Milwaukee Messenger Invitational 9

Details here.

Events!!

Yes, we're still alive! I just got back from a year in the jungle and Aaron is still sleeping off his NYE hangover, so things have been slow of late, but they'll pick up, I promise! In the meantime, here are some events happening near you. Go to them.

Milwaukee, WI - Jan 23rd

Portland, OR - Feb 6th - details here.

Ann Arbor, MI - Jan 19th - details here.

Bakersfield, CA - Feb 7th - details here.

Downers Ave 2009

One of the most popular and historic road races in the American season is this weekend. The Downer Classic, part of the Tour of America's Dairyland, will take place in Milwaukee, WI, this Saturday, June 27th. It's going to be pretty crazy, so get there early. All the details are here, and keep an eye out for the Ben's Cycle Ultra Prime competition during the race.

VeloCity Chicago/Milwaukee 2009 Photos

Thanks to Gavin Gould and Andrew Nordyke (with his late 1960's Polaroid 250 Landcamera) for these pics of the action at VeloCity 2009 at Kenosha. Seems like the Chicago Cuttin' Crew put on a great day. Props to Squid (the man, the legend) at Cyclehawk for starting the whole deal, and to all the sponsors who contributed prizes.

Non-messenger scratch race, with Team Pegasus well represented. Sad to see, however, that Frank doesn't race in deck shoes anymore. Photo by Gavin Gould.

Racers chilling on the bleachers between heats. Photo by Andrew Nordyke.

Early match sprint heat, non-messengers. Andrew, Tyler and Sage of Team Pegasus, and Val of Bouledogue Tout Noir. Photo by Gavin Gould.

Stan feels ill while Andrew gloats. Photo by Andrew Nordyke.

Another match-sprint heat at the line, this time with Andrew Nordyke risking death to take a polaroid. Photo by Gavin Gould.

j.dot of dispatch101 calling out laps in the points race. Photo by Gavin Gould.

Al Urbanski of the Chicago Cuttin' Crew getting ready to own his match-sprint heat. Photo by Andrew Nordyke.

Read a full report of the day over on the Cuttin' Crew page, or at dispatch101.

Very Limited Edition COG Brooks

Check out this unbelievably sweet, lazer engraved COG Magazine edition Brooks Swallow saddle! It's one of three that will be given away as prizes at the first annual COG invitational bike polo tournament, happening this weekend, June 5-7 in Milwaukee, WI. Details here.

Also, COG #6 will be out soon. Keep your eyes peeled.

Katie Wins

Hell yes! Katie Steudel of Team Pegasus won the 8th Milwaukee Messenger Invitational this weekend. Plus, Cale came 3rd in the non-messenger section. Good job, team!

Team Pegasus Shirts!

Using glow-in-the-dark technology that was considered "space age" in the 1980's, your favorite Midwestern team of cycling misfits and gobshites brings you its new t-shirts!



Available in black or pink and featuring a glow-in-the-dark pegasus skeleton, $20 will get you one, postage paid anywhere in the US. Available here any day now.

COG Magazine 1 Year Anniversary Party Photos

It looks like the COG Magazine 1st year anniversary party in Chicago was a huge success. Even with the snow tons of people came out to view the exhibit, and to get drunk and pelt BenVC with beer cans. I can't believe I missed that. Here are some of Gavin Gould's excellent photos of the night:

The crowd view the exhibit. Some of my favorite people are in this photo, including Jason Jenkins. Howya, Jason! Photo by Gavin.

Nice hat, Stanley. No, really. It looks great. Photo by Gavin.

The shenanigans begin? Yohei Morita seems to be the ringleader. Photo by Gavin.

Part of the exhibit. Photo by Gavin.

Jeff Perkins apparently trying to convince the Burgers that he did this painting. Photo by Gavin.

Well done to the lads from COG for making the party go off, and congrats to them on the 1st anniversary of their excellent magazine, which is definitely the best representation of all sides of the track bike scene right now. Long may it continue. Thanks to Gavin for the photos. Check out more of his stuff here, and check out Yohei Morita's photos of the party here.

Milwaukee Messenger Invitational 8

March 28th. Details here.

Black Friday Sale at Ben's Cycle

Team Pegasus teammate and general legend Andy sent me an email about the Black Friday Sale they're having at Ben's Cycle. Check it out here.

Andy, you better still be holding those white Zaffiros for me!

Riverwest 24hr Bike Race

I just got an email from a guy called Jeremy about a 24hr bike race in Milwaukee that he's organizing. 24hrs? In Milwaukee?? Not even I like bikes that much! I'm just kidding, I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun. You can ride solo, on a tandem, or as part of a team. It's on July 25th and 26th. Go to the website here for details and to register.

Cog Mag 3

A package arrived at our apartment in Caracas yesterday, and the contents made me smile. A copy of the new issue of Cog magazine, sent all the way, via Puerto Rico for some reason, from Ben's Cycle in Milwaukee by Pegasus teammate and all around top bloke Andy. He also included some cool Milwaukee Bicycle Co. patches. Thanks, Andy!

If you haven't gotten your smelly track mitts on the new issue of Cog, then you should get on it. Pester your local bike shop to get some in, because this is a great magazine. This issue contains the third part of their feature on Keirin racing in Japan, a piece on the Milwaukee Messenger Invitational by Ben Feitz, and a great article on Tokyo's crazy trick kids, plus a ton of other good stuff.

One of my personal favorite things about Cog is the number of my friends whose faces I see in it. I'm not saying this to be all "Hey, look at me, I know people in Cog and that makes me cool and therefore better than you." If I wanted to do that, I'd just casually mention that my own mug made it into the very first issue. But I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that it makes me smile to see my friends faces in Cog. I know I'm missing a lot of stuff there right now, but reading about what those kids are getting up to makes me feel a little bit better about being so far away. So, thanks Cog and thanks Andy. I love this magazine!

A Race Report for a Race I Did Not Do.

Road racing is a total freaking mystery to me. I mean, I like it, I watch it, but I haven’t ever done it. It’s clearly very different from track racing, so I’m not sure how I’d take to it. Last weekend I went up to the Withnall Park Criterium in Wisconsin with Henry, Chris, Aaron, Ben and Andrew of Team Pegasus. They all raced, along with some of the MKE Pegasi, while I ran around taking photos.

Henry and Ben warming up before the race.

It was a technical course, not your average criterium, with some tough hills and tight turns. The mens’ 4/5 field was big, around 80 riders. The hills just exploded the field early on, and by the time the leaders came around to complete the second lap there were riders strung out along the whole course. A big leading group of about 20 riders, which included Chris and Henry of Pegasus and a couple of Cuttin’ Crew guys set up a really strong pace and began lapping riders early.

Henry and Chris driving the pace.

Chris decided to go for the King of the Mountains prize, which meant going for points at the top of one of the climbs. He won all three point laps, and won KOM. Plus, dude was up there in the leading group for the whole race, attacking and driving the pace. Good job, Chris!

Chris in the pack.

Aaron's race face. Check the Cipo style arm warmers!

On the final lap, I knew that either Henry or Chris would be in contention. As the group came up the final hill toward the finish line, I could see Henry’s crazy sprinting face as he gunned it, but I couldn’t see Chris. Apparently Chris had led Henry out, but they’d made their move a tiny bit too early. Chris burned out, and Henry didn’t quite have it. He still did great, and got 9th in the sprint. The race was won by the talented but incredibly irritating Stanley of Chicago Cuttin’ Crew. He did an incredible job in the sprint, hammering around the outside of the group and winning it on the line. Good job, Stan! Hey, did you puke? Kidding!

Henry getting 9th.

The race winner - Stanley of Chicago Cuttin' Crew.

That was the race. I talked to Luke from xXx a bit, and then we hung out with the CCC guys and the MKE Pegasi. It took forever for Chris to pick up his KOM prize, and in the meantime the mens’ 3s started, so we cheered Lyle on for a few laps, then went for burgers at some creepy burger factory called Kopps. Chris’ outfit confused the locals. On the ride home we made fun of Henry for liking nerdcore. Ah, happy days. It’s good to be back in Chicago.

Pegasus Rocks The Supercrit!

Burnham Racing hosted their annual Spring Supercrit on Sunday, at Blackhawk Farms Motor Raceway, and Team Pegasus showed up to kick some ass. Shawn, Jason, Aaron, Ben and Henry raced the Cat 4/5s, with Henry killing it in the sprint and coming from a bad position in the pack to score 3rd! The other Pegasus riders finished well, with Jason coming in 24th and Aaron coming in 28th, and with Shawn and Ben finishing together in the 30s. Apparently it was a bit of a crazy race with lots of carnage, but that's what happens when you're racing in the Crash 4/5s!

Before the race: Aaron, Henry, and Ben warming up before the Supercrit. Photo by Pete.

The pack ride under the bridge at the Blackhawk Farms Raceway. Photo by Pete.

Hipster Power! Ben, Aaron and Henry celebrate a good day's racing. Photo by Pete.

Oh, and elsewhere, ChrisP came 2nd (missed 1st by one second!) in the John Fraser Memorial TT! Good job, team! Check the Pegasus page for race reports.