Photo:Ed White

– Thanks again to Beverly Bike-Vee Pak and Region Racing for another great race at Dan Ryan Woods. This year’s course may have been the best so far, so we can’t wait to see next year’s torture over the hill and through the woods. Thanks also to everyone who came out and raced, cheered, snapped photos, heckled, etc.

– This coming weekend is the first of the CCC’s two double weekends at Psycho Cross and Carpentersville. Online pre-reg closes on BikeReg.com on Wednesday and Thursday night at midnight respectively.  But before the weekend even gets started you have a chance to race in the dark at Psycho Cross After Dark. Additional details at PsychoCrossChicago.com.

– The new staging system worked better than we hoped and from your comments it seems you all liked it as well. Huge thanks to Jim Brady (The Pony Shop), Cliff Golz (The Pony Shop), Lew Chin (Rhythm Racing), and Nathan Schneeberger (Johnny Sprockets) and our USAC officials for helping to make it all happen so well on the first try. Thanks also to you the riders for helping us work out a few minor kinks. We will continue with the same procedure for the rest of the season. The only race that will be slightly different will be the State Championships at Montrose Harbor to accommodate down state riders who can’t make it up to Chicago every weekend (details to come). Please continue to submit your constructive criticism comments here on the site or directly through our email address because, you know, we’re committed to making the series better in every way possible and we need your suggestions to do so.

Upgrades: If you upgrade please send us a note at [email protected] so we can make sure to transfer your points for staging for you. Remember half of your points travel with you to the next category if you do so before Carpentersville. See the Series Rules/FAQ page for details.

– The Active Transportation Alliance is having their 25th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, October 13. Word has it that John & Christian Vande Velde and Robbie & Lori Ventura will be there. No reports yet of bacon or Twinkies.

– Friends of the series REKLAIM apparel have a Kickstarter associated with World Bicycle Relief... The Calling. Check it out here and donate if you can.

– – The Spidermonkeys will be back and distributing CCC 2011 series t-shirts and Mad Alchemy custom embro at Carpentersville. Socks will be available next week at Sunrise Park.

– An unidentified rider was spotted at DRW who we have never seen before.

– Two riders we do know were seen and we’re happy to see them together again.

– We saw a few crashes on Sunday. Here’s why you should always, always, always wear your helmet any time you are on your bike.

– The course preview for Saturday’s Psycho Cross race will be posted tomorrow (Wednesday). Sunday’s Carpentersville race will be posted at the regular time on Thursday.

– And finally… we here at the CCC don’t talk much about the really, really, really fast guys all that much, but this story from Sunday caught our attention as we think it exemplifies the spirit we see every weekend in CCC races. Whether its the fastest Cat 1 or a mid pack Cat 4B we all are out there having fun, achieving goals, and making memories. Fantastic ride Scott, and if you need a new derailleur, we know a local company who might be able to help you out.

Photo: Ed White