Crash Fest #1 - Special Edition!

All Midwest crashes.
It's inevitable. 
You've been there, too.
Feel their pain!

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Truck Chasing Wednesday

SPAIN: Madrid - Matthew Busche (Radio Shack) shares some thoughts about his first Grand Tour experience.
"It’s been only two days since the Vuelta ended, and I think the funniest feeling is that it seems to have come and gone just like any other race. It hardly feels that it was almost 4 weeks of my life where I did nearly the exact same thing every day and accomplished nothing else. I am pretty sure even that I may have taken a few weeks off of my life because of it! I am wracking my brain really hard to come up with some great insights and reflections on the race in its entirety, but honestly I have nothing astounding to say. The bottom line is that the race was tiring physically and mentally. I would say that the biggest thing for me was just surviving the first grand tour."

OHIO: Milford - Milford Sunflower Classic - Chris Uberti (Panther) picked up his 6th win of his long season. He writes: "I am Champion of the Sunflowers. Yes I in fact am. Last Friday was the Milford Sunflower Classic located in Milford, OH. The course on paper looked really tame, just a standard 6 corner "L" shaped crit with what the flyer described as a "slight" hill. First of all the hill proved way more than slight, second the straight just before the finishing stretch was a 100 meters of roughly 20% descent. It was a little sketchy at first glance, but with only 30 riders in the race it proved to be a really fun race. "

photo by Grand Rapids Press

MICHIGAN: Grand Rapids - Eric Young (Bissel - based out of Grand Rapids) provides some great info from the US PRO Criterium Championships on his blog.  "You know though, back in the fall, I thought that winning 3 collegiate national titles on the track was pretty incredible. and it was, seriously! especially the first one; the first time you put on that stars and stripes jersey, it really is special. but...this one blows them all clean out of the water.  I mean, really? USPro crit national champ? In my first year as a Pro? 4 months after winning Little 5?? That's crazy. "

His brother recorded the on-line broadcast. Here's the last 6 laps + interviews.



Podium ceremony starts ~ 13:00.

TRACK NEWS: Chicago From USA Cycling: "The second weekend of MWCCC Track Regional Championships took place Saturday and Sunday at the newly inaugurated Chicago Velo Campus on the South Side of the Windy City. The weather cooperated, with only a slight drizzle on Saturday but windless sunny conditions the rest of the weekend. The event was co-hosted by the University of Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Technology and featured the individual events championships complementing Marian's mass-start races the previous week. The weekend started with an excellent rider certification class that enabled all the racers to gain confidence on the steep but fun banking that is rumored to push around 2.5Gs at sprinting speeds."

The 2011 Collegiate Track Nationals begin tomorrow at the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis. Details can be found on the Collegiate Cycling News website.

MINNESOTA: St. Paul - Tuesday Night 'Cross #3 - From the Minnesota Cycling Federation:
"A good crowd of spectators gathered along the course at the double barriers during the races, and they were treated to an array of spectacular crashes. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured.
The Men 1/2/3 was a 3 way battle for most of the race between Swanson, Faulkner, and Roeser. Roeser slid out in a corner late in the race, and lost touch, while the other 2 remained locked in battle. Faulkner seemed to lead most of the late laps, but Swanson moved to the front in the final lap, and held CJ off, taking the sprint victory. Roeser hung on for 3rd.
During my warm-up, I was stopped by a lady who lives in the adjacent apartment complex. She said, in a friendly manner, "My neighbors and I have been watching you guys every Tuesday night, and we are wondering what in the world are you doing?" I explained the style of racing, and she went on to say she was glad to see us utlilize the park, and provide entertainment at the same time."

Chasing a Truck
Breaking Away — MOVIECLIPS.com

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Mudhole Tuesday

ILLINOIS: Rantoul Patriot 'Cross RESULTS are posted and they had some where around 70 riders present for their first outing of the event.

INDIANA: Apple 'Cross RESULTS. I didn't realize this was a two day event. Noteworthy was the Pro 1/2 winner both days - Ryan Trebon. 

RIDER UPDATES:

Theresa Cliff-Ryan

Mathew Busche (Radio Shack) is scheduled to ride the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark next week. Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Cedar Springs, Mich./Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) will be on the women's squad,  as junior national champion road champion, Alexey Vermeulen (Pinckney, Mich./Prochain) will be on the junior men's world championship team.

Bjorn Selander (Radio Shack) rode Paris - Brussels 219.1km/136mi on Saturday, September 10th, and finished 4th in the main peloton @ 13:00 . Many of the same team riders will race again on Sunday in France at the Grand Prix de Fourmies.

Cole House (RealCyclist) has wrapped up his successful road season with seven victories, one at Redlands pictured at left. Most recently, Cole has been tearing up the mountain bike trails, scoring a second place in this past weekend's Treadfest (WORS). Next up for him and many of the other roadie/'cross/MTBers is Chequamegon, the second stop in the "Triple Crown" of Midwest MTB racing.

Silent Sports Magazine gives us the head's up on the favorites for the win: "The Chequamegon 40 and Short & Fat courses will again use the same routes as last year.  With the wet summer, some of the traditional mud holes have filled up, but even so Crandall expects another possible record in the long race set at just under two hours and three minutes by Brian Matter in 2009.

Brian Matter will return to defend his 2010 title.  The Sheboygan, Wis. rider also won the Chequamegon 40 in 2004, and he was a member of the US World Championship cyclocross team in 2008.  He will be challenged by two-time champion Doug Swanson and three-time champion Steve Tilford from Topeka, Kan.  Garmin-Cervelo professional rider Christian Vande Velde will also be a factor.  He finished 17th in this year’s Tour de France, the seventh Tour he has finished in his long career. 

And expect a strong ride from Cole House, riding for Realcyclist.com, who was just nipped at the line by Matter in 2009. Tristan Schouten, who trailed Matter by just a few seconds last year in the race, is having a good year, leading WORS (Wisconsin Off-Road Series).

WISCONSIN: Joe Mercado of Hammond, IN has agreed to share with us some of his photos of racing back in the 1980's. I hope you'll enjoy looking at these as much as I do.The first is from a criterium in West Allis. I recognize the buildings, but don't remember this race. "Joe Mercado, (leading w/ purple and pink jersey, lol)  Jeff Boldt, Herb Miengast, Bob Mionske (hidden), and Richard McClung" Can anyone else help identify these riders? Richard McClung (Pizza Hut/Pepsi) takes the win at West Allis, Wi., over an unknown 7-11 rider in 1987.

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Marvelous Monday

There were only two sanctioned events (non-MTB) held here in the midwest over the weekend - Patriot 'Cross, and Apple 'Cross.
ILLINOIS: Rantoul - Patriot 'Cross. Rantoul is over by Champaign/Urbana, so kind of in between everywhere. Promoted by Wild Card Cycling,  I don't think large crowds were expected for this first time event, but judging by the video, it looks like it was a good time.

INDIANA: Starlight - Apple 'Cross - Held down in southern Indiana, in an apple orchard, this race probably attracted mostly KY riders, then riders from Bloomington. Lindsay gives us a nice blow by blow of the women's race in her bog Trainin' On a Prayer:
     "The pace seemed a little slow through the first part of the course, so I passed her right before the apple orchard section (mmm, rotten apple smell). Unfortunately, I found myself being flung through the air at the exit of the orchard. A closer inspection on the next lap revealed a pretty large hole camouflaged by the grass that I'd failed to notice on my pre-ride. The cool thing was that while I scrambled to get back on the bike I realized that I gapped the field enough that I almost had time to remount and keep going without losing my lead, but I panicked at bit and didn't move efficiently enough. I tacked onto the back of the lead group and tried to regain my senses, but things got pretty crazy shortly thereafter ..."

No video from this year's event yet, but here's one from 2010.



As long as we're down in that part of the state, here's a POV video from last year's Bloomingcross, held in October 2010.

TRACK NEWS: This photo of Andrew Crater showed up on FB yesterday as he was racing on the Trexlertown, PA velodrome. Recall that Crater won the red, Points Jersey at this year's Superweek after starting the series late and chasing down the Asian Invasion of the strong Taiwanese team. Right behind him is Jackie Simes who had some successful racing of his own during this year's Superweek.

Riding continues at the Chicago Velocampus' 166 meter wooden track where they just completed the Collegiate Regional Championships. We'll try to get some news from that if possible.

This week's schedule:
9a-12p Open Training
1p - 3p Track 101 (beginner class)
3p - 5p Certification Class
5p - 8p Open Training

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Performance Sunday

HOLLAND: Maastrict - 2011 Holland Ladies Tour - they are probably still racing the 6th and final stage at the time this is written, the scheduled finish is ~ 1600 their time, so we wish our very own Samantha Schneider (Tibco) GOOD LUCK in this UCI 2.1 stage race held in southern Holland. Here's a couple videos I came across this morning to give us a feel for what it's like there.



Here's the podium ceremony from Stage 3. Champers, live tuba band. I might be biased, but I like the ToAD and Superweek ceremonies better!

SPAIN: Madrid - 2011 Vuelta a Espana - Most certainly the Pro's are still racing at this hour, but the camera lens of Graham Watson did catch our Mathew Busche (Radio Shack) at the front in yesterday's Stage 20.You can see the whole series over on Cycling Weekly.







Here's this week's crossword puzzle. All the answers can be found in the news from
this past week. (click to enlarge, then print!)

Answer Key:

I know, I know. But when was the last time you saw it? *grin!*

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Giro Della Saturday

Missouri: St. Louis - Giro Della Montagna. HEY! We finally got some good photos from the Gateway Cup. Too bad this isn't a shot of Brad Huff, but one day Nate Labecki (IS Corp) could very well be riding like him. Here's Nate during his sweet post-up in the Cat. 3 race on Sunday. Photo by "themiwas"






HOLLAND: Papendrecht - 2011 Ladies Holland Tour - Today's stage 4 was 128km in this UCI 2.1 stage race in southern Holland. Samantha Schneider (Tibco) of Wisconsin crashed today, but finished a solid 71st place. Theresa Cliff-Ryan (USA) was a DNF..


Untitled from GeR on Vimeo.

SPAIN: Madrid - Vuelta a Espana - Mathew Busche (Radio Shack) from Wisconsin finished the second to last day in 160th place, at the tail end of the last laughing group.  Looks like a shoe-in to finish his first grand tour.

ILLINOIS: Wauconda - Preparations are under way for the 2012 season as this article in Chicago's Daily Herald indicates.
"Schuler and Ochowicz are looking at several communities in Illinois for an annual race, Kraniak said. They’ve never run a race in this state.
Ochowicz, a co-founder of the Dairyland series, believes Wauconda would make a good setting for a race because the roadways have some elevation and the town has some interesting architecture. The downtown area’s proximity to Bangs Lake also is a draw, he said. “We could create a really cool venue there,” said Ochowicz, of Pewaukee, Wis."  The race would be held, perhaps in late July.

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Sand Pit Friday

HOLLAND: Breda - 2011 Holland Ladies Tour. Wisconsinite Samantha Schneider (Tibco) continues her ride in the UCI 2.1 stage race in southern Holland finishing a respectable 40th in yesterday's, rain soaked, stage 3. You can see her cross the line near the front of the main pack in the video below, @ 1:07.

SPAIN: Madrid - Vuelta a Espana - Wisconsin's Mathew Busche (Radio Shack) is within spitting distance of finishing his first grand tour. Read in his latest BLOG posting how he conquered the feared Angliru climb which has pitches over 20%!  "As we were approaching the category 1 before the Angliru, I was caught in a crash. The timing was horrible because it was less than 10k to the start of the climb, and the field was going 55kmh+ at this point. My teammate Nelson was also in the crash, so I waited a long time for a wheel while they fixed his bike. Once I got a new wheel, I followed cars and riders back to the field, but I was defeated mentally and physically at this point. It was nearly impossible to move up, so we hit the climb and I tried to move a little, but the front group disappeared. I made it to the top, descended and started the Angliru. I was with a big group of riders, but as the slopes steepened, the group split and I slowly went backwards just trying to survive. The crowds were pretty good and always eager to push."
     The best news is that Busche's position in next year's Radio Shack team has been CONFIRMED after the Leopard-Trek merger. Of course, how could you not keep your spot when you're the current national Pro champion on the road!

With that, we will leave you with some Chicago 'Cross sand pit action.

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Thumpin' Thursday

HOLLAND: Breda - Today's 115km stage 3 of Holland's Ladies Tour begins again in the rain, just like stage 1, this time at the Castle of Breda. Wisconsin native Sam Schneider (Tibco) can be seen in this video of the neutralized start at 0:32. We'll pretend that we don't see that rider from Team Canada crash. Ahhh, nothing like starting your day with some cobbles in the rain. Same day coverage seen right here on Peloton Star!



SPAIN: Madrid - Wisconsinite Mathew Busche (Radio Shack) continues onward towards the finish of the Vuelta. He posts in his BLOG: "I will try to make a new entry this evening with details from some of the previous stages, but I felt I should at least let you know I am still alive and fighting." and is now writing for Cycling News. Go get 'em Flip!

MISSOURI: St. Louis. Details still dribbling out of St. Louis from the Gateway Cup (yet, still no photo of Brad Huff's win???) Here's the video of a Category 3 crash that's worthy of any road trip story telling session. Looks like the aftermath of a terrorist bombing:





Not enough? How about this SLOW MOTION capture of more Cat. 3 crashers:





MINNESOTA: St. Paul - Tuesday Night 'Cross has just finished their second race with GrandStay's Doug Swanson taking the top spot. Check the link for a nice race review!

THIS WEEKEND

- WISCONSIN: Madison - Madcross clinic and race for beginners at Badger Prairie Park. Reg. is full.
- ILLINOIS: Rantoul - Patriot 'Cross on Sunday.
- INDIANA: Starlight (near Louisville) - Apple 'Cross on Sunday.

That's about it for today. Rock on.

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Gateway Wednesday

MISSOURI: St. Lous - Last day of the series, Benton Park. No, no images of the win yet, BUT ... how about a ride along with winner Brad Huff? See the catch. Attack! Counter!

MISSOURI: St. Louis - Gateway 'Cross Cup. The top dogs fight it out in St. Louis on Wednesday, September 21st under the lights at Heman Park. This is the day before 'Cross Vegas, and 4 days before the USGP in Sun Prairie, WI. Confirmed riders include: Jeremy Powers, Jonathon Page, James Driscoll, and others. Let the traveling season begin!

HOLLAND:  Holland Ladies Tour - Samantha Schneider of West Allis, WI finished safely in the bunch on day one and is listed in 122nd place out of 135 international riders. Cycling News is providing some coverage of this race. Chicago native Devon Haskell, listed as a starter for Tibco (thought she races for NOW?), is not seen in the results. Samantha's younger sister, Skylar (age 13), has now been upgraded to Cat. 3. Watch out!

MISSOURI: Columbia - One of the better blogs out there is put together by David Henderson, a Category 1 racer who has recently put together a nice piece on race strategy. Here is a short exerpt, but I encourage you to read the article in it's entirety: "Bicycle racing, like most sports, is like warfare without the killing.  All racing tactics can be discussed in the context of Sun Tzu's  masterpiece work, "Art of War".  His principles and philosophies can be applied beyond warfare to many areas of life, but here I will apply it to bike racing specifically.

There are several principles from Sun Tzu that can be applied to racing tactics.  The first being "Winning Whole".  The idea is to win with your resources and objective intact.   This is accomplished by 1. Removing your competitor's hope for victory, 2. Using all of your advantages, 3. Exploiting your competitor's weaknesses, 4. Attacking along an unexpected line."

Lastly, check out this video of the MTB downhill World Championships. Sport doesn't get much more exciting than this!

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Gear Twisting Tuesday

MISSOURI: St. Louis - Gateway Cup.

Brad Huff took the overall Pro 1/2 win on Monday. St. Louis Today reports: "Missourian Brad Huff thrilled the crowd with a dash to the line, taking the sprint for first place Monday in the Benton Park Classic, the finale of the four-day Gateway Cup series of cycling races.
Huff, a native of Springfield who races for Jelly Belly, broke away with five other riders halfway through the 75-minute race and outsprinted Adam Bergman of Team Texas Roadhouse and David Williams of Bissell Pro Cycling.
"It was a strong man's sprint, and I was lucky to get to the line," Huff said. "The way we raced shows the depth of talent and level of professionalism at the Gateway Cup." DAILY RESULTS for each individual day are posted, but not the overall. Here are some photos from the weekend taken by MATT FRANCIS. Hope someone got a photo of Huff's win.

HOLLAND:  Team Tibco riders Samantha Schneider from West Allis, Wisconsin, along with Chicago native Devon Haskell are both on the start list for the Holland Ladies Tour which begins today and runs through Sunday. Twenty seven international teams have been invited to the 6 day stage race in southern Holland. Peloton Star will be keeping an eye on the results and reports any interesting stories that may develop.

SPAIN: Madrid - Our hero, Mathew Busche (Radio Shack) has survived the feared Angliru climb, finishing 177th on the day, and continues his quest today to finish his first grand tour. He recently writes in his BLOG:; "Anyway, now we're through 13 stages and although I am physically and mentally quite tired, I am still feeling positive. I am not depressed or dreading waking up the next day and doing it again. Well, I shouldn't say that because I do have a certain cringe when I think about suffering again after 13 stages, but that is part of the job, so I just try to embrace it! Everyone is suffering, so I have to keep on doing it and help my team as best I can. I would like to give you a stage by stage description of the past three stages, but I honestly don't remember what happened in 11 and 12. I think that is another sign I am engulfed, everything just blends together. No stage has been easy in this Vuelta, so I think it is just suffer, eat, sleep, eat, suffer again. Given that I just finished stage 13 though, the details are fairly fresh in my mind. Let me offer the summary: lactic acid."

 

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Labor Day Monday

ILLINOIS: Harvard - Illinois State Time Trial RESULTS are in, and for the Pro 1/2 Men - Bryce Mead pipped Ryan Freund by a mere 0.02 seconds over the 30km course. That works out to be around 20 cm,  less than a half of a wheel, or much less time than it takes to blow your nose on the road. Do you want to blow your nose, or be the state champion?
More PHOTOS are presented by the North Branch Cycling Club.


1 Bryce Mead Sterling, IL 0:42:53.22 ABD Cycling Team
2 Ryan Freund Lake In The Hills, IL 0:42:53.24 ABD Cycle Club

MICHIGAN: Auburn Hills - Debaets Davos criterium. No news yet, but with an abundance of Cat. 5's that forced the opening of a second field, hopefully we'll get some news soon.  This race is in it's 47th year,so what's the history behind it? According to the Cadieux Bicycle Club web page, the race has Beglian roots originally named after Gerard Debaets, a Beglian racer who won the Tour of Flanders in 1924 and 1927, and later came to America to be very successful in the 6 day races, winning in New York 6 times, Chicago 4 times, and in Detroit twice. Later, when one of the founding organizers of the Debaets Race, Robert Davos, passed away, the name was changed to the Debaets Davos Criterium. (why is there a Wikipedia article on the Chicago Six Day races in French, but not English? There should be! - Ed.)

MISSOURI: St. Louis - The Gateway Cup. Touted as the "Most exciting 4 days of racing in St. Louis!" ... yet they can't send out a short press release naming the daily winners? 'Ya got a connection to the world in your pocket, but .... Anyway, VN reports that Eric Young (Bissel) took day 1 in the Tour de Lafayette (remember him? one of the winning Cutters in the Little 500 and the recently crowned US PRO Criterium Champion in Grand Rapids). VN then reports on day 2 that Isaac Howe (Kenda - 5 Hour Energy) won over Zack Davies (V Australia) and Cole House (RealCyclist.Com).

So, while we wait, let's ride along with Steve Tilford in last year's Gateway Cup. (hard crash @ 3:30, but then watch him breeze through the last corner)





Here's Rahsaan Bahati during his latest midwest race tour as he visits Chicago's Pony Shop.

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Sunny Summer Sunday

What perfect weather here in Wisconsin. Couldn't ask for better. Let's see what's going on in the rest of the world.

SPAIN: Madrid - Wisconsin native and our Cat. 5 to International Pro in 3 years HERO, Matthew Busche is beginning week 3 of the Vuelta a Espana, his first grand tour.On a relatively flat stage 12, "Flip" found some excitement according to the Radio Shack report: "

"Somehow Busche got misdirected to the wrong side of a road barrier and had to stop, dismount and put his bike and himself back onto the road. Busche later said via his Twitter, “No worries everyone, I got the better of those barriers. Scary moment though.” Team Director Viatcheslav Ekimov replied with, “Yes that was the strangest episode of the day. Today, they climb to the top of the Angliru which could make or break the race for Busche. According to Velonews: "“If I make it to the rest day (Monday), I will make it to Madrid,” Busche told VeloNews at Saturday’s start in Astorga. “I’ve been hanging in there. It’s been very hard. I am taking it day to day. I hear the Angliru is very hard.

Also, Radio Shack sent on their Twitter: "Congrats to @TeamRadioShack riders @MatthewBusche & @BenKing89 on being selected for the American team at the UCI Road World Championships.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/teamradioshack/riders_MatthewBusche/#ixzz1WzvtjyGI

Click for full page view

 MISSOURI: St. Louis - Gateway Cup. Found a few real nice images on Flickr.

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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Saturday

Not much to report on at the moment. Lots of things going on, though. Once the dust has settled, then we'll take a look to see just what had happened!

ILLINOIS: Harvard - Illinois State Time Trial Championships.
WISCONSIN: Cambridge - 12 Hours of Pitch Black Single Track.
MISSOURI: St. Louis - Day 2 of the The Gateway Cup.
MICHIGAN: Detroit - Michigan Masters Scratch and Points Champs
MICHIGAN: Auburn Hills: 47th Annual Debaets-Devos Pro-Am Memorial Bicycle Race.
$4,700 in purse and primes!


2006 on a different course than this year:


... and just a few weeks away - Planet Bike Cup!

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Friday Funnies

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Check out the back flip on the road bike at the end!

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Cyclocross School - Day 1

Can you believe it? Summer is OVER and with the exception of the Gateway Cup in St. Louis, all focus is on cyclocross.Have you been practicing your re-mounts and barrier jumping? Welcome back to school ... 'cross style. Pre-race Rituals for Cyclocross .

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Cookie Monster 'Cross

ILLINOIS: Chicago - This one comes courtesy of Rob Curtis (Team PSIMET)
(See his photo over on the left?). Obviously enjoying his first cyclocross race of the season!

WISCONSIN: Kansasville - Not 'breaking news' by any stretch of the imagination, but Dave Eckel (KS Energy) informs us that the back side of the Bong time trial course has been repaved. Not that it was that horrible before hand, but that should really make this already fast course, even faster (making exception to the rule that one should never hurry through a bong).  The Bong loop has been the site of many time trials here in Wisconsin and this past weekend was the ABR Double Bong Time Trial (two laps). Matthew Busche (then IS Corps) won the 2009 WI State TT Champs here on this course and the next week, signed up with Kelly Benefit Strategies. The lap follows the perimeter of the Bong State Recreational Area which, back during WWII, was designated to be a US Air Force Base but it was never built. The runways were graded but never paved, but now serve the public in dog training, ATV riding, and such. This video shows part of the course.





MISSOURI: St. Louis - The Gateway Cup begins it's 4 day adventure this Friday, September 2nd in the Lafayette Square neighborhood with it's multi-category Twilight Criterium. Lets hope we get lots of information from the races as the series unfolds!

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Crosstacular Tuesday

MICHIGAN: Birmingham - A few more nice images uploaded from the race by the Downtown Ferndale Bike Shop.







ILLINOIS: Chicago - Some video from the cyclocross relay race this past Sunday:

MINNESOTA: Twin Cities - Here's the info on the Lazer Sport Cyclocross Super Series for 2011, a four race series held within the MCF cyclocross season featuring $1,400 in prizes.

INDIANA: Indianapolis - The Indiana State Track Championships were this past weekend. True Sport has all the RESULTS. Kevin Lillard has some excellent PHOTOS. This is good training for the upcoming USA Collegiate Track Nationals which are to be held there on September 15 - 17th.

 SPAIN: Madrid - Our hero Matthew Busche (Radio Shack) continues his journey through his first grand tour, that being the Vuelta a Espana. Yesterday he writes in his blog:  "Stage 9 was another summit finish with plenty of rolling beforehand. That start was directly into a category 3 climb at km 3. I was trying to cover the moves, but I was full throttle just trying to follow, so I was basically useless. I even lost the wheel on the descent after the top, just couldn't go faster! The move thankfully went right after the descent, and it was time to settle in for another day of being ridden into the ground by Katusha. I don't know how they are so strong. Anyway, I did my best to protect our guys, get bottles, and keep myself alive for the day. As is usual, the pace amplified as we approached the final climb. I lost contact with our guys, so I surfed the field as it rolled into the climb. " 

Here's a nice interview of him by CyclingNews back in early August at the Tour of Poland. 

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Cyclocross Crossword #1

What's a newspaper without a crossword puzzle??

Answer Key

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Cyclocross Wordsearch Puzzle #1

Bored at work? Thinking about cyclocross? Print this and look busy!

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Motley Monday

WISCONSIN: Green Bay - A quick congratulations to Cole House (RealCyclist) of Oneida, WI who won the WORS MTB race in Green Bay yesterday. It's great seeing a roadie beating up on the mountain bikers at their own game! Plenty of images and photos over on the WORS site I'm sure for anyone who's interested.

Photo: Birmingham Patch

MICHIGAN: Birmingham Bicycle Festival - Comments on their Facebook page indicate that Sunday's race and festival was quite well received and a big success. Results are not yet available, but we do know that Greg Christian (Panther) took the Pro 1/2 race for his second victory of 2011. Photos available by Christan Robb and Julie McGraw. More info as it becomes available.

Photo: Birmingham Patch

 ILLINOIS: Chicago - XXX Jackson Park Cyclocross Relay. In it's second year, this very unique two man relay cyclocross race continues it's great popularity with local racers. This year Michael Hemme and James LaLonde took the top step of the Pro 1/2/3 podium. Please note the 5th place of Nate Labecki (IS Corp) and Gage Rodriguez (IS Corp) who are both -juniors- and won their junior category race which immediately preceded the main event. Props to this fine performance. Thirty five 2 man teams competed in the Pro 1/2/3, 47 in the Cat. 4.


Men - 1/2/3 RESULTS
1 Michael Hemme CHICAGO.CX Chicago, IL James LaLonde CHICAGO.CX Chicago, IL
2 Scott McLaughlin SRAM Factory Team Chicago, IL David Reyes SRAM Factory Team Chicago, IL
3 Brandon Elliott Iron Cycles/Pony Shop Chicago, IL Kevin Klug Iron Cycles/Pony Shop Elkhorn, WI
4 Scott Arrigoni Verdigris-Village CX Hoffman Estates, IL Tim Boundy Verdigris-Village CX Deer Park, IL 5 Nathan Labecki Team Wisconsin/ISCorp Milwaukee, WI Gage Rodriguez Team Wisconsin/KS Engergy Kenosha, WI

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