– Looks and sounds like everyone had a great time at Caldwell Woods hosted by xXx Racing-Athletico. Thanks to the entire xXx Racing crew but especially Kevin Corcoran and Alan Treuthart for pulling together a sweet new venue that has even more potential for next year. Give these men a high-five the next time you see them. To help make sure the Cook County Forest Preserve knows you enjoyed the venue and want it back next year, leave a message at http://www.FPDCC.com/contact/ tweet at them @FPDCC, or post on facebook.com/FPDCC.

– Next up the CCC heads west to Hopkins Park. Info for Hopkins Park is already here and look for the regular course update on Thursday with some tasty new bits.

– Caldwell Woods results are posted to USAC here and CCC Overall Standings are here.

– CCC Series t-shirts and beer koozies are for sale over on the store page.

– Concerning the starting times of the Single Speed vs. Junior 15-18 categories, we are reviewing the situation and will make a decision by Thursday.

– Say hello to a few new 2014 series sponsors who just joined up last week.

 Yojimbo’s Garage – Yojimbo’s Garage is a single-location, brick and mortar bicycle shop on Chicago’s near North side established in 1997.

 

TENSPEED HERO – Unable to sell capes – at least until we find a way to fly, TENSPEED HERO works up a sweat crafting cycling gear for you to sweat in. We picture steep cliffs, hot tarmac, and breezy coasts as we design with primary colours and other ones, too. Always considering a cyclist’s swiftness and deft determination, if our small friend-based company had a board of directors it would be called the wheel of directors. Together in vibrant regalia, we aim to keep you awake and dreaming.

 Newins Illinois Vehicle Auto Insurance – Newins Illinois Vehicle Auto Insurance is a leading Chicagoland based insurance agency dedicated to helping customers find affordable and convenient auto insurance that suits their lifestyle.

 Red Writing gets attention and gets to the point. Red Writing delivers compelling copywriting, technical writing, and information design for Web sites, marketing, training, and reference materials.

 

– Speaking of series sponsors, we have several outstanding photographers who are out there each weekend grabbing snaps of everyone. If you want to use their photos, always make sure to give them credit for their work. And if you really want to help these folks out purchase one (or more!) of their photos.

– The Bonebell and SRAM are excited to present the Big Marsh Mashdown, an informational event geared toward showing riders around the Big Marsh Bike Park Project. On Saturday October 18th there will be site tours and raffles paired with casual racing for everyone to see what Big Marsh is and learn about what it will be—a world-class bike park on Chicago’s south side! Volunteers have been hard at work cutting trails for the day’s three fun races, which are each open to all skill levels and all off-road bicycles. Race proceeds will benefit Friends of Big Marsh. Registration is open here.

– We hear your concerns about the new bib numbers ripping at the edges, but the old Tyvek ones used to do the same thing if you pinned them through the little holes at the corners. Instead watch this video for the correct way to pin a number. You should only need 4 pins, maybe 6, but really no more than that. That being said, if you are the type of person who “falls down go boom” a lot, bring your own pins and use as many as you need to keep that number on your jersey.

– And finally… it seems we have to remind at least a few of you every year at this time the difference between heckling and just being a jerk. Please don’t be a jerk. If you need a refresher, see the CCC’s guidelines here, Psimet’s post here, or Ryan Kelly’s words of wisdom here. Its totally cool if you and your friends call each other POS’s in private, but when you’re out in public, where there are young kids and people not familiar with CX and heckling, doing so makes you look obnoxious and the rest of us like fools. We’re not saying don’t heckle. But when the best you can do is “You suck!” or some variant, do us all a favor and just don’t say anything. Instead, ring your cowbell haarder and come back next week when you have something more creative, funny, supportive, funny, crowd pleasing, or yes… funny to yell. So in short, be excellent to each other and party on dudes!