NY state of mind

It's always a treat to see the talent that shows up for Velo-City. I've been racing the track for about 2 full years plus a coupla broken seasons and even with that experience I had to really step it up to place a bid for those tickets to Guatemala this year.

The racing included a motor paced Kierin, a win-n-out, a miss-n-out, Australian pursuit, and match sprints.

I fared well in most of the events. Won the Kierin, win-n-out and match sprint with some bell lap jumps. The miss-n-out is a pain of a race for me and I worked up front as much as I could to take it in the end. The Australian pursuit is certainly a new one for me and all I have to say is them Aussies are a maladjusted sort to come up with something like that...

Here's how the Australian works - each person takes a spot along the rail equidistant from each other. When the race starts everyone must drop into the sprinters lane. From then on, if you get passed you get pulled. If you pass someone they get pulled. Talk about a brutal trip to the depths of your will. Brean gutted it out for a 2nd overall finish and 1st out of the rest of the messers.

The old man showed more than guts. Sure he took podiums in almost every event but he also showed major class. He spent his warm up helping another strong newbie get the feel for his first trip to the track. The biggest moment would have to be when he surrendered his 2nd place omnium prize of a race frame and passed it on to the 3rd place messer, NYC's Kennedy. Kennedy showed crazy potential given his strength and speed. Hopefully Brean's generosity will help sprout that seed into a regular track racer.

Filling out the Chicago tri-fecta was Janna. She isn't a working messenger but of the 3 ladies that showed up to race, she tied for first in the omnium and definitely started to open up on the competition as the day went on. After last year's showing and this year, I'd say the Second City has been doing something right.

Big thanks to all the sponsors, per usual, and of course big ups to Squid and the Cyclehawk outfit for masterminding and executing a 5th year of such an amazing series. They come and they go but the real ones stay with it and Squid isn't going anywhere. Photos are available for checking out over here thanks to demoncats.com. My favorite would have to be this, this, and then this.

Guatemala is looking real nice!

la ocho, segundo

This just in from the wire services. A hit squad from Chicago has schooled Velo-City NYC. el Rooster Pistolero took top messenger honors, winning yet another ticket to Messenger Worlds in Guatemala. A local sleeper agent, codenamed the Irish Tornado, finished in second place. Janna, another Chicago-based operative, took the top women's spot, giving Chicago the sweep for the second consecutive year. Details forthcoming.

Sprinter's Dream Omnium 1 of 2

By Jeff, All pictures courtesy of Ed White

I had a great time on Saturday. A lot of rollers showed up and it was a long day in which only us sprinting dorks could have found interesting.

Flying 200 - 12.9. 9th top qualifying time. I'll take it. Leg strength (along with my fitness) is seriously lacking but I think I can understand why given my month of no training right before the whole, ya know, exploding internal organ.

Match sprints - Positive part is I drew top seed for Group B. 3 groups were drawn up: A, B, and C. Had I gotten the 8th best time I would have been in the A's facing Master's Nats Champ Jon Fraley (below) and his 11.7 (11.7 in May at Northbrook...). Upon that defeat I would have been in a 4 up sprint with Josh Ryan, Ed White (which blew everyone's minds), Nate Iden (STRONG track noob from Burnham), and/or Larry Stoegbauer (garner to xXx transfer).

Instead I got to pick apart 4 different racers in 1 up sprints to win the B group.

1 - Robert from St. Louis. Guy went out hard but I just chilled on his wheel. He was standing with 350 to go while I sat on him and came around in between 3 and 4. I should have practiced a proper slingshot out of 4 but I didn't want to risk it. Nice dude and it's always nice to have guests. It was nice to meet you and race ya, Robert.

2 - Aaron Harrison. The young gun likes him some trackstand match-ups. The kid's got some power. I decide to get him on a decent wind up from the whistle. I then slow up, commit to a jump, he goes, I half pull up and he eases so I hit it. Never gave less than 4 or 5 bike lengths. Restricted gearing is probably really frustrating that kid.

3 - Matt from ISU. This dude was a bit of a dark horse with the Dolan and Falcon disc. I took the early lead and did another half jump. He bites and I let him fall and go in front of me. In his confusion I ramp up the pace and take the pole position while he stays next to the rail going through 3 and 4 on the first lap. With the bell ringing, I held the pace up from stayer's line, taking away any surprise and angle he might have to the sprinter's lane. He had no move to make so I slowly crept up track to squeeze him against the rail. I eased the pace steadily and started to flick up track to shake him a bit. I did one quick flick and planned on him panicking when he had to either jump, run into me or elbow the boards. Naturally he backpedaled slightly and right then I popped out of the saddle and gapped him. He never broke 4 or 5 bike lengths and I made the final.

4 - Chuck Judy. He beat out Berger to make the final and he's an awesome pursuiter. I was pretty worried. He drew pole position and I knew he could make it a long one so I was ready to stay on him from the whistle. He kept it slow rolling and fell right into my race. Going around 3 and 4 on the first lap I decided to liven it up and did a jump with little commitment. My plan was to get him to bridge up, I'd pull up and then counter my original attack. When I looked back at the jump I saw he was sleeping a little and I had a gap. I rode through the sprinter's lane with the bell ringing and I committed. Bad move against a pursuiter. He bridged going into 3 but it was the perfect time because he went high to pass and had to go the extra distance. He burned out and I took the W.

Chariot - Generally my strongest event. I jumped out to an early lead and felt good torquing on the bike and then FOOM! a gust of wind and Ed White (pictured below)  just fucking FLEW past me. I felt like I was on a 20 lap breakaway and getting hawked by a sprinter right before the finish. Except it was a 1 lap race. Apparently 47x14 is too light a gear. Heavier for the chariot. Go figure. Ed hit 39 38mph on his speedometer. Standing start. feck.

4 lap scratch - I got owned by the big dogs. End of story.

Fun times! It comes highly recommended. Results.

Velo-City final standings

The dust has settled and it's time to put propers out for all of our racers and the other fine folks who put this together. In the words of our Race Director/Bus Driver, Ben: "It's pretty great getting to hold a legitimate track event with a bunch of my friends on my hometown velodrome."

Messenger class: 1 Nico 2 Phil "Butters" Brewer 3 Brian "Aloha" "Track Stand" 4 Christina "Teeners" Peck 5 Mikey Urbanis 6 Casey Comiskey 7 Tie: Dylan Gimple and Nick Puczasasuszaurus

Citizen Class: 1 Alexander Urbanski 2 Tie: Anderew Yeoman and Ted Burger 4 Avi Neurohr 5 Jake Blaze 6 Brandon - Pegasus 7 Tie: Sage and Ben VC 9 Mike ? 10 Josh Shough

EDIT: In our haste to post official results, we forgot to mention one racer who just wasn't content to hang with the pack. Miss Nikki Munvez went on a flyer in the points race to roll the dice a few laps ahead of the crowd, and for that, she took home the Spirit award.

We tried to score points as deep as possible to get everyone recognized in the standings, but there were a bunch of others who just came out to have a good time. Word to our announcers, Andrew Nordyke and Mike Morell. Nordyke actually means 'born to work the bullhorn' in Norwegian, and Dr. Morell made the long train/bike trip from Chicago, only to announce a few events and head back south for more pressing matters. In no particular order, we'd like to thank Aaron at 611 cycles for the bars, Duane at Chester Cycles for the paint, Squid at Cyclehawk, Velocity and Yojimbo's for prizes, and Continental for entry schwag.

For a full rundown, check out Sage's photos, Time Out Chicago's gallery, Julio's video, and Simon has promised a forthcoming writeup. As a recovering roadie, Avi couldn't stop himself from writing up the non-messenger events in excruciating detail, and maybe we'll get a rundown on the messenger side from Nico one of these days. Spoiler: Nico and Phil were running pretty tight overall for tickets to Guatemala going into the final scoring event, the points race. Going 1-2 in the first two sprints, it was turning into a showdown until Phil touched wheels with Teeners and went down. Quote of the day: "I thought crashing on a velodrome would really hurt, but that wasn't so bad."

Add a link in the comments if you have more pics or news. (Multiple links per comment will get flagged/hidden as spam, so if you have several, just add one per comment or send 'em all to chicagocuttincrew at gmail dot com.)

Photo courtesy of Max Herman.

La Ocho!

...or, for us North Americanos: The Eight. Once upon a time some nutty messengers raced the human powered rollercoaster, an over/under figure eight velodrome. Inspired by this, the organizers of the 2010 Messenger Worlds off in Guatemala have promised to build one out of blood, sweat, and clay.

The winner (in the messenger category) of yesterday's Velo-City event won himself some tickets to a little over/under madness. Ladies and Gentlemen, our own Mister Nico Deportago-Cabrera is that man! In the 'non-messenger slash past-winner-so-therefore-not-qualified-to-race-as-a-messenger' category, Mr. Al Urbanski took home the top prize, a sweet custom bar/stem combo.

We'll have a wrap up of yesterday's event, as well as full standings, but first things first: Big thanks to Kenosha native Ben Fietz for lining up track time, and driving the Winnebago, not to mention officiating. Julio for lining up sweet prizes, Teeners for putting together the alleycat, Squid for being Squid, and a bunch of other people To Be Named Later that did such an awesome job behind the scenes that I didn't know about them.

Highlights and full standings on the way.

5th EDITION VELOCITY THIS WEEKEND - MAY 22, 2010

Big thanks to julio for the updates and doing the majority of the legwork. There are some seriously dope prizes up for grabs. That's also thanks to the great role that Cyclehawk plays in this process year after year.

Racing starts at 1 pm. The format will be published later this week.

WHERE BROOKLYN AT!?!

By Brean

To me, one of the great things about being a biker in New York City was always the track bike racing series that take place in the parks. See, the parks in New York only allow cars to drive in them during rush hour (and even that should be going away soon). So for most of the time, the park drives are great places to get away from cars and trucks and other noisy, polluting, and dangerous vehicles. It's fantastic, but often a little overcrowded during the day.

But at night, when most of the pedestrians go home and all that's left are cyclists and skateboarders, we race. Messengers, alleycatters, sanctioned racers of all types, and urban fixed gear riders all race together, usually divided into two or three self-imposed categories. Back in the day, there were night races in Central Park and Prospect Park (Brooklyn's Central Park), but since no one worthwhile under the age of 40 lives in Manhattan anymore, the races are only in Brooklyn now.

This fall, the weekly race series was called Boogie Nights II. The only race I was able to make was the last race, which for the A Group was a 5 lap Scratch Race of the park's 3.4 mile loop, with a long easy downhill and one climb. I chose to run a 50x16, being a little scared of the hill, it would be a mistake (turns out, I was running the lowest ratio, with most guys running 10 more gear inches than me).

Remember, this was the last stage in a series. So I came in not having a chance to win, but with a chance to help out Jody, a guy I know from the track. Going into the night, he was tied for first with Giancarlo, a Cat 1 road racer who is excellent on the breakaway, but doesn't have much of a sprint. Giancarlo brought along one of his friends, also a Cat 1 to help in the inevitable breakaway. Rounding out the dangers of the 11-man field was a few other Cat 1's and another old friend of mine who used to be a pro a few years ago. My job would be to stick around Jody and not worry about anyone but Giancarlo.

Photo snagged from dolparts

A break developed right from the start, but I had to stay with the pack because Jody didn't go. Another friend from the track, Al, was supposed to work for Jody, too. But he got in the break and got caught up in the competition and worked in it, eventually making it stick. The rest of us looked at each other and soft pedaled for a whole lap (during which I realized how undergeared I was --I kept drifting back on the downhill), before we decided that the likely winner of that break was within striking distance of winning. So we organized and started working. But it was cat and mouse for a long time, with Giancarlo getting on Jody's wheel in the paceline and his lieutenant getting in front of me. I really want to give that guy credit. He kept letting gaps develop and generally looking like he was barely holding on until the start of the third lap when he and Giancarlo jetted near the top of the hill. I tried to chase, and so did Jody, but i could not catch their wheels. I think I just didn't have it, but I also feel like I didn't react quickly enough with a sense of urgency. I didn't give them enough credit in their ability to keep the gas on. I had one more chance to catch them --i was closing that gap ever so slowly --but the cops came whizzing by with their lights on. They passed me, pulled next to the other three guys, and hit the sirens. I thought we were getting pulled over and let up a little. But the cops kept moving, and so did the other racers. I tried my best, but I could not catch them. The other two eventually lost Jody, too, but I still could not close the gap to him. I really need to work on my red zone time trialling.

Eventually, I figured that it would be best to ease up a bit and wait for help. I did and worked with some nice fellows for a while, but I felt like we were dogging it a bit. we never did catch Jody. He wound up soloing for three laps, getting 5th in the race, and taking 2nd in the series. I took 7th in the race, which I was pretty happy with. Giancarlo won the series for the A Group, and went home with lots of cash and a sweet wheelset and lots of prizes. Inge, who used to live in Chicago and raced in the Tour Da Chicago, won the series for the ladies, and took home nice shit, too. Really, there were a shit-ton of prizes. Next time those races are run, we should get to New York with a posse.

last man in Japan

Much of the Chicago contingent is back home shaking off the jet lag, but we've got one last live update: A couple days after the main event, there was one last competition: a quick set of events at the track. Al gives us the lowdown:

Keiokaku is a huge keirin track in Chofu. They have the National Gran Prix races there. Andy White had a 12.4 and had me nervous. I put a 50/14 on and got the pole. I pushed him up track to the rail, he slowed, I slowed, he got out and pushed me up track (which boxed me in), I got below him again in turn 3, as he did a fake-out into me and turned back up track, I jumped hard and held a gap for the next 1 1/4 laps to the line. Then I had to race a Japanese guy who was pretty quick and had also advanced. I did pretty much the same thing. I jumped out of turn 2 and held a decent gap to the line. Time for the big guy.

Farioletti and me in the finals. He got the pole. He showed some experience and pushed me up track and slowed it way down. I was nervous I would fall on the banking. It was maybe 38 degrees but rubber so it had good traction. I bumped him a little and picked up the pace high on the track. He went low. I jumped in turn 3. He jumped and we were riding shoulder to shoulder. I got on his wheel in turn 2. We were going fast. I tried to come around between 3 and 4 but he got me by about a wheel. No one else came close to him.

In the scratch, no one would let anything get away and plenty of people were willing to close the gap to me. I didn't have time to change my cog to a 15 so I was stuck in a big gear and couldn't jump away. The sprint was started by Farioletti, I was 3rd wheel. I came around the guy getting dropped but couldn't quite close the gap and took 2nd, Fergus Tanaka 3rd. In my keirin heat, I closed the gap to the moto way faster than everyone else. No one challenged my spot. I was waiting for it, but no one tried to take it. The moto actually JUMPED to 40 mph and I was able to stay with it and jumped when it pulled off and got a good gap. I held it until 50 meters from the line when Farioletti comes blazing by and I was fading. Boo. In the final, he took the pole, and no one challenged him. No one tried to box him in, which was probably their only chance. I woulda given it a shot. Only the 1st place guys advanced, and there was no second chance/reparge. I only lost to him as many times as the other keirin racers. They could have at least had a heat for all the second places to make the final.

They only had a prize for 1st in all the races which he took. I wish I could have at least gotten some recognition on stage as 2nd overall, or the first placed messenger. Nonetheless, I was given beers and congratulations all night long. The world messenger champion wearing rainbow stripes bought me a beer!

Time for LA.

Allvoi Cup Pursuit Series Wrap-Up

A few of us marked off 3 days this summer in which we would absolutely need to be available to race in a great track racing series and the 3 of us that made it to every one of those days were very satisfied with how it turned out.

The Allvoi Cup Pursuit Series presented by Allvoi/WDT was an incredible series of events by any track racing standard. Great food, good volunteers and equipment, fine swag, good competition, great races, great weather, huge prize list and they even had a great cause. All of the money garnered at registration was collected and promised to be doubled by World Discount Telecommunications (WDT) for the sake of donating to a Foster Care program in Poland. Bravo.

You might remember our last update courtesy of Molly. Day 3's events list was quite a bit different. It was made up of races most of us have never participated in nor would need to for a long, long time. BUT! Being able to handle adversity is part of being a good racer so we all obliged our hosts and accepted the challenge. After all, it was the organizer's show and we're just happy to have such a top notch event at our disposal.

Molly was pretty much a lock for the overall win but there was drama in the race for the top 2-4 spots for Jeff and Al to work out in the men's 3-4-5 overall. Jeff was 2nd with an 8 point cushion over 3rd place xXxer, Matt Moran. To add to it, Al was 4th by a 9 point deficit to Matt.

The 2k TT was a trip. Molly got the 2nd best time of her field while Jeff and Al got 3rd and 4th in their field, respectively. Molly pulled another 2nd in the 500 while Jeff got 4th and Al got 11th. By now, Al had a 1 point difference to make up and we only had one more race that would count in order for him to bump into 3rd for the overall standings. Unfortunately for Al it was one of his most feared races, the Miss-n-Out.

Fortunately he had some time to get it together seeing as we had the Jesse White Tumblers for intermission entertainment and an exhibition Keirin. The Tumblers were fantastic and the Keirin exhibition race was a brilliant addition to the schedule. Jeff was in the 1st qualifying heat and got 3rd to Matt Fox and Josh Ryan. Pretty predictable but a bummer considering the top two from each heat race the final. The final was by far the most intense Keirin any of us have seen in person. Jason Garner and Jon Fraley went from bumping elbows to full on leaning against each other for a lap and a half. Pretty badass considering they were directly behind a motorcycle that was accelerating from 20 to 30 mph while a field of ravenous sprinters sat mere inches off their wheels. Fox pulled off the over the top win while Garner kept 2nd and Fraley overcame horrible final positioning for 3rd.

By now the Category 3-4-5 men were up for the Miss-N-Out and it was going to be the deciding race of the whole series for Al. He took off from the get go and pulled everyone through the first 8 or so picks. About the 3rd wheel pulled from the race was Matt. That sealed it but Al couldn't be certain. Jeff dropped out at about 6th or 7th place. A few attacks for Al's spot were made and he fought madly to keep up front until he was had. And he was by the time the last pick was made. Al locked down 4th place in the race and sealed his fate in the overall.

Molly must have felt inspired for her Miss-N-Out because she also went out from the gun and pulled her field for the whole race. She was strong until the final lap when she was outdone by her lone left competitor and she ended up pulling herself through for 2nd.

Jeff got 3rd place on the day and Molly was 2nd to our MPLS guest, Gwen Steel. For the overall, Jeff seized the second step on the podium and Al got the 3rd in the Cat 3-4-5 Men's field. Both got pretty nice paychecks for it and some lovely hardware to take home. Molly took Queen of the Cup status with a point total that towered over everyone else. She went home with some hardware, some new laundry, an even beefier paycheck and a big smile of pride for being the only one to actually smooch the podium girls. Twice. Aside from Matt Fox's $700 cash prize for Pro-1-2 1st overall, those kisses had to be everyone else's highlight of the event.

Thanks as always to Yojimbo's garage for the equipment and guidance. BIG thanks to WDT and Allvoi for providing us with such a premier event. We can all look forward to next year and doing what we can to help get word out. Without a doubt, this thing will grow even more into the national scale event it so rightfully deserves.

Pictures taken from Allvoicup.com galleries, Voytek Glinkowski, Ed White, and Jeff Holland. Thanks!

Some good old style bike racin'

This photo and more courtesy of Jason Lardy

Most people don't realize it but the one thing that goes unparalleled in the messenger community is hospitality. Seems like we were the only two not at a great messenger event this past weekend but everyone around us made up for it with some of the same great qualities.

Firstly, family really came through big. Thanks to big sis for putting us up late Friday night and feeding us the next morning. Thanks to Al's dad, Paul and his fiance Jackie for being very welcoming and providing cheering support. But also a big thanks to the many racers and organizers at National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine, MN.

photo from MNkiteman

I've never been to a sanctioned bike race where anyone offers a place to stay, let alone 4 people asking us if we were good for the night. One explanation was a small track has a small infield which brings about comraderie. It was evident dude was right because civility was certainly on display both nights Al and I went up for the Peace Coffee Two Day Grind.

How small of an infield? Whatever you can squeeze within the walls of a 250 meter outdoor track. It was built with a very shnazzy wooden surface. It's super tall and banked on the straightaways at 17 degrees. Northbrook has that banking on its curves. The banking on the turns here are 43 degrees. Unbelievably steep. If you don't maintain a minimum of 10-12 mph then your chances of sliding down the track from lack of traction are strong to inevitable. I felt my outside foot hitting the track many times riding high on the bank. Kinda freaky anytime you ride let alone when your pedals are lined up with the head of the guy down track. I walked into the infield for the first time and all I could do was shake looking up at the rails.

It's certainly not without reason. Steep banking brings about fast and intense racing. Mix that with an awesome race list and you have a 2 day Madison event that will change your perspective on track racing.

The race list was this:

60 lap points race (one rider from each team does 30 laps and then exchanges.)

Madison Kilo (I couldn't even begin to tell you how awesome this is.)

Madison Miss-N-Out (Whomever is pulled is pulled for the team. Full on exchanges through the race. Insane.)

Chariot (Get going hard and fast into those turns!)

SuperSprint (Miss-N-Out eliminates half the field before 15 lap scratch.)

80 lap Madison (Super bonus points for gaining a lap. Keep it full throttle all race long.)

There was no downtime. Once a race was done we rolled right into the next one. Highlights include:

-Busting a spoke from someone overlapping their pedals to my wheel. I stayed up but he went down. Dude was totally fine. A collision is just what a flatland boy wants 5 laps into his very first race on a crazy steep velodrome. Luckily Marcus at Yojimbo's loaned us some backups and reminded us to take them. (A race director brought me some wheels for the next day's races if I had trouble repairing my spoke...see previous statement about nicest people ever)

-Al getting a solid breakaway to happen in the points race (surprise), gaining a half lap with only 10 laps left and then taking the final points sprint.

-I got 2nd in a chariot by 1 inch over 3rd and 1 inch behind 1st. First place was the "King of the Sprints" up there, apparently the rightful owner of a sub-11 flying 200 time.

-Al played an attack and counterattack beautifully in the SuperSprint to hang in for big points.

-They played the Blues Brothers anthem for us both nights of doing the Kilo.

-Staying on lap with a dangerous 4 team break in the final night's Madison despite being half a lap down from them with 30 laps left.

-We ended up in 4th place out of 9 teams and took home some decent swag and enough prize money to cover the trip. Thanks to Banjo Brothers Bags for the Sunday bag and, of course, big props to Peace Coffee.

-NOT wiping out and garnering millions of little splinters.

This will be a strong priority for next year. We're damn well tempted to take the bus up for the sake of spectators. It will surely be worth it either way. Final selling point has to be the parade lap in which we do the track cycling equivalent of the Virginia Reel. The Virginia Reel for chrissakes! Thanks to Al I now know that.

One last thanks to the fam and all NSC people as well as Marcus, Jamie, Candles and 4 star (you all know why). Here's to hopefully making it out next year!-Jeff