Hopkins CX

Went out to spectate the annual cyclocross race at Hopkins Park in the good ol' town of DeKalb, IL. Historically, this race has always been a wild time. As with most cyclocross races, people come out, grill out, drink the drinks, hoot and holler and have a great time. This year it seemed quite a bit more low key. There was a lot less hooting and hollering, but we still had a good time hangin in the woods and handing off refreshments to the victims of torment that willingly participated this year. We even found ourselves on the podium. Joel won the "fun" category. Way to go Joel. My SLR camera seems to have either a battery that's dead forever, or a charger that's dead forever. Not sure which one yet. Could even be both. Until I get that taken care of, here are some iPhone snaps from the races:

Bison de la Nuit MMXIV

As the last dusty sweat-drenched episode of summer, the Night Bison occurred. On a Sunday afternoon, Andy swung by the Milk Lodge, and I tossed my Nature Boy in the back of his truck. We drove west from Chicago, flying through every toll (we neglected to bring my iPass or any cash) until there was nothing but corn. We arrived and it had really felt like I was just there days ago for the Gravel Metric. We headed to T.J.'s for a pre-ride BBQ and a couple brews. Thanks again, T.J. and family for the excellent hospitality. 

I've attended all of the Night Bison(s) so far, but this was definitely the most enjoyable. It was the first time that I, more or less, rode with a single group throughout the entirety of the ride. In the past, I had let impatience get the best of me, and broke away from my buds. This time, I rode with my pals Marcus, Andy, and Jake. We all rode together, and we rode surprisingly fast, believe it or not. Andy's a bike messenger now, so he's used to riding fast all day. Marcus was practically turning a track gearing on his vintage Puch fixed gear conversion with monster tires. I was really quite impressed that he was able to turn that crank on gravel, and in fact, I had trouble keeping up with him on my gravel-geared All-City.

Sure, we had our fair share of fun too. In fact, the Rapha race trailer showed up to bring the party about mid-ride, with some tallboys of Coors, fresh shots of Stumptown espresso, and the tunes to get us goin'. It was a nice opportunity to hang out and light off a couple fireworks.

We finished tired, drenched in sweat, and coated in a veil of beige dust. We consumed a lot of pizza, and even more High Life. All-in-all it was a good time, and riding at night in the country is cool, and friends, and yadda yadda ok back to work...

DeKalb Bound

Pre-Ride hangz at T.J.'s. Awaiting nightfall.

Just before the ride. About 250 in attendance or so...

Mid-ride breaky with some treats.  

Thanks to Rapha for the outstanding support. What a surprise!

The only riding photo I got, blurry as all heck, but you can see the giant tires on Marcus' very old Puch conversion (with bullhorn bars). An unexpected gravel shredder.

BLBBRBK Photo Dump

So, this past Sunday, the BLBBRBK fatbike relay race finally happened. After 3 straight years of cancellations, I was doubtful of it's fruition, but it actually happened. The race started at 10am. I was, for reasons unknown, under the impression that races would be going on for a good portion of the day, and so I leisurely left Chicago for Campton Hills around 11am. When I arrived at the forest preserve around noon, I found that quite a few people were already heading home for the day. I was fearful that I had already missed it all, but that was not the case. In fact, I arrived just in time to see the Double-Wide Boyz tie for second place on their custom Double-Wide Designz "ButtGrease" SS fatbike with NO CHAIN! Somehow the chain popped off the cog (most likely due to the fact that it was manufactured for Wal-Mart), yet they were able to dominate regardless. #doublewidelife. I think I'm going to dedicate a separate blog post to the glory of the ButtGrease, since I took quite a few photos of it and would like to keep this post "family friendly". Anyways, the weather was relatively nice. It was sunny. The cold was bearable (compared to the current temp). It was a good day for a fatbike race. I had a nice time. Now for the pics:

Hopkins Park Cyclocross

Once again, Hopkins Park hosted a cyclocross race, as part of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup. I went out to DeKalb to watch the race, as I've done for the last few years. Last year, I actually raced, and I thought about doing it again, but I've just been too busy lately to actually prepare for it. Watching the races and hanging out is just as much fun (if not more) though. It was great to see all my favorite DeKalb folks again and indulge in some delicious Malort. So, here are, like, way too many photos:

I brought a boom box in my basket so that we could blast gypsy tunes and songs from Phantom of the Paradise, the musical.

Hard-boiled egg hand-up. Nobody wanted it.

2 marshmallows between 2 beef patties. #crossfood

The cutest kiddos.

Double hard-boiled egg hand-up. Still, nobody wanted it.

T.J. was Grillmaster, as usual.

Pete.

La Kruz and The Nectar.

Warcus and The Nectar.

Pete and The Nectar.

Warc, warc.

See ya next year, Flyover!

The Gravel Metric Goods

For this year's Gravel Metric, I thought it would be nice to have some actual branding, and so I drew up a logo and some custom type. We put it on heathered gray US-made T-shirts. We also wanted to offer the cue sheet on a bandana, just like last year, and so I put together a new version of that to compliment the shirts. They were all printed locally by our pal Andy. He did a really great job. I'm pretty satisfied with how it all turned out.

If you didn't grab a bandana at the ride, there are still a few left. There are a couple T-shirts left over too, but not many! If you'd like to get either of those, send me a message at ericsucharski@gmail.com and I'll let you know what's available.

P.S. I apologize for not hiring an actual model for these photos.