Thursday, March 8, 2012

Racing in the Street


Me in the Team Kit


The team kit has come in along with the USA Cycling license with the Half Acre Cycling team affiliation.  Relationships with team members are developing and I am registered for my first criterium race, The Gapers Block Crits at Calumet Park on Chicago's south side.  In preparation for the race some team members and I headed out to the Museum Campus for some practice after work.  The crew started as 4: Ian, Michael, Sean, and myself.  Vanessa joined us later for some racing and we were 5.
View Museum Campus Practice Crit in a larger map

The street dead ends at the planetarium with two large median separating east/west traffic. The streetlights light up the area great so we rode into the evening with no issues.  From this peninsula you get a great view of the city.  I have often come here to take pictures of the skyline.  The temps were spring like with 60°+ and wind gusts at 40mph. from the south.  It made the south east corner turning west down right scary.  We practiced turns solo and then 2X2 followed that up by hitting it at speed.  After that we took a 3 lap race which found me overtaking the leader in the final sprint for the win.  Once it was all said and done I gazed at the view in the top notch weather feeling lucky to be in such a great city.  15 miles of riding in a circle and it was time to pedal home.  The "Go Fast" bike, true to its name, was picked up by the wind and sailed us home in record time.  Not bad for a Wednesday after work.