Gnome Fest 6

Insane mountain bike shenanigans - Sep 11-13 - Levis-Trow Mounds, WI - Details here.

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.

COG Magazine 1 Year Anniversary Party

COG magazine are having their 1 year anniversary and official book launch party in Chicago this coming Saturday, February 21. It'll be a full day of shenanigans, from 3pm to 11pm, at the AV Aerie, 2000 W. Fulton. The guys from COG had a few problems organizing the venue, so there are earlier versions of the flyer still circulating that say the day begins at 6pm. It doesn't, it begins at 3pm. DO NO MISS THOSE 3 HOURS OF DRINKING. It would be a shame. Details here.

Wisconsin Bike Swap

We Are The Champions

State Champions, that is! Team Pegasus have been killin' it over the last two weeks, posting an incredible series of results. Chris Padfield won the Ilinois State Criterium Championship last week, and Katy Steudel won the Wisconsin State Single Speed MTB Championship!

Chris Padfield (center) of Team Pegasus having won the Ilinois State Criterium Championship. Damn, son! Nick Gierman (left) of VitaminWater-Trek came second, and Stanley Schultz (right) of Chicago Cuttin' Crew came third.

In addition to winning the State Criterium Championships, Chris also won the Fox River Grove Crit, and in addition to winning the State Single Speed MTB Championship, Katy won the Giro d’Grafton, and won a couple of races at Kenosha velodrome two weeks ago. Andrew Utz won the Matteson crit, riding his bike there and back, 100 mile round trip punctuated by a crit win. Jason Ludtke came 1st in the Single Speed MTB category at Stump Farm in Green Bay. Henry Loud came 7th in the State Champ Crit. Aaron Dykstra had a 2nd, 5th, and 3rd on the track at Northbrook last Friday, and came 3rd in the Omnium. On the same night, Andrew Yeoman had a 5th, 5th, and 4th. Michelle Dykstra traveled to Indiana and came 4th, 5th, and 3rd at Major Taylor Velodrome. Cale Wenthur got 3rd at a recent race at Kenosha velodrome, and Andy Toumanoff got 2nd at Kenosha a couple of weeks ago.

Chris Padfield crossing the line for the Illinois State Championship win. Photo by Matt Smith.

Those are just the results from the last two weeks! For a small team, we are certainly kicking some ass. Oh, and I worked out a new training route that takes me over some ridiculously steep Caracas hills and past the Belgian embassy. Okay, it’s not much, but it’s all I have to contribute...

Hell of the North

There are two big races this weekend: Paris-Roubaix and the H8TR100. The first one, whatever, it's not that hard. I've done it. Twice. But the second one, the H8TR100? Now that sounds rough! 100km across some rugged, inhospitable and frankly uninhabitable Wisconsin terrain, through barren forests and under frozen waterfalls (literally, there's a big curtain of ice half blocking the entrance to a tunnel they have to go through.) I'm not sure who's going to win either race, all I know is they better look like this when they cross the line: