Nowak's Nordic News - Issue 2

Hello all,

Hope everyone got a chance to get out to ski in the great conditions that we had the last two weeks.

Nothing really to report other than most everything around here is going buh-bye.

For the die-hards, there may be a good chance to do some crust skiing on golf courses on Sat/Sun depending upon how much rain we don't get and then how cold it gets Fri night. I have a few spots that are my super secret training areas, but would be willing to share if the conditions present it.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Again, if anyone has any ?'s let me know.

Also, pencil in Jan 8th and 9th for local races. Info can be found here: http://www.ninordic.blogspot.com/

Jim

Nowak's Nordic News

I know that there are a few of you who like to x-country ski, and there are many more who are interested in starting.  I've had a few people ask me about it and where they can ski, and where you can rent ski's from.  Here is a quick breakdown on that info with some links to websites where you can get more info.

Local places:
Most of the municipal golf courses will allow you to ski on them.  A few that I know of are:

Arrowhead GC (Wheaton).  Located on Rt 56 (Butterfield Rd) between Winfield Rd and Naperville Rd.  There is ski rental here and they do groom trails for classic and skating.
Bartlett Hill GC (Bartlett).  Located just west of Spin Dr. Cyclewerks.  Basic grooming for classic skiing.

Katherine Legge Park in Hinsdale is groomed by the people at King Keyser.  It is located on S. County Line Rd about 1/2 mile south of 55th St.  A short trail, but good grooming to skate and classic ski.

Dupage Forest Preserve Dist. also grooms trails.  However most of these are multi-purpose which means that people walk/run/snowshoe/bike on the trails.  The FP flattens the middle to skate on and then set a classic track on the edges.  Depending upon how much use and amount of snow we get, the trails can range from awesome to poor.  Some places that I have skied are Herrick Lake, Danada, and Tri-Counties St. Park.  There are a lot of places though that get groomed.  See the FP website for details.  They also have a phone number that you can call to get trail conditions.  Website: http://www.dupageforest.com/Recreation/ActivitiesAndFacilities/Winter_Activities.html

Cook County FP only grooms at Camp Sagawau (Rt. 83 and 111th St.)  I have never been there.  They also groom.  The place that I ski in Cook County FP is Deer Grove FP located in Palatine.  The "grooming" there is human powered, i.e. skied in classic tracks and then a few us have a groomer that we use to create a skate lane on a unused drive.  Parking is best at the far west lot which is located just east of the Rt. 14 (Northwest Hwy) and Rt 68 (Dundee Rd) intersection.  Access to the trails is best there.  Again, these are multi-purpose trails that can get beat up, but are generally very good.  Website: http://www.fpdcc.com/tier3.php?content_id=40

Rockford:
There are several places to ski in Rockford.  Most of the info can be found on this website: http://ninordic.org/ which is updated on a regular basis with trail conditions.  I have skied at Rock Cut and when it is groomed it can be very good.  However at times it is hit and miss.  From what I have heard Sinnissippi Golf Course is supposed to be very good but have never been there.

Joliet:
Woodruff Golf Course is groomed when there is enough snow and I believe that they also rent skis there but I would call before heading out.  Joliet Nordic has a website but it not updated regularly.  http://jolietnordic.homestead.com/

So. Kettle
For those of you who are willing to venture and challenge yourselves, the So. Kettle area west of Milwaukee has some of the best nordic skiing around.  There are several different locations with multiple trail options.  The two closest are McMiller and Nordic.  Nordic is located by LaGrange and McMiller by Palmyra.  These are maintained by the Wisconsin DNR so you will need a parking sticker and trail pass.  A one day pass can be purchased or you can buy a year pass.  Info can be found on the WDNR website:  http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/parks/ski/  Also trail reports can be found here: http://www.laphampeakfriends.org/ViewSkireportsExpanded.php

A few other websites that have info are Bob Richard's blog: http://www.ninordic.blogspot.com/
and Skinnyski.com which is out of Minneapolis but has trail reports, etc. for the Midwest.  http://www.skinnyski.com/

See you on the trails,
Jim

UPDATE: Ski Herrick Lake at lunch. They have rolled it but there are no set tracks. People are skiing in a track. Took a look at Arrowhead GC and they have packed down a skate lane, but there does not appear to be any set classic tracks. Hopefully with the anticipated snow on Fri/Sat they will be able to do so. I'm headed up to McMiller tomorrow in the So. Kettle. I'll try to post a report when I get back. Enjoy the snow, you never know how long we will have it for...

End of Year Wrap and 2011 Sneak-Peak

This past Saturday ABD held our annual EOY Party. The host was gracious (thanks Farrell!), the food was delicious (thanks Vicki and Mary Lee!), and as Lisa Pena pointed out- true to ABD EOY party history- the weather was horrendous!

At the party we took a look back at 2010 and another successful season. Some acheivements we recognized were:
- Tom Weil's second consecutive National Championship!
- Jessi Prinner's silver medal at Nationals followed by her second consecutive trip the Junior World Championships.
- The rapid rise of Konrad Witt as a speedy Junior who took home the hometown win in the Cat 4's at Winfield.
- The racing in the Chicago Cross Cup by Jim Nowak,  Ben DeMong,  Jason Addante,  Jay Corgiat, Walter Stoops, Jessi Prinner & Andy Walker (and also Gina Kenny and Sue Semaszscuk before the injuries!)
- Curtis Bice's storm through the Time Trials this year (and now a Category 2!).
- The success of the Verizon p/b ABD team, including a 1-2-3-4 sweep at Winfield. We're happy to report that Mike Sherer will be joining ABD alumni Reid Mumford at the Kelly Benefit Strategies Pro Team next year! (We also showed off the team videos at the party and you can view them all at the team's YouTube channel).

A few off-the-bike acheivements that deserved props were:
- All of the ABD events went silky smooth thanks to the efforts of all of our volunteers, and a big highlight this past season were the Wednesday Night Races! A big thanks to the Witt's, the Redlich's, Lisa Pena, Mary Lee & Rich Johnson for all their efforts in getting this series off the ground. For anyone who hasn't made it out, we can't recommend these races enough as a fun and challenging mid-week workout.
- A huge effort by Jim Nowak to run the highest-attended ABD event of the year at the Sunrise Park Cyclocross Race- where 432 riders toed the line!
- It's always nice hearing a friendly voice- and a lot of times this year that voice was none other than our own Todd Busteed. In addition to announcing all of the ABD events Todd could be heard at the Tour of America's Dairyland, the Chicago Triathlon, the Hot Chocolate Run, the State Cyclocross Championships and many, many other events.

Last but not least, we were (and are) very proud to announce, after a 5-year hiatus, an ABD Elite Women's Team! A few of the women were able to join us and we were happy to introduce:
- Stacy Applewick, 2010 National Track Champion (from Bouledogue Tout Noir)
- Sarah Demerly, former Professional Triathlete turned roadie (from Wolverine)
- Kristen Meshberg, Category 1 rider and all-around Midwest-speedster (from Flatlandia)
- Jessi Prinner (the aforementioned- we all know her!)
- We're also hoping to add another woman or two and just need to iron out the details.

There's a lot in the works for 2011, not to mention preparations for the Indoor TT Series kicking off on Sunday, January 23rd! (Another date to mark down is the Winfield Criterium Weekend on August 13 & 14). As you might have noticed, Miss Prinner will be volunteer coordinating the event so if there's a job you're itching for please shoot her an e-mail.

We're also working on Winter Camps for our members. If any ABD'ers would like to escape winter for sunny Southern California the second week of February shoot an e-mail to the Prez. This will be a Borrego Springs Camp with riding, hiking, relaxing and EATING (since Bill Heun has agreed to attend as the unofficial chef). We're also looking at a race-prep camp at the end of March somehwere driveable and warm (Tennessee is in the front-running). Stay tuned for details on that.

Thanks to all of the ABD'ers and our participants for an amazing 2010. May you have a safe and fun Holiday season.
-Ebert



Konrad Report - My First Cat 4 Win

Ed. Note: This report originally appeared at CriteriumCoaching.com as part of a race report contest.

When it was over I threw up. I was exhausted, exhilarated, and ecstatic. I have been racing bikes since I was about ten years old. My racing age this year is 15. I have won (and lost) many junior races over the last six years. However, this is the first full year that I have also raced in the men’s Cat 4. I first raced Cat 5 in 2009. When I first raced Cat 5, I could not keep up with the pack for the entire race. I was usually dropped off the back. In 2010 I began the season again as a Cat 5 racer, but eventually qualified to move up to Cat 4. For the 2010 bike racing season I usually participated in both the junior category and the Cat 4 category at any race I attended. I have always done pretty well in the junior races, but racing against a much larger field made up of much older riders was a big challenge this season. I was again dropped off the back during a few races, but I also began doing better in this category and was able to achieve some decent results. Our bike club, ABD (or Athletes by Design) put on a big race weekend at the end of August this year. It was at this event that I had one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life when I won my first Cat 4 race ever.

The Winfield Criterium is the biggest bike race that our club sponsors each year. I have participated in this race for the last six years, and this year I would be racing in two events: Junior 15-16 category and Cat 4. It was a beautiful summer Sunday, and the juniors’ race was the American Bicycle Racing (ABR) National Championship race and was scheduled for early in the morning. There were only seven of us in this race, but the competition was pretty tough. In the end I was able to sprint to the finish line and claim first place, but it was a close race and a tough one. The second race for me that day was the Cat 4 race. Up until this race, the best I had finished in this category was in the top ten. It was not a huge field of racers, but about 35 Cat 4 racers came to the line. Some of the juniors who had raced earlier (including the 1^st and 2^nd place winners in the Junior 17-18 Category) were also racing Cat 4. In addition, there were many riders that I knew from our bike club as well as riders I had met at other races. Although I had decided to give the race everything I had, with three laps to go I actually had thoughts of giving up. I pushed myself past these thoughts and decided to stick it out and give it my best shot. On the last lap I sprinted to the line and with less than ten feet to go I pushed ahead of the rest of the riders and took first place.

In looking back at this momentous win, I can remember some parts of the race very well while others are really just a fast-motion blur. Sitting at the start line, my adrenaline was pumping like a jackhammer tearing up a street. Although I could distinctly hear the crowd around me chatting away, I hit my mental mute button and took off at the sound of the starting whistle. This race was scheduled to be 35 minutes long plus three laps of the course. This meant I would be going around this one-mile course about 20 times. While there were only four corners to this course, the first one is only about 30 yards from the start line. The next corner leads up to an extremely steep hill on the back side of the course. I knew this was a mountain that I would need to climb at least 20 times in the next half hour or so. At the top of the climb there is another sharp angle followed by a quick descent into the final corner of the course. The last section of this course is a pretty straight, flat section of the street leading up to the finish line. It was this part of the course that I considered my best chance to move ahead. As I mentioned before, I considered giving up on the race entirely with three laps to go. But somehow I was able to dig down deep inside myself and pull out just a little bit more. I rode the last two laps of the race like a car running on empty. I desperately pushed down on the pedals again and again and just hoped I had enough in me to make it to the end. On the final straightaway I was in the lead pack with about six other guys. No one was more surprised than I was when I somehow managed to cross the line ahead of them all!

Looking back on this significant occasion, I can honestly say that it was both memorable and a bit of a blur. Thankfully, I have pictures of the winners on the podium, and I am the one standing above the number 1. This race was probably the most exhilarating race that I have been in during my six-year career. While this will hopefully not be my last Cat 4 win, it was undoubtedly the one that I will remember the most. Oh, and the prize for first place was $90, which was a really nice bonus!

Here is a podium shot from my Cat 4 win:

And, just for fun, here are a couple of the Junior 15-16 podium shots:

(There were rumors that the cute girl in the white shorts was going to give me a kiss, but she must have chickened out….)

Podium shot from the ABR National Championship Junior 15-16 win:

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! DeMong's Cross Primer

What Does ABD Cyclocross look like:
I've been slacking on race reporting during this cross season but wanted get something out there for the group before we hold our Cyclocross race on Sunday in Bartlett.  Your ABD Cross unit consists of mostly Masters Men and Woman.  Currently a strong portion of our Woman's Team is on the disabled list with some injuries, heal up ladies.  Our team would easily accept anyone on 2 wheels Sunday as it promises to be a fun event.  As for performance, we have had some decent results and you are more likely to see us in the front 1/3 of the race than the back 2/3rds.  

What Cross is:
For those of you who didn't get the bug or gist of cross from Rich's previous account, which described the event and evidently Jason and my "slow" efforts over some dirt mounds.  I would love to judge Rich's style of riding but for the record I have never actually seen him pedal a bike. (JOKE, kind of)  CycloCross is the intersecting point of Road and Mountain biking and each of them have brought a friend to the party:  Pain and Suffering.  It's redline from the gun, it's a pretty tough workout but it is probably the most fun I have had on 2 wheels.  The crowds are great and the smile they bring to your face helps numb the pain.  For example last year, the small mound in the middle of the course in Bartlett last year was topped with a couch, people on megaphones and enough hipsters to consider it a rally.  It has unofficially been referred to as "Heckler Hill" recently.  They spent there day cheering, handing out bacon, dollar bills or insults; and if you were lucky, all of the above.  At Cross races you are always allowed to let your freak flag fly.  Whether you are someone who enjoys the thrill of a great race or the carnage of a series of crashes; you can have it all in Bartlett on Sunday.

If you wanted to race cross and don't know where to start:
It doesn't take much to toe the start line!  All it really takes is a mountain bike or if you really feel like it a cross bike.  Although no bike company has tons of different models of Cross bikes, Trek/Gary Fisher have numerous Cross bikes at various price points.  I have gotten everything that I am riding on (Bike, Wheels, Tires) through Prairie Path and I know Mike, Mary Lee and the Gang would be happy to get you rolling.  I think you would be surprised at how low the cost of getting rolling is if you don't have a mountain bike hanging in the garage.  Also, for you time trialists out there, the dominant cycling clothing involved in Cross is the Skinsuit and what better way is there to increase the ROI on that sexy Onesie than a few more races.  In all honesty, you could actually just wear you skinsuit to watch, you wouldn't be the most unusually dressed person.  

See you Sunday!
The 2 enduring factors that go along with ABD are the top notch events we put on and the people that make up our club.  The Captain of ABD Cyclocross Jim Nowak will have the course set for the throw down on Sunday, so we know the event will be great.  We would love to see everyone out there cheering, heckling, racing or volunteering; come take a look to see what it is all about.  It is an extremely family friendly good time.

Take care,
Ben

Bob Marshall Report: Crystal Lake Duathlon

After battling a soleus injury pretty much all season, and even though I had been doing only one treadmill run per week over the last 10 weeks, I thought I would try an end-of-season Duathlon.

ABD newby, Mark Lemke, close friend of Andy Kerr, had mentioned a few weeks back that he had entered the Crystal Lake Duathlon. So, after testing my soleues (lower calf) with my first outdoor run last week, a 4.5 miler, with positive results, I entered the Du as well.

So, after picking up my race packet, I get the TT bike over to transition area, with TT helmet, etc. After, a short warmup spin on my Cyclops trainer, I get over to starting area.

The game plan was to hold back on first running leg, 2 miles 12:59 held back as planned, maybe way too much. Then over to transition area, put on TT helmet, shoes and proceeded out of transition onto bike course.

I felt very good, and was ready to pick guys off one-by-one as planned. Then ~1 mile out & notice a wierd sound comming from my rear disc wheel, so I tried shifting down a cog, no problems there, then continued on. I now realized something serious was wrong with the bike, as I couldn't get up to speed, and kept hearing an odd
sound comming from the back of the bike. So, somewhere around the 1.5 mile mark, I pull over to the side of the road, and take a closer look and notice my rear disc wheel is completely flat.

After blurting out some fowl language, similiar to the old man's on the movie, "The Christmas Story", when the dogs raid the turkey in the kitchen, I turn around and head back to transition area. I tell race officials what happened and then proceed over to my car, pull out my spare 404, and get it partially on, then notice it's very low in air as well. So, I pull my road bike out of my van and take off the CPX-30, and put it on.

Finally after about 10 minutes or so, I'm back out onto the bike course, and wieving in-and-out, around all kinds slower cyclists. Now I know how Rob Jungles felt a couple years ago, (we did a Team Du in Tinley Park) going around people at speed...very scary! After, completing the somewhat hilly 20k bike, I go back thru transition, change shoes, etc, and out onto the final 2 mile run leg.

I managed to finish the race, 85th place overall, and after reviewing the posted results, realized that if I hadn't flatted, the worst I would have finished was 3rd place overall, in fact if I had a hammered the bike leg, as planned, I may have won the race.

I did have fun, enjoyed the post race activities, spoke with Derrick Ungaro, WDT, whom won the Team Du quite easily with Brain Ackers on the bike leg. Despite the disaster, I'm glad I completed the race anyhow, after all, I just couldn't let ABD newby, Mark Lemke down, I had to finish this one.

So, what did I learn from this day..."there is always another day"! You can shuffle the cards all day long, and sometimes, you just get a bad hand!

P.S. - I couple weeks ago, I remember seeing a facebook post from Mike Sherer, regarding his disaster in one of his early Cross Season races in Wisconsin.

See ya next season,

Bob Marshall/
ABD Multisport

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!

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!

Winfield Criterium Results and the Fall Fling Schedule Are Posted!

Thank you riders for a fantastic weekend of racing and a huge
congratulations to all of our winners.


Saturday night's race was non-stop action with the "King of the Hill"
party giving away prizes ranging from a can of Red Bull to Weber
grills to bottles of wine to cold hard cash.


Sunday's "Summit Hill" proved challenging as always and we saw
breakaways succeed in most races. For the first time ever we saw
riders lap the field in the Men's 1/2 race as Ryan Freund and Mike
Sherer took a lap en route to a Verizon u25 p/b ABD sweep of the top
four.


Check out the full results at www.ABDcycling.com and we'll be posting
photos as soon as we get them. (Keep an eye on our Twitter feed for
updates: www.twitter.com/abdcycling)


We are also pleased to report that we have the Fall Fling Schedule all
buttoned up and are pulling a "Double Circuit Race All the Way" for
our closing weekend! The full schedule is:

- Saturday, September 25: Criterium at the Pelladrome

- Sunday, September 26: Time Trial in Maple Park

- Saturday, October 2: Circuit Race at the DuPage Tech Park

- Sunday, October 3: Circuit Race in Wood Dale


Full details and registration information will be posted soon at
www.ABDcycling.com

Finally, thank you again to all of our sponsors who help make our
events happen. These are all business and doctors that we and our club
members have worked with and highly recommend. We're proud to have
their support.

Central DuPage Hospital, www.cdh.org

OAD Orthopaedics, www.oadortho.com

Midwest Neurosurgery & Spine Specialists, www.mnss.org

Winfield Community Bank, www.winfieldcommunitybank.com

Prairie Path Cycles, www.prairiepathcycles.com

Packey Webb Ford, www.packeywebbford.com

Orange Home Services, www.orangehomeservices.com

Verizon Wireles, www.Verizon.com

11th Annual Winfield Criterium Weekend!

The 11th Annual Winfield Criterium Weekend, featuring over $8500 in Cash & Prizes and the ABR National Championship, is this Saturday and Sunday, August 21st & 22nd! Full details are posted at www.ABDcycling.com/

Pre-registration is open through Thursday at Midnight at www.Active.com.

Both courses feature a challenging hill and the "King of the Hill"
party & prizes are back for Saturday night! They repaved the home
stretch for Sunday's course too so it's a smooth as silk sprint to the
line. (Unfortunately the second to last stretch is still rough).

Tune-up your skills ahead of the Winfield Crit Weekend with our ABD Cycling
Training Crit on Wednesday night!