Cesar Mixes it Up with Team Toyota United in Chicago's Grant Park

Evanston Grand Prix in Pictures

Team Get A Grip thanks the city of Evanston and the organizers of the Evanston Grand Prix for a fantastic day of challenging, high-speed racing.

Families mobbed team central while the racers laid wood on the race course. Parents drooled over the team's Subaru Tribeca, and the kids loved the cycling caps courtesy of Get A Grip.

Charles thread himself through the much-publicized finish line crash, captured on video that can be found here.

Two Endeavor riders crashed into the same person a few seconds apart.

Jim Vandeven Gets New Sidi Genius 6.6 Shoes, Wins Missouri State Title

For 2008, Team Get A Grip brought Sidi on board as official footwear supplier. Our title sponsor, Get A Grip Cycles bicycle stores, believes so strongly in Sidi footwear, that it is the only shoe they carry. So, going into the racing season, we knew that we could count on the people at Sidi and their local representative David Cabanban to deliver the very best in performance cycling shoes.

Cabanban selected the Genius 6.6 carbon for us to wear because of its stiff sole, adjustable heel cup (to prevent slippage in climbs and sprints), versatility in its closure system, and the fact that it offered them in berserker green. These shoes retail for over four hundred dollars a pair and the team can't thank Sidi and Dave enough for letting us try them out. After nearly six months of racing and training, none of us could come up with a truly negative thing to say about the Genius 6.6, except that one does have to make sure that the cleat bolts are well-tightened (something that the shop fitters say can be alleviated with a little lock-tite on the bolt threads).

Aspen Gorry, one of the teams most active and successful new members said "The shoes are great! They look awesome, and the best thing about them is the adjustable heel. It eliminates any foot slipping inside the shoe giving a great feel on the bike. First rate!" The same sentiment was echoed by Lindsay Koren ,who said that she immediately added 100 watts to her sprint because the shoes were a perfect fit and kept her heel in place. "I feel like a lot more power is going into my pedal stroke on the upswing." It is probably no surprise that Lindsay swept all four of Iowa's Memorial Day Weekend races just a few weeks after getting her shoes.

The shop shoe gurus were careful to select the shoe size and cleat position for each racer. One person in particular, Jim Vandeven, was tough to accommodate because his feet are completely different sizes and have some other bizarre issues. After extensive consultation and modification, Jim received his shoes a few days ago and promptly won the Missouri State Time Trial Championship.

Jim called us and gave a report:" Today was the Missouri State Time Trial Championship in Jefferson City. The time trial was 25 miles. On the way out I averaged about 32 miles per hour, but on the way back I was lucky to go 22 because of the wind. I finished the race in 57 minutes and seven seconds, for an average speed of 26.1 miles per hour beating Shawn O'Neal for the state title."

Twenty-six miles per hour for almost an hour: it doesn't count as Subaru STI fast, but for a guy on a bike that is just blazing.

Surviving the Carnage in Evanston

Fifth at Evanston -- my best placing of the year. By concentrating on pack placement and when to open up my sprint, I'd seen my results improve steadily over the year. The tight course with the infamous "BK stacker" in the penultimate corner put a premium on pack placement; on a number of occasions I heard riders coming to grief behind me.

But staying at the front isn't any help when, in the final sprint, the people about to take first and second collide and then start taking other people out in dramatic, flipping crashes with bikes sailing six feet into the air. I narrowly squeaked by the carnage, improving three places from people crashing out in front of me.

I felt lucky to finish both this race and the Olympia Fields race -- where at least four separate crashes occurred within feet of me -- without going down. I wondered if my fortune was due to the latest addition to my gear. I recently bought a dogtag with my emergency contact information to wear when I ride. Since I was going to be wearing a necklace, I thought I might as well add to it the Ganesha pendant my mother-in-law gave me. And if I was adding Ganesha, I might as well make my own mom happy, so I also added a pendant of Madonna del Ghisallo, the patron saint of cyclists.

In honesty, I don't believe my pendants helped me stay upright, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop wearing them -- particularly for Superweek races.

Team Get A Grip Cycles Forms Partnership with Subaru of America.

PRESS RELEASE

July 17, 2008

Chicago, IL.

Team Get A Grip Cycles has agreed to a partnership with Subaru
of America for the remainder of the 2008 racing season.  As
part of this agreement, Subaru will supply the team with
vehicles and logistical support. 

“We are particularly excited about testing out the newly
redesigned Subaru Tribeca,” said team director and founder
Jonathan Tenney. “Our team is based in the heart of urban
Chicago where automobiles are not always necessary.  Since
most races are held in other parts of the country, the team
still needs an efficient, safe, and spacious means of travel.
The Tribeca is a perfect match for our team, and all of us
are beyond grateful to the people at Subaru for creating such
a useful and stylish vehicle.”

Team Get A Grip Cycles was founded on the premise that it was
possible to build a competitive cycling team with a set of
determined amateurs who focus most of their energies on their
professional life.  Since its founding in 2007, the team,
which includes leaders in economics, medicine, pathology,
archaeology, and sound design, among other fields, has
collected multiple national and state championships, over
forty victories, and one hundred podium placings by focusing
on achieving goals collectively with focused team work. 

The team’s title sponsor, Get A Grip Cycles, is the Midwestern
leader in bicycle fitting and customization and has locations
in Chicago’s north side and downtown loop.  Other team
sponsors include Cannondale, Sidi, SRAM, and On Your Mark
Training.

It isn't SuperWeek...

...but since I was in Boston for the week, I was able to find a race to keep the legs open over the weekend. The Wells Ave. training crit is a Boston institution, running every Sunday morning during the Summer for over 25 years. I rode the 10 miles out to the course and joined the A race (cat. 1-3). With over 50 riders, this turned out to be a fast, aggressive 32 miles of racing. Promising breaks slipped off of the front 4-5 times through the race, each lasting at least 5 laps. While racing on the front for most of the race, I was never in any of the moves that stuck. Just missing a bridge to the threatening 8 person break with about 10 laps to go in the race, I was forced to drift back to the pack and wait for the finish. Fortunately, the break quit working well together with about 4 to go and were caught on the last lap. In the chaos that followed on the last lap I was behind a gap that opened on the back stretch but was able to bridge across and pass a number of riders before the line to finish in the top 10. It was great to show of the Black and Green in another part of the country!

Team Get A Grip Makes Cover of Chicago's Largest Sports Magazine

This photo of Jonathan Gray, the standout category rider of the summer, was taken during the Sherman Park Criterium in June.