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."

Special thanks to Chicago's 16th Ward, Ald. Thompson, and XXX-Athletico

Team Get A Grip Cycles would like to thank Ald. Joann Thompson, the residents of the 16th Ward, and the XXX-Athletico racing team for putting on an excellent event in Chicago's Sherman Park. Despite the extreme weather in the days and hours preceding the event, XXX Racing put on a thrilling and competitive set of races.

Some members of our team live just minutes away from Sherman Park in the Hyde Park neighborhood. We are truly grateful to have this event in our neighborhood. Thanks for bringing people to the South Side and showing them how dynamic and exciting this part of Chicago can be.

The category 3 squad would like to extend our personal thanks to the announcer of the Category 3/4 race. You were a fresh alternative to the usual. Thanks Brandon!

Thanks

Angelo here, typing in from foggy San Francisco. --I was cold on tonight's ride while wearing long-sleeves, vest, knickers and wool gloves!

I just wanted to say thanks to my teammates and the awesome staff at the shop. I've had countless great times hanging at the shop and racing with you all. I'm sad to say that I'm retiring my green TGAGC kit. Being the solo representation out west has been fun..."cool kit and bike, where is Get A Grip out of?", "Get A Grip, that's in Chicago isn't it?" and I've recently had other riders comment on the team's Superweek results!, but it's time for me to join up with a local team. I've made the jump to Kovarus/Squadra Ovest, based out of San Francisco.

Good luck to you all. As you know, the door is always open at your SF training camp.

Podiums in Lombard Cont...

The women's field at the Lombard crit was also small at the starting line. Most of them were wearing the orange of ABD. I (Devon) felt a bit lonely without my teammates with me. Sadly the mountains of Colorado and other engagements kept them from racing in Lombard this weekend.

ABD attacked from the starting line, but I stayed in the pack patiently waiting for their two strongest riders to initiate an attack. It wasn't long before the initial attack was brought back and the two powerhouse riders of ABD came zooming by. I went with them and we opened up a large gap from the small field behind.

For a while, the three of us took turns pulling, but I knew our cooperative riding wouldn't last long. About half-way into the race, the tag-team attacks began. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to survive their attacks for long, I decided to try attacking myself and managed to split up the two teammates.

I had one rider still on my wheel and soon she eventually flew past me, opening up a 5 second gap. For the last 20 minutes I rode with her in sight. She had me working pretty hard, but with half a lap to go, I was able to close the gap.

The race came down to the final sprint and I'm happy to say that my Speedy System Six didn't let me down!

P/1/2 Podium in Lombard

Hi readers. Seth here, writing a short recap of Sunday's ABR Illinois State Championship Criterium in Lombard.

After a long Superweek in Wisconsin, with the large, national-level P/1/2 fields really whipping me into shape in a bunch of 100-kilometer criteriums, it was time to come back to Chicagoland and test out some new form. Although the course in Lombard, essentially a 1-mile, windy oval with no more than 20 feet of elevation is not exactly suited to my twiggy climber's frame, this is exactly where I was hoping to see some improvement after Superweek.

Meeting a small field at the start line, presumably because many were exhausted from the long haul of July races or maybe because there were still some also in Whitefish Bay, just north of Milwaukee, whatever the reason, I wanted to make sure this race wouldn't be too lazy or too easy before a finishing sprint. So I clipped in first and fastest from the gun and went to the front to whip up a fast pace to start the race.

Lo and behold, I look behind and see that only two other guys were really ready to ride. The others in the Pro/1/2 field were content to let us go, even though the event was an uncharacteristically short 45 minutes (which I would argue should encourage only very short leashes on breakaways). In any case, these two and I decided to keep rolling and see what would happen. After a few minutes, two bridged up to us, and, with a nice gap, we decided to give this sucker our all.

Halfway through the race, we all had the thought, I'm sure, that this was bound to be much harder than we had calculated. I was already counting down the minutes at 20 in, but, after some mistakes riding in the breakaway earlier this year, I knew that the first and most important rule was to ride it to the bitter end. So I kept on, along with the other two original members. One of the bridgers eventually couldn't handle the pace, however, and another could no longer pull. He sat on the rest of the race and was not a factor.

With pleasure and a bit of disbelief (too good to be true?), our gap hit the one-minute mark close to the end of the race, meaning we would soon lap the field. Nice! To make it fairer in the last few laps, we took shorter pulls, but, of course, the attacks had to come sometime. With two to go, one of my companions attacked incredibly hard. Neither my mate nor I could match his acceleration. So we decided to try to bring him back together by equally pulling as fast as possible these last two laps. It just didn't happen, though. The attacker was the strongest man. My companion won the sprint at the line, with the sitter-on not being a factor, meaning I took the final rung of the podium.

At first, I was a bit disappointed ending up 3rd out of what was a 5-man main move of the day. On the other hand, I had never gone from the gun to the finish in a successful breakaway, and of course I hadn't in a Pro/1/2 race either. So it was definitely progress! I have to admit that Superweek has brought me on some great form. Let's hope I can keep it up and get some more results in the P/1/2 field with it, including by continuing to develop that strength capacity for going with a winning last-lap attack after a long breakaway!

SUPERWEEK - BREWER'S HILL CRITERIUM - CAT 3

Today's players consist of Eric, Chip, Jon, and myself(Steve). It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee, and we know today's course is well suited for our racing style. Aggression, Aggression, Aggression!!! With a nice little hill just before the finish, going up 60 times, we figure to make a break stick or simply shred the field. As it turned out, it was a nice day for a break.

Roughly half way through the race Chip and I slowly roll off the front, the field seemed to be giving us a rather long leash, so we decided to take advantage. After a sharp effort, we had a nice gap super fast. A couple others bridged up and then the field really started chasing. After a few laps, things started to come back together, but I wasn't ready to give up. I held a decent tempo just off the front, and pretty much like I expected, the counters began. After a few other attempts, eventually a group of 9 formed with most of the teams being represented. This was the group that would stick and actually wound up lapping the field.

Lapping the field is an interesting thing. The simplicity of a break becomes rather complex or confusing the instant you reintegrate. The first thing you think is get to the front as fast as possible. Next you're trying to get on the same page w/ your teammates and make sure everyone knows what to do. It's funny how you're not exactly sure who all was in the break with you, when you were working together just minutes earlier. I'm sure this is more the case w/ a large break, such as a group of 9 like ours.

My team was awesome today!!! Chip and I started things off while Eric and Jon controlled the pace behind. Chip later joined in controlling the chase. As soon as we lapped the field, Eric brought me straight to the front and kept me safe. Then the guys sat back a bit and let me take advantage of the Beans and Barley train who was taking care of Loberg, their guy in the break.. With about 3 to go my team came forward again, Chip upped the pace for about 2 laps and then Jon took the reins for the last one. The only unfortunate happening was Jon going up one side while I was on the other. The rider who got his wheel, who I didn't even remember being in the break, wound up 1st and I was 2nd. So close! But I'm happy with a 2nd place Superweek finish, especially considering who won was also the guy who ran away with the overall.

Big thanks to my team!!!
Steven Vandeven

Team Get A Grip Cycles Prepares for an All-Out Assault on the International Cycling Classic

Starting on July 13th, Team Get A Grip Cycles will be bringing its full weight to bear on the International Cycling Classic, the longest running cycling stage race in North America.

Riders will be facing seventeen straight days of racing held on various courses in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas. For a complete schedule, go to internationalcycling.com.

Condolences

Staff and team members of Get A Grip Cycles offer their condolences to all affected by the death of Beth Kobeszka at this weekend's Proctor Cycling Classic.