Danielson to Slipstream! The Clarkes to Toyota-United! Rasmussen to ... anyone?

Who cares?

What’s really important is whom you will be riding for next year.

It’s never too early to be thinking about 2008. Whether you’ll be racing for the first time or you’re finally trading in that Performance jersey for a team kit, now is the time to start inquiring about teams and finding the group that’s a good fit for you. If you wait until May or June, it can be too late: Your team’s uniform orders have likely come and gone, and your new teammates have already spent all winter and spring bonding with one another and may be too busy racing to get to know you properly.

Over the next few weeks I’ll have more to say about the benefits (and costs) of joining a team and how to make the most of it. In the meantime, I’ve finally uploaded a directory of local racing teams. I still have a few listings I need to add, but if you don’t see your team or spot any errors, please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Several team representatives have told me they’re unsure of how to answer whether they have a women’s or juniors program. I’m not quite sure myself. It’s somewhat self-defining. Suffice to say, if you have only one or two women or juniors, you do not have a “program.” Basically I’m looking to highlight teams that women and juniors can join and expect to find like-minded mentors and friends.

• » The first cyclocross flier is up, this one for Jackson Park on Sunday, Sept. 23. Just in time, Velonews has a series of cyclocross skills videos. (Owing to popular demand, I’ll throw nearby cross races on the race calendar as soon as I have a free hour.)
• » Chicago Athlete is a must-read for cyclists this month. For one thing, all three athletes of the month are cyclists: Debbie Dust (Team Kenda Tire), Ed Amstutz (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) and “Kid Athlete of the Month” John Tomlinson (XXX Racing-AthletiCo). Then there are a few cyclocross stories: an introduction to the discipline and a look at juniors cross (including input from Tomlinson). Finally there’s a remembrance of Beth Kobeszka, who was killed racing in June.
• » Kobeszka would have been among those competing in the Chicago Triathlon this weekend. In her memory, three friends entered Team Kobeszka in the relay category and came in 9th out of 168 teams, not to mention 4th co-ed and 5th in the bike leg.
• » Wisconsin cops to former Downers Grove national champion Brad Huff (Slipstream): Do your intervals, go to jail.

Photo by Luke Seemann

Like Evanston before it, Glencoe employed its North Shore clout to order up perfect weather for its inaugural criterium. And after all those long drives to races in Wisconsin or the western suburbs, it was a pleasure to get to Saturday’s race in style: on my bicycle. Hooray for Glencoe!

The four-corner course featured fast turns in 1 and 3, a narrow turn in 2 and in Turn 4 the aptly named “Amen Corner,” sponsored by a nearby church. Shift down, hold your line and say a prayer that everyone else holds theirs, too. A pastor was on-hand to give free lemonade and administer last rites to any dearly departed carbon fiber.

A strong wind out of the east played a role in the more crowded fields. Riders hoping to advance position in the homestretch faced a choice: Go up the left and be protected from the wind? Or go up the right side, which offered the safest line in Turn 1?

A huge field turned out for the masters 4/5’s. Matt Smith (Big Shark) and Tim Keeley (ABD) had their latest throw for the line, but this time it was Smith getting by first, a reversal of the previous day’s Sherman Park masters 4/5.

James Pradun (UIC) won the 4’s race by overcoming a five-man break in the final homestretch. I don’t know much about the University of Illinois-Chicago program, but I hope this is a sign of good things to come. What’s especially impressive for Pradun is that the next four finishers are all familiar names to those who’ve followed the 4’s results this year

— Ted Burger (Unattached), Ricardo Otero (South Chicago Wheelmen), Smith and Keeley —

names I expect we’ll next see among the 3’s results. (Ahem!)

Colavita put two on the podium in the 5’s race, behind Mike Shklovski in 1st and Craig Scott in 3rd. In between was Scott Claiborne (Apache), whom we last saw unclipped at Downers Grove.

Speaking of the 3’s, ours was a lively cap to the USCF season. Several attempted to go off the front in search of primes and/or glory, and with two to go, it was James Bird (IS Corp) with a dangerous gap. Unfortunately for Bird, two unidentified XXX Racing-AthletiCo riders exhausted themselves to bring him back in time for Jason Schisler (Vision Quest) to avoid the predictable last-lap mayhem and pick up the win. (Previously Bird had won the 15-18 juniors race, with Chazz Martin (Smart Cycling) winning the 10-14.)

The women’s 1/2/3 race stayed together for the most part until Jen Greenberg launched a flier with two to go. After the pack hesitated to chase, she held them off for a clear victory.

In other racing, Elizabeth Engwis (Kenosha Velosport) won the women’s 4’s, and Andy Kerr (Village Cyclesport) won an exciting sprint in the 50+.

I couldn’t stay for the finish of the P/1/2 race, but when I left a solid split had been created, with a future Toyota-United rider Johnny Clarke (Colavita) anchoring the lead group. (Unlike the last time Clarke raced a local crit, his brother Hilton (Navigators) was not there.) It was Rob White (PCW) who took the win, however, with Clarke settling for second. I’d love to read a report on how that came to be. (UPDATE: Frank Shapiro has this photo of Clarke and White off by themselves. He says they nearly lapped the field, or whatever was left of it.)

Just like Evanston, this was a fantastic debut race: well organized, generously prized. Some might have wished for the repaving to have been extended to South Avenue, but as someone who calls Hillsboro Roubaix a favorite and considers potholes “features” rather than “problems,” I’m not complaining, and I hope the Glencoe Grand Prix returns to our calendar year after year.

Full results.

Race reports
Newt Cole (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): “Two laps left. Time to move. Flyin’ single-file into Corner 2, big scary crash. I dodge two dudes by inches and another two unfortunates who hit them. I have no freakin idea how I got thru that.”

Debbie Dust (Team Kenda Tire; W-P/1/2/3): “On the last lap I decided that I had to chase and in so doing, also decided that I had to straight up win the field sprint since it was obviously too late to catch Jen.”

Tim Keeley (ABD; 30+ 4/5, 4): “With about 1 to go I took my final pull and got gapped, chased, latched on before Turn 4 and then witnessed the eventual race winner (a guy from UIC who had won an earlier prime) scream by for the win.”

Matt Smith (Big Shark; 30+ 4/5, 4): “A Vision Quest rider made a cheeky move and jumped well before the last turn on the last lap. I thought it was a good move and that he might hold it. It’s a long way from Turn 4 to the line, however.”

Photos:
John Rowland
Frank Shapiro
The Editor

Lance Maylath (Project 5) reminds me that Comcast Sports Network is broadcasting an hourlong summary of the Tour of Elk Grove this week: Tuesday at 1 p.m. and again Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. A 30-minute recap of the national championships at Downers Grove will air Sunday, Sept. 2, at 4 p.m.

Photo by Ellen Wight

Photo by Luke Seemann

Photo by Ellen Wight

Things looked grim as the sun rose on Sherman Park Saturday. After a week of devastating storms, rain continued to sprinkle, and standing water encroached on the course at several points. But by the end of the morning’s first race, the weather had turned for the better, and an XXX Racing-AthletiCo bucket brigade combined with more brooms than “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” had beaten back the flooding.

Speaking of sandbags, Matt Smith (Big Shark) has been involved in a lively sprinting discussion here at CBR. Smith proved he knows what he’s talking about by sprinting to a win in the 3/4’s race and to a 2nd in the masters 4/5’s, narrowly losing to Tim Keeley (ABD).

The 3/4’s race surprised me when no break got off. The pack was wary of letting any of the host team get too far away, and thanks to a stream of primes

— including suicide-prime Cubs tickets won by Jon Tenney (Team Get a Grip Cycles) —

the pace stayed hot the entire race.

Other than these two races, every race featured breaks and solo attacks.

The 5’s race didn’t take long to splinter. About 10 riders formed a lead group, and it was Peter Strittmatter (XXX Racing-AthletiCo), using the race as a warm-up for the next day’s Chicago Triathlon, who won a handful of primes on his way to winning the race, his second in as many weekends.

Tamara Fraser (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) rode away from the women’s 4’s/masters race, spending the last several laps all by herself, gaining time on every pass, thanks in part to sound blocking from teammate Jeanette Schrand. One can’t help but cluck, however, at Fraser’s lack of a satisfying post-up. Not even a fist pump from the masters state road champion.

Perhaps she can get a post-up clinic from Emily Hutchins (Team Get a Grip Cycles). I’ve lost track of how many races Hutchins has won in this, her first season of racing. She won again Saturday by taking a three-up sprint in the women’s P/1/2/3’s, the inaugural Beth Kobeszka Memorial Race, a race that frustrated at least one observer for its excessive collegiality in the face of primes. C’mon, ladies: Vitamin Water, MOJO bars and Cubs tickets! Show us your sprint!

Thanks to Olin Kruetz-like blocking from Project 5 and XXX Racing-AthletiCo, two small groups slipped away from the modest masters 1/2/3 field, much to the dismay of the teams not represented. (Sorry, gentlemen.) It was Tim Henry (Project 5) winning a four-up sprint to take the win. Randy Warren (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) broke his chain in the first chase group, but limped across the line for 7th overall and 1st 40+.

Juniors fields were small as well, and it was John Tomlinson (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) lapping his 15-18 opponents and Konrad Witt (ABD) riding away from the 10-14 juniors.

Finally a five-person break got away less than halfway through from the day’s last race, the 70-minute P/1/2/3:  Julian Baumgartner (Team Clif Bar Midwest), Brian Rheude (MetCycling), and Andrew Rizzo and Brad Menna (Higher Gear) and Brian Zink (Proctor). With two to go the break lapped the field, and its members scrambled to organize with their teammates in time for the sprint. Team Clif Bar Midwest had it lined up for Baumgartner with one to go, and fellow breakaway artist Scott Pearson (Higher Gear) towed Rizzo and Menna forward, but it was Rheude, a 4 earlier this year, who crossed the line first in a photo finish.

Full results.

Race reports
Julian Baumgartner (Team Clif Bar Midwest; 3, P/1/2/3): Hot video action!

Jay Corgiat (ABD; 40+ 4/5): “I continued my unabated winning streak in the Men’s 40-44, Unincorporated Wheaton, Full Time Job, Three Kids, Hairy Legs and a Beat Up Ridley Division, the only category that truly counts.”

Tamara Fraser (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; W-4/35+): “Jeanette signaled again and I jumped. Hard. I just pounded it ... and I got away!”

Jeff Kao (XXX Racing-AthletiCo): “Sherman Park was completely terrific. I’d have to break another tibia to miss this race again.”

Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5, 3/4): “My breath was coming in hoarse rasps as I futilely tried to stay in the draft. The fight just left me. I wasn’t going to place and I knew I was done. But I was happy.”

Matt Smith (Big Shark; 30+ 4/5, 3/4): “I was on the left. Everyone was waiting…waiting. I did not want to wait. I shot up on the left side of the road and hugged the edge of the pavement.”

Ben Vancouvering (Team Pegasus; 5): “I like road racing more now that I’ve actually finished a road race.”

Photos:
Jeff Kao
XXX Racing-AthletiCo

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