We Love You and Miss You, Sean.

How has it been ten years? You were the best of us, Sean. Stay gold, brother.

State Champs for the Aero Bar Brigade!

Last event of the season at Penrose Park Velodrome. Get you some aero bars and get you a Missouri state champ jersey (maybe, but knowing you probably not).

Road Racing is Fun and All....

...but it's also nerve-wracking AF. Here's a pic of super-good dude Mike Eckert and I trying to work ourselves back across to the field after being caught up in a big crash in the 4/5 Giro Della Montagna of the Gateway Cup this weekend. Mike's cam caught the crash, which you can see around 14m45s HERE. Long story short: it was a fantastic first season on the road, but I am so ready for 'cross!

Penrose Pics

A few photos from the last couple of weeks of racing at Penrose Park Velodrome here in St. Louis. A lot of them are from the night we did match sprints, which was a blast. All photos by Kent Lindemann. Thanks for letting me post these, Kent.

If you haven't been to Penrose yet, I highly recommend it. Great track, great racing. Plus, we're doing keirin this week! Racing every Thursday, 6pm. More details HERE.

Casey Saunders Memorial Points Race

More details HERE and HERE.

SLOW BIKE RACE!!!

Actually, it's a Longest Lap race: first lap must not be completed before 6 mins has elapsed (meaning that if you cross the line before 6 mins, you're out, and you also can't put your foot down or ride backwards). As soon as that 6 mins is up, the official will blow a whistle, and everyone still remaining has to do an all-out sprint to the finish. The fun part is that you're not allowed look at a watch or timer, so you've no idea when the 6 mins is up, but you want to get as closed to the end of the first lap as possible, so that you've less distance to sprint when the time is up. I got second (hot pink kit, son!) Fun times!

Thanks to Gus Miller for the rad drone footage.

International Omnium at Penrose Velodrome!

This will be a BLAST! Details HERE and/or HERE.

Chester Cycles

Got a steel frame bike and fancy a fancy new paintjob? Duane at Chester Cycles has just started taking on full repaints again, which is great news because this dude does fantastic work. I knew a lot of people who got amazing paintjobs from Duane back in the day (and he was also a great supporter of the Chicago scene, sponsoring a bunch of alleycats and rides). Good to see you back, Duane! Details HERE.

Penrose Velodrome Race Nights

More info HERE and HERE. See you at the track!

STL Alleycat

The last time I posted about an actual alleycat was in 2011. Fuck that was long time ago... So it's news to me that alleycats are still a thing, which is why I'm really happy to post about this one happening in St. Louis (where I now live). Of course, I'm waaaaaaaaaay too old to race alleycats these days, so I'll probably set up a chair somewhere along the route and yell "Nice spokecard lol!! Where were you in 2007??!" at the kids.

'Sup Fools, I'm Back!

Just a few pics, out of the blue, of the racing last week at the completely rebuilt and absolutely fantastic Penrose Park Velodrome in St. Louis. It is smooth an fast AF! All Chicago/Kenosha/Midwest trackies need to take a trip down to STL some week to race. Details HERE.

T-Town

Is this thing still on??

So, yeah, I haven't updated the blog in a year. Plus I moved it back to its original blogspot address, so now no one can find it, even if they wanted to. Which they don't. I mean, with Prolly and Kyle and Andy still putting up such great stuff, and with amazing pro-centric blogs like Cycling Tips, what the hell do you need me for? You don't. Exactly. And in the meantime I've been busy finally writing that dissertation. Soon you'll have to call me Doctor, and won't that be nice for all concerned?

Anyway, I live in the Lehigh Valley now. It's been a big change from Chicago. But, what this place lacks in certain things (walkable amenities, coffee shops, shops of any type) it more than makes up for with its cycling scene. When I moved here I had a vague sense that the area was good for cycling, but I didn't know it would be this good. You want varied terrain for road riding? We've got that. You want world class mountain bike trails? Got 'em. Want a ridiculous cyclocross scene, complete with weekly beer-fueled night races? Yep. Want the best fucking velodrome ever? Yeah, we've got that too.

The T-Town crowd watching a Pro Women points race. (photo by me)

The Valley Preferred Cycling Center, colloquially known as T-Town, was founded in 1974 by Bicycling Magazine publisher Bob Rodale. The track has produced a ton of Olympic talent over the years, including its current Executive Director Marty Nothstein, winner of the sprint Gold at the 2000 Olympics and a bunch of World Championship titles. There's a lot of history at this track, and it is an incredible track: 333 meters long, steep but smooth, and fast as hell.

 Pro Men line up. (photo by me)

They host a ton of race nights and training programs for different levels, and they even let a lunatic like me race in the Cat4s on Saturdays, the fools. Friday night is where it's at, though. That's the Pro race night, featuring male and female pros and national-squad riders from all over the world.

Two riders make a break for it in a Pro Women scratch race. (photo by me)

A rider makes a move on the outside during the Pro Men scratch race. (photo by me)

 It's $5 in, there is stadium seating giving you fantastic views of all the action, beer is cheap, and there are often thousands of spectators creating a great atmosphere. Getting to see track racing at this level, every week, is insane. Want to see current Olympians from Poland, Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, Trinidad, Argentina, and the USA go head-to-head? No probs.

Men's Keirin start, with the riders fighting for position behind the motorbike. (photo by me)

If you live anywhere nearby, and I mean if you live anywhere within a two-hour drive, you have to check out T-Town. If not to race yourself, then to watch some of the fastest track cyclists in the world while getting tanked on cheap micro-brews and eating gourmet hot dogs. That's right, even the hot-dogs are fucking phenomenal. Guess it's not so bad here after all!

I was at a Cyclocross Race in Pennsylvania.

Nittany Lion race 1 in the bag. I performed about as badly as could be expected for my amount of preparation. Which was zero. But, I had fun hanging out for the Pro race! Here are some pics:

 The Pros get their race on.

 Dusty barrier carnage on the first lap of the Pro race.

 J-Pow in his fancy Rapha nat. champ. jersey.

 It was pretty slick for the 4s, but by the Pro race it had dried out and gotten dusty.

 Pros go over the barriers faster than I can sprint.

Pretty happy with this shot.

Paralympics on Now!

Irish tandem team James Brown and Damien Shaw in action at the London Velodrome. 'Wan the lads!

This Guy!

What a beast! Anchoring the team sprint at the last minute. Incredible.

More of Tom Jenkins' photos from today at the London Olympic Velodrome over on The Guardian.