Throwback Thursday

by jeff Velocity 1 - 2006 This is clearly when color coordination was my top priority.

First and foremost, thanks to Amy Bolger for the awesome photos. What you don't see in my photo are the PONY'S with mountain bike pedals and straps for the feet. I borrowed that jersey and those bike shorts were in the collection since I was 12.

That was my first draw to the track and I have been hooked ever since. The beautiful thing about VeloCity is the nature of the event. It's designed to get them messengers and commuters that ride them track bikes to and fro or even the Kings of Milwaukee Ave who just have that urge to hawk people on the way in to work. We want to get ya'll out there and learn some appreciation for the sport and try the velodrome out.

Intimidation and judgment are not in the cards. Razzing and a little ball busting might be but that's what it's all about. And there is certainly more swag and prizes than you will EVER see for racing at the track. Oh. And it's free. No excuses.

If you think of it as intimidating, I'll be more than happy to share my fears from 2006 when I've been a messer for over a year and these badass lookin dudes from NYC come in with a corporate sponsor and throwdown crazy events I've never even seen before. I only made it to the opening night and the 1st day of races. I was pretty bummed to miss out on day 2 but I'm glad as hell that I went up there and gave 'er a shot.

Please feel free to join us this Saturday, May 22 at Kenosha Velodrome in Washington Park. It will be fun to spectate and certainly a good time to participate. Regrettably, I will not be in attendance but Ben will run the show. The event starts at 1. Bus is leaving from Green & Kinzie around 11. 11:30 wheels rolling. Racing is free to everyone and be sure to bring a helmet and some drop bars.

Stay curious my friends. Special thanks to teeners for the Chicago flier work and julio for coordinating like mad. And, of course, Squid.

5th EDITION VELOCITY THIS WEEKEND - MAY 22, 2010

Big thanks to julio for the updates and doing the majority of the legwork. There are some seriously dope prizes up for grabs. That's also thanks to the great role that Cyclehawk plays in this process year after year.

Racing starts at 1 pm. The format will be published later this week.

Photoshoot Shoutout

You might have noticed our wonderful team photo. Well, natural beauty only gets these people so far. The rest of the journey to awesomeness has to be completed with the help of Christopher Dilts (http://www.christopherdilts.com) and CCC's own Ben Fietz (http://www.benfietz.com). Good looks aren't required but highly recommended. These guys have been handling cameras and bikes longer than the calendar had 20's up front. Don't believe they know how to bring out the classy ass bike racer in you? Exhibit A:

CCC v3

Perhaps you've noticed the Crew stepping out at 2010 races in Tron Blue. We've been putting the finishing touches on a few things, and better late than never, we'll be out racing this weekend in our new kits, codenamed: Thunder Thighs. More importantly, we want to make some introductions. If you take a look over on the left hand side of your page, you'll see some old names and some new ones. These are the folks that support the local racing scene, and despite the rollercoaster ride our economy has been taking, they are still in the game.First things first, unless you crawled out from under a rock, you know that Marcus over at Yojimbo's Garage has been down since day one. He may not be racing wheels these days, but he's still lacing 'em. So get yourself over there already and shop local.Next up, Bari is back in our corner. As if you need an excuse to find the best deal in town for a sandwich the size of your arm, think about this: these guys have been sponsoring Chicago bike racing for years, well before we came along. So after a long day in the saddle, hustle over there cuz they close at 6:30. Fraaaaaaaaank! We've got a new name on the totem pole over there: GK Snacks. This time of year, we put the Bears/Packers rivalry aside and head north for some of the best road racing in these parts, not to mention everyone's favorite 333M track in Kenosha. Sure, the hills beat most of us flatlanders up, but on the way home, you can get some good calories at every turn. Up in Waukesha, these guys have been at it since 1921, so I think they can handle a bus full of bike racers. Stop by the bus, we got yer snacks!

It happens all the time: You need an architect, and the first thing you think is "Where can I find a firm that's bike friendly and supports racing?" Wonder no more, Architrave has you covered.

As if you had to ask, everyone's favorite employee-owned messenger collective is back. Four Star Courier Collective, for all your delivery needs.

...and in the spirit of friendly competition, we've got another local courier shop on board. Apex Courier, for all your other delivery needs. Supporting local racing in more ways than one.

You've probably pulled up to a race and seen the pro-looking guys warming up on rollers, but you found yourself thinking "Man, I'd love some of those, but the carbon footprint to ship a set from Germany is pretty hard to offset. If only I could find some made in the good old U.S. of A?" Look no further, as just across the Indiana border, SportCrafters has your number. (Stay tuned, they are also big fans of our cyclocross scene, and we're going to help them spread the love in NW Indiana and Michigan in the fall.)

A couple more names to throw at you: Pickens-Kane for helping us keep the bus downtown and ready to roll, and our friends at Blue, just because.

Big thanks to all of our 2010 sponsors, new and old. Now back to racing! See you somewhere this weekend...Monsters? Fox River Grove? LDL?

Last, but certainly not least, we'd like to thank the talented Christopher Dilts and Ben Fietz  for their efforts, equipment, and brand-new studio space in putting together our team photo. Sadly, a few of us couldn't make it into the shot, but they'll be out rocking the new kits somewhere.

Throwback Thursdays

     

By Brean

I started messing in the early 90's, a little after the big bubble. But I knew a few messengers in the 80's and there was a lot of talk at the time about how much money these guys made. The typical figure cited was $60k for a really good messer, including the under-the-table part, which everyone said was most of the take. The only other thing i remember about messengers back then was that everyone said Nelson Vails needed specially tailored pants (you needed TIGHT pants back then) to accommodate his definitely non-steroid induced thigh-dom.

Weekend Update

Yes, today kicks off the 2010 Track clinics at Northbrook. No, the Cuttin' Cruiser is not headed up there.  Saturday night, the Chief Bus Driver, aka Mr. Jeff 'Rooster' Perkins had his appendix removed. He's doing ok but he's been ordered off the bike for two weeks and off the Driver's seat of the bus for...a while. We may have a substitute for Tuesday night. We'll see. In other news, a few members of the crew had some fun north of the border. Nico killed the Don't Kill the Messenger alleycat up in Madison, bringing home first overall. Only one thing to be said about this: Hell Jess!

JRho and Candles, aka Jannette and Andrew, hit Whitnall for a lovely Wisconsin spring day: 40s and raining, on a circuit with a whole lot of up down left right. Jannette brought home 5th place in the Women's Open category, somehow still wearing a smile. After dodging some sketchy riding early on, the candelabra caretaker decided the best way to stay out of trouble was to drag the field around. He put in a good days' work at the front, stayed upright, and finished respectably in 15th.

Throwback Thursdays

By Jeff (yes, already) I'm working on getting Brean to share his stories from the '90s about Germans and their love of roller rinks but until then this will have to serve as filler.

It was as recent as the March of '07. We were fundraising for the 2008 NACCC. A few people made things happen from all kinds of angles to make sure we could recreate this whole "goldsprint" game that had been introduced to the majority of us with the previous summer's VeloCity Tour.

It was to be called the IRO Sprints and was held at the Mutiny, a personal favorite when it comes to just a solid bar. Augie* MC'ed for the night and J Marshall* was bringing a lot of energy with his hot forum of the time (good ol' bikeliker.com). I showed up because I committed at an early NACCC organizing meeting and I was (finally) starting to get a big kick out of hanging out with those dudes. It turned out to be a fantastic decision. *(Cuttin' Crew OG)

I drew Julio for the first round and I think he had to be the hardest of the night. Since he was a seemingly well respected dude and I destroyed him so badly I decided to make it up to him over a beer. It then became a habit to buy anyone I beat a beer. I'm super stoked I did because I felt like less of an asshole and I really got to chat it up with a good number of people.

As it turned out I had to buy a lot of beers that night. I ended up winning it all in a heated final against the dude that just finished a bandit 'cross race that morning, Mr. Ben Popper. The pattern for these things haven't changed much. Everyone was absolutely spent towards the end of it and the place was emptying out quickly. I didn't get anything for the win except a good bit of pride, a shot or two from the owner, and a random kiss from a girl that must have been dared into pulling off a smooch and run with the winner (kinda awesome!)

Aside from that, I will say the highlight of the night there in the bar had to be the compliment from the Augdog -

"I'm pretty happy you won. Not because we don't have prizes and not because I know you, but really because you were clearly having the most fun out of everyone."

It definitely wasn't that long ago but it's nice to see some of those faces having a good time all under the same roof. Keeping with the "youtube is a better story teller than you" logic I leave you with this...

Leland Kermesse Sepia 2.0

 (photos courtesy of Ted Burger)

by Jannette Rho (2nd place overall and our 1st place cat 3 winner!)

That race was all wind and gravel. You had to be strong to survive the winds and skilled to make it through the gravel. I was in the right place once we hit the first gravel portion and I knew Jessica CX Monster Hill would be aggressive at these points in the course. When Jessica and K. Meshberg drilled it during the second portion, I knew that was it. I had to come around the folks dropping back and get on them. I got close with Tamara (xXx) on my wheel and she pulled us up once we hit pavement. That was the winning break. It was way too windy for anyone to bridge up and with Flatlandia back in the pack, we knew we were probably gone for good.

Nearing the end of 100K what do we women do? Get emotional and have the "I love you guys, you're the best" bonding moment...until the sprint finish.

Looking back, I should have attacked on the last gravel bits before the finish...I knew I couldn't outsprint Meshberg on pavement. Next time...

Throwback Thursdays

by Avi While Jeff was digging through his junk drawer looking for his leopard skin seat cover, he came across a stash of spokecards, race flyers, and mementos from back in the day (even if "the day" was only a couple years back). Inspired, he decided to kick off a new series: Throwback Thursdays. While Jeff gets his Instamatic camera restocked with film, he asked me to kick it off.

Once upon a time, I was younger. This younger me went to school in Boston, bought a crashed and crinkled steel Torpado for practically nothing, bent it back into shape, and started messing. It was a big scene, and you had all sorts back then: summer trash (ignored), college boys (my cat), hippie mountain bikers stuck in the city, speed freak pseudopunks, racerboys, grrrrrls, etc. All these little tribes, but cutting across all of them were the Lifers. Careeriers, freelancers, whatever you wanted to call them, they were old school, fast, and generally worked for themselves with a client list and a pager. Rumor had it they did forty runs a day at $10 each. Yup, that's a six figure income right there.

Most of them were ice cold to the youngbloods, but a couple came around if you lasted a winter or two. Elvis always rolled up and got the backstory on new kids, even if half of them didn't last a week. Maze was an artist and musician, and had what I still consider the most styling mess bike ever: a bent-tube track pursuit frame with a disc rear wheel and a 650 up front, straight bar and bar-ends with shotgun shells for plugs. I tailed him coming in from Allston once, and it was like trying to draft a bobsled. But I digress.

Spencer James was one of the lifers too, and he was also a musician and filmmaker. He did some freelance work and put this together for a nascent cable channel. Without further ado, let's take the Internet time machine back to 1992...

...and for the record: I didn't race that night as I busted my pedal cage on the way there. and Maze still has way more style than me.

2010 Hillsboro review

First off, Ben Fietz is the man. Coming along for the ride to tune up everyone's bikes, work the feed zone and get the grill going should earn him title of señor of the year. Avi forecasted the trip best. I freakin' love my team - (the edit provides the updated version of this year's trip)

Well, if last year was the precedent, we head out after work on Friday, get pulled over for no good reason in Hillsboro, the budget-conscious stay in a pine-panelled motel for $13 each, the budget-lacking stay on the bus with el capo. Wake up, get stared at by half the townspeople during breakfast (which cost like $2), stop up the restaurant toilet, make fun of each other, race, and drink Stag beer for the rest of the day.

Beyond that we have some results of note. Christina notched the top finishing result with a 4th place in a 50 participant Cat 4 field. Jamie got knocked off the pace by the treacherous crosswinds but still reeled in a 25th place finish. Jannette nabbed 28th in a stacked 1,2,3 field.

As for the wager. Well. Let's just say I lost one of the greatest bets I've ever made. OK. Probably top 5? Whatever. It was an instant classic.

The opening lap was a comfortable pace and I just couldn't shut my mouth over what a nice day it was to be out for a ride. I also think I was the first Cat 4 racer to shamelessly wear their State Champion jersey in probably at least 7 years. It was a nice start to what later became a shredded field and a total cop-out fin-ish for me.

The backstretch strung us out to single file pace of about 48-58 kph and then we hit the hill before the cobbles and everything went to hell. I naturally faded whilst a very large lead group developed and got out over the bricks. Separation was made big time and a considerably smaller chase group eventually assembled in which I took attendance. Our protagonist, Mike, made the massive lead group. Yeoman was with us struggling stragglers but still held pace.

I was, well, less than together. It was nice to be blamed for blocking even though our chase group was clearly outnumbered by, like, 20. The truth is I didn't have any contribution to make when it came my turn to pull. All 200 lbs. of me were hanging from the edge of a skyscraper by a rubber band and I was developing a sunburn over my pain face wrinkles. Bad day to wear the jersey...

I clinged with all I had with the new goal of not dropping out (unless of course someone else in our group did). Well into lap 2 we took the umpteenth corner to turn a blustery crosswind into a headwind and I glanced up the road to see one man facing all oncomers with a rear wheel in his hand....it was the good Dr. Morell.

My mind was flying -Rear flat! -Yeoman's hurting! -Mike's got Campy! -Ten speed! -I'm fucked! -Stop! -Off with mine! -Switch! -Go Mike!

We swapped rear wheels. It was a panic exchange that took a little under a minute but I got him up on my wheel. I then gave him a shove and hoped for the best.

And Mike Morell gave 'er.

Alas, it just wasn't enough. He caught Yeoman's group towards the base of the final climb Yeoman 10 miles later, which would have put him on a 20 10 mile solo campaign in those winds. Apparently all other riders with them fell off their pace and it was just these two for the majority of the last 10 miles. They dueled up to the last stretch before the final climb when a bigger group passed and they got to sit in. Yeoman got his breath in the break shined up the climb. Mike was running ragged  and couldn't recover through the descent and the bricks. Dr. Morell didn't have it for the closing distance.

(edit: for a first person account with more accuracy check out Yeoman's report)

As for me, I wandered around in road shoes 6 miles west of town, almost stepped on two snakes and shot the breeze with some corner marshals before I finally got scooped up by the organizer after the race was declared done. I rode with dude and helped him with announcements and picking up signs. I also pushed a stuck car out of the mud, hopped a 'faster' truck ride back into town and arrived 2 hours later to get the news. It ended as a hot contest in which Mike lost by a reported "coupla hundred yards".

It's all beautiful if you think about it - Mike had a strong race performance going and the wager relatively in the bag. Andrew Y. kept pushing with all his might and, because he stuck with it, his opportunity arose.

With his plans of a top ten gone, Mike dug deep to make it a contest for the sake of the wager and vindicate my decision to abandon (haha! sucker!) I love picturing both guys dragging themselves through hell to maintain the contest. Yeoman ended my glorious vision to take what has to be the most interesting 42nd place finish in Illinois cycling history.

THAT right there is some real good ol' bike racing.

I'm proud of both you guys. Thanks for putting on a show and providing this asshole with the best seat in the house.

Cale, no worries, you got some two day old gummy bears and some bike socks with gumby or something coming your way...

-Jeff

P.S. Shout out to Andrew Nordyke for finishing right up there in the clinging on to finish dfl in the lead group!