After the Afterglow
Illinois Cyclocross has never been better.
We have a neighborhood and Park District who trust us enough to give us free reign of their golf course for a weekend.
We have our favorite Knauffles who proves that you, too, can enjoy #doughnuthandupsarenotacrime AND smoke the rest of your field.
We have women and men willing to register for up to 5 back-to-back races to vie for homemade medals. Final count: 1) Sophia Robinson, 24 laps; 2) Kristen Hosey, 23 laps; 3) (tied) Kelly Clarke and Brent Wegscheid, 22 laps; 5) (tied) Lucas Seibel and Steve Biedron, 17 laps
We have youth testing themselves over barriers and up hills for the first time. We also have plenty of grrls who represent their own junior podiums.
We have two teams and an organization competing to donate the most dollars to youth cycling programs (Pony Shop won, by the way!).
We have a man who dresses as SuperGirl willingly accept that our local heroine is way better at cyclocross than he is.
We have a dude who travelled from Australia to race Afterglow on his way to Nationals, a club that brings their own waffle maker, inspiring teammates, a Women's Single Speed category, a Best Dressed Tandem Competition (above), a unicyclist, Santa, cargo bike friends who stay late to help out, and hundreds of riders and spectators trekking to our race in search for fun. And I think they found it.
We have $4,000 to give to West Town Bikes and Blackstone Bicycle Works. That's TWO. GRAND. E A C H.
So many thank yous! Thank you to Chris Jensen for providing steadfast knowledge of how to run a pro as hell bike race, thank you partners and wives and husbands and dude friends and lady friends and families who support us all year long, thank you sponsors for believing in us, thank you everyone who donated dollars to WTB and BSB, thank you anyone who has taken a kid under their wing to teach them the joy and freedom cycling brings to lives, thank you photographers for making pretty pictures often for the price of $0.00, thank you friends who bring the positivity to the environment, and thank YOU for being a part of our family.
Cheers to yet another wildly successful Afterglow - A Cyclocross Race. See you in 2015!