http://bicycleheavengeneva.com/double-trouble/

Thanks to everybody involved for a fantastic day of racing.

stoked that you’re doing this! it should make for some interesting start strategy and tactics right off the whistle.

http://bicycleheavengeneva.com/the-beauty-is-in-the-beatings/

Thanks to xXx for a fantastic day of racing!

Always have a “Plan B.”
Ll
http://bicycleheavengeneva.com/always-have-a-plan-b-burnham-racing-spring-super-crit-report/

Thanks to all for putting this on. Another excellent race!

-Justin

http://www.chicagocuttincrew.com/2013/03/25/hillsbrah/

Glad to see USAC has implemented an ‘A’ for effort policy.  Hopefully this will clear up that doping thing.

Bushwhacker is hosting a cyclocross race this Sunday at Expo Gardens.  We’d be happy to see all of you out there either to race or to heckle/cheer on the racers.  Races start at 10am.  For more information check out http://www.bushwhacker.com/cx.shtml  or https://www.facebook.com/events/189678894509914

Our team has been the beneficiary of many other teams’ hard work as we have raced in the Midwest over the past few years.  We know how much work and expense goes into putting on a race.  And we see the generosity of people with their time and money to support our sport.  So we are excited to give back to Chicago-area cycling and to our community by being part of this exciting Series.

Yes, we are excited about 2013, and hope many of you take a Friday off in July to come race around Elmhurst College.  Glad CBR is back. . . .
Tim Radcliff

Is it March yet?

I really don’t think Strava will impact it all that much.  Aside from Erik and Druber constantly fighting over Sheridan road, I don’t hear too much chatter other than half-hearted enthusiasm.  I think that might be different in other locales, but Chicago doesn’t allow for much in the way of a predictable ride :)

Plus, a lot of actual RRs seem to be gone now. So hard to organize and manage. Understandable.

I’m quite glad this site is back and am very much looking forward to the 2013 season.

I think that the whole YOU’VE NEVER PUT ON A RACE thing needs to stop.  It seems to be the default response when anyone complains about a race, and most of us have in fact either put on one or been a large part of putting them on.  Our community is too small not to have.  Us “Old dudes arguing” argue because we’re passionate about it, and none of us are making a living doing this.  Even if you haven’t put on a race, that doesn’t exclude you from having an opinion about them.

You want something changed, you get involved and change it.  USAC and ICA are not the state and federal governments, they’re other people like you and I who enjoy this stuff enough to want to keep it going. 

I don’t think anything I said warrants an “Are you kidding me”, Pat.  I gave an opinion and suggested not complaining about things but trying to change them.

Bill

7J. State Championships
a) USA Cycling encourages State Championships to follow the same formats for disciplines and age groups as are used for National Championships.
(b) Local Associations may offer State Championships for specific categories or events that would not be offered at a National Championship.
(c) Local Associations may offer different combinations of classes and categories than would be found at a National Championship. However, women are not eligible for medals in men’s events.

Also, isn’t ToAD their June series?  Are they even planning to run the same categories for this series?  Maybe they’re just awesome organizers that actually cater to the area they’re hosting races in and use categories that make the most sense in that area. 

(John, I believe there’s a UCI rule that does not allow UCI men to race against cat 2…for men…in cx?  Maybe I just made that up)

Can’t wait to get those wheels!

Meaning ToAD will have to change - leaving one race in their series different than all the others, we’ll have a state championship with different categories than the rest of the cup now that ToAD is running our state championship, or we will have a longer day as some of the schedule will be ToAD/Prairie series and others will be “State Championship” categories/races.

BTW - get those tires to me - your wheels are done.

You make a legitimate point about whether the state championship should have the same category races as most of the other regional races.  This would make sense if you could come up with one categorization/scheme that is the best for all of the riders in every category and gender.  But the plain fact is that this is not possible.  There is not enough time in the day to run that many races.  You have to make compromises.  Those compromises will benefit some riders but not others.  For example, the Illinois Cup is going with a 35/45 123 masters format for men this year.  This arrangement is to my personal liking but guys who were hoping to race 30+ masters would not agree.  Similar compromises are made in most of the other categories, perhaps with the exception of the Cat 3 men who almost always get their own race.  The Illinois Cup is a series, and in a series it’s important to have the same categories.  The state championship isn’t part of the series so there’s no obvious reason for them to have exactly the same categories as the Illinois Cup.  Maybe the race will also be part of the NCC.  There are lots of benefits to those races:  crowds that are far bigger than usual, bigger payouts (sometimes), and you get to watch or maybe even race with the pro’s.  But the different caliber of racers introduces complications to the categories that are typically used in the local races.  While it makes sense to run a 1/2 race locally it might not be a great idea to have cat 2’s trying to race with a bunch of seasoned pro’s.  So what do you do with the 2’s?  Maybe you run them as their own race or (if there isn’t enough time or demand) they will need to run with the 3’s (this is probably why the CCC had a 2/3 race at the New Years Resolution instead of running the 2’s with the P/1’s as usual).  The main point, again, is that arranging the races is a complicated matter and no one scheme is going to make everyone happy.  That is why the ICA wisely encourages races that are not in the Illinois Cup to mix things up by running different categories.

John Whipple

Hugs/kisses,
Liam

Just like the good old days.