race report...

<-- Photo courtesy of Luke Seemann, chicagobikeracing.com

-by jeff-

I feel vain starting it like this but it was a good week for me. 3 wins for 3 races at the ending night of racing at Northbrook Velodrome. Getting a leadout from Al for the second win was one of the highlights of a well made season. It's a reminder how the enjoyment of having won pales in comparison to the moment when everything comes together amidst a race courtesy of great friends and teammates.

I was convinced it would be a good idea to bail on work Saturday to go do the Illinois State Road Race Championship. I literally got the road racer out of it's dusty hiding place, filled up the tires and put it together that morning to hop on it for the first time since June to join the majority of our cat 4 crew in one last hoorah for 2009 road racing.

Warming up we threw together a big plan for the race. Avi "The Ironman" Neurohr already did the morning masters with Mike "250+ miles last week" Morell so they had a good breakdown of the action.  They were doubling up, Andrew was fresh and scraped up, Max was feeling good and our new boy Al Pearson was just upgraded and ready to roll. Then, the icing came on the cake when Mr. Daryl "I have a new kid" Van Essen surprised us all and rolled up to the bus in his kit and all ready to race! This was gonna be amazing.

The plan was a big leadout. The order was Avi, Mike and Max up front and Daryl covering Andrew covering me covering Al. This was gonna be Al Pearson's coming out party. The man's got thighs as big as tree trunks and a killer spin. He hasn't been in any practiced leadouts but we just gave him the task of stay on my wheel and blow by when I pop.

The race was a 40 miler assembled by Tower Racing and it was a nice course with some limited room for movement. It could have been 20 or 70 miles and the majority of the racers wouldn't have noticed with it being so tight between the lines. I'm DEFINITELY not complaining. Up front alot of guys kept the pace honest and I was chilling in the middle with everyone else at the easiest 25-28 mph I think I've ever felt. The pack broke all the wind and it made it a game of jostling for positioning over anything. Upper hand dealt to the track kid.

The finish was strange. It was a winding, climbing series of turns followed by a false flat and a short descent before a bummer 300+ meter hill and the finish line was right beyond the peak of the hill. The move was to take advantage of the widening right before the turn into the first climb. Come the last lap we were all making moves to get things down right.

"And there you see team Cuttin' Crew moving up" was in my head as I imagined an overhead shot of the race and Phil Liggett calling it (come on, we all 'play pro' when we do this, besides wouldn't be the first time Phil did the shout out). Without knowing the action behind him, Max took the initiative to move up from 20-something to top 8 or so spots. Behind him was Mike, then Daryl, then Andrew then me, then Al Pearson. Another rush the joy that comes from perfect execution.

Around the corner, Max gunned it and Mike went left of him. Then Daryl made the move around Mike and it was Daryl, Andrew, me and Al with the road to the finish widening. Daryl springed forward and moved out around, the final bullet through the first hill and Andrew jumped. I jumped right on Andrew's wheel and felt a good wheel rub and a fall behind me. I turned back quick to look and saw someone rolling through the peloton and turned back to see Andrew with a rocket up his ass. I went right back up to his wheel and he floored it. We were the only two out front and there was no one in the peripheral.

Photo courtesy of Gavin

We pedaled hard through the descent and Andrew started to fade, I gave him a shout and he put everything he had into those legs right when we reach the bottom of the  final hill. Fuck. Time to commit. I pull to pass and just pedal my way hard into a jump. A fresh burst up and the matches start burning fast. I must be moving good cause there's nobody in sight by the time I reach about 10 meters from the peak. At that same moment, the flames grab a hold of everything and I'm hardly turning over the cranks. That yellow center line starts moving more side to side then it does forward. My good sense says shift but my body just wants to get it over with. And it finally does. First wheel across the line. I spied someone coming hard from under my right arm towards the end but thankfully he ran outta real estate. Dammit, Andrew. That boy had done it again.

Photo courtesy of DeeDee

The crash was Al Pearson. I'm gonna take this chance to introduce you to Al Pearson. He was pretty bummed to say the least and I can feel for him. The consolation is there is absolutely no doubt you're going to be seeing plenty of great results coming from Al Pearson in the future. I'm looking very forward to that.

The day closed in the best of ways. We waved farewell to 2009 with news of Christina getting 2nd in the 4's! Al Urbanski got a top 20 in a crazy 3's field. The Meshbergs had the foresight to bring beers, champagne and marinated chicken while we had the grill going at the bus well past sunset. Maybe Road Racing isn't so bad after all...

Allvoi Cup Pursuit Series Wrap-Up

A few of us marked off 3 days this summer in which we would absolutely need to be available to race in a great track racing series and the 3 of us that made it to every one of those days were very satisfied with how it turned out.

The Allvoi Cup Pursuit Series presented by Allvoi/WDT was an incredible series of events by any track racing standard. Great food, good volunteers and equipment, fine swag, good competition, great races, great weather, huge prize list and they even had a great cause. All of the money garnered at registration was collected and promised to be doubled by World Discount Telecommunications (WDT) for the sake of donating to a Foster Care program in Poland. Bravo.

You might remember our last update courtesy of Molly. Day 3's events list was quite a bit different. It was made up of races most of us have never participated in nor would need to for a long, long time. BUT! Being able to handle adversity is part of being a good racer so we all obliged our hosts and accepted the challenge. After all, it was the organizer's show and we're just happy to have such a top notch event at our disposal.

Molly was pretty much a lock for the overall win but there was drama in the race for the top 2-4 spots for Jeff and Al to work out in the men's 3-4-5 overall. Jeff was 2nd with an 8 point cushion over 3rd place xXxer, Matt Moran. To add to it, Al was 4th by a 9 point deficit to Matt.

The 2k TT was a trip. Molly got the 2nd best time of her field while Jeff and Al got 3rd and 4th in their field, respectively. Molly pulled another 2nd in the 500 while Jeff got 4th and Al got 11th. By now, Al had a 1 point difference to make up and we only had one more race that would count in order for him to bump into 3rd for the overall standings. Unfortunately for Al it was one of his most feared races, the Miss-n-Out.

Fortunately he had some time to get it together seeing as we had the Jesse White Tumblers for intermission entertainment and an exhibition Keirin. The Tumblers were fantastic and the Keirin exhibition race was a brilliant addition to the schedule. Jeff was in the 1st qualifying heat and got 3rd to Matt Fox and Josh Ryan. Pretty predictable but a bummer considering the top two from each heat race the final. The final was by far the most intense Keirin any of us have seen in person. Jason Garner and Jon Fraley went from bumping elbows to full on leaning against each other for a lap and a half. Pretty badass considering they were directly behind a motorcycle that was accelerating from 20 to 30 mph while a field of ravenous sprinters sat mere inches off their wheels. Fox pulled off the over the top win while Garner kept 2nd and Fraley overcame horrible final positioning for 3rd.

By now the Category 3-4-5 men were up for the Miss-N-Out and it was going to be the deciding race of the whole series for Al. He took off from the get go and pulled everyone through the first 8 or so picks. About the 3rd wheel pulled from the race was Matt. That sealed it but Al couldn't be certain. Jeff dropped out at about 6th or 7th place. A few attacks for Al's spot were made and he fought madly to keep up front until he was had. And he was by the time the last pick was made. Al locked down 4th place in the race and sealed his fate in the overall.

Molly must have felt inspired for her Miss-N-Out because she also went out from the gun and pulled her field for the whole race. She was strong until the final lap when she was outdone by her lone left competitor and she ended up pulling herself through for 2nd.

Jeff got 3rd place on the day and Molly was 2nd to our MPLS guest, Gwen Steel. For the overall, Jeff seized the second step on the podium and Al got the 3rd in the Cat 3-4-5 Men's field. Both got pretty nice paychecks for it and some lovely hardware to take home. Molly took Queen of the Cup status with a point total that towered over everyone else. She went home with some hardware, some new laundry, an even beefier paycheck and a big smile of pride for being the only one to actually smooch the podium girls. Twice. Aside from Matt Fox's $700 cash prize for Pro-1-2 1st overall, those kisses had to be everyone else's highlight of the event.

Thanks as always to Yojimbo's garage for the equipment and guidance. BIG thanks to WDT and Allvoi for providing us with such a premier event. We can all look forward to next year and doing what we can to help get word out. Without a doubt, this thing will grow even more into the national scale event it so rightfully deserves.

Pictures taken from Allvoicup.com galleries, Voytek Glinkowski, Ed White, and Jeff Holland. Thanks!

Wow. All there is to say is Wow.

So enough of this serene, pretty sun setting over the velodrome bullshit. Rumor has it Al and Jeff missed out on the best Messenger Prom to date. The chicagomessengerprom.com photo gallery is providing irrefutable evidence. Aside from growing ever so envious wasting away hours looking through awesome photos, you can gather 4 facts of life from this gallery. 1) Chicago is no bullshit when it comes to an amazing party. This man can rest assured knowing his labors were very fruitful.

2) If you put 3 really cool monkeys in a room for a few months, something brilliant will come of it. Emphasis on them being really cool monkeys.

3) The people have chosen. Ben and Liz have passed the torch. Queen Molly and King Josh it is...

4) Sometimes things happen that just make you feel like the world is getting right back to the way it belongs...

Some good old style bike racin'

This photo and more courtesy of Jason Lardy

Most people don't realize it but the one thing that goes unparalleled in the messenger community is hospitality. Seems like we were the only two not at a great messenger event this past weekend but everyone around us made up for it with some of the same great qualities.

Firstly, family really came through big. Thanks to big sis for putting us up late Friday night and feeding us the next morning. Thanks to Al's dad, Paul and his fiance Jackie for being very welcoming and providing cheering support. But also a big thanks to the many racers and organizers at National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine, MN.

photo from MNkiteman

I've never been to a sanctioned bike race where anyone offers a place to stay, let alone 4 people asking us if we were good for the night. One explanation was a small track has a small infield which brings about comraderie. It was evident dude was right because civility was certainly on display both nights Al and I went up for the Peace Coffee Two Day Grind.

How small of an infield? Whatever you can squeeze within the walls of a 250 meter outdoor track. It was built with a very shnazzy wooden surface. It's super tall and banked on the straightaways at 17 degrees. Northbrook has that banking on its curves. The banking on the turns here are 43 degrees. Unbelievably steep. If you don't maintain a minimum of 10-12 mph then your chances of sliding down the track from lack of traction are strong to inevitable. I felt my outside foot hitting the track many times riding high on the bank. Kinda freaky anytime you ride let alone when your pedals are lined up with the head of the guy down track. I walked into the infield for the first time and all I could do was shake looking up at the rails.

It's certainly not without reason. Steep banking brings about fast and intense racing. Mix that with an awesome race list and you have a 2 day Madison event that will change your perspective on track racing.

The race list was this:

60 lap points race (one rider from each team does 30 laps and then exchanges.)

Madison Kilo (I couldn't even begin to tell you how awesome this is.)

Madison Miss-N-Out (Whomever is pulled is pulled for the team. Full on exchanges through the race. Insane.)

Chariot (Get going hard and fast into those turns!)

SuperSprint (Miss-N-Out eliminates half the field before 15 lap scratch.)

80 lap Madison (Super bonus points for gaining a lap. Keep it full throttle all race long.)

There was no downtime. Once a race was done we rolled right into the next one. Highlights include:

-Busting a spoke from someone overlapping their pedals to my wheel. I stayed up but he went down. Dude was totally fine. A collision is just what a flatland boy wants 5 laps into his very first race on a crazy steep velodrome. Luckily Marcus at Yojimbo's loaned us some backups and reminded us to take them. (A race director brought me some wheels for the next day's races if I had trouble repairing my spoke...see previous statement about nicest people ever)

-Al getting a solid breakaway to happen in the points race (surprise), gaining a half lap with only 10 laps left and then taking the final points sprint.

-I got 2nd in a chariot by 1 inch over 3rd and 1 inch behind 1st. First place was the "King of the Sprints" up there, apparently the rightful owner of a sub-11 flying 200 time.

-Al played an attack and counterattack beautifully in the SuperSprint to hang in for big points.

-They played the Blues Brothers anthem for us both nights of doing the Kilo.

-Staying on lap with a dangerous 4 team break in the final night's Madison despite being half a lap down from them with 30 laps left.

-We ended up in 4th place out of 9 teams and took home some decent swag and enough prize money to cover the trip. Thanks to Banjo Brothers Bags for the Sunday bag and, of course, big props to Peace Coffee.

-NOT wiping out and garnering millions of little splinters.

This will be a strong priority for next year. We're damn well tempted to take the bus up for the sake of spectators. It will surely be worth it either way. Final selling point has to be the parade lap in which we do the track cycling equivalent of the Virginia Reel. The Virginia Reel for chrissakes! Thanks to Al I now know that.

One last thanks to the fam and all NSC people as well as Marcus, Jamie, Candles and 4 star (you all know why). Here's to hopefully making it out next year!-Jeff

What a weekend ahead!

Match Sprints. Cuttin' Crew Classic. New York State Track Championships. Peace Coffee 2 day grind. There's tons of stuff left to rehash once it's all said and done. Make sure this is atop your list:

Help raise some dough for the CMWC 2011 effort and have a smashing good time with the likes of this bloke while you're at it.

!!MESSENGER PROM!!

 

Some recent highlights

Between this past week and now it's been rather busy for the trackies with various highlights and photos (thanks Gavin) to share: August 10: Jeff got 4th in the State Kilo Championship at ERV. woo-hoo.

August 12: Molly garnered her 2nd post-up of the year by winning the Soldier Field Criterium. Ironically, both post-ups were done in last year's jersey. Hmmm...

August 13: Al got 2nd in the state points race championship at ERV, thus qualifying for nationals!

August 13: Christina got 3rd in the state points race championship at ERV, also making herself eligible for nationals!

August 18: Al won the 1/2's Miss & Out in Kenosha. He and Jeff followed it up with a 4th place in the most stacked Madison field to date.

August 20: Christina and Molly made a whole lotta preemie money thanks to a very generous sponsor and audience at the Elaine Nekritz national qualifier scratch race. Christina finished 4th and Molly took the 5th best spot.

More to come as the track season winds down (for us mortals, anyway). The biggest positive of that news is that cyclocross is getting scary close...

Heal up, duder

A coupla nights ago, Chris Dilts was jumped and robbed by a 2x4 wielding group of assholes while riding through Humboldt Park. He's in pretty fair condition and very high spirits at the ICU but keep him in your thoughts and buy him a beer next time you see him. Aside from being a good guy and great friend to us all, it's fair to say he's been the quiet glue that has held this community together well with his brilliant ideas and photography. Here's to a quick recovery, buddy.

UPDATE: Chris has been discharged and is doing the rest of his recovery in the comfort of his own home.

2 years ago today

We lost a friend.

aftermath

by Christina So, I know, it's been a full week since NACCCs, but you should try to hang out with SF and Philly for 72 hours and try to recover in less than a week.

My "weekend" began Tuesday morning with the departure of the R1 ride, a 230 mile ride from NYC to Boston split into 3 days. 110 long, hot miles into Hartford. Day 2: 75 beautiful, and far too hilly miles into Providence. And a quick, flat day 3: a rainy 50 miles into Boston, wildly welcomed. A huge thanks to Squid for organizing VeloCity and then immediately following it up with this awesome event. Great times. (Inset: Christina celebrates her win as top female on the R1 - editor)

The week prior to NACCCs, the organizers sent out a packet that included the checkpoints that would be included in the main race and the best routes to travel to and from each. The set up: riders are sent out in a staggered order, given one manifest to begin. Each manifest provided 5 pick ups, and only once a rider made the pick up, did they know where their package was going and how much it was worth. Riders only had to complete 4 of the drops on each manifest, but could complete all 5. At each drop, the checkpoint worker called in the pick or drop and had it verified by the "base". Once a manifest was completed, that manifest had to be returned to the "base" to receive their next manifest. Riders were allotted 4 hours to complete as many drops with the ultimate goal was to earn as much money (true work simulation, right?!) as possible. Under this model, you were able to watch the progress of all the riders live.

Now, Boston is confusing. Really confusing after living in a perfectly gridded Chicago, with the most matter of fact, clear addresses. Beginning Thursday night, riding from downtown to where we were staying in Jamaica Plain, I was trying to pay attention to street names and navigational clues. Saturday afternoon, a group of Chicago kids pre-rode many of the checkpoints with an attempt to form some semblance of a mental map to a city you've known for only three days. Still, I managed to cement my N-S-E-W bearings, and it seemed to help me out a lot.

Sunday morning, I had a 10am start time and nervously arrived at 9:30am. Two other people were there. The start was at a bizarre location and seemingly many kids had mixed up or got lost getting out to the start location. Around 10am, more and more participants started flowing in and by 10:15ish, the first heat of four of us were finally sent off. While doing last minute map checks, we were given a local tip on the fastest way downtown. Upon receiving our manifest, three of us had a downtown checkpoint, and took that tip that took us an off ramp north on the freeway shoulder that quickly (and safely) dropped us our right by our first pick up. From there, we all had different manifests and were sent in different directions.

Myself, I headed up Beacon Hill, the front side. For the first hour, I still kept having to pull out my map from my jersey pocket and verify my directions. After that, it began flowing a lot smoother. I was second guessing myself all through the first manifest, completing a measly $6 run because it was super close. I had to haul all the way south to Jamaica Plain to drop and pick up. While headed back north, I suddenly decided again completing my 5th drop way out on the beach, even though it was worth $12. While heading back to base to return my manifest, I kept thinking I was going to be really frustrated later when I finished $6 down from someone because I had stupidly opted out of that drop. I headed back into base and was told I was the first one to complete my first manifest. "Well obviously," I thought, "I was in the first heat and only completed four. Onward, keep going."

As I went on, the manifests just kept making so much sense--only a couple times did I have to double back to complete a drop and both times, it was unavoidable as I was getting sent back from the pick up I had done. I waited out the long runs and usually got doubled up with something else going out to a far off pick up, or a drop at a nearby location. I kept running into people who were getting super lost, but I just kept taking the same routes I had already figured out. Even if they weren't the absolute fastest, they were large, main streets and I didn't need to look at my map anymore. As I came into the Chrome base for my third manifest, someone asked me how I was doing. I said I thought pretty well, I hadn't became seriously lost or forgot and pick/drop yet. She responded, "Hm, ok. I was told some girl from Chicago is in first." I had to respond, "Well, I'm the only female here from Chicago, so I guess that's me." Still, I was confused how they were figuring this out since I had started before everyone else. I thought there had to be some mistake and just kept pushing.

It was hot and luckily most of the checkpoints were providing water and snacks. Last year, I had seriously bonked the second day and was determined not to do the same. Snacks and more water, check. Red Bull? Ugh, chug one or two if it's my only option. Luckily, I was getting juice and nicer granola bars than I buy for myself. Around my fourth manifest, the dispatch program gummed up and we were forced to freeze across the board, where ever we were. Everyone was in stand still, which I actually relished-refilling my water, stretching, and double checking my routing. Fifteen minutes later, we were sent off again. I rocked my way up through Allston and was almost hit by someone else barreling out of the Puma driveway. Deep breath--even if you're doing well, it's worth nothing if you can't finish. I kept that in my head while working my way back through Cambridge. I was hearing yells for Chicago all over--we had loudly made our presence know in the earlier part of the weekend--and all this encouragement kept me going. I delivered my girl.dog.bike. package to the Freight checkpoint only for the worker to show me what I was delivering--a relish sandwich. I had already delivered a brick and a bag of dirt, ah the creativity.

On manifest six, I had to make the long haul through Back Bay and south to Jamaica Plain. Once down there, the systems froze again. Five of us were on standby, for almost a half hour. I replenished and finally just sat around (again, real work simulation, right?). I was realizing how this format, as much as speediness, focused on routing and patience for busting out the long runs, which I loved. After JP, my last stop to clean up was base.

I rolled into base and Billy told me I was finished. Instead of the initial proposed 6 hours, they were going to cut it at 4 hours, and I had been riding for 5 at that point. Only my first five manifests ended up counting, but Billy was fairly certain I had taken it, since most people were also done, or close to finishing four hours at that point. I was honestly surprised, all along I kept expecting that it was all an oversight based on my early start. Yet at the four hour cut across the board, I had completed 23 drops earning $213. Coming in 2nd, a fellow Chicagoan, Nico had 18 drops and $176. Chicago takes it!

All said and done, this NACCC was extremely different than the prior two years I have attended/participated--San Francisco and Chicago, both in format and in the attendees. The open course format garnered criticism prior to the event and effectively disabled Boston locals from participating, since they would have been given an unfair advantage and entirely deterred others from attending. Yet, without attempting to defend or promote the choices made in formatting the 2009 NACCCs, I do want to comment on--despite all early criticisms--how well the entire event went off. I was welcomed enthusiastically by all locals-a feeling shared by everyone else I was traveling with, there were plenty of events all weekend long, and no one was hurt the entire weekend. The main race was challenging, ambitious in execution (writing a whole software program? hell yeah), and ultimately just a whole lot of fun. And while taken seriously, the undertone has always primarily revolved around bringing an awesome community from diverse locals together, and in that, a great event and weekend.(More of Christina and misty's NACCC shots.)

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