Dispatches from Planet Cross

by ZorgStardate 0x7d8

Greetings Commander, As you know from our last transmission, we have crashed our Star Cruiser on a small orb in the h4x0r system. We located a replacement craft, and we have been modifying it for interstellar travel, but the local life forms have been commandeering it before we can complete the repairs. For fear of being discovered, we have been hiding in the "couches" amongst the other alien life forms (there are many). It seems that once every seven planetary rotations, they load the craft with simple machines and explore the outer reaches of their metropolis.

This mission they call the "Chicago Cyclocross Cup" is now at its halfway point, with 5 such excursions completed. Thanks to the Captain of their ship (and one of their new shipmates), we were able to witness one of these events from our couch habitat. Some of them push these machines through difficult terrain. The rest of them start fires, cook, eat, drink, and occasionally yell at their shipmates as they pass. Curious behavior.

The one named Al seems to be exceptionally eager to reach his destination. On one occasion, he spent 45+ minutes in something called a "3s race" but apparently he did not find what he was looking for, as he continued his quest with another 60+ minute mission later that afternoon in the "1/2/3s race." So far, he has finished 15th, 11th (twice), 7th, and 8th in the 3s. He's currently in 8th place overall.

The one they call Adam is also quite skilled. In this photo, he seems to be defying their gravity by flying over a barrier. He has finished the 3s races in 14th, 6th, and 15th and he's in 15th place overall, despite missing several excursions. It seems he possesses some sort of special fuel. He has been seen encoding messages on "hot dogs" (see above), and then he ingests them, often in large numbers.

This ship's crew do not always return from these outings in pristine condition. Molly, pictured here, damaged her lower extremities during a forceful collision. Nonetheless, she was able to re-mount her machine, and convey them both to the finish line, finishing 6th, and she has been healing slowly ever since.

One of them, Ben, has apparently spent a lot of time conveying these machines through the loose dirt of this planet, as he is pictured here traversing a corner at a high rate of speed, with a long train of racers in pursuit. Apparently the "hills" of Illinois don't seem to faze him. The one curiously named "James" finished 6th in her first race, but she is still a top secret member, and thus cannot be photographed in action. Another one, a guest crewmate named Mike (aka 40), has also been bringing home results in team colors: 19th (Masters) and 4th, 9th, and 15th in the 4s, where he sits in 12th overall.

One of them, Avi, has only completed two of these events (Masters' 11th and 14th), but he chose to celebrate the anniversary of his birth at one of them. He claims he had a good time, with punk rock music emanating from the ship, brewed beverages, and his small offspring in attendance, however, it appears from the photographs that he has just been stabbed with an oxidized eating utensil.

However, in the chase for overall supremacy, only one of them, Max, seems to be within striking distance of such glory, in the 4s. After finishing his races in 6th (twice), 3rd, 4th, and 7th, he is only two points out of 1st place overall. We will keep you apprised.

We do not anticipate a launch opportunity any time soon, as this craft will also embark to Cyclocross Nationals in Kansas city.

These images were intercepted from the Flickr accounts of ewwhite, velogrrl, jeffkao, and Luke. We highly recommend the Mothership buys a calendar to keep track of this planet's rotations.

Who loves ya baby?

Well. There has been plenty going on. Amidst the traveling to road races and tailgating at cyclocross races there have been developments within and without the team. Here is one thing that is definitely worth breaking the streak of non-communication:

October 9th, is 10/9 day. An irrelevant fact to most "normies" but to us messengers and open-channel geeks, 10/9 is code for "please repeat" or, more accurately, "fucking speak up", and/or "I definitely wasn't paying attention". Radio communication is what makes the job happen and therefore it's nice to have a holiday on the date of one of the key radio codes.

There is a good group of people (thank you Emily!) putting together a free breakfast for messengers this Thursday, October 9. The breakfast is available at the central location of the Thompson Center, AKA Thompson, AKA the birdcage, AKA governor's playhouse (no one else calls it that Swampy), AKA 100 W Randolph. Grub gets out at 8 AM and is getting packed up by 9 AM so get it while it's good.

By the way, this flier sums it up well. Guess correctly who it is on this flier and get a free sixer of your choice:

Results of Note

by avi For most of us, whether delivering or not, this started in the street. An event like the NACCCs just gets us where it counts...part alleycat, a little 'cross, a movable puzzle, and just plain clocking laps flat-out for 5 hours if you keep making the cut. It's something that you don't get in "proper" bike racing. Add plenty of beer, old friends, top-tier competition, and you can see why it's easy to forget about all the other racing on the calendar.

But, lest we forget, we've got some results to report.

Way back on August 21st, Al got second at Northbrook in the Cat 4 point a lap/unknown distance. But that was just a warmup for closing night at Kenosha five days later. Al came through with two victories: Cat 3 Tempo and Cat 3 Scratch. Just to share the love, he and Jeff slung their way into 3rd in the Cat 1/2/3 Madison. If you want to take notes, all the exchanges you could possibly want are here in video form, courtesy of Peloton-pix. Three races, three podia. Way to go, Al!

Next, we've got the Palos Meltdown, September 7th. Long before Adam was slinging runs in the loop, he was ripping up the dirt in the great wild woods up north. As someone pointed out in the pre-race..."You are a brave man" (nodding to his suspension-free ride). Shocks! We don't need no stinking shocks! Despite being under the weather and far from his training grounds, Adam pulled 24th in Expert class. With close to 100 racers and 32 miles of dirt to cover, not a bad day out.

However, our current title holder for the tallest trophy of the year is none other than the Irish Tornado, Max. In his first-ever mountain bike race, he was introducing the Beginner class to his little friend, Eddy Merckx. The course was pretty...uh, friendly, with cyclocrossers, mostly from Half Acre, scooping up many of the top spots. However, the pack of 6-8 year olds battling for DFL was a pretty clear sign that we really ought to be in Sport class next time around.

And yes, there's one more result not worth mentioning. I was introducing my little friend, beat-to-crap-single-speed-cross-bike, and I was off the front two minutes into the beginner race. Two minutes later, I was off the course. I won't tarnish the moment by grousing about course marking and marshaling, but every so often I'll stop by Max's trophy case with a faraway look in my eye and a thought about what Might Have Been.

Photos lifted from Naz, Peloton-pix, and a crappy camera phone.

NACCCs overview

By Jeff (Photos stolen from the brilliant artists on the Chicago NACCC flickr group, thanks iwinyoulose, JohnHartsfield, verly138. I highly recommend looking through everyone's. There's waaayyy too many photos to go through)

Stan is the Nation's number one Avid Cyclist! All drama aside, this man deserves a ton of credit. Whether he looks the role or not, he will proudly always tell you he has never been a messenger. Having spent plenty of time joking along with us yet having no actual experience with this game, he grinded his way to 9th place (top ten!) at the 11th North American Cycle Courier Championships and earned top spot with the title of non-messenger. Andrew got 5th overall and was top Chicago boy, followed closely by Nico's 6th. That's 3 Chicagoans in the top ten. New York got 3 in the top ten but also 2 where it counted most: Austin was the first finisher, Kym was the 4th finisher and first woman. Fergus from SF was apparently only 6 seconds behind Austin to place 2nd and one of two Friscans in the top 10. Boston's Craig Roth was 3rd and MKE's Chad Rice was 10th. Full results are in pdf form here.

My performance? Well, between firecrackers going into boxes, having a person dressed as a chicken steal your bike and having a pack of bitter current and ex-messengers put you through degrading hoops in order to get your package, I think my performance at the 4 Star/Breakaway checkpoint was a success. The best is, that was only for the qualifiers...

"Hey Rooster, about yesterday's checkpoint. Rad. Could you tone it down a little bit today?"

No worries Augie, all ready planned on taming CP #5. We set up the barriers behind the bus so no one knew where to go their first trip, even those that scouted the course couldn't see the "Loading Dock". The goal was to make everyone improve as you went along. It was amusing to put all of these seasoned vets back into their rookie pants. Harassment ensued but it was consistent.

40/Copper/Gipson/Mike G./...dad, call him what you will, he was top dog for a day. After sitting around and taking back some brews the Cuttin' Crew OG decided to hop in the mix and was showing everyone how this business works. He was as slick as could be and got the top qualifying time on Saturday. Come Sunday, however, the hangover and getting a poorly timed flat proved too much and he DNF'd. Aw well, we need seasonal help for our 'cross season and his reds smokin', Bud sippin' style will probably foot the bill.

No Chicken this time, just a grown man in a banana suit, 7 cubes of PBR, more loud music, big cowbell and all day to fuck with people.

Mike Morell and OG Jason Marshall were the braintrusts behind a rather grueling course. It felt great to hear people numbed with pain and exhaustion. Good ol' pancake flat Chicago proved daunting to many people and we have the creativity (and dementedness) of Mike and Jay to thank.

Prom was a sensation. It could actually be considered too big. Putting Bottom Lounge past capacity is a hell of a feat. Big ups to Josh and Russell for pulling that together.

Augie and Vern were machines. Something about getting up at 630 to carry a bunch of shit all over Garfield Park was a tough sell. Having to do it two days in a row was borderline torture. Those cats were around for every minute. Those two have been dealing with a tough city, park district, police dept., and expensive bill for a long time and yet they pulled it off. Thanks guys.

Mareesha and Dilts were awesome go-to's for publicity and making us all look good. Bringing a big draw for sponsors and swag as well as event planning and execution is not something done easily with an event like this. Thank you so much you two.

A lot of volunteers came through and helped out in ways you could never imagine.

Cuttin' Crew qualified everyone for the final. Brynn had a nasty spill that tore some elbow ligaments, send her your best. She's a tough chick so she'll be fine, but it doesn't hurt to give the lady some kind words. Then, of course, there's this...

Note the hand still holding the bike. That's skill...

It was good to see everyone and meet many more. These things are so beautiful when it comes to that. Lil' Jen and Juice. Cyclejerks. DC crew. Jimmy and his LA peeps. Fhar. The ever impressive Philly contingent. Your DFL and GFG Josh Whitesnake. It's like one big hug going all around...aaahhh.

See you bitches in Boston.

North American Cycle Courier Championships

So it's no surprise to anyone that this week is a big deal. We haven't really plugged it here because it just hasn't seemed real. It's still hard to process: the NACCCs are here in Chicago. More work than you could ever imagine has been put into making this a success. It's scary how good this will be. Holy crap, it's so soon! IT'S THIS FUCKING WEEKEND!! "Labor day weekend, 2008!" Do you have any idea how many times we've told that to people? I'm going to say 946...this month at least.

So many people are amazed to see what Chicago has to offer as a host city. They sure as hell won't be let down. Aside from the visitors, mostly every local is in for something s/he has never seen before. Imagine 300 messengers from all over the world coming to have a good time and see what Chicago has to offer. Top male and female messenger champions will get tickets to Tokyo to participate in the World's next year. Every genuine dive bar, good restaurant, realest of bike shops, and loyal manufacturer will see their faithful clientèle skyrocket and finally gather in one place to hang out, race and have a good time. No lies, it's going to be a little intimidating, but at the end of the day, all that really matters is whether or not you hardened up and gave it a shot to participate. After that you'll truly understand what this craze, this fascination, this addiction, what this love is all about. NACCCs are such a beautiful thing. We're doin' it the Chicago way. Be sure not to miss out on it.

Oh. And, um. PS. The swag list is absolutely insane. Check out the sponsor list here.

Registration is here.

Details are here.

Schedule is here.

MySpace page is here.

Daniella Update

Our little sister team, Yojimbo's Track Cats had a hard lesson handed to them recently. We've been working with them, (in some cases tirelessly...Bre) and everyone agrees some great things have come of it. National champions, their Champion trainers, World class athletes, the finest mechanics and Alums from the School of Hard Knocks have all joined the incredible volunteer committee and seemingly endless generosity of Marcus to help these kids grow as racers, riders and people. This team has done a bit of work to accommodate. We're also doing our best to share our relatively modest knowledge of velodrome riding, the respectful advice of Kenosha's velodrome mentors has certainly humbled us all. On our latest trip to the Washington Park Velodrome (August 19), one of the promising young ladies on the Track Cats got caught a bad situation. In the final race of the night, the Consolation Race, Daniella went down and hit the track hard. Stories have narrowed it down to a wheel collision, a common cause for wiping out. The painful problem was amplified, however, by the awkward manner in which she fell. She was knocked unconscious and flown to a hospital in Milwaukee. The MKE hospital was more suited for handling minors and she stayed in ICU unconscious for approximately 12 hours. She is back to a wary yet stable state of consciousness as of late. She has a few scrapes and bruises and carries a bad concussion on her resume but the medical staff is expressing confidence that she is in the midst of a full recovery.

Please keep her in your hopes, prayers, actions, whichever method you see fit to help strengthen her and her fam. Heal up quickly and keep rollin' Daniella.

Team Pursuit

Well. Another trip to the track and a lot of fun watching people ride on their own. Whodathunkit? Photos are coming soon. Performance was good with plenty of room for improvement. Goal time of 5:10 was beat. Al bust out a 5:19 solo effort. Adam hit 5:29 thinking Vienna Beef the whole time. Team hit 5:06 all while having to crispen that shit up. The support and love was deep, be on the lookout for photo evidence.

Thanks again to Marcus. Every time we get on that track with some bona fide equipment and guidance it's because of that man. Yojimbo's, 1310 N Clybourn.

Bicycle Film Festival Block Party

Long overdue part 1: Chris Dilts is winner for best photographer. Do yourself a favor and check out his awesome flickr set. Favorites include: Gorilla drinking sparks, Candles mysterio with the megaphone, BMX dude putting on a clinic, bike somersaulter guy pulling it off, bike somersaulter guy not pulling it off and Augie doing his Augie thing. Links? No. No links for you! See if you can find which ones I'm referring to. Until then. Here:

Yeah. It was pretty much like that.

Big props to Jamie for winning the women's sprints and gettin' in the mix with the big boys. Stan pulled off the overall sprint victory after coming off a 4th place finish at Glencoe Grand Prix 2 hours prior. Badass tricks and skids filled the long day up until Pete (PETE!) won the raffle for the Capone Cycles 312 Track frameset. Nothing but compliments were flying in regards to the new frameset, check them when you can, nocturnal BMX at 1436 W Fullerton.

This team also has one great supporter to thank... Thanks Rachel!

Team Pursuit

Tonight is the night! Adam, Al, Brean and Jeff will be participating in a 4 man, 4 KM team pursuit on the track. Big shout out and personal dedication to Marcus Moore of Yojimbo's Garage for providing equipment, advice and support.

This will be quite a team showcase and hopefully we'll have something nice to report back!

8/13/2007

It was one year ago on this day that the worst news anyone could bear was spread through the community like a horrible shiver. I still remember what it felt like to hear what happened. The first thing that came to mind was that incredible smile and energy and style that defined Ryan.

It's shattering to be reminded how quickly beautiful things can be taken away. He was separated from this world and his two children and their mother. He was separated from this community that stands so unique and marginalized, yet he would never have a moment of hesitation when it came to backing you up. Seriously. He was separated but not gone. Never gone unless forgotten and that just won't happen.

Whether you had the pleasure of knowing him or knowing of him, Avi says it well:

"We all ride for our own reasons. Because we love it, or it sets us free, or it pays the bills, or because we just can't stop riding.

We fall, we rise up, and we ride again.

But when one of us falls forever, we all have to work a little harder to ride on."

It will be a difficult day for many out there. Everyone should consider the horrible weight that driver is left to bear as well. As hard as it is to move on, it's times like this Ryan reminds us to stop and think about the great things around us. It's only fitting that we pay tribute and respects to Ryan in a way that will always be one of his favorites...

He loved to hang out and be in great company. One of his favorite places was Cal's on Van Buren and Wells. Come on by Cal's on Friday (August 15). Come do what Ryan would undoubtedly be doing with us. Raise a cheer to a great life and buy Ryan a beer or whatever at the bar. That 2+ dollars will go into his memorial fund and be kept to help provide for his two children.

Also going on will be a memorial ride being assembled by the Chicago Courier's Union. It will be forming around 6 o'clock, Wednesday, August 13. The route will be determined there and departure should be right around 6.