I wanted to leave thanks to the people that fixed my bike during the cat4/5. I greatly appreciated the support and I will try to learn to be more self sufficient in the future.
Great Race! Thank you Jim, AthletesByDesign, and everyone who helped/worked/enjoyed. What a perfect cyclocross scene it was!!!
The season has brought different stuff every week. World Champion podiums/handups, Moat filled with ducks, “shark with lasers” (-kelly phuah), the wandering giraffe, the Belgian Mud (Carpentersville), and now finally, the Chicago Windy City Way. Sunrise Park is already deceptively challenging, what with heckle hill and the two forests and off cambers, but add in the strong steady wind on the open field, with the final boards and criterium sprint and that IS SOMETHING special.
The Week Five TOP THREE picks are;
#3 Great rides by host club ABD, especially their off-season acquisition Ken Krebs swinging for the fences.
#2 Aidan Burkins. Won Juniors. Won Category 4. Two up battle to the line in the 4/5’s, where he was edged out for 2nd Place. So his CCC Points are 486 in all three categories combined! Try to remember that name.
#1 Sean MacMinn. Bunny hops to victory in the Category 3’s. Hands down the RIDE OF THE DAY!!
So XXX set the bar pretty high by winning twice in the CCC opener they hosted at LaBagh Woods. Sol in the Juniors and Gaylord in the Masters 55+. Then, the Sasquatch Squadron/Main Street Bicycles team ordered in Belgian Mud last week, and bookended the day by winning with Johnny Hudson in the Master 35+ first race of the day, and Shawn Peters winning the Category 4/5 to close Carpentersville that they hosted.
While they didn’t “win”, the ABD team rode valiantly at their production in Sunrise Park. As mentioned earlier, the huge free agent signing Ken Krebs swung big, ripping out a huge lead in the Masters 45+, and in the end finished with a season’s best 4th place, but as importantly, edged out the Verdigris Armada (Warner/Boundy/Groenhof). The team he used to ride for. The enemy. (kidding)
ABD Junior Will Holzhauer rode to a season’s best 4th in the junior 9-14. And home team rider Karyn Abraham had her best ride (4th place) in Orange this season since the 3rd place she opened with at LaBagh in the Elite Women Category 1-2-3.
Overall, the season has been the most competitive in just about every single category since the Chicago Cross Cup began in 2004. Also, the courses continue to improve partly because of the gained and shared knowledge by the host clubs, and partly because of good old competition by them.
Overall participant numbers continue to rise, BUT the focus IS clearly on each individual rider’s experience. Not always easy to manage, but it IS the goal. So all races have had maximum prize lists due to high pre-reg numbers. The CUP is averaging 740 racers every week. The lowest number, sadly was the most muddy day, which does not make sense. We hit season highs at Sunrise Park hosted by ABD in a few categories. All three Master categories and Women Category 4 were season’s best. Women 4/Junior 9-14 had season high on the course in their two races for them (123). Juniors 9-14/Category 3/Category 4/5 all were second highest or tied for second highest numbers of the season. Again, not as important as getting stagings correct (Anna) or bib numbers correct (like three riders in the 4/5’s)……Those little hiccups are what WE are truly focused on (eliminating).
So maybe you could help too. Our data sheet has some flawed info. Make sure you USA Cycling #, your BikeReg profile lists correct team (the correct way too), and things like contact info, etc…. are all accurate. just sayin’. But in the end, always let us know WHEN we can do better! Preferably NOT between 10am and 1pm with me directly.
Thanks to ABD for extra prize money for the Category 3 Women. That keeps the trend each week alive. Comrade did it at Hopkins. Other Brother Coffee has stepped up too, so nice job.
Great job ABD on Kiddie Cross. Cute course. Families count on that. Elmhurst Masters did a nice one last week, helping out Main Street Bicycles, and Comrades Kiddie Cross was grueling fun. This is always appreciated by the young kids.
Category 4 Women Team Got Wind in the lead. Great fun a such a success story for Chicago Cycling. Huge field of beginners. That is misleading, because they ride FAST! Great job BFF Bikes on being such a specific supporter of riders in this category. Stop by their shop and thank them. Nice job by Union Cycling Team on their recent good rides. This is such a great category that we should ALL support!
Category 4’s and Category 4/5 Men Do NOT get discouraged in the fortieth row at staging. Brian Matter WON from the back last year (alright, in the Elites at day 2 of ILR). It can be done. Heck, even David Ross on ABD won here from the middle back in week one. BTW, he upgraded AND just got 5th place in the Category 3’s at his team’s race Sunday! So there IS hope. Again, you can ALL be proud that you got line up with Aidan Burkins (and he whooped ya) when he is in the 2024 Olympics. And Congrats to Shawn Peters for winning two weeks in a row. You are THE ONLY one out of 740 that beat Aidan Sunday. Just do your races, gain skill, encourage each other (look at the Snowy Mountain Photography picture last week of The Chainlink rider smiling as riders crashed ahead of him). Its ALL good. It’s cheaper than golf. It is WAY better than staying home and watching the Bears. Plus we need you. The Masters put up all the tents. You guys can help us tear down the course (I’m kidding) (I’m not).
Speaking off the 3’s. WOW. RIDE OF THE DAY!!!!
Sean MacMinn. The guy is a cross maniac. He bunny hopped the big boards, closed a huge gap, and WON in a photo finish. The Elites need to not be complacent. He is coming for you next. Mark my words.
That category has been ultra competitive all year. Juan won the opener. Jarret took two huge wins. Chris from Brooklyn won one. All three were missing. Juan in some huge Exxtera MTB thingy in Hawaii, Jarrett jumping into the Elite Men race. Dunno about Chris. But three guys have been waiting to bust out. They were 3rd, 8th, and 16th last year at State. The put on a show. In the end. Their finish order is reverse of the overall. Sean won, Jonathon was 2nd, and Robert was 3rd. So Robert Bigelow-Rubin (Comrade) now leads ahead of Kloppenburg (Spidermonkey) on the overall.
Speaking of Spidermonkey and going back to Women for a moment…. Congrats to Michelle Moore for her first CX podium. 200+ FB likes on that pic in one day. She looked so happy!
And congrats to Greg Nash on his first podium ever at CCC! And also Stay Rad is looking fun at every turn out there!
This is a bit wordy. And we haven’t even focused on the great story of Junior men 15-18, or Elite Women or Elite Men…..or the Single Speeds…
So switching gears to the Single Speeds. Lets see how I can put this and still be nice. Please do NOT cheat. No shifting is allowed. You are being asked and reminded to honor that.
The Category at the front IS a TRUE JOY to watch! We also have been honoring the Women with unofficial podiums the past few weeks. This Category is a bunch of savages. That is not from me. That is from Peter “Scalded Cat” Chrapkoski. Between him and Captain Conroy, you’ll always be entertained (best finish EVER day 2 ILR 2014). Enter in Karson Glass (only one to win twice this year) and the arrival of Jacob Huizenga (Last weeks RIDER OF THE WEEK with a SS win and 2nd in Elite Men) and you have FOUR serious dudes. Half a dozen other really good bike riders are behind them hoping to smell the podium, but realistically all wins go through these four first. And they ALL LIKE AND RESPECT each other! And their podiums ARE THE BEST FUN AROUND!!
I wanna talk about the Elite Women and Elite Men. Trust me. They ARE the main events FOR a reason. Will do that next week. There’s been amazing battles and races each week by both categories, it just that while I can talk for ten hours, I hate typing for more than one.
Thanks for the shoutout, Kenny! I appreciate the hard work you do. It is awesome to race against such good dudes in the SS race. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season!
Thanks for the shout out, Kenny! I always try to create some race drama while never actually winning a race. 🙂 Lotta great racing this weekend. Brought back memories of an incredible race last year in the Women’s 1/2/3 between Dani and Syd too. And mad props to MacMinn for the bunny hop over the full size barrier. Many people can be “fast”, but truly exceptional skills are few and far between. Respect.
Nicely done Kenny. You have turned into quite the “all arounder”….Top Shelf Sunday race announcer, and Monday morning game day wrap-up columnist! WGN will be knocking on your door soon and take you away to the big leagues next!
Goes without saying, but I will say it anyway…love your work!
Just want to thank the hecklers in the Verdigris-Village CX Team tent. They constantly belittle me as I come in Near Dead Last in the 3’s and 1,2,3’s, BUT they know when to help out a fellow CXer.. My tire came off my rim near their tent during the 3s race and they threw me a pump in order to get it back on the rim. It was my best race so far this year as I was in a great place but lost spots due to my incident. Their assistance and encouragement made up for all the years I have endured with their heckling. Brothers in arms I’d say. Thank you.
Thanks again Jim Nowak! Always a great race and course set up. I wanted to thank Jason, the series, the promotors and organizers for a part of their race day prep that goes unnoticed by most of us. Fast forward to 9-14 Juniors race where I have an 8 and 9 year old racing. My son went down late in the race in 2nd U-turn on the back side of course on the mud as you enter the woods. I was watching him from the barriers as he went down the long trail towards the woods. Eventually When he didn’t come out, I ran down to check on him. I found that a PT Orthopeadic asst and a Nurse were already tending to Kale and comforting him. Dr Joe followed shortly after in his own race kit to check him out. It’s so comforting to know that the Series has arranged to have all the medical expertise that is present in the CX racing community available to assist us when we need it. In this case, Kale took a hard fall that gave him good scare but no serious injury and hopefully he’ll be good to go for Halloween CX next week. Some of us will get hurt more seriously in the next race, and will be grateful that the Series takes the role of First Responders/ First Aid so seriously. Thanks again to the individual first responders (I don’t have the names except for Dr Joe) who helped us. If you stop by the Pony Shop tent next week, we will have some Chocolate Chip Cookies for you as well as a hand shake and proper thank you.
Great day at the course! Thanks abd
Awesome race, lots of fun, and well run as always. Thanks for doing the kids race too!
A few photos from the Women’s Cat 4 race and the later Cat 4 race. Please tag yourself. https://www.facebook.com/rbezalel/media_set?set=a.10154131992917476.1073741884.682707475&type=3
Oops…bad link before.
Photos from Women’s Cat 4 and Men’s Cat 4 race.
Try this:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154131992917476.1073741884.682707475&type=1&l=213daee5e6
Here are a few pictures I took.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3299613606053.1073741829.1139280457&type=1&l=90ae792eca
Cat 4
https://youtu.be/sBfdzhi_Zzs
Cat 4/5
https://youtu.be/LLQPQVP5MpI
Masters 45+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFAmFrJWWPA
Another awesome race at Sunrise. Looking forward to Campton.
Single Speed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v851yaIqvaM
Chicago Athlete Magazine took photos of Juniors/3s/123s
http://www.mychicagoathlete.com/abd-sunrise-park-cyclocross-102316/
M3, W123, and M 123 pics https://www.flickr.com/photos/121357775@N05/albums/72157672065889563
Thanks to Kenny Labbé and the many others for the kudos they gave us yesterday on FormMount. If you haven’t heard about it yet check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1187300751/formmount-bicycle-computer-mount?ref=user_menu
We’d love to hear your feedback as well.
I wanted to leave thanks to the people that fixed my bike during the cat4/5. I greatly appreciated the support and I will try to learn to be more self sufficient in the future.
It’s official. The hipsters love us. Thanks for your support.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BL85ZvlgZ7f/?taken-by=f3cycling
Feel free to find yourself. Most are of us however. I’ll tell our guy to take more.
https://www.facebook.com/STAY-RAD-Adventure-Team-205306723009702/photos/?tab=album&album_id=608636196010084
By chance did anyone turn a MOX Multisport Vest into Lost in Found???? Black with pink smiley face and blue logos.
Peter Kelley and David Lombardo throwin’ down in the M123’s: http://www.trainingbiblecycling.com/pfks-big-bike-ride-in-the-park/
Great Race! Thank you Jim, AthletesByDesign, and everyone who helped/worked/enjoyed. What a perfect cyclocross scene it was!!!
The season has brought different stuff every week. World Champion podiums/handups, Moat filled with ducks, “shark with lasers” (-kelly phuah), the wandering giraffe, the Belgian Mud (Carpentersville), and now finally, the Chicago Windy City Way. Sunrise Park is already deceptively challenging, what with heckle hill and the two forests and off cambers, but add in the strong steady wind on the open field, with the final boards and criterium sprint and that IS SOMETHING special.
The Week Five TOP THREE picks are;
#3 Great rides by host club ABD, especially their off-season acquisition Ken Krebs swinging for the fences.
#2 Aidan Burkins. Won Juniors. Won Category 4. Two up battle to the line in the 4/5’s, where he was edged out for 2nd Place. So his CCC Points are 486 in all three categories combined! Try to remember that name.
#1 Sean MacMinn. Bunny hops to victory in the Category 3’s. Hands down the RIDE OF THE DAY!!
So XXX set the bar pretty high by winning twice in the CCC opener they hosted at LaBagh Woods. Sol in the Juniors and Gaylord in the Masters 55+. Then, the Sasquatch Squadron/Main Street Bicycles team ordered in Belgian Mud last week, and bookended the day by winning with Johnny Hudson in the Master 35+ first race of the day, and Shawn Peters winning the Category 4/5 to close Carpentersville that they hosted.
While they didn’t “win”, the ABD team rode valiantly at their production in Sunrise Park. As mentioned earlier, the huge free agent signing Ken Krebs swung big, ripping out a huge lead in the Masters 45+, and in the end finished with a season’s best 4th place, but as importantly, edged out the Verdigris Armada (Warner/Boundy/Groenhof). The team he used to ride for. The enemy. (kidding)
ABD Junior Will Holzhauer rode to a season’s best 4th in the junior 9-14. And home team rider Karyn Abraham had her best ride (4th place) in Orange this season since the 3rd place she opened with at LaBagh in the Elite Women Category 1-2-3.
Overall, the season has been the most competitive in just about every single category since the Chicago Cross Cup began in 2004. Also, the courses continue to improve partly because of the gained and shared knowledge by the host clubs, and partly because of good old competition by them.
Overall participant numbers continue to rise, BUT the focus IS clearly on each individual rider’s experience. Not always easy to manage, but it IS the goal. So all races have had maximum prize lists due to high pre-reg numbers. The CUP is averaging 740 racers every week. The lowest number, sadly was the most muddy day, which does not make sense. We hit season highs at Sunrise Park hosted by ABD in a few categories. All three Master categories and Women Category 4 were season’s best. Women 4/Junior 9-14 had season high on the course in their two races for them (123). Juniors 9-14/Category 3/Category 4/5 all were second highest or tied for second highest numbers of the season. Again, not as important as getting stagings correct (Anna) or bib numbers correct (like three riders in the 4/5’s)……Those little hiccups are what WE are truly focused on (eliminating).
So maybe you could help too. Our data sheet has some flawed info. Make sure you USA Cycling #, your BikeReg profile lists correct team (the correct way too), and things like contact info, etc…. are all accurate. just sayin’. But in the end, always let us know WHEN we can do better! Preferably NOT between 10am and 1pm with me directly.
Thanks to ABD for extra prize money for the Category 3 Women. That keeps the trend each week alive. Comrade did it at Hopkins. Other Brother Coffee has stepped up too, so nice job.
Great job ABD on Kiddie Cross. Cute course. Families count on that. Elmhurst Masters did a nice one last week, helping out Main Street Bicycles, and Comrades Kiddie Cross was grueling fun. This is always appreciated by the young kids.
Category 4 Women Team Got Wind in the lead. Great fun a such a success story for Chicago Cycling. Huge field of beginners. That is misleading, because they ride FAST! Great job BFF Bikes on being such a specific supporter of riders in this category. Stop by their shop and thank them. Nice job by Union Cycling Team on their recent good rides. This is such a great category that we should ALL support!
Category 4’s and Category 4/5 Men Do NOT get discouraged in the fortieth row at staging. Brian Matter WON from the back last year (alright, in the Elites at day 2 of ILR). It can be done. Heck, even David Ross on ABD won here from the middle back in week one. BTW, he upgraded AND just got 5th place in the Category 3’s at his team’s race Sunday! So there IS hope. Again, you can ALL be proud that you got line up with Aidan Burkins (and he whooped ya) when he is in the 2024 Olympics. And Congrats to Shawn Peters for winning two weeks in a row. You are THE ONLY one out of 740 that beat Aidan Sunday. Just do your races, gain skill, encourage each other (look at the Snowy Mountain Photography picture last week of The Chainlink rider smiling as riders crashed ahead of him). Its ALL good. It’s cheaper than golf. It is WAY better than staying home and watching the Bears. Plus we need you. The Masters put up all the tents. You guys can help us tear down the course (I’m kidding) (I’m not).
Speaking off the 3’s. WOW. RIDE OF THE DAY!!!!
Sean MacMinn. The guy is a cross maniac. He bunny hopped the big boards, closed a huge gap, and WON in a photo finish. The Elites need to not be complacent. He is coming for you next. Mark my words.
That category has been ultra competitive all year. Juan won the opener. Jarret took two huge wins. Chris from Brooklyn won one. All three were missing. Juan in some huge Exxtera MTB thingy in Hawaii, Jarrett jumping into the Elite Men race. Dunno about Chris. But three guys have been waiting to bust out. They were 3rd, 8th, and 16th last year at State. The put on a show. In the end. Their finish order is reverse of the overall. Sean won, Jonathon was 2nd, and Robert was 3rd. So Robert Bigelow-Rubin (Comrade) now leads ahead of Kloppenburg (Spidermonkey) on the overall.
Speaking of Spidermonkey and going back to Women for a moment…. Congrats to Michelle Moore for her first CX podium. 200+ FB likes on that pic in one day. She looked so happy!
And congrats to Greg Nash on his first podium ever at CCC! And also Stay Rad is looking fun at every turn out there!
This is a bit wordy. And we haven’t even focused on the great story of Junior men 15-18, or Elite Women or Elite Men…..or the Single Speeds…
So switching gears to the Single Speeds. Lets see how I can put this and still be nice. Please do NOT cheat. No shifting is allowed. You are being asked and reminded to honor that.
The Category at the front IS a TRUE JOY to watch! We also have been honoring the Women with unofficial podiums the past few weeks. This Category is a bunch of savages. That is not from me. That is from Peter “Scalded Cat” Chrapkoski. Between him and Captain Conroy, you’ll always be entertained (best finish EVER day 2 ILR 2014). Enter in Karson Glass (only one to win twice this year) and the arrival of Jacob Huizenga (Last weeks RIDER OF THE WEEK with a SS win and 2nd in Elite Men) and you have FOUR serious dudes. Half a dozen other really good bike riders are behind them hoping to smell the podium, but realistically all wins go through these four first. And they ALL LIKE AND RESPECT each other! And their podiums ARE THE BEST FUN AROUND!!
I wanna talk about the Elite Women and Elite Men. Trust me. They ARE the main events FOR a reason. Will do that next week. There’s been amazing battles and races each week by both categories, it just that while I can talk for ten hours, I hate typing for more than one.
Ride your bike. See you Sunday.
Editor note -Spelling CHRAPKOWSKI (typo)
Thanks for the shoutout, Kenny! I appreciate the hard work you do. It is awesome to race against such good dudes in the SS race. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season!
Thanks for the shout out, Kenny! I always try to create some race drama while never actually winning a race. 🙂 Lotta great racing this weekend. Brought back memories of an incredible race last year in the Women’s 1/2/3 between Dani and Syd too. And mad props to MacMinn for the bunny hop over the full size barrier. Many people can be “fast”, but truly exceptional skills are few and far between. Respect.
I vote this the post race report of the year. I’m not wearing my heart rate monitor but I’m pretty sure it went up by at least 30.
Is it Sunday yet???
Awesome writeup Kenny, thoroughly enjoyed reading every word!!
Nicely done Kenny. You have turned into quite the “all arounder”….Top Shelf Sunday race announcer, and Monday morning game day wrap-up columnist! WGN will be knocking on your door soon and take you away to the big leagues next!
Goes without saying, but I will say it anyway…love your work!
Just want to thank the hecklers in the Verdigris-Village CX Team tent. They constantly belittle me as I come in Near Dead Last in the 3’s and 1,2,3’s, BUT they know when to help out a fellow CXer.. My tire came off my rim near their tent during the 3s race and they threw me a pump in order to get it back on the rim. It was my best race so far this year as I was in a great place but lost spots due to my incident. Their assistance and encouragement made up for all the years I have endured with their heckling. Brothers in arms I’d say. Thank you.
Thanks for the shoutout Kenny! Such a great day that has me still smiling!
Cat 3: https://youtu.be/oVMOu7qdng4
Single Speed – https://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=2aCocMslqWI
Cat 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=YYuFhiTvAmQ
Thanks again Jim Nowak! Always a great race and course set up. I wanted to thank Jason, the series, the promotors and organizers for a part of their race day prep that goes unnoticed by most of us. Fast forward to 9-14 Juniors race where I have an 8 and 9 year old racing. My son went down late in the race in 2nd U-turn on the back side of course on the mud as you enter the woods. I was watching him from the barriers as he went down the long trail towards the woods. Eventually When he didn’t come out, I ran down to check on him. I found that a PT Orthopeadic asst and a Nurse were already tending to Kale and comforting him. Dr Joe followed shortly after in his own race kit to check him out. It’s so comforting to know that the Series has arranged to have all the medical expertise that is present in the CX racing community available to assist us when we need it. In this case, Kale took a hard fall that gave him good scare but no serious injury and hopefully he’ll be good to go for Halloween CX next week. Some of us will get hurt more seriously in the next race, and will be grateful that the Series takes the role of First Responders/ First Aid so seriously. Thanks again to the individual first responders (I don’t have the names except for Dr Joe) who helped us. If you stop by the Pony Shop tent next week, we will have some Chocolate Chip Cookies for you as well as a hand shake and proper thank you.
Dave
Did anyone pickup (or turn in to lost and found) a pair of purple keen hiking boots? Left them on the street on
Struckman Blvd.
I believe I turned them in. Did you get them back yet?