As I first reported last month, Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) paid a special visit to Naperville in early May to spend time with Marc O’Shea’s freshman literacy class, which has spent the year studying the life and legacy of Bahati’s hero, Major Taylor.

Bahati grew up in Compton, Calif., but he has notable Midwest roots. He attended the University of Indiana, guiding his Team Major Taylor to a 2nd place at the 2003 Little 500. And the biggest wins of his career have come at Downers Grove, where he won the juniors and elite national championships in 2000.

This season Bahati has been plagued by a hip injury. He scored big with a victory at the Athens Twilight Criterium on April 26, but a week later his injury hobbled him on the uphill time trial to open the Joe Martin Stage Race, forcing him to miss the time cut. He’s indicated on his blog that surgery is being considered, but he hopes to be on form for August’s national championship, and this weekend he finished 19th at the CSC Invitational, a race he won in 2007.

In conjunction with its studies, the class designed and sold wrist-bands to raise funds for World Bicycle Relief. Their efforts will finance two bikes in developing countries. About 20 wristbands remain for a $5 donation. Contact O’Shea to see about purchasing one.

Without further adieu, here is a condensed transcript of the interview the students conducted. I’ll make the full interview available soon, including discussion of his training regimen and more reflections on Taylor.

Why did you start racing, and what kept you going? (Ankit K.)
I was sitting in the classroom like you guys but I wasn’t quiet like you guys. I was being the class clown, messing around, sitting in the back, doing the wrong things. It was the story of the boy who cried wolf. I had to go to the restroom that day and my teacher, Mr. Garmen, didn’t believe me. And I’m sitting back there and I’m hurting and I really gotta go and he kept saying, “No, Mr. Bahati, no.” So I took an eraser, and I threw it at him.

Honestly, I really didn’t mean to hit him. He had his back towards the class and it was like in slow motion: The eraser came and it came and it came and he turned around. Splat, right in the face. You could see all these white lines on his face. The class went crazy.

He took me to the principal’s office and told my parents that I had too much energy and it needed to go toward something. So he got me involved in this after-school program he got me involved in bike racing and racing on the velodrome.

What do you think is the most important thing when training for a race? (Nichole C.)
To be well rested.  I think that is more `[Michael Ball and I] both have the same goal and passion, which is winning bike races and getting more people involved in the sport.’ important than going out and overdoing it.  Some of my teammates and people I train with at home train 30 hours a week on a bike.  I do half of that. Not because I’m lazy or I don’t feel like doing it.  It’s just this time of the season there is no need to go out and bury yourself when you’re out racing so much.  I can go train at 80 percent and race at 100 percen, so usually when I go home after a race that’s time to recover.

What are some of the most brutal wipeouts you’ve seen or experienced yourself? (Terry I.)
Well, I’ve seen a lot.  I can tell you one of mine.  I was 16, my Dad drove me all the way form L.A. to Oregon to do a five-day stage race. The first day I crashed coming down a hill at about 50 mph and didn’t know why my shoulder hurt.  I didn’t know why it hurt, so I got up and grabbed my bike and one of my teammates yelled, “Uh, look at your shoulder!” And I look and my collarbone is actually broke and was sticking out of my skin and after that I freaked our and passed out!  That was about it for seven weeks.

What types of injuries have you had and how did you race with them? Adriana C.)
I’m battling with an injury right now. My right femur, it’s overgrown for some strange reason. You have your hip, right? And you have the ball that goes into the hip socket. Well, the socket is too big, and so every time I pedal it’s bone touching bone, and it really hurts. Right now I’m just dealing with it.

How did you get into racing with Rock Racing? (Megan R.)
I got involved with Rock Racing in 2007.  I was at track nationals in California.  A friend called and came over with this guy.  He said, “I’ve a buddy that owns a clothing company and he wants to sponsor you.” I was getting ready for a race and I looked at him and said, “All right, buddy, I’ll call you later.”

I didn’t know it was Rock and Republic. I knew about the company, but he didn’t tell me it was a very popular clothing company. Michael Ball, the owner of the company, just wanted to sponsor me. After having a meeting with him, I explained to him that sponsoring me wouldn’t help me progress as a cyclist. You need to start a team.

And so once he got wind that he could have his own team, he took it to the next level and it’s something that I’m really happy about. At the time he met me I was thinking about not racing anymore and doing something else with my life. At the time I had been racing for 11 years.  I wasn’t getting tired of it, but I have ambitions to do other things.  I’m a musician, I play the drums and I wanted to start a band and I wanted to do some other things.  I’ve a degree in computer animation -- I could do that too.  I wanted to be a cop.  I was thinking about being a homicide detective two years ago.  So, I think me and Michael have something special going on and I hope that he can tone it down a little bit and that Rock Racing can continue and become very powerful.

How does your personal philosophy blend with the philosophy of Rock racing? (Cecilee M.)
Good question!  Rock Racing is really unorthodox.  The guy that owns Rock and Republic clothing company, Michael Ball, he doesn’t play by the rules per se, and cycling is a very traditional sport.  It has been for a long time.  So, in a way Michael and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, but we both have the same goal and passion, which is winning bike races and getting more people involved in the sport.  So that’s where we have a great compromise, but his philosophy and my philosophy on how to do things are totally different. But I’m not the boss.

In the NPR interview you mentioned the Tour de France. Are you reaching close to your goal, and how are you preparing for it? (Kayleigh K. )
I’m creeping to get to the Tour de France. It’s a huge step. It’s something I think I can accomplish. Rock Racing is trying to establish a team that can make it there in the next couple of years. If all goes as planned I’ll be there. In 2-3 years I’ll be racing the Tour.

Why do you think the behavior towards steroids has changed the view of professional sports?  Has it every occurred to you that some of your pro peers have cheated or thought of cheating using illegal products?  (Danny L.)
This is a really tough sport, and some people can’t take the pressure of going out and doing it on their own.  I’ve been lucky enough to not have been pressured by any type of performance-enhancing substances.  I’m around people who do it.  I race with people who do it.  I know people who do it.  And I think it’s going to be a long time before things will change.

I think that it’s going to take a lot of effort from you guys, the youth, to come up and change the way people will think about performance-enhancing drugs.  They are really dangerous.  I hope if anyone in here has an interest in sports, you shouldn’t even consider [performance-enhancing drugs]; you can do it without it.  I’ve won hundreds of races without it.  I know people who’ve races and achieved higher things without it.

I don’t do a lot of studying about it because I just don’t get involved with it at all.  Some people come to me and ask me questions like that and it’s hard for me to answer because I don’t study any kinds of steroids or drugs because I don’t want anything to do with it -- absolutely nothing.  It’s something I’m very proud about that I can race and say that I’m clean.

In what major ways do you think Major Taylor and you are similar? (Nick B.)
Well, besides the obvious!

In 1998, I was getting ready to graduate from high school.  My Dad said “You’re going to college,” and I didn’t want to go because it was going to be my last year as a junior racer and I had goals to go to the world championship, win nationals, and my Dad compromised with me.  He said OK, if that’s what you want to do you’ve got to give it a good effort and achieve your goals.  Well in 1898 and 1899, Major Taylor prepared for and won a world championship, so I thought it was destiny that I was going to win that year.  Needless to say, I did go to the world championships and I didn’t win, but it was a great experience for me.

From that point on, I looked to Major Taylor like an angel, like a guide.  Everything I did I turned back to Major Taylor’s book to see what he would do in certain situations and so I think we have a lot in common.

If you could go back in time to meet Major Taylor, what would you say to him? (Adam P.)
Knowing what I know now, first thing I’d do is just give him a hug.  I would just want to sit down with him and have a coffee with him and just pick his brain.  Because as you’ve read he was a very humble guy. A lot of people call me humble and modest, but he took that to the next level.  I mean, to have a guy spit on you down get back up and win the race and then shake his hand.  That takes a lot of, you know, that’s a lot of man there.  There is a lot of integrity to do that.  I don’t know many people that can get spit on and then congratulate the guy for getting third place.  That would be amazing to back in time to talk to him to get a feel for his personality. You can get if from the book, but to actually talk to him face-to-face, eye-to-eye -- awesome.

One hundred years from now, how do you hope to inspire cyclists? (Andrea N.)
Well, every time, I get on my bike I know somebody’s watching me, either good or bad, and I’m not in it to be the best or I want to have this record or that record . I’m just doing it because I love it and I know I’m inspiring people by what I’m doing and where I came from.

I just know that being African-American in a sport that is dominated by white America, it leaves an impression not only on people that look like me, but on people that look like you, too.  I think that every time I get on the bike I have to watch what I do.  I’m a good guy anyway, but I still have to watch what I do.  I hope that one day this sport can grow to be international, like not just a white sort or a black sport, but a sport with everyone together.
`I just hope to get more people that look like me involved because it’s a beautiful sport.

Right now I’m the only black professional out there, and it’s been that way for a while.  I just hope to get more people that look like me involved because it’s a beautiful sport.  You can stay healthy.  It’s fun.  How many of you ride bikes?  Have you ever been over 30 mph on your bike -- wearing a helmet, right?  Well, that feeling to me going 40 mph down a hill, descending, is a great feeling.  I don’t think you can get it anywhere else. 

Have you retaliated toward any racial comments thrown at you? (Nick B.)
In a very respectful way.  Just yesterday I had an issue.  You know, a lot of times, I think that it is not even that I’m black. It’s just that they don’t know what to think because they haven’t seen me before.  It’s almost like, they think I’m an alien, kinda.

I was racing in Belgium one time and this guy looked at me and looked back and looked back at me again and again.  He couldn’t believe it!  He didn’t know I knew some of the cyclists around us. An Australian guy was his teammate and [the guy] says, “Henk, is this guy really racing?” And I heard him and I just turned around and I laughed.  I mean there’s really nothing I can say.

I get that day in and day out at races because they’re surprised.  Jealousy, maybe.  Number one, nobody likes my team.  Number two, it could be that I’m black.  Number three, I know they could be jealous because I win a lot.  And number four, I’ve had this stamp put on me that I’m a lazy bike racer and I don’t train, so every time I win I always yell out that I’m lazy since they gave it to me anyway.  You tell me I’m lazy and I beat you, so I just throw it back in their face.

What do you think motivates other people to lash out at people who are different? (Barbara B.)
I try not to give anybody any excuse to dislike me.  My Mom always said: “You want to be nice to everyone. You never know if that person you met today could save your life the next day.” So, I always try to be as nice as possible to everyone.

I was racing in Wisconsin last year and I had a guy say, “No one wants your black ass here.” That’s direct. You can’t blame that on racing.  I could have that guy pushing me; I can blame it on bike racing. He was in the heat of the moment. But that guy lashing out at me that way, I can’t accept that.

How much pressure is on you from within yourself and from your sponsors? (Megan R.)
I don’t have any pressure.  The sponsors may have pressure, but like I said to a guy the other day, every race that I enter I feel I can win, so if you’re my director and you tell me I got to win this race, well, I want to win anyway, so there is no pressure. `Every race that I enter I feel I can win, so if you’re my director and you tell me I got to win this race, well, I want to win anyway.

I’ve had Michael Ball call me before Manhattan Beach. I wanted to win that race bad. I had a second and a third there, but never won there, so I wanted to win there really bad. But at 10:30 p.m. he calls me while I’m asleep. I answer it because I saw his name, and he goes, “You gotta win tomorrow!” Well, I was like, “Well, I want to win anyways!” and I hung up the phone.  He thought he was giving me that pressure, but I don’t need pressure.  I don’t deal with pressure.

How did you celebrate your first victory? (Mike R.)
(Holds his hand up in the air.) It’s funny that I did that. That race was so hard for me. And so my first road race I got beat really bad like girls finished in front of me and everything. I think I finished in 8th place. And I was disappointed. I thought I should win because I just thought I should win. I don’t know why I should win. I just thought I should win.

But the very next weekend I did pretty much the same race with the same kids and I won. I raced so hard, I was so excited, I reached my arms up and I almost collapsed because I was hurting in hear so much. (Rubs belly.) But the judges disqualified me because at that age -- you’re like 14 -- they don’t want you to have a cocky attitude. They want you to get into the sport and be good sportsmen. So they disqualified me from first to last but that was like a big moment for me because I realized that I could beat these kids. I was 14 and I beat 18-year-olds. It was a good feeling.

If you never started biking, where would you be today? (Maggie S.)
If I wasn’t biking? Who knows?

Cycling took me away from the negative things going on in my life. I grew up in Compton, California, which is like really run down, gang-infested, drug-infested. There’s really nothing positive coming out of Compton, but it was where my parents lived because they could afford it. We had a huge family, so they did what they could for us but I was following the trap of hanging with the wrong people, doing the wrong things. I’m really happy that cycling took me away from that.

Cycling took me to going to Kenosha, Wis., from Compton. I had never been on an airplane before and that was my first trip. I left L.A. for Kenosha to compete in the national championships, and it really helped me grow up and learn how to do the right things, hang out with the right people, make the right choices.

Maybe I’d be playing baseball. I was a catcher. I was really good. I was being recruited when I was really young for high school.

I really don’t know what I’d be doing. I’m happy doing this.

No powermeter could possibly measure the unseen work that leads to our races. Truly, it takes a village, from clubs raising sponsorship money to promoters navigating a dozen bureaucracies to secure venues, from volunteers sweeping corners at sun-up to officials setting up race cameras and ensuring our courses are as safe as possible.

Helping coordinate those efforts on the USA Cycling side are the state associations, and for us that means the Illinois Cycling Association. A few dollars from each license purchased in the state goes to the ICA. That money pays for dozens of state championship jerseys and provides a small stipend for technical director Dave Fowkes, who, among many other things, is responsible for managing upgrade requests and race permits.

For the past year the ICA has been helmed by Steve Feehery of the South Chicago Wheelmen. The 42-year-old hospital gas monitor -- “gas sniffer” is his e-mail handle -- has raced for more than 20 years, 18 of them with the SCW, for which he is also president. Along the way he’s gotten his two sons active in the sport.

I recently chatted with Feehery to learn more about the year ahead, what the ICA does for us and, just as important, what we can do for it.

What’s your job as president?
Just about everything. There are so many duties it could be daunting: Web site, race schedule, meetings, club/team contacts, ICA cup races, liaison with USAC, just to name a few. But I have solid help from Dave Fowkes, who is the technical director for Illinois. Dave handles upgrades and permits, among other things. Steve Hansen is the vice president and is working on the Web site along with the Chicago Time Trial Series. So it’s not so daunting with help. We are also trying to enlist clubs and teams to get involved.

People might avoid leadership or volunteer positions by playing the “I’m too busy training” excuse. But you’re a racer too. How much does it cut into your racing and training?
Not a lot. It works out pretty good to be at the races, getting face time with promoters and officials, and hopefully club presidents this season.

You race, lead an association, lead your team and are raising a family. Is there room for anything else?
Absolutely. I coach a pee wee hockey travel team, which my daughter plays on. We skate six months of the year, four to five days a week. I volunteer as an assistant coach for the Homewood-Flossmoor JV team and am the strength and conditioning coordinator for the entire high school hockey program. It’s awesome.

What’s it like for the whole family to be involved in the sport together?
My two boys are now stronger than me. It is very exciting to see them have some success. Brandon medaled at junior nationals one year and Shane is a past state champ. It also makes it easier to go to races.

What can Illinois cyclists and promoters do to make your job easier?
If more clubs and teams were represented at our ICA meetings and contributed, that would be ideal.

This winter you and Dave Fowkes attended a conference of regional associations in Colorado Springs, Colo. What did you get out of it?
We met other people from other associations, got a lot of ideas of how things work and met some of the execs from USAC.

Many people have been griping about the lack of Illinois Cup results in 2007. What are you doing to make this better in 2008?
We are working on a registration-to-results program that will make everyone’s job easier: posting results faster and including everyone that crosses the finish line on the results sheet, then posting on the ICA Web site.

Do you see people altering their racing schedules to earn more Cup points?
I hope so! Everything kind of takes a snail’s pace because we have so few people involved.

Will the same number of state championship jerseys be available this year?
Yes. They change color each year: red, white or blue. I think this year’s will be red.

How do you characterize the ICA’s relationship with American Bike Racing?
We coexist. I don’t know anyone from their organization, ie. Bob Lundgren. Mike Hanley has a good rapport with him. We try not to have conflicting races dates, but it happens from time to time.

About Mike Hanley, whom USAC recently fired as our regional coordinator. There’s an online petition asking for his reinstatement, but nobody seems to know any details. What can you tell us?
USAC won’t divulge all the reasons or the reason they let Mike go. I agree with all the outrage. He was an absolute asset. His connections, insight and advice were invaluable to me with the ICA. He will be sorely missed.

I have no idea who his replacement will be. I know that the Northeast region still doesn’t have a regional coordinator for three years running. Whoever replaces Mike, it will take years to build up what he did.

Matteson has for years been a treasure for Chicago-area cyclists. Not only does it provide one of the most fun racing atmospheres around, but it has been vital for giving people the experience needed to race safely. Will Matteson return? Will there be any changes this year in the wake of Pieter Ombregt’s tragic crash? [Note: Since this interview, SCW released the flier for the 2008 season.]
I believe it will return. We’ve had communications with Ace, and they are willing to continue after we address some safety concerns. It is a staple in the Chicago bike racing community. It helps a lot of racers get their start and feel comfortable racing in a pack at speed. I am still saddened at what happened to Pieter. Mike Kelly from SCW has continued contact with Pieter’s family, and they want to see the race continue as well.

Will there be a road race at Proctor this year?
No. The Peoria Bicycle Club will host two crits or a circuit race and a crit. Sunday’s crit will still be the state criterium championship.

Will there be a state championship road race?
Possibly out west near Moline. I’ll use this forum to ask any club that may want to host the state road race to contact me.

There are only two USCF road races in Illinois, whereas our neighbor to the north puts on at least eight. Hillsboro-Roubaix sold out all 225 Cat 3-5 slots within 24 hours, so obviously there’s a high demand for road racing here. Is there something about Illinois that makes it hard for promoters or organizers to put on a road race?
I think there is nothing particular in Illinois preventing us from having more road races. It is obviously harder to put one on. You also need help from local municipalities and that is hard to come by.

What race are you most looking forward to in 2008?
No one in particular. I love racing and going fast.

Ah, the bicycle messenger. Bane to cabbie and security guard. Savior to architect, lawyer and anyone in urgent need of a sandwich. While you’re sitting in your warm cubicle, whining about insufficient foam in your latte, someone out there is risking his neck -- or her neck, natch -- through rain, sleet and inattentive drivers so that your closing documents arrive before deadline.

With 22 years having passed since “Quicksilver,” they don’t do it for the glory, and God knows they don’t do it for the money. They do it because they love being on a bike all day, and they love going fast.

One such cog in the downtown machine is Jeff Perkins, 24, a new member of 4 Star Courier, the messenger collective you may remember from its 2006 cover story in the Reader. He has a strong racing background, having run the 400m and 800m at DePaul, and has become a well-known -- and feared -- figure on the local alleycat scene. He’s 9th after two stages of the Tour da Chicago, and after an overnight drive to Minneapolis this weekend he won the prize for 1st out-of-town finisher in the Stupor Bowl, finishing 8th out of 360 registrants. Perkins spent 2007 with XXX Racing-AthletiCo, but now he’s looking to tackle sanctioned road, track and cyclocross racing with the Chicago Cuttin’ Crew, a team he helped found with fellow messengers.

This week I caught up with Perkins to discuss alleycats, messengering during winter and a certain set of leopard prints. (Note: CBR’s official stance on alleycats is that they are illegal, dangerous and irresponsible. Also, that they are extremely fun and fascinating.)

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Julie Eisenhardt has called Chicago home for only two years, but already she’s had quite an impact on our cycling scene. She’s had a hand in founding two teams, most recently Half Acre Cycling, and she was part of the team that constructed the IRO Sprints apparatus. Twice she has co-chaired the popular Sadie Hawkins Day Alleycat; its 2007 edition raised $2,400 for the Chicago Women’s Health Center. And while the endurance specialist earned several medals for her mountain biking in 2007, her biggest score may have come in December, when she accepted the marriage proposal of fellow bike nut Ben Popper (Killjoy).

This month the communications specialist headed to Colorado Springs, Colo., for USA Cycling’s four-day mechanics clinic. She returned to Chicago eager to share new knowledge with her teammates, and it didn’t take much cajoling to get her to share it with you, too.

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Plenty of Chicago racers had good seasons in 2007, but none dominated a field quite like Devon Haskell (Team Get a Grip Cycles). In just her second year of competition, Haskell cruised to victory in each of the six races of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup, where she raced women’s 1/2/3, including Sunday’s state championship at Montrose Harbor. She also invaded our neighboring states, winning the state championship races in Indiana and Wisconsin.

The 26-year-old had a memorable road season as well. Racing for the University of Chicago, where she is pursuing a PhD in economics, she finished 3rd in the Division II women’s road race national championship and 6th in the criterium. That earned her a spot on the Ryan Collegiate All-Stars, a women’s squad that competed against the nation’s best professional women at June’s Nature Valley Grand Prix.

This weekend Haskell tackles the next level with the national cyclocross championships in Kansas City, where she’ll slog through the cold and mud not just once but twice. Even though she was busy getting ready for that and writing a big paper for school, she spared a few minutes this week to talk about her season and cycling’s many dividends.

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Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson has made no small plans in his attempt to put his home on the map via the sport of cycling. Plans for his Tour of Elk Grove get even bigger in August 2008, its third year: A professional road race will make its debut, a JumboTron will help fans track the action, and the weekend’s $225,000 payout will be theworld’s largest for a three-day cycling event.

Part of what has made the Tour of Elk Grove extraordinary is that is has always included a full slate of amateur racing. What’s more, its amateur purses have been the most generous in the Midwest, making it one of the few weekends where even a Cat 4 racer stands a good chance of a decent payday.

Since August, however, we amateurs have been wondering how the 2008 changes will affect us. To find out I went straight to the top and asked Mayor Johnson about what to expect. Some details remain to be finalized, but as things stand now:

• » Saturday’s road race will start in Schaumburg and end with circuits of the 4.5-mile time trial course, a portion of which makes up that day’s amateur criterium course, meaning racing will either be put on hold for or will be scheduled around the pros’ arrival.

• » A two-criterium series for Cat 1/2 men will feature a $35,000 purse. (That’s almost as much money as is on the line for P/1/2’s over the entire 17 races of Superweek.) The overall will be decided by time, with time bonuses available at both stages.

• » Masters racing will expand. Cat 1/2 masters get a 50-minute race with a $6,000 purse, 3/4 masters get 40 minutes and $3,000, and Cat 5 masters get 20 minutes and awards.

• » Men’s 3’s score big: They’ll get their own 60-minute race, after sharing a 20-minute race with the 4’s in 2007. Cat 4’s will get their own 25-minute race, and 5’s will get a third field to accommodate demand -- this in addition to the Cat 5 masters race.

• » The good race director giveth, and he taketh away. To make room for added men’s races, there will be no juniors races, and the lone women’s race will have an open field. The women’s purse will be $4,000, down from a combined $18,000 in 2007.

• » Portions of each entry fee will benefit the Heart of the Marines Foundation and the Elk Grove Village Fallen Soldiers Memorial Fund, which provides scholarships in the name of Elk Grove residents killed in the line of duty.

This next year brings many exciting changes but also some challenges.

• » Will the country’s best teams return even though the race isn’t on the National Racing Calendar?

• » Can the race shrug off any embarrassment from its 2007 winner, Nathan O’Neill, having tested positive for a banned diet drug?

• » Will spectators finally show up in numbers that do justice to the caliber of the riders?

• » Will Elk Grove and Schaumburg have the logistical wherewithal to pull off a successful road race? (Chicago cycling historians, help me out here: When was the last time there was a road race this close to the city?)

For answers to all this and more, here’s the Chicago Bike Racing interview with Mayor Johnson.

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Scott Van Maldegiam (Spin Doctor Cyclewerks) and I have have been trading race analyses ever since were citizens together at the 2005 Fall Fling. The 39-year-old mortgage broker has been a friendly face at races ever since and a regular contributor to the comments here. This week I checked in to find out more about him and his team.

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In my last interview I told you about Athletes by Design, one of Chicago’s oldest and biggest teams. Now it’s time to learn about one of the area’s newest teams, Team Pegasus, which is wrapping up its first season. (Profiling teams seems to be a good way to get us through the dark period. If you’d like your team to be next, drop me a line.)

Pegasus made only occasional road appearances this year, but it has performed admirably on the dirt. In the Wisconsin Cycling Association Cyclocross Cup, Cale Wenthur leads the Cat 4 men and Katy Steudel is 2nd among Cat 4 women. And although he now rides for Killjoy, Ben Popper earlier rode the pink and black to some fantastic results in both mountain bike and cyclocross. 

To find out more I caught up with Ben Van Couvering, 25, a Chicago software consultant.

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Chicago Bike Racing has had a new sponsor the past few weeks in the form of Athletes By Design, which is promoting its off-season boot camp and its 9th annual indoor time trial series. ABD puts on more events than just about any other club around Chicago, including the Winfield criterium weekend, the Fall Fling and this weekend’s cyclocross race in Bartlett. I’m thrilled to have the support of such a vital contributor to the local scene.

To learn more, I spent some time this week with Mike Ebert, ABD’s outgoing events director. At 28 he’s an accomplished racer himself. Although some bad luck kept him from having the 2007 he had hoped for, he’s already looking forward to 2008 and has promised some big changes for himself and ABD.  In fact, when I chatted with him he was noodling in Photoshop, working on new uniforms for ABD’s elite squad.

Why the new uniforms?

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Last week I rhapsodized about the merits of joining a team, but there can still be a mystique in riding unattached: in taking on the entire peloton by yourself, in being the unknown factor from whom nobody else knows what to expect, in saying, “I write my own bylaws, thank you very much.”

And so it is that I introduce our first sponsor here at Chicago Bike Racing: Unattached Rider.

It’s a venture from a former Chicago bike racer and teammate of mine, Carlos Cabalu, who after spending a year in Philadelphia decided that the unattached rider deserved some better duds. He’s come up with an attractive, witty line of clothes that practically demands you throw that U.S. Postal kit into the rag bin and save the generic black jersey for the training rides.

If the line takes off, Unattached Rider could grow well beyond mere classy clothes and into a movement, and I couldn’t be happier to have helped with the launch.

This week I caught up with Cabalu, a freelance graphic artist, for some insight into what riding unattached means to him.

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Photo by Luke Seemann

As I was leaving today’s races in Downers Grove, I passed Antonio Cruz (Discovery), who won 1999’s edition and placed third here last year while racing for Toyota-United. I hadn’t heard anything about his racing this year until VeloNews’ Friday preview. (This week Cruz announced he had signed with BMC for 2008 and 2009.)

Cruz was cooling down after Saturday’s P/1/2 race. I was turning onto I-88. And here I present CBR’s very first rolling interview, and an exclusive at that.

You racing tomorrow, Tony?
Yeah.

Good luck!

For some strange reason -- the weather? the terrain? the crazy drivers? -- Chicago isn’t home to a huge number of international-caliber riders. One exception of late has been Brooke Miller (Tibco), who split time between her husband here and her PhD studies in California, where she researched the mating habits of banana slugs.

Miller, an elite volleyball player in college, didn’t start cycling until graduate school. Like many of us, she struggled at first. “I would measure how well I did in a race by how close to last I finished,” she writes in her bio. “Usually 2nd or 3rd [from last].”

Six years later, she owns a dominant sprint and has enjoyed a breakout season as a rookie pro. She reeled off four wins to start the season in California, represented the U.S. National Team in a European tour and won Stage 2 at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. She currently sits 20th in the National Racing Calendar rankings.

Unfortunately for Chicago, Brooke’s husband has relocated to Cleveland, so Tour of Elk Grove and Downers Grove may be our last chance to see her for awhile.

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This week I had an exchange with Jon Reimer, director of communications for Breakaway Event Productions, which promotes the 19 different races of the International Cycling Classic, better known as Superweek.

I wanted to know about the new races, and I wanted a promoter’s perspective on safety. Among other things, we get this nugget: Parts of Superweek will be televised! Time Warner subscribers, start clearing your DVRs now.

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When I heard that someone had won the Spring Prairie 4/5 race by riding solo for the entire last lap, I had two questions: How did my 20 teammates in the field let that happen? And what kind of maverick would even try such a stunt?

That maverick turned out to be Rob Ehrman (Vision Quest), 28, a longtime triathlete and fixed-gear aficionado off to a cracking start in his first season of road racing.

His season started earlier than most. This winter he placed 7th overall in the Tour da Chicago, an alley cat series, winning Stage 2 on a fixed bike and beating such Tour giants as Donny Quixote (All9Yards), Andrew Nordyke (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) and John Gatto (Darcy).

Ehrman grew up in Lake Forest but now calls Chicago home. He just wrapped up medical school at Northwestern and is now starting a surgical residency at University of Illinois-Chicago, so we might not see much of him the rest of the year, but there’s a good chance he’ll be going fast if we do.

How long have you been racing?
I just started bike racing this year, largely due to the cycling-heavy nature of Vision Quest. They always encourage the triathletes to race in the cycling races, and even vice-versa. So I thought I’d give it a try, since cycling is my favorite of the three disciplines. Spring Prairie was my first win.

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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.

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