WISCONSIN: Milwaukee/Kewaskum - Saturday's 'Cross The Domes finally kicks off the local Wisconsin cyclocross season. Don't let the city park venue lure you into a false sense of bravado. This course is a tough one with a double sand pit traverse and a wicked climb. Sunday's River Hill Park 'cross up in Kewaskum is a totally new race about an hour north of Milwaukee and should be exciting.
ILLINOIS: DeKalb - Hopkins Park - Race #2 of the Chicago Cross Cup. Check the links for further info but I challenge you to find directions. Gotta play with the Google Map I guess. Always a good time however!
MICHIGAN: Old Town Negaunee - Iron Cross - Way up north (guess they aren't skiing yet) is the second race in the UPCROSS series.
Q: "Where the hell is this?"
A: Old Town is
the recently re-opened caving ground on the West side of Negaunee. In
the 1960's several homes began to sink into the ground from too much
mining. Everyone was forced to relocate. Today, the area is a modern day
ghost town complete with foundations, staircases to nowhere and lots of
unused blacktop. The Heritage Trail also runs through Old Town although
we won't be using any of that for the event. Formerly CCI property, it
is now owned by the City of Negaunee who has given us permission to use
the property for the event. Read more...
Brian Matter & Amanda Carey celebrate their 2010 victories
MICHIGAN: Traverse City - Iceman Cometh Challenge - With the weather about to change for the worse this afternoon, it's probably a good time to take a quick look at this race. The description on their site reads: "The Iceman Cometh Challenge is a 27 mile
point-to-point mountain bike race from Kalkaska to Traverse City,
Michigan. Held traditionally on the first Saturday of November (except
for years when the first Saturday of November is the 1st), the 22nd
annual Iceman will be held on Saturday, November 5, 2011. Over $54,000
in cash prizes and $10,000 in merchandise prizes will be awarded."
With victories in the 2011 Ore-2-Shore and the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40, last year's Iceman champion Brian Matter is the favorite to win and duplicate the 'Triple Crown' of MTB racing that he won last year. Brain Matter has been racing this race since 1993 and has won it three times: 2004, 2007, and 2010. Last year Cyclingnews wrote: Tristan and I asked each other, 'how are we going to win this
thing?'. We're Midwest guys, and we couldn't let these guys come and
take our big prize money." US$10,000 was on the line for both the
men's and women's races, with $3,500 going to the winner of each race. Matter and Schouten did manage to snag the top prize money. After a
series of counterattacks by the top racers in the lead group, Matter
launched his own effort. The others, marking each other, let him get a
gap and it was just enough. "I knew Tristan wouldn't chase me down," said Matter. The others
waited a little too long and Matter's move, with four miles remaining,
stuck until the end. "For the first three minutes (of my attack), I was seeing stars,"
said Matter. " After that, I took a few deep breaths and I followed the
lead moto and pedalled as hard as I could."
In only 6 weeks, we will find out who is the 2011 Iceman.
WISCONSIN: Milwaukee - Cross the Domes- Organizers report that the Specialized Demo Truck will be on hand all day Saturday as well as the Clark Square Neighborhood Initiative.
WISCONSIN: Madison - USGP Planet Bike Cup - Cyclingdirt.Com now has the full Elite Men's race feed video posted so you can watch it now in case you missed it live. This is great footage, check it out! Also, Greg Ferguson posted this nice piece of the Women's race.
Speaking of Bart Wellens, did you know that he had his own reality TV show? No, it's not in English, but it is pretty interesting.He starred in the reality television series 'Wellens en Wee' on Flemish TV-channel VT4. In this series, Wellens together with his parents, Lucien and Wiske, and his other teammates are shown in their daily lives and preparations for the weekend races.
Read more...
DENMARK: Copenhagen - World Professional Road Race Champs - Wisconsin's Mathew Busche (Radio Shack) reflects on his first time at Worlds where he feels he didn't contribute much and looks forward to the rest of the season."I'm traveling home from Copenhagen, and I have to be honest by saying I
am less than satisfied. I don't know what my expectations might have
been going into the race, but leaving here knowing I did nothing for my
team is a horrible feeling."
WISCONSIN: Madison - Planet Bike Cup - Sheboygan's Tristan Schouten (CyclocrossRacing.Com) writes about his Planet Bike Cup race and his travels for his team out west to Star Crossed. "I knew 500ft into the race on day 1 that I didn't have it and
despite giving it everything I couldn't go harder than 70% it felt like.
I lost ground the whole race, couldn't ride with anyone and felt off
balance in every corner. It was ugly and very frustrating as I was
hoping to ride a bit better on the home course. Sunday came and so did
the wind, rain, thunder, lighting, and hail. By the time we raced at 4pm the course was well beyond destroyed with a 2-3" layer of mud and slippery slimmy corners."
Also from Sheboygan (sort of an east/west Sheboygan County thing), Brian Matter (Gear Grinder) writes in his blog "Jumping Head First into The Mud" about his Planet Bike Cup experience and gives us a blow by blow recap of the race: "It was a super hard mental transition going from Chequamegon to lining
up behind Bart Wellens 6 days later. I had really only been on my cross
bike 2 times off-road, I didn't get to do any local races beforehand,
and I didn't really know how I was going to perform."
photo @ D Marchewka photography
Kaitie Antonneau warms up.
Todd Prekaski’s Photo
INDIANA: Indianapolis - Bloomington Velonews gives us a great wrapup of the double header of 'cross racing in that part of the Midwest, the Indy CX weekend. "The OVCX series rolled on this weekend with two races in Indianapolis.
Saturday's race at Brookside Park featured a slightly slick "power
course" with multiple road sections and three dismount points per lap:
the famous old stone stairs, a fallen tree, and of course, the regular
barrier section. The light rain that spit on and off throughout the day
on Saturday started up in earnest in the evening and fell steadily
through the day on Sunday. This turned what would have been a pretty
flat and straightforward course at Fort Harrison State Park into an epic
mudfest for the afternoon races." It's a great read, check it out. Read more...
MASSACHUSETTS: Boston - TD Mayor's Cup - As reported yesterday, Team Tibco's Samantha Schneider of West Allis, WI got second place in the final race of the USA CRITS series in Boston on Sunday. This was her first podium in the series, sealed her first place in the Maxxis Tires Best Young Rider competition, and earned her 5th in the overall. Michigan's Theresa Cliff-Ryan won all three of the races in which she appeared (Athens, Charlotte, and Binghamton), and finished 4th overall. Carrie Cash Wooten (Mellow Mushroom), of St. Louis,Missouri finished 11th overall
1. Jen McRae (787 Racing)
2. Sam Schneider (Team TIBCO)
3. Coryn Rivera (PB&Co)
Samantha's younger sister, Skylar Schneider (Tibco), who is the current 13-14 year old Junior National Champion, who recently won the Gateway Cup Criterium in St. Louis for her age group, also raced in Boston in the juniors competition, and placed 39th.
Note that the 3rd race in the series was right here in Grafton, WI. You can read a full recap of the Giro d'Grafton, part of the Tour of America's Dairyland on the USA Crits webpage.
WISCONSIN: Fountain City - WisSport World Championships. In the WisSport Worlds (bicycle racing for the normally obsessed) Cam Wilcox (Big Ring Flyers, on the right above) just eked out a win over a hard-charging Mike Bobusch to claim the World’s win and jersey. On the womens side, Julie Phelps (Big Ring Flyers) took the win and worlds jersey, capping off a day that saw her win the women’s TT title as well (uncontested).
INDIANA: Larwrence - St. Mary's 'Cross - PHOTOS are available from this race taken by our friend Kevin Lillard.
IOWA: Des Moines - Capital City 'Cross - Two days of racing action in Iowa. Photos on their Flickr page, results promised soon. Brief write up on BikeIowa.Com
MASSACHUSETTS: Boston - TD Mayor's Cup - FLASH! Wisconsin's very own Samantha Schneider (TIBCO), fresh off of a European racing stint, get's second place in the final of the USA Crits series on Sunday. Photo from Velonews. More on this tomorrow. (Gotta teach these photogs how to crop!)
WISCONSIN: Madison - Planet Bike Cup - Belgian winner Bart Wellens brought his wet, muddy weather along from home, but saved it for the final show on Sunday, smearing the local park with a thick coating of slimey, gooey "Here's mud in 'yer eye, Yanks!" There's no shortage of great photos, so let's just get right to the videos. (Photo by Travis Miller.)
WISCONSIN: Madison - Word from the race site is that the course is tacky but drying. So, while it may be raining quite a bit where you are (as it is here in Milwaukee, complete with thunder), it appears to be a great day at the USGP Planet Bike Cup. In fact, check out this FB video uploaded just a few minutes ago. The sun is shining! Don't forget to check out the live streaming video this afternoon courtesy of CyclingDirt.Com.
MISSOURI: St. Louis - 2011 Gateway 'Cross - More photos are appearing from this inaugural event. Check out this great set from Rob Ballou of University City, MO. and some more from Jeff Yielding. As always, be sure to read Steve Tillford's blogging about his time at the race. His net winnings after paying the entry fee ... $0.02.
RIDER UPDATES: Just a few updates on some riders from the midwest, and riders who have made their mark here. Alexey Vermeulen (Pinckney, Mich./Prochain) rode the Junior World Championship RR in Denmark earlier today, finished 56th out of 170 starters, solidly in the main bunch. Just posted a few minutes ago, Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Cedar Springs, Mich./Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) finished 18th out of 146 starters in today's Women's World Championship RR. Mathew Busche (Wauwatosa, WI / Radio Shack) will be racing tomorrow in the Men's race. One of the regular European riders that compete in Superweek, is Austrian racer, Andreas Muller, who specializes in 6 day races across Europe. He was just given a sportsman award in his home country., the "Träger des Goldenen Verdienstzeichen der Republik Österreich" (Read about it in his blog). Lastly, 2011 overall Superweek champion, Chun Kai-Feng, is racing with his Team Action Cycling in the Tour of East Java.
Read more...
Heads up for all those who aren't at the venue this weekend, Cycling Dirt will be streaming video both Saturday and Sunday from the USGP Planet Bike Cup in Madison, WI
LIVE Schedule (CST)
Saturday
2:30PM Women's Preview
2:45PM Elite Women's Race
3:45PM Men's Preview
4:00PM Elite Men Race
Short on time today, so this will be brief. It's official. First day of fall. It's 'Cross season!
Peloton-Pix.Com
ILLINOIS: Fox River Grove - Hot off the press! The inaugural Norge Ski Jump Cyclocross to be held at the Norge Ski Club ski jumps on Saturday, November 19, 2011. Bravo to Team PSIMET for coming up with this most unique location! The mind races as one thinks of the course possibilities!
Today, we'll do a final wrap up of this past weekend's action, then tomorrow a report on tonight's Gateway Cross Cup in St. Louis and a preview of the UCI USGP scheduled for Wisconsin this coming Saturday and Sunday. As you will see, there is a LOT of cyclocross racing here in the Midwest.
Mike Sherer (Pony Shop)
ILLINOIS: Chicago - Jackson Park - Do they love 'cross in Chicago? Ask one of the 680 riders that participated in the kickoff race to their Chicago Cross Cup season. There on the left, that's Mike Sherer (Pony Shop), winner of the Pro 1/2 race at Jackson Park on Sunday, treating himself to some fine Michigan fishing on Monday. Next up, this coming Sunday, is Hopkins Park in DeKalb and immediately following the sanctioned racing, is the Official Unofficial Illinois State Single Speed Cyclocross Championship (OUISSSCC).
A nice POV video of the 4As. Great start, lots of crashes, PSIMET gets passed.
Watch the whole thing and see the mud consume the camera.
But wait there's more! Don't forget there is still some road racing to do in Illinois with the Fall Fling Stage Race (points based omnium) put on by ABR. $6,500 in prizes!
Saturday, Oct. 1: DuPage Tech Park Circuit Race - West Chicago, IL Featuring Kids' Races for Riders 12 & Under @ 1:00 PM! 9.19.11 - RIDERS: Please note updated start times for this Circuit Race!
MICHIGAN: Houghton - Sherman 'Cross - UPCROSS.Net has a nice summary of the Yooper action plus links to all the photos taken. Looks like a great start to their season. You sure can't beat the lighting system they got to use for their night time event.. Next up in the series is this coming Sunday, Sept. 25th at the Al Quaal Trails in Ishpeming. $10/race, no charge for kids. MICHIGAN: Waterford - Waterford + Tommy Tsunami Cyclocross - The spirit is alive and well in eastern Michigan as they just wrapped up a Sat/Sun double header. jbhancock in his blog Back To Racing, gives us the story: "Double this weekend at Waterford and MMCC for the new Tommy Tsunami
race. Waterford was tough as always. It was the tale of two races -
the first 30 minutes were ok but the last 30 minutes were rough. Too
bad the 1/2 race isn't 30 minutes long. Scaling the flying rhinover
gets old quickly. A new staircase could make all the difference there.Sunday was the Tommy Tsunami race at MMCC,
which was held in conjunction with their fall festival. The atmosphere
was pretty neat - there was a car show and a few bands playing
throughout the day. The course was mostly what we had planned out with a
few changes, including a brief singletrack / rooted section that shook
things up a bit. Jeff Adamcik, Mike Seaman, and I pushed the first lap
pretty hard. Going into lap two Mike and I were feeling the effects of
Saturday's race and Jeff got a gap. Soon I was chasing alone and it
would remain that way for the rest of the 9 or 10 laps. I slotted in
2nd and was pretty happy with that considering the difficulties from
Saturday." Next up for them is the Red Zone race at Saginaw Valley State University on October 9.
PHOTO: Jack Kunner
MICHIGAN: Grand Rapids - Plaster Creek + Highland Park - In western Michigan, the eight race Krisscross Series just finished their second weekend of racing at Highland Park. PHOTOS Also, just recently added is a three race series in Southwest Michigan/South Bend, IN area called RUNUP Cyclocross beginning October 9th.
INDIANA: Indianapolis - The Indiana CX Cup begins this weekend with the Brookside and St. Mary's 'Cross races.
IOWA: Des Moines - This past Saturday was Iowa's season opener at Cory's Irish Cross in Bondurant. PHOTOS with more posted on their Facebook page. Next up is the two day Capital City Cross in Des Moines this coming weekend. Check the Bike Iowa / Cross website for more info.
Short post today, we'll catch up on the news tomorrow.
I think most of us have seen the video from the Starcrossed race where Joey goes flying head over tea kettle trying to cross the barriers at speed. That original video was posted by Bikehugger.Com. If you read their story about the video, they allude to a second view that is buried in the middle of a longer video. Why not see both at the same time?
I give you:
WISCONSIN: Hayward - Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. Well, you can't get anymore 'first person' than from the man who won, himself! Brian Matter writes in his BLOG: "I did it again! Smart racing and the best fitness of my life just won
me my 4th trip to the top of the CHEQ FAT TIRE 40 podium and 3rd in a
row! I wasn't sure how things would shake out with very elite
competition in the field, but in the end they actually made it a little
easier than normal." He breaks down his win to fitness, equipment, skills, and smarts. It's a very good read with some great photos.
"... The next right hander is tough....I set up, look for
my line and see CVV w/ a flat tire. One more spot for
me....Immediately to the back to wait for Telemark road. 2 miles of
downhill dirt road and a lead group of 3 rotating through. J-Mac starts
rubbing the cramps in his legs and Olheiser does the same! WOW I CAN
WIN!"
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin Cervelo) leads
It sounds like Steve Tilford still has the bit in his teeth and is looking to win it again. He writes: " Brian Matter is a force to be reckoned with here. Maybe I don’t have
it in me to beat him now, but I’d like to get to the end of the race and
see if that is the case." No doubt that he still has a chance.
MISSOURI: St. Louis - Hermann 'Cross ALL THE RESULTSPHOTOS Congratulatons to Kelly Benjamin for sweeping the weekend in the Women's 1/2/3 category.
ILLINOIS: Chicago - Jackson Park Cyclocross - RESULTSPHOTOS Mike Sherer came out of the gate hot and won his first 'cross race of the season. The Pro 1/2/3 was one of the smaller fields racing yesterday, with -only- 39 riders. Cat 3 - 95 finishers, 4A - 94 finishers, 4B - 85 finishers. Impressive!
Men - 1/2/3
Place Rider Team Hometown
1 Mike Sherer Glencoe, IL
2 Isaac Neff KCV Cycling Club Madison, WI
3 Kevin McConnell Mercy-Specialized Iowa City, IA
4 Scott McLaughlin Chicago, IL
5 Kevin Klug The Pony Shop Chicago, IL
6 Brian Conant The Pony Shop Dekalb, IL
7 Michael Hemme Chicago, IL
MICHIGAN: Houghton - Sherman 'Cross - PHOTOS Cyclocross comes to Houghton! Racing under the lights at the football stadium for the first time, it looks like those Yoopers had a great event.
Lastly for now, the hottest viral video on the net. JOEYYYYY!!!
WISCONSIN: Hayward -Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival - The was lots of pre-race hype over Christian Vande Velde riding the race this year and that hype turned to out to be warranted as the pair of Vande Velde (Garmin) and Jason McCartney (Radio Shack) lit the fuse early and let the fireworks fly the whole race. SkinnySki.Com has the call:
"“They set the tempo and blew everybody off the back,” said second place Michael Olhesier (Juwi Solar). "
As the story goes, the pair drove the race from the gun, thinning the contenders down to just a handful by the Fire tower hill. With less than seven miles remaining, the pair of Pro's had a gap, but Vande Velde flatted, and McCartney, who was suffering from cramps, got caught. Matter came up first in the sprint over Olheiser while McCartney crossed a few seconds later.
Also, check out Steve Tilford's first person account of the action along with some excellent photos.
" I guess Jason just kept drilling it. Christian started pulling too
eventually. Christian said that he was pulling on one of the gravel
roads, Boedecker at 51kph and 550 watts. Shit."
This win is the second in the Triple Crown of midwest MTB racing which Matter won in 2010. Next up is the "Iceman Cometh" which is a 27 mile
point-to-point mountain bike race from Kalkaska to Traverse City,
Michigan. Held traditionally on the first Saturday of November (except
for years when the first Saturday of November is the 1st), the 22nd
annual Iceman will be held on Saturday, November 5, 2011. Over $54,000
in cash prizes and $10,000 in merchandise prizes will be awarded.
SkinnySki.Com has a ton of general photos, no photo of Matter's win yet. Will keep looking.
MISSOURI: St. Louis - Hermann 'Cross Day 1 - Here are the RESULTS from day 1. It appears that the turn out was good and there's still a full day of racing yet to come.
WISCONSIN: Hayward - Well, most certainly the biggest race here in the Midwest this weekend is the Chequamegon 40 mile MTB in Hayward, WI where currently it's 34 degrees with a high foretasted of 63. The race begins at 10am and the leaders should be done by 12:20pm. Check HERE for the results. Until then, ride along with Steve Tilford in last year's race:
MISSOURI: The only official 'cross racing going on today is in St. Louis. Day 1 of the two day Hermann 'Cross. Racing begins late today (Saturday) with the Pro 1/2 beginning under the lights at 9pm. (Images from D. Singer)
INDIANA: Indianapolis - The second day of the US Collegiate Track Nationals was yesterday with Indy's Marian University pretty much dominating the competition. Full results and race reports are over on USA Cycling's page. Props to Danny Robertson ( Rolling Meadows, IL) 3rd in the flying 500m, Jessica Prinner (South Elgin, IL) and Kaitlin Antonneau (Racine, WI) 5th and 6th in the points race, Colton Barrett (N Saint Paul, MN) second in the sprint, Kaitlin Antonneau and Allie Dragoo (Grand Rapids, MI) part of the gold medal winning team in the team pursuit, and in the Mixed Team Sprint:
INDIANA: Indianapolis - USA Collegiate Track Nationals. Results are being posted HERE. Some photos can be found HERE on Kevin Lillard's page. Coryn Rivera smoked the competition in the 3KM pursuit but Kaitlin Antonneau posted a solid time for silver as did Weston Luzader in the Men's 4k. As listed on the daily schedule , today will be the finals in the women's team pursuit, co-ed team sprint, men's sprint, and women's 20k points race.
WISCONSIN: Hayward - Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival - I guess, if you're not racing 'cross then you must be riding the 40 mile point to point race up in northern Wisconsin.Peloton Star is picking Cole House for the win, but he may a bit of an underdog. We shall see!
WISCONSIN: Hartford - A blast from the past courtesy of Joe Mercado. Paul King wins the Wisconsin State Road Race, A
young George Hincapie (USA) racing the Junior National Championships at
Holy Hill in 1989 (guess everybody was on clipless by then, except Sean Kelly of course.), and the Superweek mafia of old - the 'Colorful Italian' Roberto Gaggioli, the 'Bad Italian' Eddy Van Guyse, and Otto Wentz. Lastly, the finish at the lake front in Milwaukee (1989).
Some vintage 'cross to wrap things up for today. SKOL!
