Pete rules.

Well, after a very sizable turnout at last month’s Velo-City Chicago attempt, this past weekend’s event was certainly short on the numbers. It was no less relevant, mind you. Six people came from a city other than Chicago to meet us there. It was excellent to see the large Milwaukee contingent as well as the lone wolf, Mr. Erin Young, make his journey all the way from Minneapolis! By my count we had about 5 people that had never raced on the track before and, had it not been for last month’s rain date, all 5 might not have ever ridden on the track ever! Chicago brought a few as well. Made for some spiced up racing and a variety of ability/experience levels. All told we had 12 different racers. 11 men and the woman named Bob.

We started the day watching some motor-pacing. A Saturday morning tradition up at Kenosha. Man. Them big kids can really rip on those workouts. It really can be a treat to watch everyone training behind that motorcycle.

When we were ready, we executed a 5 event schedule. The Match Sprint, 9 Lap Scratch, Miss ‘n’ Out, Cargo Bike Time Trial, and, a 25 lap points race.

The sprints went very well. Only a couple of them went to the “go slow and jump” game and even those were warranted. Many people got up and out and just gave ‘er at any point. You really gotta be on your toes with these people.

After that we had the first pack event of the day. The 9 lap scratch. It was simple enough and really was an honest pace throughout. The pacelining was clearly coming together as things turned moreso into every man/woman for themselves once that bell lap came around.

The Miss ‘n’ Out was  a fan favorite. Everyone was super safe and smart about it as well which trumps just about every Miss ‘n’ Out I’ve ever raced…

Well. The Miss ‘n’ Out WAS a fan favorite. But then we got to the Cargo Bike Time Trial. This was an absolute blast. All 12 participants got up and out for this one. From 6′ 4″ and 200+ lbs. to 5′ 2″ and 100- lbs. the big rig fit one and all. Mikey and Bradley shut it down in the two man/one bike cat. Everyone else was left to sort out their own demons in the race of truth. Who wouldn’t want a poster to commemorate it?

The points race was a classic war of attrition. Brian made his inevitable move  early to escape everyone but Bradley. A chase group of Joseph and Devin formed as Anthony, Brennan and Erin carried on solo campaigns to make it through the 25 lapper.

Clearly the results weren’t the main goal of Saturday’s event. I hope to instill that in everyone, anyway, as I think Murphy ate them (That’s right. I’ll blame the dog. I know he had an appetite.) The notable feats definitely include the gear restricted Mr. Ellison sweeping the omnium. Bradley gaining 2nd place after taking the lead from Joe in the last race. Joseph rounding out the podium. Erin winning farthest traveled. Bob took 1st Female! AND best track rook! Anthony, Brennan and Devin duked it out all day for MKE bragging rights. I won’t put it out there with certainty but I think Anthony KNOW Devin got ‘er (by 1 point!). Dan took the ever coveted DFL. Oh. And did I tell you I smoked Nico in the Cargo Bike TT?

Special shoutouts to our event sponsors and overseers! Mr. Squid in NYC holdin it down for yet another year. Continental came through with some killer tires and tubes. Yojimbo’s Garage came through a second time with some goodies. Velocity wheels threw down some sick two-tone and sparkly (industry term) rims as well as some serious discounts for people to get their build on. The top prize went to Mr. Brian Ellison, courtesy of our friends over at Chrome. The newly opened Chicago shop came through with the Sherman Track Bag for all his racing/traveling needs and it couldn’t have been a more perfect fit for boy wonder as his commitment to bike racing is in full swing.

From last month’s support and money raised we were able to outfit Anthony and Devin with some tickets for NYC. They will be there to represent the Midwest contingent in the grand race for tix to Poland! It should be pretty rad to hear from them on how the trip goes.

Big or small. I love Velo-City and all it entails, man.

Photo credits to Mr. Dizzle and Ed White

This Saturday, June 18, we will be holding another track event in the same vain as Velo-City. It will be the rain date for the last attempted competition with a slightly different structure. The tickets situation has been sorted out so this one is really for the sake of a good time, some alternate swag and to raise a buck or two for CMWC 2012.

That said, we’ve got the same racing schedule except it is moved up a couple hours. The bus will be loading up at the lot at 8:30 and leaving at 9:00 AM from Green and Kinzie. Racing should be set to start at 11:00. Depending on turnout, we could change the categories from Messer and Non-Messer to A, B and possibly C.

Otherwise be ready for some verbatim…

This event list is designed to give you participants and fans a taste of the classics of the track. We will offer a tutorial on each race throughout the week. Be aware that it is subject to change!

1) Sprint

Seeded at random. 2-ups, 3-ups, 4-ups. One-offs, not best of 3. There will be a repechage

2) 15-25 lap Scratch (TBD)

First to cross the line after said amount of laps is the winner. Guts on a breakaway or confidence in your sprint? You decide.

3) Miss-n-out

The last wheel across the line of each lap is pulled. Once it gets down to three riders there are no further eliminations and it essentially becomes a two lap scratch.

4) 30 lap points

A track classic. Always a feature, usually final event. Every x number of laps there will be a sprint to garner points. Distance trumps points. If anyone is beast enough to gain a lap on another racer then they will be scored on a tier above that person. This also applies to anyone that laps the field (majority of riders) vs. anyone that might not have been in the field but might not have “gained a lap”.

Erin Dickey teaches class. You can only hope to learn.

Daphne proudly represents her 3rd place finish medal for the Women’s Category 4 criterium as well as the 3rd place medal for the Women’s Category 4 Omnium.

Brian blinging with the silver after the big sprint finish got him 2nd in the Men’s Cat 4 sprint. (click through the sequence)

Jannette in elite company. Right where she belongs.

The racing was fast and the logistics were very well handled. Tip of the hat to xXx-Athletico for solely handling a massive 3 race/2 day endeavor on the other side of the state in beautiful (and hilly) Galena, IL. Highlights included (but are not limited to): There was a massive turnout from the Men’s squad and a variance of fine results to boot. Zero intimidation came off of J Rho as she faced the terrifically difficult task of handling the big dogs solo in the Pro 1, 2, 3 category. Daphne and Marie teamed up to get Daphne onto the podium and Marie set that rep of being a badass pace driver. Mumford and Nikki joined us to get a taste of the whole “roadie” thing. We got the bus over those hills out west not once but TWICE! And we all were privileged to hold the great company of Erin Dickey. in fine wine country.

Josh was a sport after working so hard at the front in the crit and getting taken out by a nasty bell lap crash.

Sure. There were some lows as well. Mechanical misfortunes bring out the eternal optimism of what “could of been”. What actually was the case was our teen dream, Mr. Ellison, learned a good lesson as to how anything can happen once the race starts. Bravo to Mr. Nordyke for eventually giving his bicycle and shoes (which were given to him by the ever wonderful Mr. Marcus Moore) to his teammate that was without a workable wheel 30 miles into a road race. Avi took some turf with his knee and Jannette was considerably undernourished for her daunting road race. I’m not convinced a single one of us understood or respected the significance of “climbing” gears and waited until we got BACK from the trip to seek some out. Right now the biggest blow, however, is looking to be the fate of super-domestique Josh Shough’s knee and hip. We are all waiting to hear a verdict on the x-rays after he was taken out by a crash in the bell lap of a VERY fast paced criterium. First the verdict, then the direction, then the healing begins.

True, the peaks and valleys were quite literal and metaphorical. Regardless, we certainly won’t be overlooking what a fine weekend it all turned into. Without a doubt, everyone appreciated the beautiful scenery and made do Cuttin Crew style with the accommodations. All this while taking advantage of some super fine racing. Thanks again to xXx for the great event as well as their team promo rate. As always, a major shoutout goes out to our ever-supportive sponsors!

– Results are here. Some photos to check out for some captionable moments along the way – the new chicagocuttincrew flickr page and the candelabra caretaker. –

We’ll have a proper writeup for the Inaugural Tour of Galena in a bit, but we came home to find this waiting for us:

Global Gutz Tokyo Winner

You might recall our mention a couple weeks back of Global Gutz, a worldwide simultaneous alleycat. Somehow or another, a fast fellow named Matudo got his hands on an old Cuttin’ Crew jersey, and it looks like it brought him some luck. Click through to the video to see some hot Tokyo action.

(sooo good, ya gotta use it twice.. special thanks to Ed White)

For those of you that haven’t been taking notes  on the teen dream (apparently some of you are), there is in fact a fresh new face plucked from the street scene and thrown into some spandex that has come out reallll hot. His resume over the last month reflects that – what with wins (and solo lap-up efforts) at Monsters, Fox River Grove, Quad City Crit, Spring Prairie RR and sweeps at Northbrook velodrome with more laps on the field to even count. Fear not, people. There is justice in the world. His results only look to get better as his passion for the bike has flourished into a full on obsession. We’re here to ensure he keeps at it. Thanks for the chance, Bri! Yup. This big dog came out to roll. Y’all are welcome to stay on the porch.

Special thanks to Ed White

Ladies and gentlemen – Daphne Karagianis! The woman that told the President of the United States she would work for him given VERY specific and concrete terms. One major one being that she be moved back to Chicago so she can join the Chicago Cuttin’ Crew….

Psh! NBD. We are very lucky to have our latest ADDition to the women’s squad accept our invitation given her incredible talents, skills and personality. Oh. And did we mention she’s a BEAST on the bike!? Cat 3 on the track and starting to make moves on this whole road thing. It promises to be the best year ever with Daphne in the CCC!

Holy Crap there is a lot of stuff going on over these next two weeks!

The majority of the team’s road contingent will be making a trek out to Galena for the inaugural Tour of Galena being put on by xXx. As a team, this Cuttin’ Crew representation was made possible through the financial backing from our major sponsors and we look to do you all proud as we will be staffing 7 racers in the men’s 4′s, 2 women in the 4′s and, of course, our rockstar phenom, Miss Jannette Rho will be beaming with smiles of joy (and a new tooth) as she’ll be out there representing our fine rag tag bunch in the Pro/1/2/3 Category. If the libations for the cheer choir don’t create too much trouble and the internet works on them there smart phones, you could even expect live updates on site from the world’s greatest support crew (Erin Dickey. and, well, me… Jeff)

If you aren’t available or not into the whole roadie thing, there is still quite a Saturday for you to behold. There is going to be a Dre Day BBQ this Saturday at Union Park. It will be a re-creation of that awesome Dre Day back on his 50th bday. Pay no attention to the flier date. I just wanted to share that old thing. All are welcome to come raise a can and smoke some meats/non-meats and have a good time gathering in honor of one of the world’s finest. Gather at Cal’s at noon to ride over to Union Park. Again, it’s this Saturday, June 11.

There will also be an unprecedented return for the Chicago faction of Global Gutz! So after reliving your fond memories of Mr. Gordon, you can do as Dre would have done and throw down for a ride around town and party hard! Be sure to get the whole lowdown of it on facebook.

Let’s not forget we also have the raindate for Velo-City 2011, Chicago coming up! June 18th is the date. 8:30 AM is departure time! More details on that next week.

By Josh -

I was fairly frustrated with my Memorial Day weekend races leading up to the Quad city crit. Saturday was a rough day at the snake. I got stuck behind three crashes, two of them at the base of the snake making it so I had to run up the entire snake on the first lap, which made a top finish nearly impossible. Then 5 laps in, I dropped my chain on the uphill before the snake. All and all not the best day for me. I saw Mike and Max with 2 to go after I got pulled. Mike was looking real good leading out a small group from the 4th or 5th place with 2 laps to go. Mike ended up with 8th. Max had a hard neck-and-neck sprint that put him just out of the money in 16th.

The next day’s race wasn’t much better. I had a typical slow start and got stuck behind a big group of juniors and guys who would brake out of fear of the speed bump at the base of the hill. I was able to catch back on to the main pack on the climb but then got stuck right behind a very stupid crash in the turns just after the hill. After that I was playing catch up the rest of the race.
On the morning of the quad city race I was feeling optimistic about the day. Mike was going to do the masters race earlier in the day so our goal was to lead Max out in the 4’s race. I knew I wanted to be as close to the front as possible as soon as I could to try and keep the pace high and bring back any breaks. Hopefully Max would be near me at the end so I could punch a whole in the air for him going in to the finish.

I had a good but not great start that had me toward the back half of the pack. I saw Mike and Max and slowly tried to move my way closer. About 3 laps in I was getting anxious to get to the front so I put a handful of strong jumps in and weaved my way to 5th wheel. A few laps after I got to the front there where a lot of crashes in the field over a period of about 3 laps. After we went past one of them I looked around and couldn’t see Max or Mike so I figure they got stuck back behind one of the crashes.

It looked like there were a few dozen of us in the lead pack so I decided to hold 3rd wheel as best I could and try to make the podium from a field sprint. With 4 to go there was a big jump of about 3 guys from a few wheels back. I was a bit slow to respond but we pulled them back within half a lap and I ended up taking a pull at the front to try and string out the pack a bit more. As we came in with 2 to go I went back to about 6th wheel to catch my breath.

The pace slowly started to ramp up. As we came around for the bell, the pack was still mostly together. I decided I was going to make a hard jump at the turn that marked about 1/3 of a lap to go, hoping I would take it down to just me and a few others. I made my jump and got as much acceleration as I could muster and got as low as I could. I dove for the 2nd-to-last turn and jumped again dropping down one more cog. As I got to the final turn, the lead car had slowed and I came damn close to hitting it coming out of that turn! I gave one last hard push and aimed for the line. As I approached I herd the announcer say, “this guy coming from the Cuttin’ Crew is coming in with a big lead!” I didn’t believe him so I gave a look back and I had about 8 to 10 bike lengths on the next guy. I posted up but not until after passing the line because I still didn’t believe it.

It was also cool to see J Rho in the big race at one point mixing elbows with Miller of HTC which was bad ass.  She spent most of the race ahead of the pro women! It was great to watch. She pulled in some breaks and looked in amazing form and even finished in the money!

As you might have noticed by now, bikeradar.com sunk its teeth into a good little article on all the work certain team members are doing. Namely a very busy Mr. Nico and Miss Peck have really been doing some amazing things for this city and its progress on the Worlds to end all Worlds.