– New this season the CCC website will feature a Coach’s Corner post every Wednesday from ROK Coaching with articles on training, racing, recovery, etc. Coach Rob Kelley has been in and around cyclocross for a long time and has developed a 16 week CX training plan here which starts this week. Take a look to get stronger and faster for the CCC.

– The xXx Racing-Athletico CX Relay race is coming up this Sunday in Jackson Park. Even if you can’t or don’t want to race, the venue is so close to the city you should swing down and check it out. Pre-reg has filled for Juniors and the Coed Open fields, but there are still a few spots open in the other categories. Please pre-reg on BikeReg.com for this event before it closes tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:45pm CST. Good luck to all the teams racing, especially those named ‘Hurt Ponies’ and ‘Kevin/Tom’.

– Speaking of BikeReg, right after the CX Relay please make sure to update your BikeReg.com rider profile with, at the very least, your USAC license number (we use these to score the regular season CCC races) and all other relevant info. Even if you had a USAC license number in the past but are racing on a One Day license this year, keep your USAC license number in your profile. If your info is not correct in BikeReg we can’t score the series correctly. The reg pages for regular season CCC races will be online soon.

– Speaking of pre-registration and specifically entry fees for Junior races, all CCC races will charge entry fees for Junior races during the 2014 season. As much as we didn’t want to have to do this, last year we found a large number of Juniors (way more than any other category) pre-registered and then did not start (DNS) their races. In some cases 50% of Juniors DNS’d. With the Women Cat 4/Junior field selling out at many venues this led not only to some women not being able to pre-reg, but also large lines at the reg desk as waitlisted riders who showed up to race had to wait again to get in the race. However, since we do not want to penalize the Juniors who actually do show up to race, the CCC is instituting a reimbursement policy. If a Junior (racing in the Junior races) pre-reg’s for >= 4 races and actually shows up to race at least 75% of those races, at the end of the season they can request a reimbursement from the CCC for the full amount of the reg fees of the races they actually raced. We’ll have more details spelled out on the Series Rules and FAQs page soon.

– Also speaking of BikeReg, Half Acre Cycling is hosting a Women’s & Tran’s Beginner CX Clinic. If you have never raced or have one or two under your belt and want to brush up on your skills, join the Half Acre women’s cx squad for a fun morning in the park! Raffle prizes and snacks included!! Mmmm, snacks.

– Even more concerning BikeReg, as promised last week, here is more information about Beverly Bike/Vee Pak’s Saturday 10/11/14 schedule. The Beverly HILLS 5K trail run will begin at 10am on the same course as their cross race. You can register on RunReg here. At 12:00 the fun gets real with the half day cyclocross schedule. The course will be a slight variation of Sunday’s and will include a bunny hop competition! Think of a reverse limbo on a bike. Let’s see who can really fly! Registration for Saturday’s cross race will be open when Sunday’s CCC race goes live, sometime in the next few weeks.

– And finally… we hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer. Cross will be here soon enough so by all means practice your remounts, and turns, and starts, and heckles… but before you have to explain to both your non-cycling friends what cyclocross is every weekend and why you have so many bruises on your legs and are walking a little funny… please enjoy the summer weather before it is gone all too quickly.