Friday, January 4, 2008

The Spring Classics




Okay, so maybe it wasn't one of THE Spring Classics, but it was one helluva ride. 56 degrees, 30mph cross wind, dangerous railroad crossings, and just a bit of mud and water thrown in. Well at least the new kits haven't arrived yet. I would rather get someone else's kit dirty. A nice little training ride for Hillsboro, with about 4-5 miles of rolling hills thrown in. Average wattage was 247, with a peak of about 450. Not bad for the first week of January. It sure is interesting to see how our bodies are reacting to a full season of 'cross racing. Looks like 2008 might be a good year after all!

Cyclocross Event Feb. 10th



USAC has approved our request to host a non-competitive cyclocross ride in order to fulfill our requirement with them. The info for the ride is posted in the link. As a Team we have been training at the Dan Ryan Woods Toboggan Runs, and we believe that this will make an excellent course and hope to be able to host a race there as part of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup Series. The course is about 3/4ths of a mile and will feature a run-up that will make the hill at Montrose look like a small bump. The course will also feature two barrier sections as well as some off-camber turns. This is a USAC sanctioned event therefore licenses are required. If you do not already have a license a one-day license is available for $10. //http://www.chicagobikeracing.com/fliers/veepak.pdf

55 Degrees in January!!!!

What else is there to say? 55 Degrees on a Sunday in January, life is good. The weather Gods are smiling upon us. Tomorrow is supposed to 65! Sweet!!!

More Good News for 2008



So far 2008 has gone pretty well for the Beverly Bike-Vee Pak, Inc. Racing Team. While we haven't actually competed we have had some victories.

The first was being recognized by USAC as a team. To do this we had to host either a race or a non-competitve ride. We chose to host a cyclocross training ride at the Dan Ryan Woods on February 10th. Hopefully there won't be any snow on the ground, otherwise we may have to fight off a bunch of 8 year olds with sleds!

We also recieved a sponsorship deal from SRAM! While we won't be riding the RED Group in 2008, it does look like we will all have the Force Carbon groups on our bikes. Ed and Jose from SRAM came out to the shop one Thursday evening and put on quite a presentation. They brought one of their neutral support bikes, all 3 gruppos and a few other toys for us to play with. Needless to say, we were like a bunch of kids in a candy shop.

While the deal is still in the works, it looks like we may have also secured Spinergy as a sponsor as well. It is a bit too early to say for sure, but things are definately rolling along with them. We also recieved word that SIBEX Sports would sponsor us for our 'cross season. Apparently, if you just ask people are willing to give you stuff. Who knew? As of today, our sponsors now include: Beverly Bike and Ski, Vee Pak, Inc., Cannondale, SRAM, and SIBEX. Now if we could only find a sponsor for seat posts and handlebars, looks like I have a little more work to then.

Once the team hears from Spinergy, we will also be placing our order for our team kit from Champion System. The kit should arrive in time for our first race of the year which will be Hillsboro-Roubaix.

My First Time

This may hurt a little, but I am going to try it anyways...Yay!!! My first blog