WCA Cyclocross Season So Far

So we kicked off the 2008 cyclocross season on Saturday September 27th at the Angell Park Jonathan Page UCI 'Cross. It was sunny most of the day, and a bit warm for cross weather. The fields were a good size, with riders from all over the country, even in the lower categories. I didn't get to see much of the racing (I was stuck inside playing race secretary with the computer), but I heard it all went quite well. I did get to see part of the Elite Men's race. By then, the outcome was pretty much decided, but there were a few smaller battles still going on and the racing I saw was quite good. Our local riders present at the race made a good showing.
September 28th, the second day of the Angell Park Cross, had weather much better suited to 'cross. Partly cloudy and chilly all day, I still didn't get to see much of the racing. The fields were about the same size as Saturday. I'm sure the racing was just as good. Again, I only got to see a bit of the Elite Men's race. The two days were pretty much identical from my perspective, but I didn't get to see much at all. Hopefully next time I can see more of the racing.
October 4th was the classic Cam-Rock race. Promoted and organized by the Brazen Dropouts team, it's a classic, and has been going on for as long as I can remember. The day was pretty chilly, except for a little while in the sun. Even though there was a heavy frost in the morning, the grass dried well and wasn't the least bit slippery. Regardless of the state of the turf, several riders still managed to have incidents rare to cyclocross. As far as I'm aware, we definitely broke on collarbone, bruised some ribs a bit, and got someone good on the back or shoulder. I later heard someone also hit their head, but I don't know anything about it. However unnatural these were to 'cross, they weren't too severe. The racing was good regardless.
October 5th was the Lapham Peak race, another classic. The day started nicely, a bit overcast and chilly, but not too bad overall. Later, though, it rained and got a bit windy. It stopped raining about halfway through the last race. I was working so I really only saw the bit around the finish line, but it's not the most boring bit of the course. The races were very competitive, even though the fields were a bit small (likely due to the weather forecast).

So I sort of forgot about this for a while, but...

I'll try to make it up to you (who ever out there is bored enough to read this).

So a fair bit has happened since I last posted here. Last year at Muscatine over Memorial Day weekend, Greg Harper had asked me to sing the anthem for the pro's, and I declined. Over the winter I sang the anthem at several of my school's basketball games and people seemed to like it. And I learned a little bit of anxiety management.... Haha. Then this year, at Superweek, which I was already attending as an official, the lead announcer, Eddy Van Guise, asked me to sing the anthem at some of the races. I deliberated, but quickly decided that the practice in performing would be worth it, and I knew I wouldn't have a major case of nerves and screw it up, even though I knew a lot of the people who would hear me sing it, which wasn't the case when I sang it at school. So I sang for Richton Park (a new race this year), one of the Benseville stages, Waukesha's Carl Zach Classic, Cedarburg, Downers Avenue, and Whitefish Bay.

We all survived Superweek this year, even though there were some organizational issues to be sorted out. Hopefully everything will be okay next year.

Local racing this year has been quite good. Cyclocross season starts at the end of the month, and I'll try to keep this updated throughout the season.

I survived moving into college and have a great roommate. She even likes good music. And she plays piano a bit and sings a bit. It's pretty damn cool. All my classes (except the required ones, which there are only two of) are pretty fun. I especially like the fact that I have around seven music classes. Definitely rocking out. And there's a music group (student run) up here that I've joined. It's called Howlin' at the Moon, and we do all sorts of music (whatever we can, and want to, play) and I think we'll be amazing because all of the people involved are really cool. Everyone here is pretty nice, and we do fun crazy stuff. yay!

Until MUCH later

The track season in Wisconsin and Norther Illinois ended last week on Thursday with the annual last-night cook-out at Northbrook. The actual racing, however, was rained out.

No more until next year!

Tonight was the last night of racing for the year at the Washington Bowl. A night of Danishes, Snowballs (we really needed some snowballs tonight....), and a Madison and a Points race, with lots of good racing. There were, surprisingly, more spectators on the hill than I think we've had all year. The Danishes were, of course won by all of the big sprinters (John Fraley in the Pro/1/2, Brandon Gavic and Kyle Jacobson were 1 and 2 in the Cat. 3's, Brandon Krawczyk in the Cat. 4's). The Madison was won by Andy Crater and Cole House. Rob Springer and Monique Hanley in Second, Kurt Otter and Jeff Thompson in Third, Eric Meier and Mitch Gantz in Fourth, Kyle Jacobson and Nicholas Holbus in Fifth, Damon Rinard and Bruce Bock in Sixth, and John Fraley and David Engwis in Seventh. The Snowballs were a special Kenosha Creation; on the first lap, there was one point, on the second, two and one, on the third, three and two, etc. So in the Pro/1/2 Snowball, the last lap was worth ten and nine points. Really, I think I might like it better that way... Easier to score, I think. Until the next bit of excitement, Bye!

Another day, more races...

Today was Tuesday, so we, of course, had racing at the Washington Bowl. We actually made it through the night. It didn't rain at all, nor did it ever appear close to doing so. Most of the races were fairly short, though. Two poles of lights were out (we believe that the fuses failed due to contact with water, because they turned on initially, but went out right away) but they're supposed to be fixed by next week, which will be the last week of racing there this year. As last week, I drove home from the track in dad's lovely white-and-false-wood-paneling Buick wagon. I did much better today than last week. No one tailgated me, and I managed to stay mostly on the road (just one little spot where I was a little too friendly with the white line), and even with the flooding covering one entire lane on W, just before it turns onto 50 heading toward the turn-offs for Burlington and Wilmot it wasn't too bad. The flooding is so bad from the rain that we got Saturday, Sunday, and early this morning that, at one point between Wilmot and Paddock Lake, one lane each direction is closed. More flooding than even several years ago when all of the roads surrounding Burlington were flooded in at least one point each, and some of them had flooding over a foot deep. County highways, flooded over a foot. That flooding lasted almost all summer (it kept raining all the time!!!). Marcie and I loved it.

Until the next race!

A sign of the coming Apocalypse?

This weekend were the Downer's Grove races. For the first time since I can remember, it rained at Downer's Grove. Not only did it rain, but it was absolutely frigid all weekend. It was like cyclocross weather. So we were cold, wet, and miserable all weekend. Saturday started out sunny and a little bit warmer than was comfortable. Soon it turned to pouring rain. It then continued raining until about ten on Sunday. The sun came out for maybe an hour, but then it started raining again. The racing this weekend was very good. Quite a few people crashed, as always, but maybe a few more because of the rain. The rain did have one good effect; even though more people crashed, a smaller percentage of those riders suffered painful injuries because they were able to slide on the wet pavement. We had the usual broken collarbones and road rash, but not much more than that. The Pro race was surprisingly large, considering the conditions, and quite a few of them finished. Other than the rain, though, Downer's Grove weekend was, as usual, the yearly social gathering of mid-western icons and race-government members. At least, that's what I call them... Haha. Until I have something remotely interesting to write, bye!

*sigh* long day

So I survived an evil doctor's appointment at evil St Catherine's and suchlike. It was pretty awful. I hate hospitals and the like. After that, though, we ate lunch at Quizno's in Gurnee and got milkshakes at Steak 'n' Shake. Then we stopped at the little music shop I noticed in Deerfield. I spent a long time there. And I got four new music books there (a clarinet method book (huge) and a jazz violin book and a vocal songs and arias book and a book full of double-stop exercises for violin) and then, after I left, I realized that they had chromatic pitch-pipes, and they were shiny, and I really wanted one, but we were already almost to the track, so that project is saved for another day. Chromatic pitch-pipe. Then I'll only need one pitch pipe for everything, and I'll have it.

At the track, there wasn't too much of interest, except that it was the first night that actually got cold. I was freezing by the end. In the Pro/1/2 field, however, we had five UCI riders (Chris Mesora (Delta Faucet), Dan Holloway (VMG), Emile Abraham (Priority Health), Adam Bergman (Colavita), and Todd Yezefsky(Nerac)) and they certainly spiced the racing action a bit. However, they did have some competition amongst the local 1's and 2's. Good racing tonight. No one fell down tonight, which is a rarity at Northbrook. It was a good night though, except for the cold.