2/24
| Go for a ride today. Cook something delicious today. Have a drink and remember a friend today. |  |
From the desk of Dr. Morell
Much like chess boxing, to succeed in cycling one must remain in peak shape mentally as well as physically. Experts agree, reading makes you smarter. Join the Cuttin' Crew's "Cyclist Book Club" for a bimonthly mental training ride.
First meeting (at which a book will be chosen) February 26th, FEBRUARY 19TH, 7 pm, Mercury Cafe (1505 W. Chicago Ave.)
The King
It's often said and often true: getting an interview on dispatch101 is a crowning moment of achievement...
Ben has many great accomplishments and excellent insight but he never brags about it. Thanks to Julio for gearing up this interview to give us a glimpse of what makes the king of messenger prom tick.
Worth the wait
For a while now the Cuttin' Crew has smelled a little better, looked a little better, gotten a whole lot nicer and a whole lot fiercer for reasons that should not be a mystery to you cyclocrossers...
We have a new member! Jamie is joining ship and there isn't a doubt in any of our minds that she is bound for great things this year in Crew team colors.
The women's team is growing ever so slightly. Jamie is quick, gracious, generous and tenacious. We're proud and excited to take a big step forward with the addition of Miss Jamie Gavin-Smyth.
Prime winner
Monsters of Montrose
12/07/08
By Jeff
That was, well, fitting. Photos are trickling in as I find them (thanks to Velogrrl, ewwhite).
Avi was the first from the Cuttin' Crew on the course. He was rocking some bright green socks and a highly aggressive style that landed him an 8th place finish in the early morning masters. The cruiser set up camp at a nasty post-climb hairpin turn into an icy descent which lead to a 90 degree turn through a paved tunnel. It provided plenty of amusing moments as well as good photo ops.
The grill was busted out, the portable stoves were turned on, the cider was heated up then spiked and slowly people were congregating around and inside the bus. The weather was sub freezing but the atmosphere was warm and pleasant. Adam and Al ripped through the 3's to an unknown result and unknown result, respectively. Jamie was doing well in the women's race when her seat-clamp busted. A friendly stranger (Z-man!) hopped up with a random 26.8 seat post (with saddle) and we pulled the quick switch-a-roo. Almost too friendly... Naw, that's just cyclocross.
Around this time, Adam had his recovery hot dog and beer and we set out for a practice lap on the performance enhanced cruiser tandem. I was steerer and Adam was my stoker (who knows how many times we've been in THAT situation). We got the commands and the dismounts down cherry and as we rolled around the course we brought out the smiles and sweet, sweet hecklers. People were really feelin' it so we set ourselves up for the 4b's.
Following the pro's race, I was greeted by a joyful crowd of Half Acre people with the Awesomeness Award. An honor bestowed upon this team with the big bus and the asshole spectators it came to bear. A seriously flattering compliment and beautiful trophy to boot. Thanks so much guys!
The 4a's provided another lovely treat for the day. Max needed a finish of 22nd or better or something and he was guaranteed victory for the entire series. We blew it on the champagne hand-up and he had some technical difficulties but few cares as he cruised to a top ten finish. Big ups to Mr. Riordan for conquering the Chicago Cyclocross Cup.
From there things just got amusingly silly. Avi wore just a Michael Jordan jersey for his top layer. It was 10 degrees sans windchill. He is awesome. Ben rolled strong like bull even though he admitted to feeling sub-par all race.
Bradley had an exciting start only to have serious problems on a fall that twisted him like a pretzel. He couldn't move his ankle real well after that and Daryl drove him to the hospital to discover he broke his fibula. I shit you not, he was super excited to have crutches and for some reason wants to design a cast with a cleat so he can clip in and bike some more. Whatever the case may be, I admire his optimism and enthusiasm.
In the 4b's, Dr. Morell got out and at it with a tenacity only matched by the course officials as they chased down the dynamic duo on the tandem. Despite hanging back so as not to interfere with everyone else's ride, it took the main official half a lap to cut us off and pull us for riding an illegal bike. We must have handled the technical aspects surprisingly well. It was still amusing however since Adam couldn't see past me. Even upon disqualification, he just kept pedaling. Finally I got him to stop pedaling by sharing the news and we respectfully bowed out. I'm not gonna lie, it's a complete bummer but make no mistake I understand and will adhere to the rule. I just want all 3 of my readers to know: me and Adam ripped it. Thankfully Mike was doing a helluva slip-n-slide for us DQ's to enjoy from the sidelines.
In summation: This is a great sport. This is a great atmosphere. This is a great and well-earned success for Max. It's a great attitude, Bradley. It's a GREAT trophy. It's been a great year. Thanks to everyone. Good luck Adam and Al at Nationals. Group hug and for the love of GOD, someone get Gatto a hammy.
Wamp-waaaa
It's the economy, stupid.
Rendering done by Adam ClarkWe've done this before. Just ask Cog. We know how to do this sort of thing. Join us.
Bus leaves the west loop on Wednesday, December 10th. It will be a day long trip until we arrive in Kansas City. Accommodations pending... not guaranteed.
We will turn back victorious on Sunday, December 14th. Well. Victory is a relative definition.
Here's the deal. Fare for you and your bike and gear is going to be $200. Cheapest flight to Kansas City right now, according to expedia.com is $137. You know it costs you $50 to take your bike on the plane. You hop on that plane twice? Might as well add $100 to that $137. $237? On a plane? Bogus.
Join us in admiring Obama's country: Western IL, Iowa, Baja Iowa. Amber waves of grain kids... E-mail us at the team gmail account, chicagocuttincrew@gmail.com for further information...
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.