Collegiate Season (Just Around the Corner)

With a new collegiate season just around the corner and interval hopping now in full swing, it is time to tune those web browsers to important resources for finding information about racing. The following are important references:

1. The University of Chicago competes in the MidWest Collegiate Cycling Conference. Their webpage is full of information about the season including the schedule and race fliers. Moreover, they have an email list for racers to stay updated on conference events.
2. The collegiate races are all sanctioned by USA Cycling. This means that racers need to have a collegiate racing license. From last year, I believe that there are two options in purchasing a license. You can either purchase a collegiate license alone for $30 or a Road License with a collegiate add-on for $60. The Road license will allow you to participate in other non-collegiate road races over the summer as well as cross races in the fall. One day licenses are $10 per race.
3. Speaking of licenses, USA Cycling has instituted new policies about collegiate license categories. They will now be printed on your license and you will have to petition to upgrade from one category to the next instead of just racing in whichever category you wanted as before. Additionally, there will be restrictions about which collegiate category you can race based on your regular road category. On the good side, collegiate races will now count towards regular road upgrades. More information can be found here.
   

It is time to get excited about the season so that he can hit the races with full force next month!

I was reading the Jan. 14th New Yorker while on my trainer yesterday (well...spent more time dripping on the New Yorker than reading per se, but I guess that's beside the point) and lo! inspiration to keep on pedaling.

Complementing the Kit

Update: The first samples will arrive the week of January 20. The full kit will be sewn to order and arrive in mid-February. The pricing will likely be $40 for caps and $100 for jerseys. I've requested a 10 ounce mid-weight wool instead of the usual 14 ounce so that the jerseys can be layered in the winter and worn along throughout the spring and in the case of the short sleeve, even in the summer.

I'm share the anticipation of others for the new club kit; it looks modern and professional and should look good piecemeal or in full regalia. And as someone who hasn't worn lycra with regularity in over a decade, I look forward to donning the jersey from time to time this spring...

But for those interested in either (a) complementing the kit or (b) showing your team spirit without sporting logos or (c) wearing a more casually fitting maroon kit, (d) gifting something maroon to your non-UCVC cyclist friend/family, I have hope for you.

I've commissioned some swanky maroon kit from a custom shop that specializes in wool cycling apparel. The look is decidedly late-60s club kit, so it is form fitting -- though looser than modern lycra stuff. The material is mid-weight New Zealand merino wool, which youngsters might scoff at, but is in fact very soft and breathable and comfortable at a wide range of temperatures. And it doesn't get smelly! Initially, there will be three designs: a full zip long sleeve jersey, a 1/3 zip short sleeve jersey, and an Italian-style reversible winter cap with tuckable ear flaps and a short bill (just like the one I wear to work).

Here are the highly technical schematics. (Trust that the color will in fact be much darker in person.)




Some of you know about the other wool jersey project I've been working on. That one is taking a bit longer and will not be maroon. It will have thicker wool and be more of a 1930s look with an epaulet-style collar and cherrywood buttons instead of zippers. The rear pockets will also be buttoned. They should be ready mid-spring and should be classy enough to wear on or off the bike.

Do let me know if you're interested in any of these things; the runs will be pretty small, maybe a dozen of each jersey and a couple dozen caps. The shop offered to also knit some wool arm/knee/leg warmers, which might look cool in maroon, or might just look cartoonish. Dunno. These will be ready around the same time the lycra kits are done.

safe bike commuting

The city of Portland, OR, is laying out "bike boxes," designated places for cyclists in front of and in full view of drivers, to wait for traffic lights to change. The boxes will be marked with signs and wide stripes alerting drivers to stop behind them at red lights. See picture. The boxes are meant to prevent “right hook” collisions, the kind most frequently reported in Portland, in which a driver makes a right turn without seeing a cyclist who is in his path. Drivers will not be allowed to pass through the bike box to turn right on a red light.

From the New York Times:

“Ghost bikes,” riderless and painted white, were placed at two busy intersections in Portland, Ore., last October, makeshift memorials to two bicyclists killed when they were hit by trucks in accidents that month.

This spring, at those same intersections and at 12 others across the city, “bike boxes” will be laid out on the roadway to provide a clearly designated place for cyclists, in front of and in full view of drivers, to wait for traffic lights to change. The boxes will be marked with signs and wide stripes alerting drivers to stop behind them at red lights.

Portland, which has a higher percentage of people who bike to work than any other large American city, is already considered one of the country’s most bike-friendly urban centers. But the boxes, believed to be the first such to be put to use by any city in the country, will make cyclists even safer and more comfortable on the street, biking advocates and transportation officials say.

“It’s something the city has been talking about for a long time, but these two deaths have certainly given an added sense of urgency,” said Jonathan Maus, whose bikeportland.org is a focal point for Portland cyclists. “The community has just made it so clear that this is very important, that they’re very concerned following these fatal crashes that things need to change.”

By allowing cyclists to wait in front of motorized traffic, the bike boxes are intended chiefly to reduce the risk of “right hook” collisions, the kind most frequently reported in Portland, in which a driver makes a right turn without seeing a cyclist who is in his path. Drivers will not be allowed to pass through the bike box to turn right on a red light, although many right hooks now occur after the light has turned green, when traffic quickly accelerates.

Read the rest here.

Collegiate calendar

We now have a calendar of collegiate road races. There will be seven weekends of competition in the Mid-west conference. One novelty this year is that one of the weekends will be joint with the Eastern conference (in Philadelphia, I believe). Visit the conference website.

Nationals will take place three weeks after the end of the conference championship, and this year they'll be held in Colorado (traditionally they were at Lawrence, KS).

And the week after that, on May 17, Monsters of the Midway!!!

Saturday 23-Feb-08 Ohio State Road
Sunday 24-Feb-08 Ohio State Crit

Saturday 1-Mar-08 DePauw Road
Sunday 2-Mar-08 DePauw Crit

Saturday 8-Mar-08 Mizzou Road
Sunday 9-Mar-08 Lindenwood Crit

Saturday 22-Mar-08 Pitt***
Sunday 23-Mar-08 CMU*** (Easter)
***Combined ECCC/MWCCC race hosted by ECCC clubs on Easter weekend. MWCCC
riders will be eligible for to score conference points, unlike at other
non-MWCCC events where points will not count to MWCCC rankings.

Saturday 29-Mar-08 MSU Road
Sunday 30-Mar-08 UM Crit & TTT

Saturday 5-Apr-08 Marian Crit
Sunday 6-Apr-08 Purdue Road and TTT

MWCCC Regionals
Saturday 19-Apr-08 UW Milw Road
Sunday 20-Apr-08 UW Madison Crit & TTT

NCCA Nationals May 9 - May 11 Colorado