Cyclocross Is Here!

After a long wait, cyclocross season has finally arrived! For some, this marks the time to lay aside the bike and start having a few more beers. For others, it is the best part of the racing calendar. No more riding around endless circles of pavement... cyclocross offers varied terrain, technical turns, and most importantly barriers. It is the steeplechase of cycling.

I first discovered cyclocross about a year ago and since the end of the Chicago series last December, I have been impatiently waiting for this year's season to begin. The Chicago 'Cross Cup (www.chicrosscup.com) kicked off on Saturday with a race in Jackson Park. Get-A-Grip had a number of riders come out and a good start to the season with a (narrow) win in the women's division. Thanks to the XXX folks for creating a fun course and putting on a good race.

Team Get A Grip Cycles thanks Cannondale For Great Bikes, Support

Dear Cannondale,

I am the director/captain of Team Get A Grip Cycles, a small, amateur, cycling team based in Chicago, Illinois. Earlier this year, we joined your grass roots sponsorship program through our sponsoring shop, Get A Grip Cycles, and Josh Ruddy, the local Cannondale representative.

Let me say that we have had a wonderful experience racing on your bikes. They performed beyond expectations and never failed to impress our rivals. We won multiple state championships, sent riders to collegiate nationals, and generally struck fear in our competition.

But this e-mail is not about the team or your bikes. It is about the help we received from Eric Saletel and Troy (sorry, but we did not get Troy's last name) at last weekend's Gateway Cup. Several of us were experiencing problems with our bikes once we got to the race. We did not really have the tools or expertise to remedy things ourselves, so we elicited the help of Eric and Troy, who were both there as part of your test ride/technical support program. The two of them took time from their busy schedules to fix our creaky bottom brackets and dirty hubs. With their help we were able to race to the best of our abilities. We won, and nearly swept the podium, of the third stage.

I extend to Cannondale, Eric, and Troy, our sincerest thanks. I am not sure what we would have done without them.

This is a spectacular program. We hope that you continue to support it.

Jonathan Tenney
Team Get A Grip Cycles

Team Get A Grip Cycles Stomps Into St. Louis and Brings Out the Tools At The Gateway Cup

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With the end of the road racing season in sight, some members of Team Get A Grip Cycles are bookending their season by racing in lovely St. Louis, Missouri. The Gateway Cup features four days of lung-busting criterium racing in some of the most attractive neighborhoods of the Gateway to the West.

After two days of near-misses, the team finally earned the victory they had come to claim when Steven Vandeven sprinted to victory in the Giro della Montagna. "Those other dudes just delivered me to the finish. I did not have to put my nose out into the wind until there were 150 meters left. It was the easiest sprint I have ever done," he said. James Holton, last year's winner, nearly placed second after another team member, Jonathan Gray, put Holton in an ideal position to also go for the win. The space between second and third was close enough that the line judge resorted to the film, and awarded Holton with third. "I would have liked to win this race again, since I have won it the last two years. I was in a good position to finish first, but Steve was in a better one."