• #CamptonCX is back, brought to you by Training Bible Cycling, Bicycle Heaven, and the CCC. It is one of the original ChiCrossCup races and the best Halloween party on two wheels.
• The course will be back to it’s original direction and with a couple of fun little additions at Anderson Park in Campton Township (5N180 Brown Rd, Campton Hills, IL 60175).
• Preliminary staging will be posted here on Friday: https://goo.gl/mQkuaE
• There will be a food vendor on site selling brats (from Reams!), vegetarian chili, all beef hot dogs, sausage/egg/cheese croissants, muffins, fruit, pop and water.
• The Costume Contest is on!!
  • Rule #1, you have to race in your costume.
  • Rule #2 is that there are no more rules.
• There is plenty of parking on site. Please do not ride or drive on the grass surrounding the course. We hate having to kick our CX sisters and brothers off of the grass, and would doubly hate to have to use our potato launcher.
• There is a bike path just north of the park that is great for a warm up.
• The course: Running anti-clockwise with many of the classic rad Campton features and a new route through the woods. As always the final route could be different on Sunday.

• Rain, wind, cold… that was some “traditional” cyclocross weather at ABD Sunrise Park. Thanks to Jim Nowak and the entire Athlete’s By Design crew for battening down the hatches and hosting yet another great Sunrise Park event. Links to all results are here.
• Next up the series heads just a little farther West to Campton/St. Charles for Campton Cross hosted by Training Bible Cycling and Bicycle Heaven. Look for the course preview on Thursday morning. This is our annual Halloween race, so bring your “A Game”.
• You spend countless hours training, practicing remounts and starts, working on your bike, and thinking about CX… please take 15 minutes to read through our Rules and FAQ page and learn the rules of engagement and how the CCC works. If you still have questions never hesitate to email us at ChicagoCrossCup at gmail.
• And finally… Kristen Hosey and Ultimate Pro Bikes Juniors (aka Ultimate PB&J’s) are hosting a social event on November 11th (Saturday of the Pheasant Run Resort weekend). They would love for you to join them and help further shape women in cyclocross. See more details here.

• #ABDcx The standard preview page here.
• Preliminary staging will be posted here.
• If you upgraded this week and want 1/2 your CCC series points to follow you to the next category, please contact us at ChicagoCrossCup at gmail by Friday. We will NOT automatically transfer your points.
• Parking on Foster Ave is allowed but on NORTH side only. There should be “No Parking” signs along the park (south) side. If not, please respect this. Also Parking is allowed on Struckman Blvd (better option), or at Sycamore Trails School (preferred).
• ABD will be awarding a Women Single Speed payout the same as the Men Single Speed.
• Payouts will be held until Pheasant Run. Any payouts not claimed after Pheasant Run will be donated to Bartlett Park District Foundation.
• North of the Border will be serving Mexican and American w/ veggie options.
• Kiddie race is at 2pm!
• No alcohol.  Sorry Park rules.
• The Course: Very similar to last year. As always the course can change between now and Sunday.

Time to Focus on the Limiters

After some intense CX races you probably have a good idea what “limiters” are holding you back from overtaking the guys and gals you have not been able to catch these last couple of weeks. You may be getting dropped after certain obstacles or through technical corners. Maybe you’re hitting a wall before crossing the finish line, or you can’t get the recovery you need after a power section.

It’s important to recognize and focus on these weaknesses during the appropriate training days. This may seem obvious but some of us go at our intense training days with a workout that makes us “feel” like we’re making the best of our time. Maybe we feel really strong when we increase that average power week after week when we train race pace for 45 minutes on the usual training loop. Or maybe the short, intense efforts are where we exceed, and anaerobic endurance intervals are the go-to workout.  Getting out of the comfort zone while no-one is watching is what separates the podium from the rest of the field.

There is plenty of time to improve on these weaknesses before the big end-of-season races. Here are a few suggestions from TBC:

CX SKILLS – If barriers are your enemy, you think sand should only be for beach-goers, or you think bunny hopping should be restricted to small floppy-eared mammals; work on these must have skills during your recovery days. We give some good pointers in this post.

MOTHER NATURE – Do you excel on dry courses or are you a cold weather racer? Get out and play in the rain to get used to the sloppy conditions. Hopefully the hot races are over, but next season get out in the August heat in case Trek CX is brutally hot again. And now is the time to train on those cold days to prep for the potential frigid racing this winter.

WHY CAN’T I RECOVER? – Implement VO2 Max intervals or AE intervals on your hard days. Workouts like Tabata intervals will help improve the acceleration out of the technical sections, and train your body to take advantage of those short recovery sections.

THE WALL BEFORE THE LAST 2 LAPS – When the tank is consistently empty before the race is over you may need to pick it up on that hard training day. Just be careful you’re not over training and your weekly routine is making race day tougher than it should be. We recommend one, maybe two hard days a week depending on the training block. Mix in the short intervals with active recovery, and use the duration of your race as a guide for time. Here is an example of something you may try if your race is 45 minutes:

• Mimic a start into a 4 minute Tabata interval.
• Three minute recovery (50% of FTP) and into another Tabata interval.
• 1 minute recovery into a 10 minute FTP interval.
• Two minute recovery into a Tabata interval
• Three minute recovery and into another Tabata interval.
• 1 minute recovery into a 10 minute FTP interval.
• Two minute recovery into a Tabata interval with an all-out finish.

Hit whatever goal is within your ability by improving your limiters during the middle of the season. Good luck and race hard.

Peter Kelley

• Thanks to the Sasquatch Squadron and Main Street Bikes for another great, if drier than expected, Carpentersville race on Sunday. Turns out ground that hasn’t been rained on in 4 months absorbs a lot of water. All the updated results you are looking for are on the CCC Overall Standings GoogleSheet.
• Next up the CCC travels to Barlett for the ABD Sunrise Park (#ABDcx) event. Veteran CX hero Jim Nowak always has a few tricks up his sleeve to create one of, if not the hardest courses in the series. Online pre-reg on BikeReg closes Thursday night. Looks for the usual preview Thursday morning.
• Hotel rooms for $92/night are still available but filling quickly at Pheasant Run. Here is a link to make your reservation, or call the hotel at (630) 584-6300 and use the code ‘cyclocross’.
• Speaking of registering, online pre-reg for 2018 (i.e. this season) CX National Championships in Reno, NV opens in just under 2 weeks on Monday 10/30/17.
• Have you recently upgraded and need to transfer to a different race? Have you ever signed up for the Cat 4 race but then realized you need to be home in time for Crazy Aunt Sue’s 83rd birthday party? You can now actually transfer yourself into another category directly through your BikeReg rider profile. Its true! Just log on to your BikeReg rider profile and follow the directions. You’ll automatically be charged any difference in entry fees. You can also transfer your entry to someone else.
• Speaking of upgrades, remember you must upgrade before this weekend if you want to take 1/2 your points with you to the next category. See all the rules here.
• Did you know you can also update your contact info, emergency contact info (please, please do this), etc. yourself through your BikeReg rider profile? That is also true. Be aware however that we match all first names, last names, USAC CX categories, and team names to the USAC rider database. So those we will change for you.
• Did you start the season on a One Day license and have since purchased a USAC annual license because CX is so rad? No problem. Just update your BikeReg rider profile (and any races you’ve already pre-reg’d for, see above) with your license number. Then email us that number and we’ll update our data so you are staged properly (based on your USAC annual license number). Otherwise we won’t catch the One Day and Annual license difference.
• And finally… we’d like welcome back to the CCC Sponsor and Partner family CMIT Solutions of Chicago. CMIT Solutions is an IT consulting firm organized to support midsize & small businesses with offices in downtown Chicago. They take care of all hassles associated with computers and networks and offer a predictable flat rate service delivered by a friendly local team – sometimes by bike.

School is back in session at Woodland Elementary in Carpentersville and the MSB Sasquatch Squadron is fixin’ to learn you a thing or two about cyclocross.

• This weekend’s CCC event, Squatch Cross p/b the Main Street Bicycles Sasquatch Squadron, will be held once again at 770 Navajo Drive in Carpentersville. If you arrive at the shuttered Woodland Elementary School, congrats! You’re doing it right. If you’re at Carpenter Park or Randall Oaks… well… try again.
• Hashtag #CarpenterCX will be your gateway to social media fame.
• Preliminary Staging will be posted here Friday morning. Please double check your points at that time, not Sunday morning.
• Speaking of staging, we are switching the start order of the Women Cat 4/5 and Junior 9-14 fields. This Sunday and the rest of the season the Women Cat 4/5’s will start first, followed by the Junior 9-14’s. Please email us directly if you have any questions or comments.
• Numbers go on your LEFT SIDE, always in the CCC.
• Kiddie Cross TBD! Parents need to sign a waiver. Ages 10 and under.
• Petting Zoo is out again, but if you stop by the MSB tent and ask nicely, we’ll have puppers to pet
• Food/Water: Food Vendors will be on-site / Water available on-site
• No Alcohol permitted on the property
• Food: The Toasty Cheese food truck will be there – good stuff. Dave’d Slow Food could not make it.
• Tent Cities: Same spots as last year as well as the new opportunity to set up at Heckle City. It is a hike up a small hill so bring a cart and drop off gear at the Western Drop Off.
• Parking: The school has a small lot so an area will remain open there for tent drop off, and we will have parking volunteers helping to guide folks in the morning. Please be courteous as it is early for them, too.
• Otherwise, plenty of street parking surrounding the school – please respect the posted parking signs. If need be, the Sunny Hill School lot is available on Helm Rd.
• The Course: Runs Clockwise. It’s been a year and we Squatches have mechanized. Chainsaws and tillers came out to spice up the course and make the most of our venue’s modest size. Now we’ve got a layout fit to satisfy any Millennial’s wanderlust—a mix of wide-open plains, verdant forest and even some sandy beaches make an appearance. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for sasquatches around the course because, no matter what, we’re always squatchin’ you.

• Thanks to the entire Beverly Bike crew for hosting yet another leg buster on the hills of the Dan Ryan Woods. All the results you’re looking for are here. We had a little mix up in the Single Speed results (which are now corrected), but please check your results, no matter which field you raced in. Our goal is 100% accuracy, but we’re all human and make mistakes everyone now and again.
• Next up the CCC heads Northwest to the banks of the Fox River where race director and series director Jeff Provisor and the Main Street Bikes Sasquatch Squadron host stop #4 of the series in Carpentersville. We’re back at the Woodland Elementary School again this year (same as last year) where Jeff and the guys have found some new terrain to use. Look for the usual preview on Thursday. Online pre-reg for #CarpenterCX closes Thursday evening on BikeReg.
• Another friendly reminder, please do NOT sit up at the finish line. One2Go reminds us they are having a bit of trouble reading bib numbers of riders sitting up at the finish line, especially with the juniors. So parents, coaches, etc., please remind your juniors to keep their hands on the bars until after the finish line.
• And finally… a big, big, big, big, big shout out to our series announcer Kenny Labbe for keeping us all on time, playing DJ, providing great color commentary, and most importantly presenting and organizing the best podiums in CX. Make sure to swing by the Kenny Kompound and say hello, throw a Hi-Five, and show him a little extra CCC love. Thanks Kenny!!!