Ouch. That is how I feel right now as muscles I haven’t felt in a while twinge with a slight ache and soreness brought on by the fun madness that is cyclocross. I believe I was decently prepared for the dismounts, the short runups, and the agony of pedaling hard and furious for minutes at a time – but the chaos of relay team tagging had me finding bruises and cuts that I haven’t an idea how I got. Guess it was super fun if I didn’t remember where I got it right?
Chicago Cross Cup
We are proud to be a small sponsor of this great series this year. It is near and dear to our hearts and the abundance of races, spectating opportunities, and media galore makes it easier for us to showcase how awesome it is to get your knobbies down in a park in Chicago. Check out our practices page as we’ll keep it updated with CX practices that are hosted throughout the city. Please note that as exciting as it is for us to rip a grassy field happily, the public parks are exactly that, public, and our behavior and treatment of the parks reflects on the dirtbaggin’ crowds. In other words – don’t run over the kids or dogs and be respectful of other park dwellers.
Plan ahead and register in advance for easier number pickup before your race and for a possible call-up to the front of the row – there is no particular order to how you might called up as it will be at the discretion of the ChiCrossCup crew, but pre-registering is a definite prerequisite for this advantage.
The Bonebell Tolls!
The Bonebell is tolling loudly in this edition of news for all of Half Acre Cycling. In the past few weeks in addition the coming weeks – they have dirtbagged their way into overdrive to provide the off-road cycling community opportunities to become more engaged with the dirt. The ‘Womens Trail Ride’ though re-scheduled, is a well attended opportunity they take to heart and with CAMBr’s support they have introduced mountain biking to a new group of future trail riders with each event. The team has also sponsored the Palos Meltdown, the only and most important mountain bike race in the city. The team is also hosting a pro-CX clinic just for women hosted by Kristin Wentworth on September 11th. NOTE: Registration is capped at 50 women, there are 37 registered so far!
This past weekend, members of the HAC team participated in an awe inspiring manner as a small crew took on the Unnamed Epic MTB Race in Wisconsin on Saturday before subjecting themselves to the awesomeness of relay cyclocross on Sunday, multiple events too. By many a coach’s determination, this is plain stupid. But it’s not about what is right or wrong in the training book – it’s how about how much fun you should be having and exploring the limitations of your body while you have the ability to do so. Kudos for getting dirty doubly and keeping the smiles for miles while doing it.
Thank you Half Acre for continuing a dirtbaggin’ legacy this year and keep it up!
xXx Racing Relay Cross
As I originally stated previously – ouch. This was a 1st event of its kind, relay cyclocross and it was a smashing success to be the unofficial start of the CX season in Chicago. xXx Racing has worked hard to bring this event to Jackson Park every year and called upon their large base to put on one more race than usual and the participation and the pats on the backs were well deserved! The Bonebell Tolls for thee in this addition as well – derka derka for the hard work of setting up and breaking down an event that will be remembered all season long and giving us a preview of the heckling coming up this season!
Mox’s Bandit Cross
Saturday – September 4th – LaBagh Woods starting at 8:00AM for Women/9:00AM for Men. The only way to improve in cyclocross is to keep hurting yourself in race conditions – come out and participate in these types of events at an hour that shouldn’t disturb the park locals in this northside location which is coincidentally an old MTB trail system from the 80s. Ahh – that was a good time back in 1989. This event brought to you by Mox Multisport.
Ah Yes – The Art of the Heckle.


