There was a portrait plaque that hung in my grandfather’s living room. It was of my father, and all his brothers, standing on the grassy knoll by the Montrose lakefront, all of them looking youthful and intense. They had a sort of ‘goodfellas‘ vibe going in the picture – and below the picture was a bronze plaque that read “1969 Los Mayas – Chicago”. It was their soccer club that they organized for their fellow Guatemalans back in the day. Montrose Harbor, when it actually had boats that would dock in near the hill before it was filled in, was the breaking ground for Latin Americans to get together with their families to spectate and participate in soccer events all weekend long. I grew up going to soccer Sundays at Montrose practically every weekend, all year long, for decades. It was family time and a time to witness some athletic grace of some great amateur soccer players. The tradition had grown so solid, that in the early nineties, the City of Chicago took note to keep the field protected for all year round use for soccer participants which by then extended the Latin community and involved the American Youth Soccer Organization and the Chicago Sports and Social Clubs. The love of the sport which was started as a tradition by the few, was carried on, family to family, eventually to a greater audience, and then becoming a part of everyday activity on Chicago’s lakefront.

I find myself in a similar role to the young men in that photo in 1969. Only now – I stand on the same grass with cleated cycling shoes and a knobby tired bicycle. A new affection is growing in using the city’s parks and forest preserves to keep the knobby side down. It grows every year and the accessibility to most of the dirt riding arenas is getting more and more accessible with each passing year. Clubs and racing teams are growing as shown by the level of participation in each of the respective activities of Mountain Biking and Cyclocross. The passion that drives both are exclaimed through the interwebs and the excitement to participate is showing a healthy growth every year. The Chicago Cyclocross Cup site showed some links from the way-back-machine that showed the ChiCrossCup in its infancy with a mere three races and at most 40 participants for the races. That was six years ago. The Palos Meltdown started four years ago had about 150 racers show up, and now is numbering in the 500s.

Palos Forest Preserve, then known as Palos Park, hosted the National Cyclocross Championships for 4 years starting in 1963. Montrose is now home of the Illinois State Championships. There is tradition deeply rooted in Chicago for dirtbags. The mission is ahead of us to bring that notoriety and attention in continuing making the sport accessible, fun, and worthy of recognition years from now. It’s just a few hundred locals clanging cowbells and proud of members of the CAMBr army – but what a difference it would make if it numbered in the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands?

If a few immigrants could get together and say ‘let’s start a soccer club and play here’ and nourish that effort for years to turn it into a diehard tradition, then I sincerely have faith in the dirtbag community to do the same with off-road cycling. Worlds Master Championships will be held in the United States in Kentucky. I envision Chicago holding a National caliber MTB race and a world class caliber cyclocross park. Even better, I wish that in due time, I’ll have a photo in my home of me and friends dirtbaggin’ and my kids looking at it saying, “thanks dad”.

This Sunday – Game On.