Well, we weren’t expecting as big of a turnout at Dekalb as Jackson Park, but you all have proved us wrong… on pre-reg at least. The 4As filled up again and a total of 305 of you are scheduled to show up this Sunday. We hope you’re bringing your swords to slay the dragons! Possible rain today and tomorrow should make the course fun, but the forecast is calling for pefect CXweather on Sunday!

Please note we are having a small last minute schedule change. The Women 1/2/3 racers will start after the Cat 3’s and before the Masters 50+ field.

And finally… we think the CCC needs more cowbell. So find one (or really anything that makes a lot of noise), bring it, and use it!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.
We’ll see you on Sunday.

4 fer Thursday from the Planet Bike Cup.

This just in from Tobie from North Central Cyclery.
The course runs clockwise… that’s anti-anti-clockwise for all you Euros out there.
Blue = barriers
Look out for natural barriers, pirates, dragons and rhinos!

– We have been asked by the local USAC officials to please make sure your bib number is pinned correctly to your jersey. Imagine someone trying to read the number from the side of the race course… if your number is on the wrong side, on the top of your back, upside down, in your jersey pocket, folded into an origami crane, on your stomach (it happened at Jackson Park!), etc you will not be scored properly. The officials will attempt to identify those on the starting line that need to re-pin their numbers, but please be proactive and do it right the first time.

– CX coach and racer Brian Conant really wants you to race at Dekalb. He even went so far as to send us an email yesterday saying… “I am calling Chicago racers out. You’re not a true cross racer if you can not drive 90min. Tobie/Half Acre have a great event in store with lots of extra’s.” So there you have it… be there or be square. If anyone knows CX its Brian, so if he says to be there… you’ll want to be there.

– Just a reminder that pre-reg for Dekalb/Hopkins Park closes this Thursday evening at midnight. Please update your racer profiles and pre-reg!

– Also remember the “Officially Unofficial IL St CX SingleSpeed Championship” will be held at Dekalb. This race technically isn’t a part of the CCC, but its CX… and how could we say no to Half Acre with a name like that? Full details are on the Half Acre site. Please direct all questions to Half Acre.

– There are a few rumors floating around the CCC race day schedule is changing. The CCC directors and promoters are working on a new schedule to accommodate this year’s increase in racers, but to avoid confusion we won’t be changing anything until after Dekalb… so have fun this weekend, race hard, and check back on Sunday for more details about the schedule at Dan Ryan Woods.

– Congrats on all of the CCC racers who traveled behind the Cheddar Curtain this past weekend for the Planet Bike Cup. Looks like the weather and racing were fantastic! Results are  here. Congratulations to all those Chicago area racers who placed well over the weekend including xXx’s Julia Daher who won both women 3/4 races, and Verdigris’ David Lombardo who won Sunday’s Junior boy’s 10-14 race! Please post pix and vids on our earlier post here.

– The CCC still needs officials to help run and score races. Interested in being an official? Please email the IL Technical director and let him know you want to help out. In related news, there may also be a class for road moto refs soon. Please let the IL Technical director know if you are interested.

– That should be all for now… but we’ll likely have more Dekalb and series updates later this week!

Hi all,

Thanks for all of your help and emails in sorting out the results from Jackson Park. They were very helpful in sorting out the discrepancies.

We’ve had a chance to look through the revised results and have posted final results for the Women 1/2/3 and Masters 50+ races here. Almost final results for the Men 3, Masters 40+, and Masters 30+ races have also been posted, but we still have a few more tweaks to make. These changes will be done tonight (Monday). Please take a look through and email us at [email protected] if you still have issues. No further changes will be made after Tuesday.

Final and full results for all placings will be posted to the Illinois Cycling Association website (www.illinoiscycling.org) and USAC later this week… so if you weren’t in the top 30 you can see where you placed.

Also, we know not all of your CX team names have flowed through to the USAC database yet, so if we’re missing your team name or your road/mtb name is still showing up, let us know and we’ll update the standings for the team competition.

Thanks again for your patience and understanding in this matter.

– CCC Directors and Promoters

PS – Congrats on all of the CCC racers who traveled behind the Cheddar Curtain this past weekend for the Planet Bike Cup. Looks like the weather and racing were fantastic! We haven’t seen any official results yet, but we heard at least one Chicago native won their race on Sunday!

We’re sure there will be plenty more on Monday… but here’s a start from Nikki Cyp.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/niccyp/collections/72157622338782669/

Please add your links in the comments.

So where is everyone?

Pre-reg for Deklab/Hopkins Park has been a little lite. We know its a bit of drive out there… but race promoter & North Central Cyclery owner Tobie Depauw and co-promoters Half Acre Cycling have a few fun things in store for everyone. Can you say single-track? And don’t forget the Officially Unofficial IL St Single Speed CX Championship!

Dekalb/Hopkins Park promises to be another great race in the CCC in only its 2nd year as part of the series. You can see pix from last year’s race here, and a bus to rival the Cuttin’ Crew’s Cruiser here.

See you all next Sunday!

Good luck to everyone racing in Madison this weekend! From the looks of pre-reg the Chicagoland area will be well represented.

The Planet Bike Cup is hosted by CCC series sponsor, fantastic blinky light maker, and just great people Planet Bike. Check out the details on MadCross and take a look at that course!!! More twists and turns than a bowl of spaghetti!

Also, even though is a bit further away on the calendar, online registration is open for Jingle Cross out in Iowa over Thanksgiving weekend. We’ve heard nothing by good things about this 3 race weekend and pre-reg is filling up fast.

Finally, for those of you in other parts of IL, there are plenty of other CX races… including the Ronde Von Evergreen this weekend.
You can find all the information you need here on the CX section of the USAC website here.

Hi all,

We’re sure you’ve all been wondering what’s going on with the Master 40+, Men 3, Masters 50+, and Women 1/2/3 results from Jackson Park.

1. First off, we’re very, very sorry these results have been so delayed. The CCC directors and xXx put on what we thought was a great race and there was one small, albeit very important, piece of the puzzle that went missing somewhere around 11:45am on Sunday… that being timely results for the first 2 start waves.
2. What Happened? Plain and simple… too many of you showed up! The CCC and USAC officials were planning on more growth in the number of riders in this year’s CCC, but we vastly underestimated how much more (130 more starters than in 2008!). Consequently we all were completely inundated with the number of riders. Thankfully pre-reg helped (a lot) and we got everyone started on time, but we unfortunately did not have enough officials to properly run the race that day.
3. What Happened Next? After the 30+/40+ race there were a few protests in the 40+ results. Nothing new there… but that pulled away one of the 4 officials away from the finish line to deal with the protests. Already being shorthanded that left only 2 officials (1 official runs the race and does not score) to score the Men 3, 50+, and Women 1/2/3 race. These 2 officials did the best they could, but were overwhelmed by the 90+ riders who were on the course at that time.
4. So then what? Luckily the next race was the Women 4 and Juniors (the smallest race of the day) and the officials got back on track, but the damage was already done for the 11am race.
5. Okay, so now what? We’ve been in constant contact (read: every day since Sunday) with the USAC officials trying to rectify the situation and come to an acceptable conclusion. As you’re reading this all 4 officials are going back over their notes from that day and re-scoring the 11am races. As soon as they’re done (they all have day jobs too you know) the USAC IL Technical Director (Dave Fowkes) and the CCC Directors will compare all of the re-scored races and produce final results. Please be advise this will likely not happen until early next week… but will be done in time for Dekalb.
6. What is the CCC and USAC doing to correct the problem? For the rest of the season every CCC race will have at least 5 officials. In cases where pre-reg hits 275 riders USAC will add a 6th official. The CCC promoters are also discussing splitting up the first 2 races of the day into 3 races. Something to the tune of 40+/Women 123, 30+/50+, and Men 3.
7. What about chip timing? Chip timing is not the holy grail that everyone thinks it is. The CCC took a serious look at chip timing last year and determined it would cost at least $7 to $8 per rider, per race. Last year’s Montrose race did not cost extra because the company was demo’ing the equipment for us (with poor results). If however the CCC promoters were to purchase chips and run the system themselves, the biggest problem is not really the cost, but the manpower needed to distribute and collect the chips, the space needed to store them, and then the people to run the equipment. The CCC is still a small organization with limited resources. If we had the time, money, and human resources to have chip timing and a FinishLynx camera at every race we’d be doing it… but the reality is that’s not going to happen, at least not this year.
8. Is there anything I can do to help the current situation? Yes! If you raced in one of the affected races and know where you placed, please email us at [email protected] and let us know the race you were in, your name, place, and bib # if you still remember (if not we can look that up). We will then compare these emails when we compare the results from the officials. We’re not letting you pick your own place though… if you think you got 4th, but all the officials say you got 14th, then its obvious where you’re getting place, so please only serious replies.
9. What can I do to help going forward? Get involved! IL needs officials and will likely have an introductory seminar sometime this fall. Even though there are 60+ officials in the Chicago area, take a look at the start/finish line at every road, track, and cross race and you’ll see the same 7 or 8 faces every time. We can’t have 30% growth in racers without a corresponding increase in officials. Think its easy to score a CX race? Hang out at the finish line, introduce yourself to the officials, and give it a try… scoring CX might actually be harder than racing itself!

Thanks again for all of your patience and understanding in this matter. We’ve already received many emails about the race, and with only one or two exceptions everyone has started off by saying how great of a course (thanks Greg Heck!) it was and how much fun they had (big thanks to these guys!). We know we have to get that last mile covered and we’re on it. Believe us, if anyone is frustrated by the situation its us.

See you all at Dekalb!
CCC Directors and Promoters
[email protected]

Sorry this is a short one, but we’ve been busy putting on races and racing ourselves. If you’ve got vids you’d like to share with everyone… email us.

Moto pacing behind a dirt bike? Full story here.

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