• Thanks again to the South Chicago Wheelmen for another great double weekend of CX racing at Pheasant Run Resort. Lots of frost and frozen ground, and a certain amount of mud made “conditions” tough but the racing was still hot and exciting.
• Links to all series results, lap times, and CrossResults.com are over here. Congrats to those riders (highlighted in yellow) and here who have already clinched their overall series titles. Several categories are still very close and yet to be decided at Montrose. Good luck to everyone!
• Photos from SnowyMountain, Mike Nauman, and David Salzman are here, here, here, and here.
• The CCC takes a break this coming weekend for Thanksgiving, but if you’re staying in the area and still need your CX fix, Region Racing hosts their Region Riot CX race on Sunday December 1st.
• Then the following weekend the CCC series concludes at Montrose Beach CX which is also the Midwest CX Championships. We’ll see you all there!
• Remember on the BikeReg registration page for Montrose Beach CX you can make a donation to access VIP parking within the Simonds Drive road closure.
• And finally… series sponsor ABUS Locks‘ has extended their sweepstakes to raffle off 3 of their Bordo locks (hand painted by Squid Bikes) another week. Proceeds will benefit our friends at Blackstone Bicycle Works and West Town Bikes. All the details over here: https://go.rallyup.com/abus-lock-raffle

Pheasant Run Resort (#PRRcx) is hosted by veteran race promoters, the South Chicago Wheelmen, one of the region’s and country’s oldest cycling clubs.

• Pheasant Run Resort located at 4051 E Main St. Saint Charles, IL 60174. Please don’t go to Indian Lakes.
• Online pre-reg on BikeReg closes tonight. Remember there are 2 separate reg pages, Saturday and Sunday
• Preliminary staging for Saturday only will be posted here Friday morning.
• Saturday Results will affect Sunday staging. Preliminary Sunday staging will be posted here early Sunday morning. Please pay attention.
• New bib numbers each day. Please do NOT wear your Saturday number on Sunday.
• Food: Mario’s Kart will be onsite both days serving delicious tacos and burritos.
• Bike Wash: There is NO bike wash or hoses at PRR. Please plan your bike and body wash accordingly.
• After your race, if you’re staying at the hotel, please please please do NOT wash your bike in your room and do not take towels out of guest rooms to wash bike outside. Today’s rain will not dry out completely so please plan accordingly.
• NO walking or riding on putting greens or tee boxes. NO warming up on fairways. There is a large golf outing taking place this weekend at PRR, so please show the other users of the property courtesy and respect like we always do.
• This is another “No Drone Zone” due to the proximity to the DuPage airport.
• For guests staying overnight, checkout is at 11am on Sunday. Late checkout at 3pm is available for an extra $25.
• Kiddy Cross TBD this weekend depending on the weather.
• Parking is limited, satellite parking will be west across the street by Target (Kautz Road).
• There will be even less daylight left at the end of the day than last week after the last race ends, so please plan accordingly. Also if you can, please help the South Chicago Wheelmen tear down the course (on Sunday) so they aren’t doing it all in the dark.
• The Course: We will again be racing on the East side of the property, next to the airport. The SCW never disappoint and this weekend’s track will roughly be similar to last year, if you can imagine it without snow. As always, the course may be different and change based on weather conditions.

• Another Sunday, another great Wheeling Heritage Park CX. Thanks again to the Northbrook Bicycle Club for hosting a chilly if fun event and to the Wheeling Parks District for allowing us to use their park.
• Links to all series results, lap times, and CrossResults.com are over here.
• Next up, the CCC travels to Saint Charles for its one and only official double race weekend at the Pheasant Run Resort hosted by the South Chicago Wheelmen. This weekend has a SATURDAY and a SUNDAY BikeReg page, and one page does not reg you for both days. So please make sure to register for the correct (read: both) day or days. Online Reg on BikeReg closes on WEDNESDAY Thursday so the SCW can get ready for Saturday… So get on it! Look for the regular course preview on Thursday at 9am.
• PRR has discounted room rates of $92 per night for this weekend. Call Pheasant Run at 630-584-6330 and use code “cyclocross” for the discount.
• Looking ahead to Montrose Beach… Have a large team with a lot of stuff? Or just want a VIP experience? On the BikeReg registration page for the Montrose Beach event you can make a donation to access VIP parking within the Simonds Drive road closure. One vehicle per space suggested @ $50. Multiple spaces may be combined for trailers, etc … This donation helps offset the expenses associated with the race venue.
• And finally… Our series sponsor ABUS Locks‘ sweepstakes to raffle off 3 of their Bordo locks, hand painted by the rad folks out in California at Squid Bikes, ends this Friday. Proceeds will benefit our friends at Blackstone Bicycle Works and West Town Bikes. All the details over here: https://go.rallyup.com/abus-lock-raffle

• If this arctic blast was all just part of Disney’s clever marketing campaign for Frozen 2, consider us impressed. Well played, Disney. As Elsa, Anna, and Olaf prepare to journey into the unknown, we’ll be journeying into cyclocross, hosted by the Northbrook Bicycle Club.
• Thanks to the Wheeling Park District, the new fitness center addition to the Community Recreation Center provides the backdrop with front row seating (stationary bikes) and standing room only (treadmills and ellipticals), overlooking the course.
• The center is open to the public. Take the chill off while checking out a pickleball match, but please leave bicycles outside.
• Please use hashtag #WheelingCX
• Parking is encouraged in the North parking lot closest to registration, staging, finish, pit, food, and that guy with the magic mic. Please leave the diagonal parking lot in front of the center available for community center patrons. There’s plenty of additional parking near the backside of the course in the West parking lot. Park in the lots only—not on the grass.
• No drones are permitted in the air within the park due to the proximity of the Chicago Executive Airport-PWK.
• No kids race is scheduled (keep those kiddos warm), but there’s a brand new playground. Swings, slides, balance features, etc. appropriate for ages 2 to 12. There’s even a two-tiered merry-go-round. Please DO NOT RIDE BICYCLES ON THE PLAYGROUND SURFACE. There will be plenty other surfaces to ride on within the park. Also, please avoid setting up tents in the amphitheater grass to avoid the electrical and irrigation underneath.
• Preliminary staging will be posted here.
• There are paths for warming up throughout the park. As always, be mindful of pedestrians and other patrons while enjoying the ride.
• Food: When it comes to food trucks, Mario’s Cart doesn’t play games. Look for it in the North Parking Lot from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. They’ll be serving up street tacos, burritos, flautas, fries, nachos, Cuban panini, steak sandwiches, pretzel bites, quesadillas, soda, water, and hot chocolate. Wow, that’s a mouthful. Better wear your bibs (pun intended). They also have a location without wheels on the 2nd floor of Northbrook Court.
• No alcohol permitted per park rules.
• Weather:Warmth on the horizon, relatively speaking of course. Cyclocross weather returns.
• The Course: runs anti-clockwise. Flat at the start and finish, but in between you’ll ride the camber along the pool embankment until you hit the course elevation; enjoy the views of the lake and surrounding areas from the top before heading back. Upon your return, there will be hops of the double bunny varietal (10 IBUs – ten-inch barrier units).

• Wow! What a weekend. A double weekend of State Championships and Groundhogs.
• Wow! What a weekend. A double weekend of State Championships and Groundhogs.
• Thanks to Keating Law Offices (also a series sponsor) for being the presenting sponsor of the Illinois State Cyclocross Championships in Woodstock, IL hosted by PSIMET Racing. The Illinois Cycling Association along with our amazing MC Kenny Labbe presented 23 state champ jerseys on a cold and windy buy sunny day. All results are posted on USA Cycling‘s website and IL State Champions are here on the CCC site.
• Then we did it all again, but in reverse, on Sunday at the 7th round of the CCC at Groundhog PSI-clocross, also hosted by PSIMET Racing. For those following along at home this was the 3rd CX race hosted by PSIMET this year. Links to all series results, lap times, and CrossResults.com are over here.
• Mike Nauman was out again but is still recovering from the double weekend CX hangover. Mike has some photos from Sunday up here, but look for more from Saturday later in the week. Snowymountain was busy hosting racers state champions and catching up on sleep.
• Next up, the CCC travels East to Wheeling for Wheeling Heritage Park CX hosted by the Northbrook Bicycle Club. Though this event has changed locations many times over the years, it was more or less the original CCC event way back when. Look for the normal course preview on Thursday morning.
• Here’s another friendly reminder/PSA that you can train and workout all your want, but you’re not going to have a good race if you don’t take care of your bike(s)! Get them into your local bike shop for a clean and tune so you can race the best you can. We have many, many great local shops in the area, many of which are series sponsors, who are ready, willing, and able to keep your bike(s) in tip-top running shape.
• And finally… we don’t really need to tell you its cold outside. But it is. Winter has come early to Chicagoland this year. Please, do what you have to do to stay warm and safe. Stay inside. Ride Zwift if you have to (GASP!!!), but be safe. We want to see all of you at the races, preferably without frostbite. See you all on Sunday!

Why is this race called Groundhog PSI-clocross? Well, in 1992 the downtown square of Woodstock, IL was used to film the movie Groundhog Day. Rob Curtis and the PSIMET crew have carried some parts of the movie into the venue.

• If you’re interested in looking over the filming locations for the movie there is a great map for self-guided tours here: woodstockgroundhog.org/pages/tour.html
• Remember to use #psiCX on Twitter and Instagram.
• As a reminder on SATURDAY PSIMET is hosting the Keating Law Offices Illinois State Cyclocross Championship which is NOT a CCC series event but still well worth your time to race. See that course preview here.
• Preliminary staging for Sunday will be posted here on Friday. We’re going to try and upload results from Saturday’s IL State CX Champs to CrossResults so they affect Sunday’s staging, but the turn around will be tight and so no promises.
• There is plenty of parking throughout the park. As with all previous years there is NO PARKING ON THE GRASS. This is the strictest rule the park and city have for the facility.
• This park has “always” had a “no alcohol” policy. So when you bring in cups for your soda and lemonade PSIMET asks that you pack out what you bring in. It helps PSIMET make sure the park doesn’t think we’re a drinking series with a cycling problem if there aren’t a lot of juice boxes laying around.
• Food: Dukes Blues n BBQ from East Dundee, IL is back. This isn’t your average BBQ setup – this is competition award winning BBQ that happens to also do events. dukes-blues-n-bbq.com – Dukes may not have Vegetarian and Vegan options, but there is a Vegetarian specific restaurant on the square downtown only 0.8 miles from the course.
• Speaking of food, PSIMET will have “pie primes” for the first rider in each category who gets the hole-shot.
• Equipment Pits will be single width and backwards as we will be running the course counter-clockwise. There will NOT be any water or washing facilities at the race though, so if conditions look to be getting worse then please plan your own support accordingly. There are a couple of water spigots around the park that may or may not be in service . Mambo Car Wash is right down the street.
• In order to help cut down on pit traffic – PSIMET will also be issuing Pit Passes for the time slots of the Men Cat 1/2/3 and Women 1/2 & -3/4 races. If you are planning on having a pit support person and/or bike then let them know at registration so that you can receive your pit pass. Pre-registered racers will be assigned pit positions first. This also applies to the Women 3/4 race as it is during the same time slot as the Women 1/2.
• There won’t be much if any daylight left after the last race ends, so please plan accordingly. Also if you can, please help PSIMET and the Northbrook Garner teams tear down the course so they aren’t doing it all in the dark.
• Kids Race will be hosted by Parker and Andrew Curtis and held at 2:00pm. Competitors will be asked to (have a parent or guardian) sign a waiver and will receive hot chocolate after the race. Ask at Registration for the location of the race but fill out the waiver at the kids race itself.
• As another reminder, if you are pre-riding while anyone is finishing up, please make sure you are NOT inadvertently riding in front of people still racing. Just ride slowly behind them and offer words of encouragement or ring a cowbell. Thanks!
• The course: Run anti-clockwise meaning we will be descending Heckle Hill.