– Juniors! You are again enjoying free race entry this year thanks to EJ’s Place in Skokie.  However, if you do not have an annual USAC Road/Track/CX license you will still need to purchase a one day license at each race for $10. Still, not a bad deal!

– Just a reminder, any and all upgrades need to be done through the our local technical director (Dave Fowkes). You can apply for upgrades on your USA cycling rider profile page. You will only be allowed to race in your designated CX category. USAC rules state that you are allowed to race down one CX category from your Road category. However, cross is technically considered a road category, so unfortunately annual USAC mountain bike racing licenses do not count too… and you’ll have to either purchase a road/track/CX licnense ($60) or race on a one day license ($10). Either way, we highly recommend purchasing an annual USAC license if you don’t already have one. You also will NOT be eligible to win the State Championship jersey without an annual license. UPDATE: Sorry for the confusion, both road AND mountain bike annual licenses are good for racing cross!!! But you’ll still have to race in the CX category on your annual license.

– We anticipate yet another growth spurt in our rider base for 2009 and are planning on challenging our riders again by creating courses that will prepare them for the national and other regional races. Even though nationals are in Bend, OR this year one of our goals is to encourage as many riders as possible to participate in the USA Cycling National CX Championships (Dec 10-13) to show the rest of the country that midwest cross is just as competitive as East and West coast.

– CX practices: We’ve heard of others, but these are the CX practices we “officially” know about. Please remember to respect all parks and fellow recreators when practicing!
Pony Shop (Wednesdays, 6pm) in James Park, Evanston.
Bicycle Heaven (Tuesdays, 6:15pm) – Starts Sept 15th. The shop is at the corner of Rt 25 and Rt 38 in downtown Geneva (12 East State St., Geneva, 60134).  It is all bike path with a course on grass at the ½ point as a kind of pseudo and very short race.  It’s a tempo ride other than the grass course section and the whole shebang lasts for about 1:45. Find the route here.
MOX (Wednesday, 6pm) in Chicago. New bike shop MOX has introductory sessions… see the website for more info.
–  Got Single Speed? The Hopkins CX race in DeKlab hosted by North Central Cyclery and Half Acre Cycling will have a Single Speed/Fixed Gear category run at the same time as the women Cat 4 and Juniors races (high noon). We’ll call it the “Unofficial” IL State SS CX Championship. However that the SS/FG race is not a part of the CCC and will not be scored for the overall. NCC will have separate prizes for the SS/FG crowd… NCC also has some other goodies in store for us including boots, t-shirts, and cowbells.