Very, very, very important announcement!

– If you missed our post on Sunday, the CCC schedule is changing starting this week at Dan Ryan Woods. The updated race schedule can also be found on the schedule page. The 40+ & 50+ masters need to be there a little earlier while everyone else starts a little later… but get there early anyway and bring your cowbells!

– We’re happy to announce 3 new sponsors to the CCC series… all of them bike shops.

• Yojimbo’s Garage on Clybourn Ave in the city is back again and supplying CX frames for the free raffle (fill out a raffle ticket at registration at each race).
• MOX Multisport also in the city on Randolph St will be supplying schwag and merchandise prizes for the series.
• Spin Doctor Cyclewerks in Bartlett will be helping out the series with much needed cash to help buy things to put in your way and make you jump over.

The CCC is still looking for series sponsors, so email us at ChicagoCrossCup@gmail.com if you’d like to be involved.

– The CCC’s newest race in the Dan Ryan Woods takes place this coming Sunday. Beverly Bike-Vee Pak has put together a great course and will have some great food as well. Hopefully the Half Acre crew is recovered from this past weekend’s Dekalb race and shows up so we all have something to drink! ; ) However, please remember to respect the park and its neighbors so we can come back next year.

– Please also remember the Chicago Marathon is happening this weekend. Traffic on the roads is likely to be quite heavy due to detours and such… so please, please give yourselves plenty of time to get to the race… which is on the South Side at Western and 87th. Maps and directions are here.

– Everyone’s favorite new race from last year is back! That’s right, after many, many meetings with the parks district and a boatload of fantastic work by Chris Henning and the Garner Northbrook Cycling Club, the Northbrook venue has finally been approved. The course will be very different from last year, but we’ll at least have the race. Look for more details on the way and online pre-reg to open soon.

Speaking of favorite courses… from everything we’ve heard North Central Cyclery and Half Acre put on a fantastic race in Dekalb’s Hopkins Park this past weekend. Big thanks to everyone who helped put this 2nd year race together that attracted 358 racers! That’s only 40 shy of Jackson Park!

– CCC Overall Standings are posted here. Remember these are overall series standings and NOT placings from one individual race. See how the series is scored here. Team standings will be updated later this week.

– CCC series sponsor CX Magazine is having a race report writing contest. Check it out here.

– Finally… did we mention the race day schedule is changing? Make sure you’re there on time for your race!

Sorry for the delay… CCC overall standings through Dekalb/Hopkins Park are posted here.
Full results for Dekalb and Jackson Park will be posted to the ICA and USAC websites tomorrow.

Also, for those of you still wondering… we think this photo perfectly captures the essence of what CX is all about! Noise, fun, grass, dirt, rowdiness, running, yelling, screaming, drums (?), sideburns, probably some beer in there… and oh yeah, bikes! We bet this kid is hooked for life.

More photos by Jason Henry here.

You guys know what to do.

Here’s a start from Ed White:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewwhite/sets/72157622517212382/

Very, very, very important announcement!

The CCC schedule is changing.

Due to the increase in riders this year (>30% from 2008) the CCC Directors and Promoters have decided to split up the morning races to give riders more space and make it easier for the officials to score. The 40+ race will start alone at 9:30am, the 30+ and 50+ races will start together at 10:30am, and the Women 1/2/3 and Men 3+ will start together at 11:30am (the women starting first). This change will also push all other races back 30 minutes… so the Women 4/Juniors will start at 12:30pm, etc. Please let your friends/family/bikes/pets/drinking buddies/in-laws know and plan accordingly. The updated race schedule can also be found on the schedule page.

A few notes on the change:

• Yes, you read correctly… the Women 1/2/3 are starting in front of the Cat 3’s. The top women are just as fast as the top Cat 3’s and its slightly unfair to make them race through the back of the Cat 3 field. Since the Women’s field is smaller the top Cat 3’s shouldn’t have any trouble working their way through the back of the women’s field. Cat 3’s, please DO NOT line up in front of the women on the start line.
• We decided NOT to make the schedule change at Dekalb since its a little further of a drive and we wanted to let all of you masters get your beauty sleep. ; )
• We realize the schedule change make inconvenience some of you, but no field is changing by more than 30 minutes either way. If this truly messes up your day, please let us know and we’ll work something out.

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 ChicagoCrossCup@gmail.com 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.