ft of climbing

Falls: 2 (Maria)

Dinner: Pizza and Meatballs at Delfina Pizzeria

Tuesday "Long Day"

Headed up Route 1 to Point Reyes Station. We've never seen views like this. We've never seen descents like this.

82.9 Miles logged

5684ft of climbing

Dinner: Pizza, Pasta Shells, and Cauliflower at Delfina Pizzeria

Wednesday "Paradise Loop x2"

By this point our midwestern legs were already starting to slow down. We decided to stay a little closer to the city and hit the Paradise Loop. We ended up doing the loop twice because we felt THAT GOOD, and the sun was shining so bright. 

49.22 Miles logged

2,028ft of climbing

Dinner: Sushi with lots of Wasabi at Wayo Sushi

Thursday "Rest Day"

I had to attend a conference for work and Maria had to see the sights. 

Dinner: Fish Tacos and Ceviche at Nopalito

 

Friday "TEEEEEENERRRRSSS"

After I attended more stimulating lectures on design and typography, we met up with Cuttin Crew 4Lyfe member Christina Peck at The Mill. We got to ride around like a local and have chats with our pal. We ended the ride at Rapha where I had the best chocolate chip cookie of my life. Later that night we planned our epic Saturday ride up Mt. Diablo. We even made a cue sheet. 

52.57 Miles logged

4,477ft of climbing

Dinner: Whole Foods Hot Bar. Unsatisfying. 

 

Saturday "Mt. Diablo, East Bay"

We wanted to see what this Mt. Diablo was all about since we'd likely be climbing it in May for the Rapha Women's Prestige. It's no big deal. No big deal at all. Piece of cake. 

70.0 Miles logged 

6,911ft of climbing (A GOOD HOUR OF STRAIGHT CLIMBING)

Dinner: Pizza from Delfina Pizzeria*

*I've never seen Maria eat so fast. 

Sunday "Ciao Maria"

Sunday morning we headed to Rapha to watch the Roubaix. I bought more of the delicious cookie for the road and we sat and chatted for a bit about our Diablo ride. We planned on crushing the Rapha women's ride, but Mt. Diablo certainly lived up to it's name. We did a few errands and went back to the hotel. Maria packed up her bike while I watched countless episodes of Law and Order. She left around 2 and the rest of my day was uneventful. 

This is what Maria's face looks like when she's watching bike racing. 

Monday "One for the road"

My flight was taking off at 5:45PM and I was itching for one last ride. I woke up and was at Market Street Cycles at 8AM to get a new tire. Oh, I forgot to mention, I descended Mt. Diablo with two large punctures in my front tire. So large that the tube itself was sticking out of both punctures. Once I got rolling I headed over the bridge and up Hawk Hill. Nothing too long or too fancy, just a final salute to such a great trip. 

21 Miles logged

1,837ft of climbing

Lunch: Bialy & Salmon Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen

 

Grand Total

346.19 Total Miles

27,723 Ft Climbed

2 awful sets of tan lines

Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only TEN I SEE.

By Jason & Daphne

Al, Daphne and I decided to get over winter and go south to ride a 200K.  We took the long drive through crap Indiana traffic on Friday. First stop was at the Whole Foods in Nashville to have our hot bar dinner.

Daphne: A Tennessee Whole Foods hot bar contains lots of ocra, beans, chicken, and collard greens. They also provide a bowl that you can fill up for a flat rate of $12. Al ate 2.5lbs of food that evening. 

Sometime around 6:30PM in Kentucky Daphne had a thought (I'm sure she had many before that, but this one is important for my story). She asked "Did you make arrangements to get the keys to the cabin after hours?"  My stomach flipped around a little bit.  I made the reservations, and am fairly accustomed to staying in hotels, but making arrangements to pick up keys after hours is something that I never thought about. The park closed at 4:00.  

Daphne: Face palm. This is what happens when you leave planning up to the guys.

Convinced that we'd be sleeping in my car, we went to the main building in the park.  The door was locked.  I saw a chair inside with a light on and pulled on the locked door, hoping that whoever was in that chair at 4:00PM, was still in the building at 10:30PM.  They were not.  The sign on the door said "office hours 10:00am to 4:00pm". The other sign said "late arriving guests check the rack to the right."  It was like a beam of light from heaven shined down upon this rack that contained one envelope with J. Fergurson written on it.  I walked over and picked up the envelope containing cabin keys.  Tragedy was averted.  

The next morning I woke up to Al sauntering into the kitchen at 5:30AM.  I had slept in a fold out couch by the kitchen.  Al and Daphne are much better in the early morning than myself.  They made breakfast, and packed up the rice cakes they had made. We left for the ride at 6AM.

We arrived at the start at 7AM, and were met by 20 or so fellow cyclists. We received our manifest for the day which included about 6 checkpoints at various gas stations along the route.  We got ready and a friend of mine, Barry from Kentucky, stayed around waiting for the three of us.  Then our foursome started riding. Barry was an excellent navigator with his cue sheet and GPS system. He also frequently rides 200-400K on the weekend and is training for a 1200K.

The first 20 miles were fairly uneventful.  The dogs didn't start chasing us yet.  The climbing was civil.  Then Barry let us know we were approaching the first climb. 

Daphne: From this point on we climbed, then climbed some more. Then climbed even longer and steeper. We passed beautiful pastures with cows and horses and felt the sun beat down on our backs. The road felt liberating. We were all smiles. We traded potholes and freezing temps for meth houses and yard dogs out for the attack. The surliest of beasts was a three-legged dog that got up to 21.5 mph for a good .5 miles. I was convinced for a moment someone was going to loose a limb. "When you see the dogs you're like a Cat 5 crit racer" -AL, directed to me. 

Now, the important part. Where we ate afterwards. This was tricky. We wanted to be sure to have good food but it was a gamble. We landed on Tom's Blue Moon BBQ, Lebanon, TN. It was the most delicious food I have ever had. So good that Jason took a pound of meat back to the cabin with us which was later eaten while playing a very sleepy game of Rummy and watching Rocky IV.

Things I learned:

Al has an uncanny way of finding the best coffee shops and places to eat in unfamiliar places. Is this a messenger trait? 

I traveled with true gentlemen. They would pull over and get out of the car to release their gas. And then do a lap around the car before proceeding. 

I like hills. I want to eat them for breakfast every day. 

2014 is going to be a great year. 

 

Jason 

Things I learned:

It's hard to recognize people in their stretchy pants.

Daphne is hella fast

Dogs with 3 legs can be more persistent that dogs with 4

Descending > ascending 

Southern BBQ is dope

 

2014 Kitty

Following Cuttin Crew tradition, with a new year comes a new kit. We like to keep it interesting. This year our inspiration came from one of our favorite sparkling beverages. We are sure you're going to love it as much as we do. Stay tuned...

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