Happy Thanksgiving!

On Turkey Day...
Eat only half as much as you would like to eat, try only one of the pies, and go for a ride on Friday. "See" you on Monday!

What people said about Woodstock

Brady, Jim (Masters, Pony Shop): I remember after pulling for awhile and Jim coming through saying to him "we've got to stay with him, he'll be gone." But then the elastic broke.

Cartier, Jacques (M-3, XXX): However, I did have one good partner next to me, Brian Parker. This guy is the fricken Picasso of down hill decent on the cross bike. He was coming around the corners so smooth like he was painting a master piece and I was taking notes and eventually catching up on the small climbs and straightaways.

Fraser, Tamara (W-4, XXX): ...right here my teammate Mike hollers, "don't mess up these turns and you got it!" forshadowing my downfall. -- back up the hill, around the 180 at the top, braking into the first 'S' turn, braking for the second, which you can shoot right out of and into the finishing stretch . . . but I was trying just too hard and missed the angle on the second turn, the easy turn, and slid out. Mike was screaming for me to get up, and I tried, but stepped on the side of my foot, rolled my ankle and fell again -- Lara passing me, of course -- I finally got on the bike and finished in third. So frustrating. So disappointing.

Golz, Carolyn (W-4, Pony Shop)

Heck, Greg (M-3, XXX): I won... a bike at the Woodstock Cyclocross race.

Holland, Jeff (M-3, XXX)

Klug, Kevin (M-1, Killjoy): I guess it became a "training ride". Nonetheless, I figured I would ride hard and get some effort in. The course was not all that technical but it was fun anyway with some nice up and down and fast speed sections. There's something about riding a road bike off road really fast that is so much fun.

Kuhn, Lou (M-3, Pony Shop): Most of the race is a blur but I kept fighting back to Chris and got in front with just over 1 lap to go, after that I just held on rode the good lines and sprinted as hard as I could for the W.

Popper, Julie (W-4, Half Acre Cycling): I just couldn’t get my cleat in the darn things. I’m sure everyone saw this happen, and the field just rode away from me. By the time we hit the first singletrack, any chance of a respectable finish was gone. But again, who’s going for respectable?

Strout, Chris (M-3, World Bicycle Relief)

Photo from velosnaps.

News and links 11-24-08

• Triathletes in Chicagoland: Tati is starting a triathlon team. Learn all about it at the info meeting this Tuesday.
  
• And yet another ergonomic design for saddles, by Selle Royal (via Bike Rumor). (Read this New York Times article about the dangers for those who use inadequate bicycle seats, that is, the dangers for all of us.)
  
• "We are the cyclists: the intermediate stage between humans and pure energy."
  
• iPhoners out there: Mapmyride.com has launched an application that allows you to map your ride with your phone and sync it with your mapmyride account.

  The App is as simple as can be, though it does require the newer 3G iPhone with GPS. It records total time, distance, current speed, average speed and you can view your maps directly from the phone after the ride. One of the features they’re working on for a very, very near future update is to allow you to upload maps from your account directly to your phone.

  (Via Bike Rumor.)
  
• You'll get this only if you have played Guitar Hero (from cyclelicious):

Collected tales from Lansing

The official results are now posted (see left column). In terms of the course, St. Charles and Northbrook set the bar really high, so I heard that Lansing was a bit disappointing. Everyone was talking about the sandpit though.

Debbie Dust (W-1, Verdigris / PACT-Dish Network)

I was happy to be finished - it was a bit of a suffer fest at times as evidenced by the (simultaneously cool yet nasty/gross) copious amounts of spit and snot stuck to the various surfaces of my bike.

Joe Kallo (Masters 30, UCVC)

As I was doing my practice laps I developed this (utterly genius, no doubt) strategy: I was going to serious bury myself for the first 2 laps. Just 2 laps. No matter what, I was going to remain over redline as much as I could muster. No thought of future laps, and nothing held in reserve.

Jesse Williams (M-4, Tati/UCVC)

I felt pretty good at the start and appeared to pass many of my competitors through the barrier/sand sections. I even managed to recover some of my entry fee by picking a dollar pass-up as I sprinted though the sand.

Lou Kuhn (M-1/2, Pony Shop)

Race #2 was an experiment of sorts, just 2 hours after my race and still in my roubaix skin suit hoping the embro that accidentally slid south is killing a bit of the bacteria that could be roaming about after sitting in chamois post 30 plus race.

I felt great for the first 4 or 5 laps, then noticed that they hadn't put laps to go up yet???? when they did it didn't help my psyche to see 6 to go. Sixty minutes is a lot longer than 45.

Holly Klug (W-1/2/3, Killjoy)

I am not the greatest rider on power courses so my goal for the race was to ride the pit to show off my "skillz" and try to hang on to June or Debbie's wheel as long as I could. Kevin said right before the race to "not do all the work" and let the other girls pull you around at the start. With this in mind, we go and I get the hole shot.

Jeff Holland (M-3, XXX)

I was caught and passed by Al, managed to catch and pass Ernie and Adam, and eventually settled in right behind Ryan. I chased him for a few laps, until he rode the sand instead of running it to get a gap on me. The next lap he went back to running it, but the damage was done. I never caught up.

Greg Heck (M-3, XXX)

For the next several laps I sit on the wheel of Jason Knauff of Burnham Racing. Since he has already won a couple of races I figured it was his reward to set the pace while I wheelsucked ( I am not embarressed to admit it!!).

The Wall Tax

The ice is here. Up on the Oak St. bend, the lakefront path now gets covered by a sheet of ice overnight. You know how it goes: high waves lick the pavement, soaking it permanently, and the low temperatures do the rest.

Beware, then, when you ride through that patch. Tamara took a spill yesterday (Tuesday), and witnessed the misfortune of another unaware cyclist. The slippery conditions were the topic du jour at the bike station today. A cyclist was taken away by an ambulance.

This problem is important enough. The treacherous ice sheet cuts the heavily transited north-south bike artery into two disconnected legs. The few brave ones who dare walking (or riding!) the ice risk coming out with bruises, cracked helmets and eyeglasses, and broken bones. I know a person who once chipped his hipbone as a result of one such fall and was injured for months.

The solution appears simple: set up a barrier so that the waves won’t reach the bike lane. A wall right by the edge of the lake, along the bend, seems like the obvious solution to me. A two-meter-high parapet would suffice.

I don’t see any aesthetic concerns: the lake would still be visible from Lake Shore Drive and its west side, because the lake sits so much lower. And the wall would only block the lake view from the path along a brief stretch.

An alternative answer would consist of dumping blocks of concrete in the lake, right by the edge of the path, effectively pushing the shore outwards and making the waves break further away from the path, instead of on the path. Basically, something similar to what we have at the Promontory Point. This second solution is probably less effective, and I can’t imagine it being prettier than the wall, but I understand why some people would prefer it.

The main point is: this is an easy problem to solve. Cheaply. A few tens of thousands of dollars would make cyclists happier and safer for decades to come. Would riders be willing to pay a tax to fund the project? If you spread the cost over all the cyclists from Chicagoland who use the path, it shouldn’t take much. I bet that a 0.1% sales tax on all bike-related products sold in the city, during one year, would buy you not a concrete, but a golden wall. Plus, Mayor Daley happens to love both bicycling infrastructure and sales taxes. No opposition from that front. (Or even better but less humorous: organize a fund-raising ride.)

What do you say? Would you be willing to pay the “Wall Tax”? Vote "YES" on "Morning Roll's Proposition"!

(Is this problem more difficult than I think it is? Am I missing something?)

News and links 11-18-08

• Japanese fixie trickery. A lot of the tricks don't look that spectacular, but I just like watching the Japanese doing bike stuff...
  

trailer for FUMIKIRI from JAN on Vimeo.

• How to commute in the winter without spending tons of $$$? (Hat tip to Brian Morrissey.) I'll follow up soon with a review of a couple of winter gloves. Stay tuned.
• Panniers for surfboards? Only in California. Via cyclelicious.

Sorry I can't keep you entertained any longer today. Later on this week:

-Collected stories from Lansing.
-Expensive and technical is not always the best.
-Ingredients of an epic ride.

Keep riding!

Euro cyclist club rules #25-27

25. Any physical activity, other than cycling, is STRONGLY FROWNED UPON. This includes any form of running or swimming and their derivatives (this includes walking). The ONLY TWO other sports with a recognized degree of euro are cross country skiing, and long track speed skating.

26. MTB gloves are FORBIDDEN in all instances. Cycling gloves will be slick, white (in accordance with kit), and have minimal padding. Padding will be beige or white in color. Wearing NO GLOVES is entirely acceptable and encouraged. In the case where said euro cyclist is wearing a leader’s jersey, special gloves will be made to match the color of the jersey while blending the team kit colors simultaneously.

27. In a circumstance where any cyclist (or triathlete) ever displays aggression or disrespect towards you, you are required to ride up uncomfortably close and slap them in the face with your team-issue gloves.

(From the Facebook group "The official rules of the Euro cyclist.")

Nifty stuff

• The all-in-one tool for the fixed-gear or single-speed bike. ($30). Available in January.

  It comes with a 15mm hex for removing your bolt-on wheels; a 5mm hex for seatpost and handlebar bolts; 8, 9, and 10mm box wrenches for older style brakes and seatpost clamps; a lock ring tool; and most important, a bottle opener. It also comes with a small eyelet for pinning on a piece of extra chain to create a compact chain whip.

  From VeloNews, through Jeff Holland.

• Another review of the Shimano Di2.

  I’m going to split the difference on this one: We don’t need Di2 the way we need more efficient cars. The Segway was an invention that hasn’t made the world more interesting. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to still be stuck on Nuovo Record. Great as it is, I’m glad for integrated brake and shift levers—now there’s an answer to a question someone asked. (...)
  I’m going to cut to the chase: Di2 rocks. The shifting is simply the fastest I’ve ever experienced, faster, I dare say, than I would have imagined possible. While rear derailleur upshifts aren’t much faster than current Dura-Ace, the front derailleur upshifts are honestly smoother and faster than I thought possible, even when out-of-the-saddle and stomping the pedals in a Tom Boonen-goes-bye-bye effort. As a matter of fact, the faster your cadence, the faster the shift.

• Classy wheels.
• 
  

Stories from Northbrook

The results are posted here (riders sorted by their overall standings, not by their results at Northbrook).

Joe Kallo (M-4, UCVC)

I was also hurting a whole lot, and not paying attention to my hup hup. In the last two laps, I kept shifting the wrong direction because of the way the SRAM shifters work (well that, and my dumbass decision not to dress properly), so I gave up shifting.

Beverly Bike-Vee Pak

After ascending the stairs you had the pleasure of riding the most challenging section we have ridden all year, three off-camber muddy, greasy turns where if you had too much speed, or hesitated just a bit you found yourself upside down. And believe me, more than a few people were trying to ride that section who had no business doing so, and some were making it look easy.

KillJoy

I was almost successfully making the turn when I decided to go against everything I have learned in mountain biking and grabbed my brakes mid turn. This obviously caused my wheels to lock up and there was CRASH #1! I was able to get back on my bike quick even though it literally knocked the snot out of me (hopefully there isn't a pic of that).

Jeff Holland (M-3, XXX)

Great technical course, true cross weather, too bad I didn't bring my A-game. I had a good start, until someone plowed into the back of me about 200m into the race, which sent me right into Jacques. He managed to stay up, but it caused me to have to stop and remount. After that, I kept sliding back from the leaders. Add a crash where I wrapped my seatpost in some marker tape and went down, and a crash on the last lap down the hill trying to avoid another crashed rider, and I rolled in for 22nd place.

Pony Shop Cyclocross

On to the race...Thank you to the Garner Northbrook Bike Club and Flatlandia Cycling Team for setting up a fantastic course, which had two rarities, no man made barriers, and 2 stair run ups per lap. I never really thought about the lack of barriers, didn't miss them at all, the course had a really good flow to it, with lots of turns, but more importantly off camber turns, very tricky. The weather helped add to the technical challenge of the course and made it really feel like the Motherland.

Tamara Fraser (W-4, XXX)

As I came through the start/finish, steeling myself for another lap or two, the officials were standing in front of the lap counter. "How many more?" I asked, they called back, "You're done!" Woooo!

Jim Brody (Pony Shop)

On the 3rd lap I started getting passed in the technical stuff, first Mike and Randy from xXx, then a DICE rider, then James from Turin. I tried to stay with each one, but then I'd have to slow down in a corner. Just too tentative in the corners, wasting massive amounts of energy braking and then having to re-accelerate.

Race results and 2009 calendar

In case you haven't noticed, I have started to post the results of all the races held near Chicago after Sept. 21, on the left column of Morning Roll.

I have also updated my calendar with all the events that the Illinois Cycling Association has scheduled already for 2009--the dates are still tentative, though.

And, to wrap up this administrative post, let me note that I have added three new blogs to by blogroll (see the right column): Ben Popper's (M-1, Rock Lobster), current leader of the Chicago Cross Cup, Jim Brody's (Pony Shop) and the Pony Shop Cyclocross blog itself. (Hat tip to Patrick for the latter.)

Correction: Ben Popper is not the leader of the Chicago Cross Cup. Hat tip to Joe Kallo for the heads up!

Katy

Today I'm going out of town for a friend's wedding, so no riding this weekend :(

I'm secretly hoping that the ceremony turns out as in this video (5 minutes). Don't miss the part where Katy gets down to her Skivvies and hops on a pink bike. Later on, a pack of furious bridesmaids, also on pink bikes, join her in a mad hunt for the groom.



Don't you love Katy? I'm not sure which video I like best, the one above or this one.

Euro cyclist club rules #22-24

22. Campagnolo shall be THE ONLY acceptable componentry and is hereby deemed superior to ANY Shimano product in ALL circumstances. You are expected to have nothing less than an ENTIRE campy gruppo. Crank substitutions are NOT permitted. There is a case by case exception for SRAM RED.

23. You shall NEVER, under any circumstances, acknowledge the presence of a cyclist riding a bike costing less than 2000€ in a public place. This could be severely detrimental to your image.

24. You shall NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, associate with triathletes. It is FORBIDDEN to have any number inked onto your body before a race.

(From the Facebook group "The official rules of the Euro cyclist.")

News and links 11-5-08

• Fixie hipsters. Just fun to watch. About 4 minutes. From cyclelicious.
  Empire from Empire on Vimeo.
• How to shop for bike-ish things: girl's version. Best paragraph:
  

  Trying on a full outfit will give you the true feeling of how it will ride. Don’t look in the mirror first. Rather, sit down, or squat down into bike position. If you mountain bike, shift around a lot, and feel for seams that rub you. Roadies should imitate “the drops position”; the garment should fit best in this position and it should not ride up. OK, now look in the mirror.

• A bike light that you can charge via a USB port. (Hat tip to Bike Rumor.) (And what is the practicality of this feature? Are you gonna use the batteries of your laptop to recharge the battery of your light!?)
  

Rave reviews of the St. Charles course

Tamara Fraser (W-4, XXX)

Raced cross in St. Charles yesterday. It was a VERY technical course, which did not play to my strengths. But it was still super fun.

A Mission Bay woman gave me trouble for a while, then a Tati girl remained tantalizingly out of reach for two laps -- every time I got close, I'd screw up at a barrier or in the gravel or in the off-camber turns, and she'd get out ahead of me again. I finally caught her on the last lap, passing her on the way up the hill and somehow managing to stay ahead of her through the barrier and run-up.

That Tati girl. Again.

Joe Kallo (Masters 30, UCVC)

Above all, I couldn’t stop smiling over what an awesome day of cyclocross we had. All ten CCC races could be held on this course and they’d never hear a complaint from me. Well done guy and gals.

Beverly Bike-VeePak

Today's race had it all! The course laid out for us today in St. Charles by the Chicago Cyclocross Cup was a doozy. Not necessarily very difficult, but there was no place to let your mind wander. From the winding climb just off of the start, to the off-camber section on the back of the course, to the twisting downhill and of course the best section on the course for me was the improvised beer garden. This section was an absolute blast to ride through everytime. Riders were shouted at, heckled, encouraged, some beer hand-ups were given out, bells were rung, pictures were taken, money was handed-up, you name it, it happened all within these 25 yards. Incredible fun!

Curtis, Robert (M-5, Bicycle Heaven)

Awesome race. Robert Kelley and Matt Stewart from my team (Bicycle Heaven) set up the course and all I have to say is....OMG!!! Actually more like OMFG!!

Didriksen, Erik (M-4, XXX)

This week's ChiCrossCup race was in St. Charles and the course was set up wonderfully - kudos to the organizers!

Stuff to do this winter

A few weeks from now, the 'cross season will be over and we'll face three long months of coldness, snow and darkness. But do not despair, we have quite a few events around Chicago to keep us bleeding lactate over the winter:

ABD Indoor time trials

January 11: Flat
February 1: Rolling
February 22: Flat
March 14: Rolling

VisionQuest Indoor time trials

Dec 14: Bong 40k
Dec 21: Masters National 39k
Jan 04: Tour de France Stage 4 Cholet 29k
Jan 18: Bong 40k
Jan 25: Masters National 39k
Feb 08: Tour de France Stage 4 Cholet 29k

Stair climbing (OK, not cycling, but not bad for your quads...)

Nov 11: Go Vertical (Sears tower)
Jan 25: Step up for kids (Aon tower)
Feb 22: Hustle up the Hancock (Hancock tower)
March?: Climb MS (Franklin Center/AT&T corporate center)