Hillsboro is Now Closed

The registration for the 2008 Hillsboro Roubaix has now closed for the cat 4/5 and 5 races. The races were capped at 75 and 50 riders respectively and closed within 5 hours of the registration opening. Thanks to Luke at Chicagobikeracing.com for posting the link to register. More importantly a big thank you to Rich Pierce for all the hard work that has gone into organizing this great race again. If the sell out status is any indication of how well this race is organized, other promoters should take note. To those who waited too long, I guess there is always next year!

Registration for Hillsboro Now Open

The registration for the 2008 edition of the Hillsboro Roubaix has finally opened, and by the looks of it if you wait till tomorrow you may be locked out. They are capping the fields again this year and as of an hour ago the 4/5 race was 1/3rd full and the 5 race was already 50% full. Yikes!

Our roster for Hillsboro will be:
Elvis Falbo
Paul Morrison
Tony Rienks
Damon Nelson
Jorge Cerritos
Joe Castello
Dan Bomben
Sergio Moreno
Brian Smith
This should put us at a distinct advantage since we will comprising over one-tenth of the field. Since the race is only 46 days away, we need to really commit to a cohesive training schedule that will bring the team together as often as possible. The more we can ride and train together, the better we will know how each of us will react in certain situations. Once this weather finally breaks, we will be hitting the road as often as possible to begin to start working on tactis and such. Until then keep up the base work on the trainers or rollers.

Glory Through Suffering

I have adopted a new motto for not only cycling but also life; "Glory Through Suffering". This motto is a way of reminding myself that we can only achieve great things through hardwork and perserverence. Nothing comes easy in life, especially winning bike races. If you are only now starting to put on base miles, or haven't even looked at your bike since last year, then guess what? You may already be too far behind your competition to make it up. I myself have been putting in the most pre-season work that I ever have, and I know several of my team mates are as well. I should hit 1,000 miles by the end of this week and hopefully come spring that means something. And why am I along with countless others doing this? For the glory of winning. For the satisfaction of showing up in incredible form. For the ability to dictate what happens in a race. To not only react to what happens in a race, but to make others react to what I am doing.
I do it to bring glory to not only myself, but also to everyone on my team and all those that support us. To our parents, and wives, and friends that show up time again to our races all year long. Those supporters help to fuel that competitve fire within all of us to do better. They help to put a smile on our faces everytime we pass them along the course as they shout words of encouragement. We train so that we not only don't let ourselves down, but also don't let those around us down. So if you haven't been riding as much as you would like, quit making excuses and get on your bike. Some effort now will pay dividends in the next few months. If you are part of team, then you should be training even harder. Those other 10-15 guys are all counting on you to be able to do your part come race time just as much as you are counting on them. So get on your rollers, lock into your trainers, crank up the music, and get to work! Glory Through Suffering!

Chicago Time Trial Series

A new series has finally come to fruition through the hard work and determination of Steve Hansen from North Branch Cycling. The Chicago Time Trial Series will debut this spring in Sugar Grove and continue all the way through the end of August. The impetus in creating the series was to have a Chcago based series that didn't involve several hours of travel. All of the races are located just a short drive from the city in the collar suburbs. Each race will be a 30k individual TT and since it is a series, points will be tallied toward an overall winner. So far the tentative schedule is:
Sugar Grove April 20th
Monee May 11th
Willow Springs June 15th
Hampshire July 13th
Richmond July 26th
Woodstock August 30th

If you have any questions, or would like to volunteer your time contact Steve Hansen at shansen@chicagott.com

New Logo for CX

Eric at Mango Design has come up with another idea for a logo we could use when it comes down to 'cross season. I was thinking we could use this for any promotional materials such as flyers, postcards, stickers, even t-shirts. I would love to get some feedback from everyone. Heck maybe we could even sell the copyright to the Chicago Cyclocross Cup! I would like everyone to try and leave a comment with their feelings about the logo.