• Half Acre Cycling is once again excited to bring you Montrose Beach CX – also once again the Illinois State CX Championship race. Please read all of the info below for some important notes (yeah, it’s a lot).
  • Big thanks to our generous sponsors for helping make this event possible:
  • Registration is still open on BikeReg, where you can also pre-purchase limited edition posters for pickup on Sunday. The weather looks to be dry but brrrrrrrrr… and as always, the wind coming off the lake can be strong; please make sure to secure your tents.
  • Since this is both the Illinois State CX Championship AND CCC series finale, there are many, many, many podiums to get through. Please help the best announcer a race series could ask for keep things moving… if you are top three in the race or the series overall, report to the podium ASAP following your race. See below for how state champs will be awarded. Note the only real difference from last year is the Women Cat 4 state champ will be awarded from the Women Cat 4/5 instead of the Women Cat 3/4.
  • Staging: As the race is part of the CCC, we’ll follow standard protocols — the front row is staged by series points, every other row by CrossResults points.
  • PRELIMINARY staging will be posted here Saturday morning. If you see an error email us (we won’t be monitoring the comments here)
  • Here’s your friendly reminder that Montrose Beach is technically within Lincoln Park — a large city park where civilians who have no idea what us weirdos are doing WILL be coming through on their usual Sunday activities (the lakefront path cuts through the course). Yes, we’ll be celebrating the local finale of the best amateur cyclocross series; probably with drinks** and food (trucks) and more dranks**, but please be on your best behavior and show the locals what a classy bunch we are; and always race with your head UP.
    • ** And now let us pause for the annual message from the fun police … it’s Chicago Park District property and alcohol is NOT permitted.
  • We have two great food truck options this year with Aztec Dave’s tacos returning with veggie options, and Soul & Smoke BBQ. (Unfortunately Firecake’s donut truck Billy suffered a mechanical and is unable to attend this time, so BYO coffee/breakfast).
  • Simonds Drive is closed to thru-traffic and parking* within the barricades is restricted. Regular parking is along Simonds Drive and Montrose Drive either to the northwest or southeast, exiting the way you came in. Per the Chicago Park District, NO DRIVING ON THE GRASS OR PATHS, ANYWHERE! We cannot emphasize this point enough and yet still have vehicles break this rule. Please adhere to parking marshals’ instructions regarding your vehicle parking and movements.
  • Speaking of parking, a few parking spots within the barricades* are available with a donation on BikeReg to help defray the overall event costs. Entry for this is from the NORTH END of Simonds drive — check in with the nice volunteers and show your receipt. (If you have a trailer please count that as a second space).
  • Teams may drop off tents/equipment at either end of Simonds Drive The driver must remain with the vehicle to expedite unloading and keep traffic flowing, just like at the airport. It’s usually a high-volume operation with everyone coming at the same time, so help your teammates.
  • Speaking of team tent placement, please see the map below with areas designated for tent placement. We have reasons for this, some of which are specific Park District requests. Please help us in keeping this venue and stick to where we have marked tents.
  • All are welcome to drop/place tents and other large items on Saturday afternoon! However, HAC, USAC, CPD, DCASE, et al. cannot and will not take responsibility for anything left overnight, so make sure it’s secured/laid down/tied down. And hey, stick around to lend a helping hand with course setup.
  • Speaking of helping hands, every race could use a few more hands, especially for course marshaling spots required of the super important lakefront path crossings. Volunteers get free lunch! Sign-up here.
  • We understand the desire to pre-ride, especially with so many CCC’ers living nearby. However, we kindly request you DO NOT RIDE the course before the event, especially during setup on Saturday, to enable course construction AND to keep it in nice condition for game day. Again, drop the bike and pick up some course stakes and tape to help — it takes a village!
  • The course:
  • YES, we are aware there is bridge construction. Because of this we have to shift the start farther southeast, and have a gentle curve before turning onto the grass via the ramp transition. Again, please stay friendly with your fellow racers at the start; remembering that you can’t win the race here, but you can ruin it.
  • A full-size pit with race and change lanes, and neutral service provided by Ben and Steven from Tailwind Cycles. Bring cash for tips if they help/save your race.
  • The loss of off-camber bits have been replaced by some fun use of the natural sand dunes. We will have a couple of course modifications for the young juniors and the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab Adaptive category.
  • Finally, the finish has relocated to the walking path location used in the past, so heads up for spectators crossing, and please use caution when you are a spectator crossing.