Evanston Grand Prix was chock full of excitement, adrenaline, and fun for everybody! Spidermonkey's raced and raced really, really well! What we've learned about Paul Halupka? He doesn't mess around! He chose Evanston as his very first race! Mike Meyers and Tim Driver joined him in the race and they all did an excellent job. Brandon made his debut in the cat 3's, Ken raced in his new super fast shoes, while Trent-a cleaned up in the cat 4's. Great job guys! And nobody cheered louder than the Spidermonkey's! Thanks to everybody who came out and cheered and to Bike MS and Goose Island for making it extra fun for us!
Tim Driver and Mike Meyers also raced in the Willow Springs road race. We wish the Spidermonkey cheer squad could have been there to see them finish in the top 10!!! Rockstars.
Last weekend, Kristi and Grace travelled to Muncie to destroy a half ironman. This weekend, Matt Duffey, Peter Monko, Liz Kolshak, Jesus Cruz and Fred Wu went up to Racine to do the same thing. Despite the 101 Degree heat index, they all managed to finish. That is crazy awesome! Congratulations! You are all superstars in our book!
Our standard Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday (girl's), and Wednesday night rides are still ongoing with lots of participation. They continue to be a complete blast!
Upcoming this week:
This Saturday's ride will be replaced with our yearly safety clinic run by Randy Warren. Spidermonkey's, please make every effort to attend!
And if you haven't heard, Liz is moving to Boston to attend Harvard. While we are extremely excited for her, we will definitely miss her! We loved having you in Chicago...come back soon!
Spidermonkey of the week: Liz Kolshak
Last summer, I moved to Chicago and knew only a few people. My sister must have grown sick of all our quality time together because she told me I needed to make some friends. Not exactly sure where to meet friends, I volunteered at a triathlon in an attempt to find some people with similar interests. That's where I met a girl who rode with the Spidermonkeys on the girls rides. She wasn't a Spidermonkey, but told me to show up at Lincoln and Belmont one Tuesday and I did.
I'd started riding a year earlier and knew very little about riding in a group. I've always considered myself a runner and only bought a bike because it was a requirement for participating in a triathlon. Luckily, Vanessa, Rebecca, Kristi, Katie and Grace were all patient explaining a paceline to me, how to ride in a group, etc. (you know, the basics!)
It wasn't long before I made it to a spidermonkey happy hour and then a Saturday ride (keeping priorities in order--beer before biking). It's been the perfect group for me, drastically improving my cycling and also allowing me to meet some great friends at the same time. The group is diverse with people from all different backgrounds, with different interests and levels of cycling experience, but we all have the common interest of cycling.
From being doored the night before the Chicago triathlon to being run over by a cyclist on the path, its almost amazing that I'm still biking--let alone that I now love it more than running. I think the Spidermonkeys have contributed a lot to that. I still giggle thinking about our Vegas trip, jokes from rides or random nights at Excalibar (if you haven't been Rebecca Meyers wants to go back!!). I'm going to miss y'all, but don't worry I'll be back!
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