I'd like to use this new site to occasionally introduce some of the people who contribute to the local racing community, from racers to officials, from coaches to promoters.

I'm starting with one of Chicago's great success stories: Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast).

Mumford, 31, started road racing in 2000 with the Johns Hopkins collegiate team. After he moved to Chicago to do research at Fermilab, he raced with XXX Racing-AthletiCo from 2002 to 2004 and for Athletes by Design in 2005 and 2006.

His third-place finish at the 2006 Snake Alley Criterium, in which he was the only amateur who could hang with Toyota-United's best, remains the most exciting thing I've seen in a bike race. He went on to place 6th at the national elite time-trial championship and 2nd in the road race championship.

Mumford continues to work toward his PhD in high-energy particle physics, but this off-season he signed a pro contract with Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast, a new professional team out of Minneapolis.

Disaster struck in April, however, while his team was training in advance of the Tour of Virginia. Mumford overshot a turn on a descent and crossed into the path of traffic. He narrowly missed hitting a minivan head-on, but the vehicle's rear wheel caught his bike. The ensuing accident left him with a 10cm laceration in his shin and a broken tibia plateau (the part of the bone right below the knee).

As soon as he returned to Chicago, surgeons screwed a plate to push the bone back into place. Mumford will remain on crutches for another 4 weeks, but he's already been working out on the trainer. He expects to be racing by July, and because of the great support he's gotten from his team, he plans to return to Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast in 2008. "It's good to be riding for a solid team. It takes the panic out of the injury situation."

When you started racing road in 2000, how far did you think you'd take things? Did you ever think you'd be a pro someday?
I never really thought about being a pro until last year. I always wanted to be faster than I was and that meant upgrading. No matter how good I was as a category 4 or 3, I always knew that the really fast guys were pros. Those were the guys that I wanted to be racing with and against.

I had some really good role models when I started. I raced for the Johns Hopkins collegiate team for a couple of years. We had a great team and took home four national titles in the two years that I raced for them. We had a great time racing, training and traveling together too.

When I moved to Chicago, I got a lot of motivation and energy from the XXX team.‘I always wanted to be faster than I was and that meant upgrading.’ A couple of us were pretty new to the scene and we kind of learned the ropes together.

The past two years, I was able to develop well under the Athletes by Design organization. It's a really well organized program, in the business of preparing and developing riders for the professional level. I had great teammates and I think that also made a big difference as well in terms of results.

When the opportunity to race professionally came, it wasn't an easy decision. I had a couple of offers and I wasn't sure about the time commitment to race professionally. I decided to ride for Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast because it was a really good situation. I have always admired Jonas Carney, and to have him as the team director is great. All of the management staff and behind-the-scenes people are great. It was a good fit for me, so I decided to give it a shot.

Most people are lucky to train 8, 10 hours a week. How on earth does one balance life as an elite cyclist, atomic physicist and husband?
I don't think that there are any secrets to the balance. It's tough. Most people have it a lot worse though than I do though.

I am lucky to have a wife who supports me and my cycling. She encourages me to do the training that I have planned for myself. She is willing to send me out the door to do the training that I need to do even though it would be more fun to just hang out together. She is great. I couldn't do what I do without her. The most difficult part of being on a professional team so far has been all of the travel and time away from home.

I try to get my riding in first. I think that the training quality is
better and it gives me a little more time I think. If I can train first, I have the rest of the afternoon and evening to recover, work, and spend time with my wife. Luckily my job and my boss are pretty flexible. Most of the time I don't have to be anywhere at any given time; I just need to get the work done. A blessing of the internet I guess.

Winfield is this weekend. You've done well there in the past, getting third the past two years. Any advice for racers?
The two Winfield courses are very different. The twilight race is a lot of fun. That is my favorite of the two courses. It's fast and technical. It has the longer hill of the two courses. It can be pretty selective, especially if you can nail the technical turns at the top of the course.

The day-two course is fun too. All of the action tends to take place on the last half of the course. The hill is the launchpad for a lot of action. It's good to notice that the the hill doesn't end until sometime after turn 3. A lot of people race to turn 3 and then think that the effort is over. After turn 3 is an excellent place to launch an attack.

A lot of beginning riders beat their heads against the wall trying to get breaks off. You're an ace time trialist and a breakaway artist. What's the trick? Can breaks work at that level or do riders just have to learn to cope with the field sprint?
I won most of my races as a Category 5, 4, and 3 in solo or small breakaways. It helps that I ride a strong time trial, but breaks are certainly possible in the amateur ranks. I wish that I would have tried to contend more bunch sprints when I was racing as a Cat 3. I think that I could have experimented a bit more and learned how to sprint smarter.

I would like to see more "experimental" racing in amateur races. Try something that you've never done before. Solo break, small group break, try launching one of your teammates in a move, try the bunch sprint if you've never really tried. If your fitness is good, then you can use each race to try to learn something.‘If your fitness is good, then you can use each race to try to learn something.’ Every bike race is hard, but it gets harder to learn skills in a race as the intensity goes up.

The last question I ask partly out of self-interest, having just broken my clavicle. What do you say to a someone sidelined so early in the season? When do I get to stop feeling pathetic every time I see someone having fun on a bicycle?
The injury was really hard for me too at first. It was a big lifestyle adjustment. My advice would be to start in on the trainer as soon as you can. Set some realistic goals for yourself and get back at it. To me, being injured is no worse really than training through the winter in Chicago. Every day is going to suck a little bit but with your mind set on your goals, each day goes down as another little piece of the puzzle.

Chicago racers will often have to drive an hour or more to races, but you don't want to spend all morning sitting in your chamois. You also don't want to have to waste time before your race hunting for a place to change, and it's bad form to do the boxers-into-bib hokey-pokey behind a car door. It scares the children.

So bring a beach towel to your races. I don't know why, but it took me forever to notice that everyone else seemed to have one and that it made changing quick, convenient and discreet.

Plus, having a towel is helpful when you have excess chamois creme on your hands and no teammates nearby to wipe them on.

The Great Race is a nice, low-key weekend series that Dan Daly and the Indiana Race Series put on each year. The Sunday-Monday criterium and road race are part of a sports festival that coincides with a minor automobile race in Indianapolis.

MetCycling, XXX Racing-AthletiCo, WDT, Project 5 and the South Chicago Wheelmen all sent squads this year and came back with good results.

In Sunday's criterium, Richard Adamczyk (WDT) continued his solid season with a win in the 40+, a day after winning the 50+ in the Lombard MAJORS. Corey Hickman (Project 5) won the 3's and Nathan Moorehouse (SCW) won a 4's race that had Chicago riders taking the top five spots.

Hickman (Project 5) also won Monday's road race, with podium placings also coming from Jeff Wat (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) and Tomasz Boba (WDT) in the 4's, Scott Pearson (Higher Gear) and Pat McNally (MetCycling) in the P/1/2/3, and Beth Christiansen (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) in the women's open.

Full criterium results. Full road race results.

Race reports:
Peter Allen (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): " I think we had more interest in yapping about the Giro then fighting it out in a group sprint."

Bob Willems (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): "In the lovely land of Hoosiers, there's a special vibe to the racing scene and it welcomes riders from across the midwest."

Chicago teams and riders had a much better second half of the weekend down in Iowa.

In Sunday's Melon City Criterium, Bryan Merrill (Team Get a Grip Cycles) came in 6th in the 4's and Corie Berrigan (Kenda Tire) placed the same in the women's open race. Will Nowak (Northwestern) came in second in the 3's, but the day's top Chicago finish came in the boys U11 race, won by Wheaton's Sam Hill (Unattached).

Monday in Rock Island, Ill., Jeffrey Whiteman (Northbrook Garner) won the 30+ race, and Merrill (TGAGC) improved on Sunday's result by getting 2nd in the 4's. Schaumburg's John Puffer (Kentucky Flyers), formerly of ABD, was the top Chicago finisher in the P/1/2's with 4th, while Debbie Dust (Kenda Tire) got 5th in a women's open race that had several riders going down hard on the last lap.

Full Melon City results. Full Quad Cities results.

Melon City reports:
Amanda Miller (Atlas; W-Open): "A few people attacked, but nothing stuck. I tried to maintain positioning, but still don’t have the holding your spot down yet."

Melanie Wong (Get a Grip; W-Open): "It was pretty fast ... Something happened last lap though and I lost steam. "

Quad Cities race reports:
Sydney Brown (Lincoln Plating-Lemond; W-Open): "Got schooled in the Quad City Crits and I'm finally ready to stop being mad at myself and instead study the lessons and move on to apply them in the next go."

Amanda Miller (Atlas; W-Open): "All I remember is seeing one of the girls laying in front of me. From my understanding, I hit them and flew into the air. I came back down and landed on my head."

Jessi Prinner (ABD; W-open): "The flatness of the course also kept the pace high, making the wind whoosh through my ears around the turns like a being on a roller coaster, except the only difference was that with just one false twitch, you could be making some intense contact with the pavement."

This tip comes from Matt O'Keefe (XXX Racing-AthletiCo), who read more than one report of riders clipping in poorly at Snake Alley.

1. Always clip in with the same foot at a standing
start to build muscle memory.

2. Always clip out when you stop instead of doing a
track stand, so you can practice clipping in.

There's always a guy who doesn't clip in quickly. Don't be that guy, and don't get stuck behind that guy. This is especially important in short criteriums that start fast and stay fast.

August's Downers Grove criterium is much like Snake Alley in this regard: If you're not at the front by the first corner, you're going to have a lot of ground to make up and not a lot of time in which to do it. (It just so happens that Matt won the 4's race at Downers Grove in 2004 and came in 2nd in the 3's in 2006, so he knows what he's talking about.)

This weekend brings two great days of racing to Chicago with the Winfield criteriums. Saturday will be the twilight criterium, run on a slightly different course than Sunday's race, which serves as the ABR national criterium championship. ABD puts on these races and they're always well run with generous primes.

Here are brief course descriptions. I've never done the twilight event, but Sunday's course is a long milelong rectangle. The backstretch is a shallow incline with a short kicker at the end. You turn left into a short descent, and then turn left again and have about 300 meters to the start/finish area. It's not very technical, but it's not unheard for breaks to get off on this course.

I won't be racing, but I may go just to see whether Marek Serafin (WDT) is beatable. With a jersey on the line, my guess is "probably not."

Both days have citizen fields, and Sunday's even is unusual in that there's a 5-lap citizen women's race. This is an excellent opportunity for women to try their first race and see if it hooks them, or for women who have until now been forced to ride in the open fields.

If crits aren't your thing and you have a place to bunk near Indy, the Indiana Race Series has a road race about 4 hours away with the St. Crispian Junior Road Race. (Don't be thrown by the name: It's not just for juniors.) It's a challenging course with a nice climb close to the finish. Personally, I've never regretted driving so far for the IRS races that Dan Daly puts on. They're low-key, fun and good opportunities to nab some upgrade points.

Saturday
Winfield Twilight Criterium
ABR criterium
Winfield, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 1 hour

Sunday
ABR National Criterium Championship
ABR criterium
Winfield, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 1 hour

St. Crispian Junior Road Race
ABR road race
Nashville, Ind.
Distance from Chicago: 4 hours

Photo by Luke Seemann

Weather did a good job of spoiling Saturday's 25th Annual Snake Alley Criterium, a race that in my book remains the best amateur race in the Midwest, if not the country.

Roads were dry for the Cat 5 and 4 races, but buckets fell during the 30+ and women's open races, leaving behind dangerous, sloppy conditions for the 3's and P/1/2 races. Some fields seemed smaller than usual, and the crowd lacked the usual energy and cheer.

Riders struggled to find traction climbing the Snake, and the following descent proved particularly treacherous. Yours truly ended his season early when he couldn't negotiate the wet descent and took a hay bale head-on. (As I limped to the first-aid station, Brandon Krawczyk (LAPT), riding his last race as a 3, plowed into the same bale.)

Results for Chicago-area teams were as bleak as the weather.

• » Chazz Martin (Smart Cycling) got the day's only win by winning the 4-lap 13-14 juniors race.
  
• » Will Nowak (Northwestern) came in the money in the 3's with 14th, and Bryce Mead (Jelly Belly), formerly of ABD, got 8th in the P/1/2, finishing behind Minnesota's Adam Bergman (Colavita). (I believe this is Bergman's first win since coming back from a doping suspension.)
  
• » Among local riders in the women's open race, June Upshaw (Unattached) got 9th and Devon Haskell (Team Get a Grip Cycles) got 11th.
  
• » Jonathan Dugas (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) and Adam Clark (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) got 3rd and 6th in the 5's, respectively.
  
• » In Friday's road race, Jeff Schroetlin (ABD) and Mike Sherer (MetCycling) got 8th and 18th in the P/1/2 race.
  
• » Above, Charles Biro (UCVC) braves Saturday's heaviest rain in the masters 30+ race. He'd come in 12th and then 43rd in the 3's race.

Snake Alley is unusual among cycling events in that the local media actually take notice. (The national criterium championship is in Downers Grove but Tribune and Sun-Times readers wouldn't know it.) Don't miss The Hawkeye's reports on Friday's pro road race, Saturday's pro criterium, Saturday's women's race and Saturday's amateur criterium. The Hawkeye also has some video: a Snake report, a road race report, and a preview of the Snake from Atlas Cycling.

I expect there will be many reports written about the Snake, so check back as I find them and add links.

Full results.

Burlington Road Race reports:
Ryan Bauman (ABD; P/1/2): "All of a sudden ... crash! Some overlapped wheels were the cause. It happens in bike racing. It just sucks to happen to me -- in a break -- on the birthday."

Steve Middaugh (ABD; 5): "There were quite a few squirrely riders looking shaky from the start, and sure enough about halfway through the race one of them lost their line and caused a big crash. Someone went off my back wheel, but I managed to stay upright. Sead said he missed a guy's head on the ground by inches. Ouch."

Amanda Miller (Atlas; 3/4): "Basically all I did was tried not to crash."

Snake Alley race reports:
Pete Basso (All9Yards; 4): "I could hear everyone yelling at me going up the Snake which always fuels your legs no matter how much energy you have left."

Ryan Bauman (ABD; P/1/2): "I'm felling okay until my tire explodes on the finishing straight."

Tamara Fraser (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; W4): "I finish IN LOVE with this awesome race. The most grueling and the most FUN race I've ever done."

Jeff Holland (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): "I climb the rest of the Snake with my heel hanging all the way out of my shoe, pushing like crazy with my toes and the front half of my foot."

Amanda Miller (Atlas; W-Open): "Mid-race the skies opened up and it poured and got really windy. That was scary. I couldn’t see where I was riding."

Bryan Moritz (DICE; 4): "I remember doing that race a couple years ago and taking 9th overall and feeling good about that, but this was AWESOME."

Brian Morrissey (XXX-Racing AthletiCo, 3): "I only looked ahead at the ground, watching the brick pass my wheel, instinctively feeling my way towards the crest. The words of encouragement went into my ears and metabolized into pure power down my legs and out onto the pedals."

Sean Noonen (Team 14; P/1/2): "Two people messed up their clip-ins in front of me, and that pushed me to the back ... I crashed once on the descent too, that was kinda dumb."

Tristan Schouten (Trek/VW; P/1/2): "I went to hard on the first few laps and slowly blew up until I was just going backwards."

Doug Swanson (Grandstay Hotels; P/1/2): "I rode really conservatively on the descent at Snake. By conservative, I mean slow. People were wondering why I was riding so slow, a couple people even yelled at me. But I made it up to the chase group after starting DFL, so I must have been doing something right."

Melanie Wong (Team Get a Grip Cycles; W-Open): "I had to go up it slow, laborously, half-blinded by the rain. It was like clawing your way up the ultimate slip 'n slide."

The Editor (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): "The hay bale saved my bike but I tumbled over, landing squarely on my left shoulder."

Snake Alley photos:
Steve Daggs
Bryan Moritz
John Peterson
XXX Racing-AthletiCo
The Editor

Whenever I watch a Cat 5 race start, I always check my teammates to make sure they're starting in their big ring. Someone gave me this tip early on and I've always heeded it.

If a race starts fast, as many criteriums do, there's a risk you'll spin out if you start in your small chainring. Suddenly it's the second turn and you're off the back and your $20 entry fee is down the drain. Better to start in a big ring and maybe your second-biggest cog and shift to your smaller cogs as you pick up speed.

(The chain rings are the toothed circles by your feet. The cogs are the ones on your rear wheel. Don't laugh: When I first started racing, I didn't know the difference.)

Given the flat nature of the races around Chicago, you're better off sticking in your big ring. It will still let you cruise at a high cadence, but you've got enough range there to cover any accelerations. And if you never change rings, you eliminate the risk of dropping your chain. Whenever I hear about someone dropping their chain in a race, I ask, "What were you doing in your small ring in the first place?"

I didn't do Sunday's Wheels on Willy criterium in Madison, so I don't have much to say. Top Chicago performances came in the 4's race, where 14-year-old John Tomlinson (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) won and Jordan Heimer (RVO) came in third. The victory was Tomlinson's second in as many weeks and gave him the upgrade points he needed in order to qualify for this summer's junior nationals.

Full results.

Race reports:
Ryan Baumann (ABD; P/1/2): "I SRAM'ed it up in the final sprint. SRAM'ed meaning I mis-shifted during the sprint and came down a little bit hard on the top tube, ouch."

Brian Carlson (Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare; M4/5) "It felt great to win today because it was a race that I picked out at the beginning of the year and really tried to focus on and it turned out exactly as I had hoped."

Darin Chic (LAPT; M4/5): "I should of stayed in bed but I guess I'm a better man for going."

Lyle Hanson (GDVC; 3, P/1/2): "It went as planned until the last two corners."

Seth Meyer (Team Get a Grip Cycles; 3, P/1/2): "With two laps to go, I tried one of those 'hero moves' -- an attempt to hold off the sprinters on my own."

Amanda Miller (Atlas, W-Open): "Everyone was confused on the last lap because the officials were blowing their whistles and motioning us right as we headed into the last corne"

Jonathan Tenney (Team Get a Grip Cycles; 3): "The racing in the WCA series is always competitive and anyone who is anyone is going to show up and race hard."

Photos:
Lyle Hanson
Michael Kienitz

I've been keeping the site on the down-low while I fleshed out some content and tinkered with the design. I haven't even told my girlfriend yet, lest she tell me how ridiculous I am for spending time on this when I should be cuddling, sorting laundry or working on my sprint. (This weekend I secretly wrangled stylesheets while she read in the next room. I toggled to a different window whenever she walked past. I felt like I was IM'ing with a mistress.)

Now, however, I'm ready to start spreading the word, and I've moved the blog to the top level of the domain. Please e-mail me if you find any bugs or have any suggestions. I'm particularly interested in populating the list of training rides and finding out about any local racer blogs I might not be aware of.

I've also added a photo to the logo at the top of each page. I'll give a Clif Bar to the first person who can identify the two racers, and a Clif Bar and and a Builder's Bar if they can also identify the race it was taken at.

UPDATE: Julian Baumgartner (Team Clif Bar Midwest) correctly recognizes Ed Amstutz (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) ahead of Ansgar Graw (MetCycling) in the masters field sprint at Parkside Criterium No. 2. (Your truly was at this moment head over heels on the backstretch.) Photo by Ellen Wight (XXX Racing-AthletiCo).

This tip is so important that it's almost a shame I'm blowing it now before anyone is even reading, but I have a feeling I'll be bringing it up again.

The single most effective thing new racers in Chicago can do to improve their racing is to ride the Tuesday night practice races in south suburban Matteson.

Riding Matteson will do you more good than a PowerTap, private coaching or fancy wheels. You'll learn more in a night than from reading a hundred books or race reports.

The South Chicago Wheelmen have been putting on these races for years and are excellent hosts. Riders break themselves up into two groups, A and B, based on experience. The groups stagger their starts and race simultaneously around the Ace Hardware paint factory.

Each night there are three races with lengths dictated by weather and available light. A typical night might be 15 laps, 30 laps and then 10 laps on the kilometer course with licensed officials keeping track of results. USCF licenses are required, and entry costs $7.

Most beginning riders fear criteriums because they are not accustomed to cornering in packs at great speed. Matteson is a golden opportunity to work on that skill. In a single night you might do 50 laps of racing. That's 200 corners!

Once racers are comfortable riding in a pack, they can hone their tactics. With nothing more than pride and Gatorade on the line, it's a chance to take risks and try something new. Happy with your sprint? Try to break away. Need work on your sprint? Practice being patient and sitting in until the final corner.

Then once you graduate to the A races, hold on tight and observe as Team Clif Bar Midwest, XXX Racing-AthletiCo and South Chicago Wheelmen put on weekly seminars in team tactics.

One needs to leave the city in the early afternoon, but it's worth taking time off work to do so. Leave early to beat traffic and spend the afternoon telecommuting from the Matteson Panera.

Photo by Luke Seemann

Perfect weather helped the Denzer Delight (nee Baraboo II, nee Leland Grand Prix) live up to its name. A milelong, 700-foot climb would be a trifle elsewhere, but it was a big deal for the flatlanders of the Midwest. Each trip up broke legs and shattered fields.

Wisconsin teams dominated most of the races, but Chicago's Seth Meyer (Team Get a Grip Cycles) took control of the 3's race and handily won a three-up sprint, and Scott Pearson (Higher Gear) won the Masters 1/2/3 race.

Full results.

Race reports:
Ryan Baumann (ABD; P/1/2): "We just couldn't close the gap! It was kind of frustrating to see the race ride away from you when it's that close, but it just wasn't meant to be."

Brian Carlson (Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare; M4/5): "I tried to catch the group of three but it was just too hard by myself and I dangled about 200 yards behind them for the entire third lap."

Jason Knauff (Team Clif Bar Midwest; 3): "I knew I had to bridge or get stuck in no-man's-land. I recovered, took a dig, then repeated, but at one point the lead group looked like they were sprinting."

Darin Chic (LAPT; M4/5): "We watched the rest of the races from the top of the climb. Everybody suffered today.

Seth Meyer (Team Get a Grip Cycles; 3): "Today I made the race -- I dictated the pace, I attacked the group, I dictated the break, I attacked the break, I dictated the attack of the attack, I won the sprint."

Andy Weiland (Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare; M4/5): "I let a small gap open up about halfway up. I want to stop, turn around and go back to the car."

The Editor (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): "A rider came around my right. 'Damn! Fifth place!' A second rider came around my left. 'Damn! Sixth place!'"

One of the summer's most exciting weekends is upon us with four great races near the Quad Cities: one road race on Friday followed by three days of crits.

The jewel of the weekend is the legendary Snake Alley Criterium on Saturday. The course features a treacherous, steep switchback paved with brick. Here are photos I took last year.

As the day goes on, the hill becomes more crowded with rowdy spectators who badger and cajole riders struggling to navigate the climb. Tradition in the Pro/1/2 race is for fans to hand cold beers to racers as they throw in the towel. In 2006, restaurateur Jack Piper dressed up as Duff Man to do so. What stunt will he pull in 2007?

Success hinges on being among the first to the Snake on the first lap, lest you get bottlenecked behind the inevitable crashes, so the race before the race is to register early to secure a good starting position. (The Editor is blessed to be in the first row of the 3's race.) Once the race starts, riders will be too fried from climbing the Snake to think straight, so it's important to have a reliable routine for getting through the rest of the course. Smart Cycling's Steve Thordarson has an excellent turn-by-turn guide that is essential pre-race reading.

Friday
Wapello-Burlington Road Race
USCF road race
Burlington, Iowa
Distance from Chicago: 4.5 hours

Saturday
Snake Alley Criterium
USCF criterium
Burlington, Iowa
Distance from Chicago: 4.5 hours

Sunday
The Great Race: Elkhart Criterium
ABR criterium
Elkhart, Ind.
Distance from Chicago: 2.5 hours

Melon City Criterium
USCF criterium
Muscatine, Iowa
Distance from Chicago: 4 hours

Monday
The Great Race: Bristol Road Race
ABR road race
Bristol, Ind.
Distance from Chicago: 2.5 hours

Quad Cities Criterium
USCF criterium
Rock Island, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 3.5 hours

One thing racers should do from Race No. 1 is keep a race diary.

I started one mostly because the narrator in Tim Krabbe's "The Rider" has one (not to mention a prodigious number of entries to keep track of) and I'm glad I did. I've recorded information for everything from alleycats to practice time trials, from Matteson practice criteriums to state championships.

After each race I take three minutes to record the following data, if available, into a spreadsheet:

• » Date
• » Name of event
• » Format of event
• » Number of riders
• » Placing
• » Distance
• » Time
• » Average speed
• » Notes on conditions, key moments and why I didn't do better

It's that last entry that can be the most valuable. Even if I don't go back to read it later on, reflecting after each race about what you could have done differently is an important step of the post-race routine.

Such a racing log is also important when it comes to upgrade. Compiling your race resumé for the officials will be a piece of cake if you've kept careful records along the way.

The flier for the Spring Prairie road race, Wisconsin's state championship, is out. Registration is available online.

Once again they are breaking the 4/5 race into two fields: one for in-state, one for out-of-state. They did this last year to accommodate the large numbers of Illinois riders.

New this year will be a neutral roll-out from the registration area. Hopefully this will eliminate the chaos that always clogs the start/finish area.

I've done both both of this weekend's road races and it was tough to decide which to do this year. I'm opting for the Denzer Delight, which reprises the old Leland Grand Prix course. I love to support the Indiana Race Series, but Denzer's topography is slightly more interesting than McCormick's Creek: one long, gradual climb and several bare-knuckle descents.

Saturday
Denzer Delight
USCF road race
Denzer, Wis.
Distance from Chicago: 3.5 hours

McCormick's Creek Road Race
ABR road race
Spencer, Ind.
Distance from Chicago: 4 hours

Sunday
Wheels on Willy
USCF criterium
Madison, Wis.
Distance from Chicago: 2.5 hours

Chicago colleges fared well at this weekend's national championships.

Representing the University of Chicago, Devon Haskell (Team Get a Grip Cycles) got third in the Division II women's road race and sixth in the criterium to earn fourth overall. That gets her a spot on the Collegiate All-Stars, a women's team that will compete together at the Nature Valley Grand Prix stage race later this summer.

Representing Northwestern University, Reed Tanger got fifth in the winning break of the criterium, and Seth Meyer (TGAGC) got 20th in a grueling 90-mile Division I road race.

Full results at USA Cycling.

Race reports:
Seth Meyer (Northwestern; MDI): "I was sitting in the top ten positions before the final climb, one mile to go, at the DI collegiate nationals championships. Wow! Nothing more to do except ride as hard as I can up the sucker and see what happens."

Melanie Wong (Northwestern; WDI): "I'm scared out of my wits and trembling in my cleats as I'm called up to the line next to the other nine conference champions, feeling sort of like an imposter, next to these women, some of them pros, some of them future pros."

The University of Chicago Velo Club celebrated Mothers Day with its beloved Monsters of the Midway criterium -- MoM, natch -- one of only two amateur road races within Chicago city limits.

A slight breeze off the lake kept things chilly, but the sun finally crept out by the afternoon. Monsters is always a fun afternoon, and riders had a surprise delight in the fresh pavement that replaced the treacherous rock quarry that had existed turns 2 and 3.

Among the highlights:

• » Mark Swartzendruber (Delta Faucet), noted time trialist and Truesport raconteur, made a morning appearance. Everyone knew that any winning break would involve him and pursued his wheel accordingly. He was like the pied piper leading so many rats -- filthy, parasitic rats. In the 30+ race he finally broke free solo for the last 2 laps, but he couldn't shed the Mack hordes in the 40+ and finished in the pack.
• » With Dave Shaer (MetCycling) and Clark Priebe (Team Mack) off the front in the 40+, Ansgar Graw (MetCycling) had a spectacular crash sprinting for third. Fortunately he was upright and smiling within seconds, and somehow the field avoided the carnage.
• » Marek Serafin (WDT) continued his domination of ABR criteriums. The man is 5 for 5: His Cat 3 victory comes comes after sweeping the Parkside series and winning the spring Kenosha criterium.
• » More than 80 riders lined up for the Cat 4 race. Jordan Heimer (RVO) took a prime and held a sizable gap for several early laps, but it was 14-year-old John Tomlinson (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) who sprinted out of the usual mayhem of the final corner to claim his first victory in a senior race.

Full results.

Race reports:
Ron Cook (ABD; 30+): "Lots of attacks, which kept it interesting. It was also very smooth like a 30+ should be. Nobody panicking, just good clean racing."

Julian Baumgartner (Team Clif Bar Midwest; 3, P/1/2): "It was a hard day of racing ... that made me remember why it is I love going around in circles with my lungs on fire and legs ready to crack."

Greg Heck (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): "I essentially sat towards the back of the pack for 50 minutes, making sure no one got off the back. I think I did a really good job of this, and no one got off the back until the last two laps."

Ed Hernandez (North Branch Cycling): "The most challenging aspect was convincing moms that spending a day out in 60 degree weather watching mindless bike racing was the ideal way to spend their special day."

Chris Lozyniak (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3, P/1/2): "We're not going to beat Serafin from behind. The guy is his own airline. He needs no sponsorship ... Serafin deserved that win because his team dictated the final moments of the race."

Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): "Too many brakes, and it was impossible to find a steady wheel on which to carve a clean line."

Shawn Small, et al (Team Pegasus; 4, 5): "The aspect that pumped me up most was having a large and awesomely obnoxious cheering section."

Mark Swartzendruber (Delta Faucet; 30+, 40+): "[The race] left most of the observers, officials and experienced racers in the field scratching their heads wondering what madness they had just been a part of."

Jeff Wat (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3, 4): "When my expectations are too high, I kick myself right out of contention."

Bob Willems (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 40+): "It was a relief to hear the rest of the field talking about how hard the race was afterward."

Shane Winn (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): "The Lot guys really deserve kudos for executing flawlessly."

The Editor (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+, 3, P/1/2): "I walked over to the officials and drew a finger across my throat. I was done."

Photos:
Danegrande
Cliff Golz
MetCycling
XXX Racing-AthletiCo

Welcome to Chicago Bike Racing.

The thought here is to create a resource for prospective and beginning bike racers in the Chicago area, modeled somewhat after Minnesota's Start Bike Racing. Making the leap from rider to racer can be daunting, and it's easy for a beginner to be intimidated by established racers. I want to help people find as much enjoyment and support from this sport as I have.

Eventually I want to have a complete directory of local teams, rides and races, plus a simple guidebook for new racers. That's no small task, and at the moment I happen to be busy with racing and training, so emphasis should be put on "eventually."

To keep things fresh, I'll maintain a blog with news about Chicago road races. Although I'm affiliated with XXX Racing-AthletiCo, I'll try to remain impartial as I report on races around the area.

I'm limiting the site to mass-start, sanctioned road racing, because that's what I know best. No track. No mountain biking. No alleycats. But maybe cyclocross if I need something to get me through winter.

This will be fun!

Luke Seemann
The Editor