Results of Monsters are finally up

ABR finally sent the results.

Comments from CBR

Luke Seemann's chronicle of Monsters (and links to pictures).

Photos from the Race

Monsters wrap-up -- from an organizational point of view

Thanks to all the volunteers who showed up to make the race happen. It wouldn't have been possible without you (I know this sounds like an over-used line, but it's literally true: one needs tons of people on race day to keep the event going).

The day started with a major problem: there was a ditch on the course, on the eastbound side of the Midway, between Ellis and Woodlawn. I learned about this on race day, at 5.30am. It's totally my fault that I didn't know: I should've inspected the course a couple of days before. I wish the guys who were distributing "No Parking" flyers would have noticed.

The ditch was about one-foot wide. It was covered with gravel, but the passing cars had scattered the gravel all over the place and there were rocks the size of fists near the ditch.

Fortunately, Mickey Eder saved the day by bringing some wooden planks and taping them to the asphalt to cover the ditch. The sweeping crew promptly removed all gravel and rocks from the course. Big, big thank-you to Mickey.

The second problem arose when the Ida Noyes building manager didn't open the doors of the building by 6.30am, as they had promised (eventually they opened past 7.30). This was a big problem because:
a) The tables and chairs we were going to use were inside
b) We had no access to restrooms

I was prepared for a), by asking Devon to bring our own chairs and table. But I made no preparations for b), and this is my fault again. Lesson: do not trust Ida Noyes Hall again and rent portapotties. This is the second year that this happens. I felt like an idiot when dozens of people kept asking me for a restroom and all I could do was apologize and tell them that the building wasn't open yet. It doesn't matter that you reserve your space with Ida Noyes months in advance, as we did; that you reconfirm your reservation twice on the week of the race, as we did; that you go talk to the manager of the building the day before the race, as we did; that you call the building manager on the morning of the race to ask him to open the building, as we did. None of that guarantees that the building will be open at 6.30. JUST RENT PORTAPOTTIES.

The rest of the day went more or less smoothly. The registration table worked like a well-oiled machine, thanks to Steve and Paul.

The races were slightly behind schedule, as usual, and the officials had to shorten almost all the races. This, I must say, was not really UCVC's fault, since we were ready to go at 7.30 sharp.

I couldn't make sure that every corner marshal was where he/she was supposed to be 100% of the time, but most of the time, I think, they were. Thanks for enduring the boredom of standing on a corner for hours.

The announcer was really good. I love that he started collecting a big prime from spectators for the P/1/2 race. People were really enthusiastic and the money starting piling up fast. I think that Jon actually enjoys himself as announcer. And thanks also to Carly, who was forced to stand in for Jon for the first 15 minutes of the event. I hope some day she'll forgive me.

We had few and minor crashes, so the ambulance was never necessary.

We didn't lose any race sheets. We had an abundance of trash bins near the finish-line tent. The registration table was safe from the wind (can you imagine dozens of banknotes flying across the street?), and we had plenty of change. Basically, things that don't make an event, but avert disaster or the discomfort of the race attendees. Except for the restrooms, of course. Did I mention that WE MUST RENT PORTAPOTTIES next time?

I couldn't watch much of the racing, so I encourage people to write another post with a chronicle.

Official Monsters poster

Soon on display all over Hyde Park. Art by Mitchell Malinowski Art Partners.

MONSTERS WEEK

This is Monsters of the Midway Week. For UCVCers, this is the home stretch of the lengthy preparations for our race. For all racers in the Chicago area, a week of eager anticipation of one of the few criteriums in the city proper.

This year we'll have a pace car, sponsored by Zipcar, which should make the race safer and even more professional.

We've also added a women's cat3 race. This race is not combined with masters or cat4. It's all for you, cat3's. It's hard to go from racing against 4's to competing against 1/2's, so we wanna help you a little bit, ladies. Of course, this also means that you, poor cat4's, don't have to race against those super-fast, daredevil cat3's, and that you'll have a better chance of placing well in your race.

Check out the schedule of races and come out for a fine day of cycling next Saturday!

Volunteering at Monsters

Just in case you still don't know, the club is putting on its annual race, the Monsters of the Midway, on Saturday May 17. As always, we will need a ton of volunteers to run the event.

I have set up a schedule so that people can sign up for a volunteering slot. I sent an e-mail to the club's list a while ago, inviting you to sign up. You just have to click on the link in that e-mail, and that will take you to a Google Docs document that you can edit.

I believe that you need a Google account to edit it. If you don't have one and don't want to open one, send me an e-mail and tell me what times you're available. I'll sign you up.

Monsters is out there

For future reference, these are the links that provide the most visits to our Monsters 2008 webpage:

1. Chicago Bike Racing

2.True Sport

3. ABR

I also got us listed on Velo News, Chicago Athlete
and Time Out Chicago (this last one I don't know for sure).

We're working on having a piece written about us on the Chicago Maroon and the Hyde Park Herald.

MONSTERS, MONSTERS, MONSTERS, MONSTERS

Monsters are coming to the Midway... on May 17!!! Save the date!

UCVC will need tons of people to set up the race, tear it down, and keep it running. Based on previous years, we need a minimum of 15 people for setup, and 10-12 people at any point in time during the race to keep it running smoothly. The club will reward all volunteers with lunch and a UCVC T-shirt.

I have created a public schedule so that people can sign up as volunteers for Monsters. Anyone in the UCVC e-mail list can sign up for a task in the available time slots. Signing up is important because the race organizers need to make sure that we have enough people at any point in time during the race. If you are racing and helping with the race, don't forget to allocate enough time for warm-up, cool-down, etc.