October 2009
1 post
Setting up a ‘cross race is hard work. Setting up a ‘cross race in the pouring rain with soaking wet feet, frozen hands, and an empty stomach is even harder. But it’s fun and totally worth the reward of seeing 400 racers tear around on the track that you had a hand in assembling and then coming up to you afterward to give thanks for the good times. I deserve little credit...
September 2009
6 posts
Click here.
We’ve been getting a ton of questions about the store and upcoming changes. Here is a general overview and some quick answers. Our goal with the store and thought behind building a production brewery right in the middle of a busy neighborhood was to make it a place where people could connect with our brewery, the process and those making the beer they drink. It will also allow us...
I got 28th in the 3s at the first race of the ChiCrossCup at Jackson Park. I think.
Photo by Ben Van Couvering Helge and I drove up to Sun Prairie, Wisconsin last Friday for the first weekend of the US Grand Prix of Cyclocross. I love doing the local racing, both here in Chicagoland and in Ohio when I’m home, but it’s always great fun and a huge challenge to line up for USGP/UCI races. Where local races have the same faces and the usual sparring partners, the big...
I registered for the Chequamegon 40 mountain bike race back in March only after my teammates convinced me by saying that it was a road race on dirt. Lots of double-track, sand, and few technical bits. I like riding off-road, but big rocks freak me out a little, and my technical abilities are extant to that needed for cyclocross, so of course, I was game. Plus, I love endurance events....
Via Urbanophile:
Richard Layman pointed us at this cool map of a proposed national bicycle route system. You might think cross-country biking is crazy, but keep in mind this was put out by the Adventure Cycling Association.
Naturally, I’m a huge fan of this idea as concept. In execution, I’m sure lots will be lost to the difficulties of securing rights-of-way, community...
Well, this didn’t go as planned. I went into the race hoping for top 10 and with my skin intact. I came out of it without a scratch but near the bottom of the results. Kudos first to Tower Racing who put on a well-run road race in an improbably-close-to-Chicago location. In the weeks leading up to yesterday, I was surprised at how the race wasn’t packed full to the gills from the...
August 2009
4 posts
Here is the Tumblr. I’ve resolved the issue that was preventing me from logging into Blogger. Well, found a workaround. Seems as if I need to post a comment to someone’s blog which signs me in without having to sign in through the Blogger login screen. I still prefer the look of Signals, Calls and Marches, but it’s frustrating when you have stuff to post up and you...
Cyclocross Scheduling
It’s going to be a busy fall. Let’s hope I don’t crack a rib like I did in 2007 or end up broke halfway through like I was in 2008. I’m going to miss a weekend to attend the wedding of my mom’s boyfriend’s daughter’s wedding, which I think is October 17. In that case I might try the DRT Consulting ‘cross race in Bloomington, Indiana on the way back...
SF: Part 2
Saturday morning was taken at a leisurely pace. While up at 7, we didn’t get on with the day until about 9 when Naz, Jen and I rode our bikes easy to the Ferry Building market. We got some coffee and bread to snack on and I some fresh peaches. We met James (Jah-mez, occasionally) and together we watched a man drop a $50 U-lock into the water while locking up his bike, an event that...
SF: Part 1
My trip to SF was long in the making. A long time ago, right around the time I graduated from high school, I had planned a trip to California with my friend Greg Beale. We were to drive Rt. 66 as far as we could, sleep in the car, and live the summer as urchins and beggars, albeit traveling in a Mazda RX-7.
That trip never happened for reasons mostly related to money. And time. I barely made...
July 2009
2 posts
The Day Off
Some of us have gotten it in our heads that riding ought to be a daily activity. We live and breathe the sport of cycling - the rationale that every day must spend some time in saddle is an easy jump to make.
The recovery ride follows the day of intervals; the long Sunday slog to the far reaches of the county is followed by a compulsion to ride the bike the following day for half hour, just to...
A Shoutout
In road cycling, the small breakaway is often such a futile, yet admirable, expenditure of energy. Three guys, dangling off the front, giving their all to stay away from the pack, and despite all the sideline cheering and encouraging, are often snapped back up just in time for a field sprint.
The Super Tempo admires deeply those brave souls that risk blowing up and ending their race early in an...