Thanks to the 388 racers who came out to enjoy some fantastic fall weather and the Carpenter’s Park Oktoberfest.

Final results are here.

Overall series standings are here.
Team Standings will be posted in a day or two.

Thanks to the 344 starters who came out today to race!

Full results

Overall standings
Team standings will be updated in a day or two.

Very, very, very important announcement!

– If you missed our post on Sunday, the CCC schedule is changing starting this week at Dan Ryan Woods. The updated race schedule can also be found on the schedule page. The 40+ & 50+ masters need to be there a little earlier while everyone else starts a little later… but get there early anyway and bring your cowbells!

– We’re happy to announce 3 new sponsors to the CCC series… all of them bike shops.

• Yojimbo’s Garage on Clybourn Ave in the city is back again and supplying CX frames for the free raffle (fill out a raffle ticket at registration at each race).
• MOX Multisport also in the city on Randolph St will be supplying schwag and merchandise prizes for the series.
• Spin Doctor Cyclewerks in Bartlett will be helping out the series with much needed cash to help buy things to put in your way and make you jump over.

The CCC is still looking for series sponsors, so email us at [email protected] if you’d like to be involved.

– The CCC’s newest race in the Dan Ryan Woods takes place this coming Sunday. Beverly Bike-Vee Pak has put together a great course and will have some great food as well. Hopefully the Half Acre crew is recovered from this past weekend’s Dekalb race and shows up so we all have something to drink! ; ) However, please remember to respect the park and its neighbors so we can come back next year.

– Please also remember the Chicago Marathon is happening this weekend. Traffic on the roads is likely to be quite heavy due to detours and such… so please, please give yourselves plenty of time to get to the race… which is on the South Side at Western and 87th. Maps and directions are here.

– Everyone’s favorite new race from last year is back! That’s right, after many, many meetings with the parks district and a boatload of fantastic work by Chris Henning and the Garner Northbrook Cycling Club, the Northbrook venue has finally been approved. The course will be very different from last year, but we’ll at least have the race. Look for more details on the way and online pre-reg to open soon.

Speaking of favorite courses… from everything we’ve heard North Central Cyclery and Half Acre put on a fantastic race in Dekalb’s Hopkins Park this past weekend. Big thanks to everyone who helped put this 2nd year race together that attracted 358 racers! That’s only 40 shy of Jackson Park!

– CCC Overall Standings are posted here. Remember these are overall series standings and NOT placings from one individual race. See how the series is scored here. Team standings will be updated later this week.

– CCC series sponsor CX Magazine is having a race report writing contest. Check it out here.

– Finally… did we mention the race day schedule is changing? Make sure you’re there on time for your race!

Sorry for the delay… CCC overall standings through Dekalb/Hopkins Park are posted here.
Full results for Dekalb and Jackson Park will be posted to the ICA and USAC websites tomorrow.

Also, for those of you still wondering… we think this photo perfectly captures the essence of what CX is all about! Noise, fun, grass, dirt, rowdiness, running, yelling, screaming, drums (?), sideburns, probably some beer in there… and oh yeah, bikes! We bet this kid is hooked for life.

More photos by Jason Henry here.

Hi all,

Thanks for all of your help and emails in sorting out the results from Jackson Park. They were very helpful in sorting out the discrepancies.

We’ve had a chance to look through the revised results and have posted final results for the Women 1/2/3 and Masters 50+ races here. Almost final results for the Men 3, Masters 40+, and Masters 30+ races have also been posted, but we still have a few more tweaks to make. These changes will be done tonight (Monday). Please take a look through and email us at [email protected] if you still have issues. No further changes will be made after Tuesday.

Final and full results for all placings will be posted to the Illinois Cycling Association website (www.illinoiscycling.org) and USAC later this week… so if you weren’t in the top 30 you can see where you placed.

Also, we know not all of your CX team names have flowed through to the USAC database yet, so if we’re missing your team name or your road/mtb name is still showing up, let us know and we’ll update the standings for the team competition.

Thanks again for your patience and understanding in this matter.

– CCC Directors and Promoters

PS – Congrats on all of the CCC racers who traveled behind the Cheddar Curtain this past weekend for the Planet Bike Cup. Looks like the weather and racing were fantastic! We haven’t seen any official results yet, but we heard at least one Chicago native won their race on Sunday!

Hi all,

We’re sure you’ve all been wondering what’s going on with the Master 40+, Men 3, Masters 50+, and Women 1/2/3 results from Jackson Park.

1. First off, we’re very, very sorry these results have been so delayed. The CCC directors and xXx put on what we thought was a great race and there was one small, albeit very important, piece of the puzzle that went missing somewhere around 11:45am on Sunday… that being timely results for the first 2 start waves.
2. What Happened? Plain and simple… too many of you showed up! The CCC and USAC officials were planning on more growth in the number of riders in this year’s CCC, but we vastly underestimated how much more (130 more starters than in 2008!). Consequently we all were completely inundated with the number of riders. Thankfully pre-reg helped (a lot) and we got everyone started on time, but we unfortunately did not have enough officials to properly run the race that day.
3. What Happened Next? After the 30+/40+ race there were a few protests in the 40+ results. Nothing new there… but that pulled away one of the 4 officials away from the finish line to deal with the protests. Already being shorthanded that left only 2 officials (1 official runs the race and does not score) to score the Men 3, 50+, and Women 1/2/3 race. These 2 officials did the best they could, but were overwhelmed by the 90+ riders who were on the course at that time.
4. So then what? Luckily the next race was the Women 4 and Juniors (the smallest race of the day) and the officials got back on track, but the damage was already done for the 11am race.
5. Okay, so now what? We’ve been in constant contact (read: every day since Sunday) with the USAC officials trying to rectify the situation and come to an acceptable conclusion. As you’re reading this all 4 officials are going back over their notes from that day and re-scoring the 11am races. As soon as they’re done (they all have day jobs too you know) the USAC IL Technical Director (Dave Fowkes) and the CCC Directors will compare all of the re-scored races and produce final results. Please be advise this will likely not happen until early next week… but will be done in time for Dekalb.
6. What is the CCC and USAC doing to correct the problem? For the rest of the season every CCC race will have at least 5 officials. In cases where pre-reg hits 275 riders USAC will add a 6th official. The CCC promoters are also discussing splitting up the first 2 races of the day into 3 races. Something to the tune of 40+/Women 123, 30+/50+, and Men 3.
7. What about chip timing? Chip timing is not the holy grail that everyone thinks it is. The CCC took a serious look at chip timing last year and determined it would cost at least $7 to $8 per rider, per race. Last year’s Montrose race did not cost extra because the company was demo’ing the equipment for us (with poor results). If however the CCC promoters were to purchase chips and run the system themselves, the biggest problem is not really the cost, but the manpower needed to distribute and collect the chips, the space needed to store them, and then the people to run the equipment. The CCC is still a small organization with limited resources. If we had the time, money, and human resources to have chip timing and a FinishLynx camera at every race we’d be doing it… but the reality is that’s not going to happen, at least not this year.
8. Is there anything I can do to help the current situation? Yes! If you raced in one of the affected races and know where you placed, please email us at [email protected] and let us know the race you were in, your name, place, and bib # if you still remember (if not we can look that up). We will then compare these emails when we compare the results from the officials. We’re not letting you pick your own place though… if you think you got 4th, but all the officials say you got 14th, then its obvious where you’re getting place, so please only serious replies.
9. What can I do to help going forward? Get involved! IL needs officials and will likely have an introductory seminar sometime this fall. Even though there are 60+ officials in the Chicago area, take a look at the start/finish line at every road, track, and cross race and you’ll see the same 7 or 8 faces every time. We can’t have 30% growth in racers without a corresponding increase in officials. Think its easy to score a CX race? Hang out at the finish line, introduce yourself to the officials, and give it a try… scoring CX might actually be harder than racing itself!

Thanks again for all of your patience and understanding in this matter. We’ve already received many emails about the race, and with only one or two exceptions everyone has started off by saying how great of a course (thanks Greg Heck!) it was and how much fun they had (big thanks to these guys!). We know we have to get that last mile covered and we’re on it. Believe us, if anyone is frustrated by the situation its us.

See you all at Dekalb!
CCC Directors and Promoters
[email protected]

What can we say??? Wow!
Today was the largest Chicago Cross Cup race… ever.

406 of you crazy crossers toed the line today and it was amazing. At one point during my own race, I thought I was in the middle of a Texas high school football pep-rally with all the cheering, cowbells, honking horns (thanks Newt), whistles, more cheering, more cowbells, a “DJ”… and the list goes on and on. xXx Racing was even cooking up brats and funnel cakes. I think the best line heard all day was from Pony Shop owner and 30+ racer Lou Kuhn who took time during his race to exclaim… “Its no fair we have to wait 9 months to have this much fun!”

We know we have a few kinks to work out, especially with the scoring, as it seems we’re a victim of our own success and have grown into a monster. Please be patient as we figure these things out. If you have any constructive criticism or ideas you think will help with any aspect of the races… please send them our way. We’re always looking for help too, so please contact us at [email protected] if you’d like to lend a hand!

Final results and CCC overall standings will be posted as soon as possible this week (hopefully tomorrow). Results are posted for all fields except the 40+, Men 3, 50+, and Women 1/2/3. Just a reminder you can always find the link the overall standings here and how the Cup is scored here. We know some of your team names, etc are missing or may not be updated from the road season. As the USAC database is updated this info will be updated.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to race, cheer, and have a great cross time.
Good luck to all of your heading up behind the Cheddar curtain to race the USGP in Madison next weekend.

The CCC will be back in 2 weeks in Dekalb for the Hopkins Park race hosted by North Central Cyclery and Half Acre Cycling. As always, pre-reg’ing is suggested.

– CCC Directors and Promoters

Hi all,

Several of you have asked questions regarding pre-registration and the increased costs for the Chicago Cyclocross Cup (CCC) this season so we’d like to address them all here.

1. First off, thank you all for racing and for all of your comments. Not to sound cliché but the CCC truly values all of your opinions and we try to improve the CCC every year based on rider input. We want to have the most challenging and fun CX series as possible and your feedback is absolutely essential for us to deliver on that idea.
2. None of the CCC directors, promoters, or volunteers are compensated for their work and none of us are forced to do what we do. We all are involved because we love ‘cross and want to have a lot of fun. In addition to jobs, families, etc (and occasionally playing in the dirt ourselves) there is a lot of hard work that goes into making the CCC happen every year and there are only so many of us. We encourage anyone who is unsatisfied or wants to help to get involved with the CCC.
3. The number one complaint we heard from racers in 2008 (besides the lack of mud?) were that results were both untimely and incorrect. While overall there weren’t really that many issues, the CCC is making every effort this year to have results done correctly first… and then also quickly after the end of each race. Remember the officials are standing out in the cold all day (you only have to race for less than an hour) and basically volunteering too (their compensation is ridiculously small). Keeping track of 75 riders all over a cross course is not an easy thing to do. If you doubt it, we invite you to try it some time.
4. Which brings us to pre-registration. Compiling results does not start when the first person crosses the finish line, but rather when the first person registers for the race. Preregistration is not, and will likely never be, mandatory for any CCC race. But just as the ICA did on the road this summer, the CCC is trying to incentivize as many people as possible to pre-reg, to make the entire registration through results process better. The basic idea is “Garbage In, Garbage Out”. If we can’t read your chicken scratch handwriting on the release form, how can we be expected to score you in a race?
5. So what’s the catch? All fields (excluding juniors) will see a $5 increases in online registration from last year. Remember though that all CCC races have deeply discounted 2nd races… for only $10. We know this only really applies to masters racers and Cat 3’s, but we think being able to do two quality races for $40 within an hour drive from the city is a pretty good deal.
6. The nice round number of $5 was chosen to incorporate both the additional $1 USAC insurance fee charged to the promoter (up from $2 in 2008 to $3 in 2009) and the $2.80 BikeReg service fee. All CCC promoters will be absorbing the BikeReg online service charge so at the end of the day, the promoter is only gaining an extra $1.20. We could have asked promoters to increase their fees by $3.80, but we simply didn’t want anyone fumbling around for change in the cold in registration line while 20 other people are waiting behind… plus there would be no economic incentive to register online.
7. Anyone who has ever been promoted a race knows that bike races operate on the slimmest of margins. Even with an additional $1.20 per racer, no promoter is going to get rich and those additional monies are eventually plowed back into the race to make it a better event. If your gripe is that the promoters will be making more profit, remember that day-of registrations always bring in more money for the promoter since there is no online service fee and there is also an additional $5 late fee. So why wouldn’t you pre-reg?
8. Also remember that for most teams/clubs their race is their main fund raiser. In some cases (Woodstock) all of the profits go to charity, and in many cases the promoters are donating portions of registration fees back to World Bicycle Relief.
9. While probably 90% of you have used BikeReg for a road race this summer, we realize there may be a few hold outs. If you need help using BikeReg, shoot us an email at [email protected] and we’ll gladly help you through the process. However, we choose BikeReg.com because we think its hands down the easiest online registration site to use… and we know you’re all smart people anyway… why else would you be racing your bike in the dirt and mud in sub-zero temperatures?
10. BikeReg.com was chosen as the Illinois Cycling Association’s preferred online registration site after an extensive due diligence process to find the best online provider. While most online registration sites are similar in many ways, BikeReg is unique in that it:- Focuses only on bicycle racing (i.e. not running, triathlons, etc.),  Has a dedicated section of their site for the ICA (look for Illinois Cycling Assoc logo on the main page) and hence the CCC, Has many other relationships with local USAC associations, teams, and event series (including several CX series), and most importantly, Is giving back $0.25 of each racer service fee to the ICA to be put towards things like safety equipment, state championship jerseys, finish line cameras, computers, etc. So in a way, your registration dollars are coming back to you.

I hope the above points have helped you to understand why the CCC is using BikeReg.com this season and why there is an increase in registration fees.
If you have any questions, concerns, ideas, or just want to get involved, don’t hesitate to contact us directly at [email protected]!

Jason Knauff
Director – Chicago Cyclocross Cup
ICA Registration & Results Coordinator