Chicago Criterium

Captions soon, I hope. I can barely keep my eyes open at this point!

Eau Claire WORS - Photos from the Rock Garden Gauntlet aka Jekyll and Hyde

Mark LaLonde (Planet Bike), above, Jesse LaLonde (Gary Fisher), background left, and below pic as well, and Jason Sager (Jamis) battled it out for most of the elite race. They were always close together when they came through. Yes, the Jason Sager of "Free Jason Sager" fame, who went on to win. Mark got second and Jesse got third, I believe. Mark kept things interesting on some laps when he chose to hop off and run the hill cyclocross style. I'm pretty sure he was able to pass riders on the hill with this method. It was impressive to watch. The speed with which all three came through the rock garden was impressive, period. It was almost as if the rock garden wasn't there...

Jesse flying through the rock garden.

Up the hill!

This was Amelia's last WORS race before she and Tom (see pic below) move to Utah, where she'll be going to grad school. I wish Amelia and Tom good luck in their new life! Hopefully they'll make it back to the Midwest often!









Rocks, rocks, and more rocks! This area was the downfall of many!

By the time you read this most of the pics will be up on Flickr. The rest should be up in the next day or two.

The most interesting set is from the Rock Garden shortly before the finish. Even if you don't ride the dirt, you should check these out for an appreciation of how much coordination is involved in riding on a gauntlet of sharp and pointy rocks.

I had so much fun sitting on a log and watching the chaos and mayhem!! I was spellbound, I didn't want to leave. There was some amazing bike handling going on in that gulley! Truly, some of you were dancing on the pedals to get through that looooong rock garden, up the rocky hill, and to the left. Just making it up the hill was an accomplishment, even if you didn't make the turn.... even making it to the hill was good, in my book. It seemed like the hill was where the most people bailed or got tangled up with another rider, either just after the bottom or else the top where you had to make the turn.

The other set is of the Sport Start, the Elite/Comp start, some venue shots for the photo contest, and the Citizen Awards. Some of them are in the Photostream but not in the set yet.

I'm going to put up some of my faves here, check back later!

Ride to eat, eat to Ride

Another way to "experience" the Tour vicariously. Are you up for the challenge? If nothing else, this article about eating like a Tour de France rider will make you laugh. Cuz really, subconsciously or consciously, don't many of us ride to eat??

And this brings me to the quote of, well, the month and maybe the year!! "Cycling isn't a sport. It's more like a really, really expensive eating disorder." Velosnaps brought this gem to our attention, and isn't there a grain (or a bushel?) of truth to it?


On another note, I was hoping to go watch the Soldier Field Crit, but ended up getting sidetracked by other things. I also had the feeling it might rain, since it had been spitting much of the afternoon, was cold, and very gray. When I finally made it out for a ride, it was 8:15 and I had my lights with me so I could stay out for a while. I hadn't ridden on Sheridan in a couple of days and was surprised to see bike lanes on the newly paved section from Isabella to just past PDL. It was such a strange feeling to see them there. I think it will be a good thing. I found myself missing the fresh unstriped pavement without the distracting line, however. Then I found myself wondering if in rainy weather on the fast group rides someone could slide out on the lane stripe or on the bike logo if they make a wrong move? maybe that's not even an issue, there must have been some kind of stripe before? I wish there was a way to "suggest" the presence of a lane without having the raised stripe and the raised bike logo. It is such a treat to have that smooth pavement after the minefield that we had to ride every day before the construction! I'm splitting hairs, though...