– We hope everyone had a safe, fun, and happy Fourth of July. Now that the temps are finally warmed up, and the days are already getting shorter (wait, what?) its probably time to start thinking CX.

– Hey ladies… want to meet other female riders and racers in a friendly, low-key environment? CCC superstar and Miss October 2010 pin-up model Becky Welbes is hosting an event this Friday that’s great for seasoned cyclists as well as newbies—come with questions or just come ready to meet new friends, say hi to old ones and be a part of Chicago’s growing female cycling community. Already racing? Well just come and hang out, catch up with some friends off the bike, and maybe help out some newbies! All are welcome. There will be a raffle for a pair of Sidi Dominators, Chrome Bags, tune up packages, and a bunch of other cool stuff. See the Facebook invite here.

– Our friends to the north race CX too. Its been out for a while, but see the Wisconsin CX schedule.

– Are you old? Do you still like to race CX? Want to test your mettle against the best old guys in the world? Well then you better check the Eligibility Guidelines for 2012 Masters Cyclocross World Championships. Most importantly, note you’ll need a UCI international license.

– Speaking of eligibility… we’ll mentioned it several more times before the season is almost done, but if you want to race New Year’s Day at our New Year’s Resolution race, you’ll need to renew your USAC license for 2012. Yes, we know its only one day past 12/31/2011… but rules are rules and unfortunately we don’t make them, but we do have to enforce them. Luckily, you can painlessly renew your USAC license online for 2012 starting 12/1/2011 and the license will be good until 12/31/2012… so don’t get caught out.

– Speaking of rules… the UCI has made a few modifications to the CX rulebook for the 2011/2012 season. Most if not all of these changes do NOT affect us here in the CCC, but take a look and see all the red tape (not course tape) the pros have to deal with.

– Speaking of non-rules… we’ve updated our FAQ after recently answering a bunch of rider questions. Check it out first and see if you have any additional questions. CX Magazine also put together “Eight Tips for Starting Cyclocross“.

– And finally… on 6/30/11 USA Cycling announced a revamped system for call-ups at CX Nationals. We were told about USAC’s new proposed national ranking system when we attended the CX summit in late April, but at that time details were still being finalized. What we do know is that the new system depends on timely and accurate results, so the CCC will (of course) continue to submit results for all of our races to USAC immediately after each race so our riders will be ranked correctly. We will update everyone as USAC releases more details.