We all have to take it easy once in a while!  Cyclocross is very skill-heavy and you can make progress in this area despite having a take a recovery ride.   If you need a pure recovery ride then have just that and don’t worry about progress in other areas.  If you know you need a recovery day and have a little extra energy then give these a go.

Ride at a very easy pace for 30 minutes to warm up.  Then, at a very easy and deliberate pace, mix in these basic sills:

Starts – clip in with both feet, take a couple of medium-effort pedal strokes and then shut it down.

Turns – create a very short course with turns and methodically ride around.  Don’t brake, but rather keep a consistent speed that enables you to hit the turns at a good clip without breaking a sweat.

Barriers – clip out, walk 5 paces and re-mount…..repeat.  Work on dismounting and re-mounting on both sides, because every once in a while ambidextrous skills are a benefit.

Bunny hop – start low.  Gradually increase height and use a “barrier” that you can hit without repercussion.  We like to use 2 plastic stakes similar to what are used to form ChiCrossCup courses with a wooden garden stake balanced on the tabs at different heights.  Both can most likely be found at your local hardware store.  You don’t necessarily need to be able to hop a barrier in a race, but getting over smaller obstacles without touching them can help avoid punctures and the need to scrub speed.

In addition to making an easy day more interesting a ride like this affords the opportunity to really think these actions and motions through.  Taking them step by step will help you solidify and clean up certain motions and ultimately make up seconds per lap.  It might save you some skin down the road too.

Race hard and have fun!

Rob Kelley

• Congrats to everyone who raced over the weekend up in Waterloo, WI at the Trek CXC Cup at Trek HQ. Plenty of great results from a bunch of CCC’ers.
• Thanks to everyone who came out to the live recording of “In the CX Hairs” podcast at the Rapha Chicago Clubhouse last Tuesday.
• CCC series racing returns this Sunday 10/1/17 at Hopkins Park in Dekalb, IL hosted by Comrades Cycles. Online pre-reg on BikeReg.com for #HopkinsCX closes Thursday night.
• Please update your USA Cycling App on your iPhone. There is a completely new app (i.e. not just an update of the old ‘My USAC’). Right now the app only displays your license(s) but USA Cycling will be adding features in the future.
• And finally… It may officially be Autumn but just like CCC racing, Chicagoland temperatures are still still hot, hawt, hot. Please make sure to stay hydrated while riding (racing and training) and don’t over do it. Its a long season and we don’t want anyone ruining their CX season due to heat exhaustion or other related issues. Bottoms up!

• Congrats to everyone who raced at Jingle Cross in IA over the weekend. Lots of great results by CCC’ers.
• Tonight, Tuesday 9/19/17 at 6:30pm, Bill Schieken of “In the CX Hairs” will be at the Rapha Chicago Clubhouse for a live podcast . Details are here, please RSVP.
• Tomorrow, Wednesday 9/20/17 Cross Vegas will be held for the last time in fabulous Las Vegas before moving to Reno next year.
• This weekend is the Trek CXC Cup and World Cup event in Waterloo, WI at Trek HQ.
• The CCC series returns to its regularly scheduled time and place on Sunday 10/1/17 at Hopkins Park in Dekalb, IL hosted by Comrades Cycles.
• Thanks to SuperGirl for the reminder. If you use the USA Cycling App on your iPhone, it currently won’t work if you upgrade to iOS 11. So take a screenshot of your license or wait to upgrade to the new iOS 11 until USAC’s app is approved and updated by Apple.
• And finally… we’ll be into the thick of CX season before you know it, so get those bikes tuned up at your local shop, have spare parts ready, keep up your fitness, sharpen those skills, and remember to say thanks to all of your supporters at home and at the races. See you all soon!

• Thanks again to xXx Racing-Athletico for hosting another great Caldwell Woods and to everyone, and we mean everyone, for coming out to race, cheer, high five, and put on a show. Links to all results and series standings are here on the Overall Series Standings GoogleSheet. Let us know if you see any errors.
• There were a few comments on the Pic, Vids, and Race Reports post with links to videos but no photos. What’s up with that? We saw plenty of cameras out there, so please post links to your photos so everyone can see them.
• Speaking of photos… we still need some help taking podium pics at each race. If you are willing and able please email us so everyone hitting the podiums can get their 15 seconds of Twitter Internet fame. And if you do take some pics and post them online, please make sure to use the official #hashtag for each event so we can find them later.
• Next up the CCC takes a 3 week break but continues Sunday 10/1/17 at Hopkins Park in Dekalb, IL hosted by Comrades Cycles. See you there!
• But if you want to keep your CX legs spinning this weekend you have 2 options. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!
  • Patriot CX is on Sunday 9/17/17 in Rantoul, IL.
  • Jingle Cross weekend in Iowa City, IA. Three days of racing and Sunday is a World Cup.
• The following weekend is the Trek CXC Cup and World Cup event in Waterloo, WI at Trek HQ.
• In between World Cup weekends Bill Schieken of “In the CX Hairs” will be at the Rapha Chicago Clubhouse for a live podcast at 6:30pm on 9/19/17. Details are here, please RSVP.
• Series Sponsor F3 Cycling is offering the CCC community a 17% discount off anything on their website between now and Montrose. Swing by their tent, starting at Dekalb, say high, and get all the details.
• And finally… we’d like to welcome new Series Sponsor VeloFix Chicago North Shore to the CCC family. Look for the red and black VeloFix fan at future races and swing by to say high or even use their services if your bike needs some love.

Please post links in the comments to your pictures, videos, and race reports.

• #CXisHere in Chicago… the 2017 Chicago Cyclocross Cup kicks off at Caldwell Woods hosted by xXx Racing-Athletico.
• Live results by One2Go_Results will be here: http://www.livelynxresults.com/  Watch races scored in real time!
• Online pre-reg on BikeReg closes tonight, so get to it.
• On site number pick up and Day-Of Registration will be in picnic pavilion near start finish line. Remember reg closes 30 minutes before the schedule start time of each category.
• Please not fold or crumple your numbers. If you do you risk not being scored. Numbers on your LEFT side (not your back!) .
• Staging for the first race of the series is 100% by CrossResults.com ranking. See here for preliminary staging and if you believe your CXR points to be incorrect please contact CrossResults. Also, please check the discrepancies page. If you name is on this page you need to either edit your BikeReg registration (and profile), renew you annual USAC license, etc. Wait list orders (if we need them) are here. All of these lists will be updated again with final reg data no later than Friday evening.
• Results will be posted as soon as possible on the CCC’s 4 sided results board and for all pre-reg’d riders with correct/valid email address in their BikeReg rider profiles results will be emailed to you shortly after you finish. Also, One2Go will have its LiveLynx site updated in real time. Full results will be posted on USAC online Sunday night and series standings will be updated shortly afterward. This is the first race, so series standings are the same as the first 30 finishers.
• The standard 2017 CCC Payout Schedule is here.
• Porta-potties will be located in the small parking lot nearest Devon and Milwaukee adjacent to registration.
• Teams can set up tents anywhere, but xXx Racing recommends doing so in the field North of the reg pavilion for viewing the finish line or the field to the North East for viewing the hill.
• Parking: TBD, however the Aquatic Center will likely NOT be open.
• Double sided equipment pits staffed by SRAM NRS.
• There will be a beer garden thanks to Corridor Brewery & Provisions.  Racers 21+ will get a wristband at registration for entry. Chicago Pizza Boss will also be on site.
• No word on kiddie “races”.
• Additional info over here on the static preview page. Make sure you read the info about Caldwell Woods NOT LaBagh Woods.
• Remember to use the hashtag #CaldwellCX so everyone at home or in other parts of the country can follow along.
• Did we forget anything? Probably, please leave questions in the comments below and we’ll answer them as soon as we can.
• The course: xXx Racing has further smoothed out the start. New tentative course is below. Reg, staging grid, finish line, and pit are all on the SW corner of the park.

That went fast!  It’s hard to believe that the ChiCrossCup is up again.  Hopefully you’re in stellar form and ready to rip. Regardless, taking a bit of time to plan out the schedule is key.

Recovery is absolutely crucial, and weekly and monthly stints should be worked out now.  If you wait for your body and/or mind to pick a time for rest based on how you feel it will inevitably come at the wrong time.  A weeks’ worth of training and racing should be with 2 or 3 hard days including race day.  Age, experience and time of the season all have a hand in your set up, and a typical “on” week should look something like this:

Monday – Strength training or off completely

Tuesday – Easy ride for 1 to 2 hours

Wednesday – Hard ride.  Bandit race, intervals, etc.

Thursday – Easy skills ride.  Starts, barriers, turns, sand, etc.  Keep it under 1.5 hours and focus on the finer points.

Friday – Off

Saturday – Opener – 1 to 1.5 hours with 2 or 3 short, hard efforts

Sunday – Race

Monthly schedules are usually 3 or 4 weeks of hard training and racing followed by a recovery week.   Start with your most important race, presumably Montrose, and work backward.  Most bike racers come in with optimal form 2 weeks after a rest week.  As example the scenario below should produce your best results in the 3^rd and 4^th weeks:

Week 1 – Rest week

Week 2 – On week with race on Sunday

Week 3 – On week with race on Sunday

Week 4 – On week with Race on Sunday

The downside to all of this is that with races almost every weekend you’ll have a few that fall at the end of your recovery weeks.  Those are most likely going to be your worst results because it takes a couple of high-intensity rides to re-boot.   You just can’t be your normal stellar self every weekend, but you can give yourself the opportunity to choose form based on the importance of each race in the series.

See you in the deep, dark Woods of Caldwell.

Rob Kelley

• Here we go! The Chicago Cyclocross Cup series officially starts this coming weekend as xXx Racing-Athletico hosts Caldwell Woods. Online pre-reg ends Thursday evening. No rain in the forecast all week so (hopefully) no flooding this year. That being said, always watch here on the site or on Twitter for last minute updates. Note xXx’s website has not been updated and still shows LaBagh Woods, which is old info. This year we are back at Caldwell Woods.
• Also this weekend, xXx Racing is hosting 2 clinics with 2 guys named Sven who know a thing or 2 about CX. These are not free clinics however as airplane flights from Belgium are not free. Get all the details of the Return of the Svens on xXx Racing’s site here.
• Speaking of international CX superstars, congrats to local racer Maria Larkin for teaming up with Nicole Mertz to start their ‘Meteor p/b Allied’ CX team. You’ll find these ladies racing on Allied Bikes (founded by local coffee guy Doug Zell) all over the country at UCI events but also here in the CCC later in the season. Check them out at facebook.com/nocoastracingCX
• Speaking of rad ladies on CX bikes, Maria and Nicole along with the Cuttin’ Crew will again be hosting (for the 4th year in a row) the Junior Girls CX Clinic p/b Park Tool at the Trek CXC Cup this year. Full details TBD but save the date for Friday 9/22/2017 at 6pm to learn from 2 of the best; Katie Compton and Kaitlin Antonneau-Keogh. See the Trek CXC Cup site for details.
• And finally… we’re making a few more changes to the series this year, especially with the women categories, than we’ve been comfortable doing in the past. So bear with us as we work out the kinks and please go back and re-read our 5/30/2017 post where we detailed all the changes. Seriously, please read it and ask all your peers to read it. If you have questions email us or ask a USAC official, but please don’t assume any random joe on the side of the course has the correct answer, or that we see every little thing that didn’t go perfectly. Please provide us with feedback (constructive criticism is great!) and help us improve the series as much and as quickly as possible. The CCC is your local series and only as good as the community that builds and supports it. Now let’s race!

• We didn’t receive many reports from deep within Big Marsh, but we’re sure Half Acre Cycling’s CX Eliminator went well on Saturday. If you have pics please post them here.
• Sunday at xXx Racing’s Relay Cross was fun with another great turnout to also get the CX season underway. Please also post pics here.
• Next up, the official Chicagoland CX season begins at Caldwell Woods. Online pre-reg is open on BikeReg.com here.
• Our friends to the north are again kicking off their CX season with the 4th annual Avalon Pontoons Alma Grand Prix of Cyclocross & 5K Trail Run on Saturday, 9/9/17! Alma is a pretty quick drive from the Chicagoland area and might help you open up your legs for the first Chicago series race on Sunday. In Alma, the Pro/Elite and Sport women (presented by Arbor Move) are racing for $750/5; the Pro/Elite and Masters 35+ men (presented by F3 Cycling) are racing for $500/5. Early number pick up on Friday night is at the Alma Brewing Company in downtown Alma, from 6-8 p.m. Camping is available at the race venue! Registration information for both the CX and 5K races is available HERE.
• If you’re not traveling to IA consider Patriot CX on 9/17/17. In its 7th year running the event will have a Relay category at the end of the day. .
• And finally… thanks again to everyone who came out to the CCC Kick Off Party at the Rapha Clubhouse. Big, big thanks to all the donors/sponsors who pitched in with raffle prizes. Through sales of raffle tickets we raised $1,000 to be split equally between West Town Bikes and Blackstone Bicycle Works. AMAZING!!! Let’s keep that community spirit going straight through to December and have a great season!