1 to Go.
One awesome race to go. It’s been a great season with the weather we’ve been having – and oddly, and understandably, the people are clamoring for some snow on our final romp in the park at Montrose. My fear is that if we don’t get snow, what will get thrown at us while we race? The hooligans on the sidelines will not dissapoint whatever the weather will be – but I don’t want to feel saddened about the final go round with the crowd cheering us on in our toughest, sometimes awkward, and painful moments. No season recap quite yet – but the season has felt great and its obvious that the Chicago Cross Cup has done a magnificent job of bringing CX to Chicago’s attention – hell – how can you not notice a big f’ing billboard!

2010 Sponsorships
So you’re not on a team, or you are but you want some more dirtbaggin’ love, consider a Grassroots Sponsorship Program. They are designed for the likes of you who need a little leg up in obtaining quality bikes and components to keep you rolling through the 2010 season. All you have to do is fill out a form and explain your bad self to these kind companies. Think you got what it takes? Here’s a few to get you going – but please do pay attention to your favorite brands, the deadlines for Grassroots Sponsorships end typically before the end of the year. Want advice on what to put on a resume – e-mail us and we’ll help you fill one out!

Fox Racing Shox
Commencal Bikes
Fuji Bikes

Ramblings
It’s official, Cyclocross is awesome. But you knew that. It has been a most interesting review of personalities, disciplines, and levels of mayhem that have transpired at Cyclocross racing this year in Chicago. Someone exclaimed to Stiggity and I recently – ‘**** road, I want to ride dirt!’ I was endeared to hear this, but at the same time feel that its odd that people hadn’t considered riding off-road as a casual activity, regardless if you primarily ride on the road. Riding off-road is a liberating experience on many levels, and the challenge is sometimes not the technicality of the trail but the ability to forget the road you came in on. A jaunt off-road can be the fix for what ails anyone and is a most welcome outlet for those who have seen the pave’ for far too long. Off-road, without being a snot about the obvious, seriously means not on a paved road surface. Grass counts, rails to trails counts, cinder counts – its not all just MTB singletracking to be considered doing the off-road thing. The excitement of cyclocross has also brought out the CX bike -which means that more people have become aware of this multi-talented wonderbike goodness. It’s not a seasonal bike, much like its badass mountain bike father, it’s meant for the year round joyride. Take a hint, and keep your knobbies on it and do a long road ride that leads you off-road – don’t confine yourself to an all road experience. The Bonebell Crew will be instituting a 3 States Ride next year in the Spring. We’ll ride from Chicago to Holland, MI. 145 miles of surprises.

Thanks
Phil Szcyka, thank you for your Woodstock hospitality! A great weekend was had milling around your stomping grounds and sharing the experiencing with Jack Lionberger, Brandon Leach, and Garrison Riegl. We will have to convince you to allow us to host a mini-series of CX summer races at your farm – we promise we won’t burn the barn down (on purpose).

I’ll leave you all with a communique I received recently highlighting a Rabobank race. Perhaps this will be something to plan for next year along our lakefront. Mechanics rejoice – here is your nightmare.