9/17/2010

ABD Fall Fling kicks off next weekend; Pre-Reg Deal Ends This Sunday

The 2010 Athletes By Design Cycling Club Fall Fling kicks off next weekend and the four pack pre-registration deal- all 4 races for $95- ends this Sunday night! Register online at Active.com.

This year's Fling introduces some new changes and a revamped schedule. The series kicks off with a criterium at the "Pelladrome" in West Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, September 25 and then travels West to Maple Park for the Time Trial on Sunday, September 26. The Pelladrome is where we've hosted our Wednesday night training crits and has proved to be a very popular course. This Fall we'll be using the 10 mile TT course with two turnarounds. Riders will be departing at 30 second intervals and as always it's imperative that riders race smart and heads-up. We'll also be featuring LIVE results courtesy of Verizon Wireless. This was the system we used at the John Fraser Memorial Time Trial as well as the Verizon 40k Two Person TT and in most cases riders' results were posted by the time they got back to their cars!

The second weekend of the Fling features the return of last year's popular circuit race course in the DuPage Tech Park in West Chicago, IL. It only measures 1.5 miles around but our memory of the wind is that it felt more like 3 or 4 mile a lap! We'll also have kids' races on Saturday starting at 1:40 pm. The Fall Fling finale brings the joy of the "combined" Wood Dale course that we've used for the Masters' Weekend to everyone. The course uses the north and south criterium courses at Wood Dale to create a challenging circuit with some technical turns with a brutal little "kicker" before the finish.

The two biggest changes to the revamped schedule is that we've combined the Men Category 1/2, 3 and 40+ (1/2/3) riders into one race and added a separate Men 40+ Category 4/5 race.

The speedy 1/2, 3's and 40+ (1/2/3) will each have their own daily and overall prize lists. The Fling is all about getting in some great workouts and having a good time before Winter and we felt that combining all these categories would make the races more exciting and push all the riders that much more.

We added a separate 40+ 4/5 race because the 40+ age group is where we've seen the biggest growth over the year. Many of the newcomers are good enough to be out of the "beginner" race but have no interest in mixing it up with the young guns in the Cat 4's and aren't quite ready to have their legs ripped off by the Category 1 and 2 riders that are 40+. So for lack of a better term we'll call this the "gentlemen's" category. If you're an experienced 40+ rider but not quite ready to trade pulls with the likes of Druber, Kron, Stone, Doughty, Doering, etc. (who can now tear the legs of the young whippersnappers in their new combined race) then we strongly recommend jumping in the Cat 40+ 4/5.

As always, we also encourage all the Juniors to come out and they can race the four events in their senior category for just $50.

See you next weekend!

9/07/2010

Wednesday Night Training Crits, Training Cross & A BBQ- Oh My!!!

Everyone is invited out for a fun and festive evening on what might be our final Wednesday Night Training Criterium of the year!

We're going to have our usual slate of races, barriers set up for anyone wanting to mix in a little cross practice beforehand (or instead of one of our three races), and we'll be grilling up brats and offering beverages plus a few other goodies for all riders and spectators.

As always, racing is just $10 and if you've never been to a Wednesday night race here's what to expect:
- Fun and safety are the two most important rules of the evening so if you join us be sure that you're having fun and being safe!
- Next up: our friendly registration crew will get you all signed up in record time
- At 6:15 we fire off the Cat 5 race and all the Category 1-4 riders ride behind them for a warm up.
- After that it's an all category scratch race and if you get dropped you're welcome to just wait for the group to lap you and jump back in. (please tell our volunteer officials when you come by that you are a lap down)
- Last up is the all category points race and again if you get dropped you're welcome to jump back in when a group comes around.

Hope you're able to join us!

...and since you're going to be at the Pelladrome you're probably going to be thinking of the Fall Fling, and guess what- we've got the flyer posted! You can download it at http://www.abdcycling.com/events_files/FlingFlyer_10.pdf

New for 2010- Double Circuit Races! We've also extended out the length of the circuit race at West Chicago so riders have that much more time to beat each other up before the season ends. The other two big changes is that we've combined the Men's 1/2 + 3 + Masters 40 but everyone will have SEPARATE overall prize lists, AND we've added a separate category for the Masters 40+ Cat 4/5 beginners. [As per the Men 1/2/3/40+: we like watching big fields (and sitting in their draft) so we're putting everyone together.]

Hope to see you all on Wednesday (tomorrow) night!