– Its August, CX season is almost here!

– Speaking of, xXx Racing hosts the unofficial kick off to the season with their funasallgetout ‘JACKSON PARK TAGTEAM TWO PERSON RELAY CYCLOCROSS RACE‘ on Sunday 8/25/13. Grab a partner, throw a few High-5’s, and get into the CX swing of things. More details to follow and online pre-reg should be open soon opens Fri morning at 12:01am on BikeReg.

– Speaking of BikeReg, make sure to update your rider profile with your USAC license number (no, PENDING is NOT sufficient), and then take a look here and set your alarm clocks.

– Rob Kelley has developed a training program via Training Peaks for the the Chicago Cross Cup. See here for the training plan and Rob’s website at www.ROKcoaching.com. Rob has coached a bunch of folks through the CCC for a few years and he says he has a lot of confidence in his schedule. The core philosophy is based on Joe Friel’s method of periodization…tried and true.

– Spots are still available for the Tim Johnson/Pete Webber CX clinic. Sign up today or be chasing your competitors around all season.

– UPDATE 1: Verdigris is also a hosting a Junior CX Clinic on Saturday, 8/17/13 from 10AM – 12PM at Melas Park in Arlington Heights with David Lombardo. Space will be limited to 30 juniors. More details to come.
– UPDATE 2: Reg is open on BikeReg here! David Lombardo will share some of his Euro Cross Camp & other high level junior experience to lead the camp with the assistance of Chris Lombardo, SRAM’s Scott McLaughlin, Tim Boundy, and other VVCX team members. Topics discusses will be equipment fit, bike handling, barrier technique, training tips, etc.

– A group of downstate race promoters are starting the Heart of Illinois Cyclocross (HICX) race series.  Most races will be on Saturdays. See the Facebook page here. The first race in the series is Patriot CX in Rantoul on 9/7/13 and reg is open. This is the third time Wild Card Cycling is hosting this race. This year along with the usual great prizes, all racers will get raffle tickets for a set of Easton Carbon 38mm clincher wheels. Other races are:
Peoria on 10/26/13 by Bushwhacker
Peoria on 11/9/13
Bloomington Miller Chill 12/15/13

More information to follow as the races get closer. HICX is also working on adding additional races.

– If you’d like to be a 2013 CCC series sponsor please get in touch with us ASAP. Details are here.

– And finally… We know many of you are already heading out for mid-week CX practices in your local park or forest preserve. While the CCC does not promote or condone these practices we would ask that you use good judgement and common sense when using our public spaces. Don’t ride after a good rain, don’t buzz or ride exceptionally close to other park users (especially children), stay away from chronically wet areas, etc, etc, etc. We all share these public spaces and it only takes one disgruntled, very vocal, non-CX’ing park user to make it difficult for our race promoters to host their races in other parks. Make sense? Cool! Plus, its still summer and you can do your intervals on the road!

– Two weeks in a row!

– They’re back! For the 4th year in a row Iron Cycles returns as the 2013 CCC Series Title Sponsor. Thanks to Brandon and his crew for stepping up yet again. We’ll have more announcements regarding Iron Cycles in the weeks to come.

– Also back for another year, but now officially, the Beverly Bike-Vee Pak crew will be the official EMS and First Responders for all CCC races. If you fall down go boom, just look for the white medic tent near the BBVP tent. Oh, and these guys race hard too, so thank them for taking care of your boo-boos.

– Spidermonkey Cycling sends in an update concerning the Tim Johnson & Pete Webber CX Clinic and tells us there are only 14 spots left for the advanced, 15 for intermediate/beginner tracks. Also this clinic is of course open to junior racers and Tim Johnson’s MudFund will support four scholarship spots  for athletes ages 14-19… two girls, two boys. To apply, send an email to [email protected] describing how a scholarship to the camp would help you reach your cyclocross goals. Include the event you are applying for, your name and contact information, CX race age for 2013, actual age, racing category and racing history. For riders under 18 actual age, please include your parent’s contact info. Please apply as soon as possible, final deadline for applications is 14 days prior to each camp… which is Friday 8/9/2013 for the Chicago clinic.

– Ultimate Pro Bikes in Countryside, IL is seeking a part-time sales associates and service techs. Candidates must be passionate about cycling and be dedicated to excellent customer service and quality of work.  Please submit resume with salary history and references to [email protected].

– And finally, we are always amazed how many people volunteer and work tirelessly behind the scenes to make all the races in the CCC happen every year… but the series could always use a little extra help. If you have some time to lend a hand, especially to help set up before racing begins or afterwards to help break down, please let us know. There is no monetary compensation, but we can make race discounts happen.

– Holy cow, the weather has made a turn for the worse better in the last week. We went from 90+ degrees and the worst drought in 80 years to 60’s, rain, wind, more rain, lots of clouds, and more rain. CX must be on the big man upstairs mind!

– The CoEd open field is filled up for next weekend’s (wait, what, already?) xXx Racing CX Relay Race. There are still plenty of spots in all other categories, but please, please, please, please, please Pre-Reg and don’t wait to reg day of. Pre-reg is always easier on everyone, but its especially helpful at the Relay.

– Speaking of BikeReg, make sure to update your rider profile now, especially your USAC license number. PENDING is not a valid license number!

– Calling all Sponsors. While we’ll gladly accept sponsors any time during the season, we need to finalize the sponsor list by August 31st in order to get everyone’s logos on the t-shirts. That’s the long way of saying, if  you’d like to sponsor the series, please get in touch with us as soon as possible!

– Hey, did you all hear there’s a big race in Louisville next year… and that a certain someone will be there?

– And finally… when did you all get so creative with your team names?

– The last few series sponsors are coming. If you’d like to be a 2011 series sponsor (or at least have your logo on the t-shirts) we need to know this week.

 
 – MNO Chiropractic joins the CCC sponsorship family after doing a few races and grabbing a few hand ups in the Cat 4’s. Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician Alan Stoughton with his partners offer the best in diagnosis and natural treatment of sports injuries in Kane and McHenry Counties. Life is a sport, stay in the game with MNO!

– Online pre-reg for all 2011 CCC races are now live on BikeReg.com except for the as-yet-to-be-rename/relocated Northbrook race. We have good word from promoter Chris Henning that a location is just about locked in and we’ll let you know as soon as more details and pre-reg are available.

– Speaking of pre-reg, our friends to the West in Iowa have opened reg for Jingle Cross and our friends to the North have opened reg for Badger CX.

– Also in “other CX races in the area” Patriot CX promoter Karl C has an incentive for all of you on the fence about visiting Rantoul this weekend in the form of a “Bring a friend special“… sign up for Patriot CX on Bikereg.com and bring a friend… they race for $5. Email Karl your name and friend’s name and racing category. Pay the $5 at the race. Emil Karl at [email protected].

– In still other pre-reg news, registration closes at 11am on Friday for Half Acre’s Womens’ & Trans Cyclocross Clinic. The beginner session is filled but there is still room in the Intermediate/Advanced session. The CCC will likely stop by to say hi and we hope as many ladies as possible show up to sharpen their CX skills with American U23 CX champion Kaitlin Antonneau and French national CX champion Caroline Mani.

– Speaking of ladies, our buds at Thought You Knew (TyK) are working on their 2012 pin-up calendar and are on Kickstarter.com (with a kick arse video) to help fund their venture. Donate a few dollars (they’re half way already) and get yourself a calendar. Several CCC riders are again involved with the project. If you’ll be at Interbike next week TyK will be taking part in the Chrome/Momentum Fashion Show.

– A few of you have asked about when the CCC’s signature Mad Alchemy Embrocation blend… Pome d’Embre will be ready. We are happy to report (and if you’re on twitter you already know) that the stuff is done and en route to the midwest… and as soon as we figure out how to configure our PayPal account we’ll open up sales on the store page here.

– Speaking of CCC paraphernalia… don’t forget to vote for your favorite 2011 CCC Series T-shirt design. Voting ends this weekend and we are working with Spidermonkey Cycling and Think B!G Creations to have the shirts ready in time for distribution at Jackson Park. Like the embro we’ll open online sales soon on the store page here.

– Speaking of Jackson Park… there are less than 15 pre-reg spots still open in the Cat 4A race. All other categories are wide open… but please pre-reg to save us all time and hassle.

– In other CCC races news, a few updates from Psycho CX promoter Ted S for both the CCC series race on Saturday and his Friday night race. See the Psycho CX website here.  Ted also encourages all racers on Friday night to bring their own lighting system(s). In other news, Ted also plans to host a nighttime Time Trial next summer and a bikini pageant for the ladies this coming February at CX World Championships in Koksijde, Belgium.

– And finally… they won’t be ready until mid season… but the 2011 series SockGuy socks will be black wool with a 9″ cuff and look approximately like the image below. Online sales for <120 pairs will be on the store page here… but when they’re gone… they’re gone.

Oh man, less than 3 weeks until the xXx Relay Race… less than 6 weeks until the official start of the CCC at Jackson Park. There’s lots going on all over the place and this update is a big one… fasten your seat belts and please read all the way to the bottom.

– The CCC is still accepting 2011 series sponsors. If you’d like to be involved please email us at [email protected].
 – EJ’s Place in Skokie returns to sponsor the CCC for what seems like the 82nd time. EJ’s will be sponsoring the overall series prizes for the Juniors (10-14 and 15-18, Boys and Girls). All juniors still race free (no entry fees) thanks to our generous promoters.

 
– Spidermonkey Cycling. New to (officially) sponsoring the CCC is Spidermonkey Cycling who will be supplying the Juniors prizes every week (10-14 and 15-18, Boys and Girls). Make sure to swing by the big yellow and orange 312 tent and say Ka-Kaw!

 
– Pactimo. New this year the CCC will award Pactimo Leaders Jerseys to the Cat 4A, Cat 4 Women, and both Juniors categories. The overall leader in each of those 4 categories will receive a Pactimo Leaders Jersey after each race that they will be required to wear at the next CCC race (in that category… so if you’re a woman or junior racing in another category you do NOT wear your Pactimo Leaders Jersey from the Women 4 or Junior races). We’re starting out with just the Cat 4’s and Juniors since we realize the masters and higher categories like their team skinsuits. But if things go well this year we’ll expand the Pactimo Leaders Jerseys to other categories in 2012.

– The New Year’s Resolution race sponsorship proposal is now available here. If you’d like to have your name in bright lights at a UCI race the week before CX Nationals email us at [email protected].

– Apparently you all really do want to race CX. Online pre-reg for xXx Racing’s Relay Race is already starting to fill up.

– CCC series races that are already permitted have online pre-reg opening now. We match rider information to your USAC license number so please make sure to update your BikeReg.com rider profiles as needed. Online pre-reg for all other CCC races will be available as those races are permitted by each individual promoter (likely very soon).

– Online pre-reg for Patriot CX is also open. Jason Rassi will allegedly be in attendance.

– If you’re new to CX remember you can race at your USAC (or NORBA mountain bike equivalent) category or one category below. For example, if you are a Cat 3 on the road you can race as a CX Cat 3 or CX Cat 4. There are no Cat 5’s in CX. All upgrades must be submitted to the USAC upgrade coordinator via your MyUSACycling account. See USAC’s page on the subject here. The CCC is not in the business of forcing riders to upgrade… but any egregious sandbagging will be dealt with accordingly.

– Got kids? Two entrepreneurial young ladies whose parents race CX have started Cyclo-Cross Sitters to watch your infant to teenage children at races (so there is no excuse NOT to race). Contact the Cyclo-Cross Sitters here.

– The great thing about CX is that every year each course changes from the year before, making it Feel Like the First Time. Sometimes just a little bit, other times quite a lot. But the same general terrain at each venue does stay the same from year to year. Since so many new people try CX each year we thought it would be a great idea to consolidate in one place all the helmet/handlebar camera videos from over the years to get a general idea of what each venue “feels” like. It turns out there are a ton of videos out there… but thankfully local Cat 4 lady racer and professional Andy Schleck TDF heckler Vanessa Buccella (Spidermonkeys) has a PhD in YouTube searching techniques and helped us scour the Interwebs for the best videos. Check them out here. Also as we mentioned, courses change every year, so please do NOT try to pre-ride courses now… they won’t be the same anyway, you’ll have plenty of time to pre-ride on race day, and most importantly some park groundskeepers are very sensitive about their grass.

– Half Acre Cycling hosts their Ladies Cross Skills Clinic on Saturday 9/10/11 in Humboldt Park. In addition to Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com’s Kaitie Antonneau, French CX National Champ Caroline Mani will help lead the clinic. Please RSVP on FB here.

– We’re still looking for entries for the 2011 CCC series T-Shirt & Sock design competition.  Entries are due by midnight on Sunday August 14th (less than 1 week from now!). Otherwise we’ll need to design these things ourselves… and no one likes stick figures.

– The CCC tries to be as green as possible and one sore spot we’ve recognized over the years has been the large number of Tyvek bib numbers that end up in landfills because of our weekly bike parties. This year the CCC will do its best to recycle old bib #’s using these Tyvek recycling kits from Waste Management. If you’d like to help us out by either purchasing kits or helping to gather old bib #’s at each race please let us know.

– And finally… Last year more and more promoters starting having food vendors at their races to literally feed the hungry masses. A few trips to a city taco stand that serves killer margaritas got us to thinking maybe we could have even more options at races this year. Food trucks are all the rage these days and the CCC (through some friends who know a guy who knows a guy) have an inside line on getting this truck and this truck (designer cupcake handups?) to some of the city races. But if you have a favorite food truck or trucks you’d like to see at the races, the next time you’re chowing down on a taco, burger, cupcake, fro-yo, hot dog, etc… print out a few of these schedules and invite the driver to stop by. Tell him/her over 500 ravenous skinny people on bikes will buy them out of whatever they’re serving!

– And finally… FINALLY… the CCC and long time friends at Mad Alchemy Embrocation have been thinking for a while the CCC is ready for its own embro blend and this year our collaboration finally came to fruition. We asked around to see what scent you all preferred to slather on your legs and responses varied from fresh cut grass to pumpkin spice to bacon to Jack Daniels to Twinkies. Fortunately for your significant others and co-workers Pete at Mad Alchemy told us he will only work with the highest quality, all natural, essential oils (we thought bacon WAS an essential oil). But in the end MsChiCrossCup had a spark of genius that led to the final blend we’re calling the Chicago Cyclocross Cup Pome d’Embre Embrocation blend. We think you’ll all really enjoy the scent of the blend that is evocative of Autumn and the holiday season and can’t wait to get the stuff on your legs. Mad Alchemy’s brew monster is working overtime getting ready for CX season but the CCC custom blend should be available soon over on the store page. We’ll let you know as soon as it is!

– xXx Racing kicks off the Chicagoland CX season with their Jackson Park Relay race. Reg opens on BikeReg.com tomorrow! Make sure to read the rules on how to register and how the high fives work. We look forward to seeing everyone there!

– Online reg for Patriot Cross is already open on BikeReg. This will be a great race just outside of Chicagoland to sharpen your knobbies ahead of the full CCC series. On top of the cash payouts promoter Wildcard Racing has secured over $2,000 of  extra prizes and tells us call-ups will be based on reg order. Special call ups for anyone in “patriotic dress”. We’re not sure if something like this or this would count, but we’re guessing it wouldn’t hurt.

– Speaking of online pre-reg, we’re sure you all are chopping at the bit to reg for the series. Online reg for all CCC races will once again be on BikeReg.com (same it with us… Reg… like REGistration) and will be open in the next few weeks for most races. While we would love to offer a season pass for all races, please remember each race is hosted by a different promoter and we’ve got too much going on to keep track of transferring money all over the place… so you’ll still need to reg for each race separately. Thank you for understanding.

– Half Acre Cycling hosts their Ladies Cross Skills Clinic on Saturday 9/10/11 in Humboldt Park. In addition to semi-local superstar Kaitie Antonneau, French CX National Champ Caroline Mani will help lead the clinic. Please RSVP on FB here.

– The CCC is still accepting 2011 series sponsors. If you’d like to be involved please drop us a message at [email protected].

– We know it might seem like there hasn’t been much activity here at the CCC, but we have at least a half dozen projects we’re working on for the upcoming season. We’re finalizing details this week on many of them, so check back next Tuesday for updates on things like… something new for overall series leaders, course previews, incentives for juniors, bib #’s, smelly smellies, food trucks, and more!

– 2011 CCC series T-Shirt & Sock design competition entries are due by midnight on Sunday August 14th (2 weeks from now). Anyone can submit designs and anyone can win.

– Apparently in France they have ‘cross races on the sides of mountains!

– And finally… we always like to think of the CCC as one big, crazy family… so we’d like to officially welcome the newest member of the PonyShop CX Team U1 Age group, Maxwell Klug, into the (CX) world. Mom Holly is doing great and Dad Kevin has already been back out doing interval workouts. Congrats to you all!

– Just a few quick updates this week.

– Half Acre Cycling continues to support ladies cyclocross with their Women’s skills clinic on September 10th 2011 in Humboldt Park. Just announced last week current women’s U23 CX champ Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld) will help lead the clinic.

– The xXx Racing Relay race will be on Saturday Sunday August 28th. Check out the race’s FB page for updates.

– The 2011 CCC series T-Shirt & Sock design competition entries are due by midnight on Sunday August 14th (3 weeks from now). Anyone can submit designs (shirts and socks can and probably should be different) and anyone can win.

– CCC series sponsor Mad Alchemy will have a new CX Vegas flavor available September 1. The new scent sounds delightful and we wonder what other new blends MAE might have up their sleeves… or rather leg warmers.

– And finally… while this may not be CX we think everyone can appreciate the enthusiasm and creativity that goes into such an event… and we’re guessing all of these guys would easily fit into a CCC heckle crowd just fine. Congrats to Chicago native Nordic Thunder on his championship.