Tower riders,
The Western Springs Tower Trot is on May 23 and we need a few volunteers for the race. 10k starts at 8:30 and the 5k starts at 9:30. Terrific charity. Past race director (Jackie Stoll), current race director (Stu Mills) are part of the original Tower Racing group. Give me a call, because it’s the right thing to do.
Bill Spartz
708-267-8435 cell

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I’m riding out to Oswego in the morning; I’m leaving from the tower at 6:00 a.m. Please let me know if I should look for you…

Pat D.

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The LaRue-Denzer-LaRue Road Race is my favorite race of the year! This race is AWESOME! You will notice on the road someone wrote “Manco Poco” that’s Italian and it means “Just a little more to Go”. This is without a doubt the best road race in the Mid-West. The Baraboo Sharks who host the race do a wonderful job….

Racing the Maters 30+ 4/5 @ 10:20.

This is who’s going as of 05/06:

1) Doug B
2) Pat D

Please look at the race flyer and try to make this one…

http://www.wicycling.org/media/raceFlyers09/LaRueDenzer.pdf

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Hi,

Welcome to the ICA. This email is going to all the clubs that have so far become official members of the ICA. I personally cannot thank you enough for taking the time to fill out the form and provide your jersey artwork for the ICA web site. At the bottom of this email you’ll see some items in bold that cover a few issues that require decisions and your feedback is requested. Please read this to the end and respond. Thanks.

The main reason we have started an official membership drive is because I feel involvement in the sport is a very powerful game changer for our sport. I am one of those idealists who sits backs and wonders why baseball, football, basketball, and hockey (not to mention golf, tennis, and soccer) get so much more coverage and participation in this country. Hundreds of communities in Illinois have ice hockey rinks. The amateur hockey association of Illinois has over 7,500 members. Competitive cycling in Illinois has one outdoor velodrome in the entire state and only 1,100 official card carrying members. Why?

I believe the answer to this question, to be blunt, is we simply don’t have our act together. While I’m perhaps a critic of cycling’s past, I am very optimistic about our future. There are more competitive clubs than ever and the number of riders in these clubs is growing rapidly. The number of races is at an all-time high too. We could be at a tipping point where cycling starts to get noticed and becomes a much bigger sport.

I have been the president of the ICA for less than a year. In that time I have started to shape our organization so that we can work with clubs more closely to grow the sport and to make sure that you have a say in what we do. Involvement means that we get involved with your issues to help your clubs as you best see fit. Involvement also means that you help provide your collective wisdom in how we set our priorities and where we focus our efforts. Through a democratic process, I hope the clubs will see that the ICA is responsive to your needs and takes care of the things that are really important to growing the sport.

To that end you’ll receive emails on a regular basis that are about the business of the sport of competitive cycling. We want your input. We want your involvement. As we make decisions going forward, we will weigh what you say to come up with better decisions. You can debate them amongst your leadership. You can poll your members to get their opinions. Whatever works best for you. We will send these emails to the three main contacts you provided on the membership application form. From there we entrust you to disseminate the communications as you see fit.

We currently have a few items that we are deciding on. Please provide input on the following:

1. Championship Jerseys: The ICA has an annual budget of about $12,000 a year. We currently spend about $5,000 a year on championship jerseys. We are debating the cost of those jerseys vs. the benefits. Some feel the jerseys are a source of great pride and high achievement and that the recognition they bring are well worth the expense. A middle ground group of directors likes jerseys a lot but feels the funding formula needs to change. Some feel that we should have sponsorships or have the championship promoters contribute to the cost of the jerseys so they take up less of our small budget. Still a third group of directors say that jerseys only benefit the top 5% of riders in the state. That the championship jerseys do nothing to grow the sport but only fill the closets of the very best riders with jerseys that they rarely wear and could do without.

2. Funding Priorities: One of our top priorities is to grow the sport. We hope for a day when all the categories of races fill up, not just the cat 5 fields. The two fields that have the biggest potential for growth are juniors and womens. Once we get those fields growing well, we’ll turn to getting more people to upgrade and fill the cat 3-2-1 fields then look for ways to develop professional growth paths for those who want the opportunity to race for a living. But first things first and we see that as juniors and women.

a. Junior Racing: We have received a funding request from the Northbrook Cycling Committee for the track to assist with providing free racing for juniors for 2009. They have a sponsor that will cover most of the cost but would like the ICA to cover the $3 per rider surcharge that USAC collects. The estimated cost of that proposal is about $1,000. Please let us know what you think. We can fully fund this proposal. We can say no. Or we can meet them somewhere in between. The goal of the ICA is to grow junior racing as much as possible. Is free racing at the track a good way to start?

b. Women Racing: Alberto’s is hosting a women’s training clinic soon and is actively recruiting women to try out the sport. It is the most organized and coordinated program we have seen to date. It is not a specific recruiting too for Alberto’s but encourages all women who ride a bike to try out racing. Since this team is taking on the goal of growing women racing, how should the ICA help? We could provide a grant of money in a range of $250-500 for them to use as they see fit to grow the sport. We could provide 20 free race coupons that Alberto’s could hand out for new riders to try out the sport. We could have brochures made to go into area bike shops to encourage women to contact ICA member clubs to get involved with racing. You may have good ideas of your own. We do want to provide assistance to member clubs when they have good ideas to grow the sport. Going into 2010 we may come up with a grant application form so clubs can ask for funds for specific programs geared to growing or improving the sport. Please comment on this topic of women racing and what you feel is the best way to proceed.

Thanks again for getting involved. Please provide feedback while it is fresh in your mind. If there is anything else on your mind that concerns competitive racing, please let us know.

Yours,
Steve Hansen
President
Illinois Cycling Association

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Hello Race Fans! (Took this line from Eddie B)

This past weekend Doug B, Tom M and I raced near Baraboo Wisconsin at the Circuit of Sauk. What an incredible road race! The field was between 50 to 60 racers.

The course is a 15 mile Scenic loop on rural roads with challenging climbs. The roads are in excellent condition and all corners were swept by the time our race started. This race is about 3 hours north of Chicago.

Doug and I got into the breakaway after the first big hill about 12 riders in all made the break. We started to ramp up the speed and pace and right away we lost 3 riders due to the high intensity. After the next big hill we lost 3 more riders now down to 6 riders in the breakaway. Doug and I had talked strategy before the race and pretty much what we discussed was taking place. Our plan was on the second time up the big hill Doug and I would attack. Well, that scenario started to play out perfectly until Doug flatted right before the hill and I was on my own with the 4 other guys. We went up the big hill and one of the guys bonked and now with just 4 of us left in the breakaway group we all started sizing up each other. Basically 2 of the riders didn’t want to do any of the work, so myself and some other guy did the lion’s share of the work for the rest of the race. What I was worried about, I thought both of the guys that didn’t want to work had team mates trying to bridge to us so I wanted to keep the pressure on so no one could latch back on. It came down to a field sprint and I got 4th the other guy helping with the workload got 3rd and the other two “none-workers” got 2nd and 1st.

Guess who took 6th? Doug! After flatting Doug changed his tire and turned himself inside out and was 150 yards behind us when we crossed the finish line. What a remarkable effort!
Tom M will have to give you his version of the race. Tom did great as well!

Pat D.

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Sunday ride from the Tower at 7am. 70 miles no drop out to Oswego Firehouse target 190 avg watts. Terry O

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If you haven’t raced yet this year this is one race you don’t want to miss. The Baraboo Road Race is one of my favorite races of the year. We are racing the Master 30+ 4/5 please try to join us!

This is who’s going as of 05/01:

1) Doug B
2) Tom M
3) Pat D

Race Flyer link

http://www.wicycling.org/media/raceFlyers09/Circuit%20of%20Sauk%2009.pdf

Pat D.

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I just added a “For Sale” section on the equipment tab for team members to post BIKE stuff they want to sell or buy. I figure it will make it much easier to manage our cycling inventories and appease our wives (or husbands).

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It must have been brutal if it spit you AND Doug out!

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