The past few weeks we've been busier than a long-tailed monkey in a room full of rocking chairs, a one-toothed man in a corn-on-the-cob eating contest, a mosquito at a nudist colony and a cross-eyed air traffic controller...well you get the idea.
A huge thank you to Kristi and Kim for putting together the field trip/ride to 3floyds brewpub! It was a hot 78 mile day which made the cold beer taste even better. When 3floyds saw the Spidermonkey/312 team arrive (19 of us!) they welcomed us with open taps! Great ride, great route, loads of fun, fantastic beer and food...and a nice refreshing swim at Promontory Point on the way home!
Spidermonkey racers participated in the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove. Great job Paul Halupka, Masa, Peter Monko, Derick Adame, Trent and Brandon! 5 top 20 finishes!!! Paul is already tearing up the roads with a 5th place finish! Looking forward to seeing some great Spidermonkey teamwork from our growing Cat4 squad in 2012!
Chicago Cross Cup! Less than 6 weeks until the official start of the CCC at Jackson Park. Spidermonkey Cycling is officially sponsoring the CCC! We will be supplying the Juniors prizes every week (10-14 and 15-18, Boys and Girls). Are you ready? Matt from Get A Grip and Geoff Scott will be holding a cross practice/clinic this Sunday at 9 am on the north side of cricket hill. Come one, come all!
Our Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday (girls) and Wed Night eGem rides have been HUGE successes. JJPeppers Parking Lot Night Club has been the place to be seen. Especially if you wore an UGLY jersey! Congrats to Paul Halupka and Dave Cushman for taking 1st and 2nd prize in last weeks Ugly jersey contest. Paul only beat Dave due to his accessories (nice bandanna Paul).
Upcoming events:
North Shore Century Sept. 18. Welcome our cycling friends from Lawrence KS who will be joining us on the ride this year! Can't wait!
Bike MS 2011 Celebration Party! Aug. 18 Help us celebrate raising over $21,000 to fight MS!!!!The Grand Cycling Classic and the Tour de Gaslight. Grand Rapids, MI 8/20 and 8/21.
And a special report from Ken (Prince of Fashion) Mitchell:
BEST crit series EVER!!The Gateway Cup in St. Louis. Mr Matt Smith introduced me to this gem
years ago and damn if it's not a shit-ton of fun!
It's over Labor Day weekend 9/2 to 9/5.
If you can, you should move Heaven and Earth to do this 4 race series.
The crowds are great and the beer and food are plentiful.
And now.....
Spidermonkey of the Week: Masayuki (Masa) Tsuchiya
Back in Japan, almost every mom had a kind of bike we affectionately called “mama-chari” (mom’s bike http://www.japancycling.org/
I remembered how that bike was like. It was a cool black bicycle with training wheels. What was cool about that bicycle was that it had an electrical buzzer that made zapping sounds of space ship laser beam every time I pushed the little button attached on the handlebar instead of bell. That must have been the cutting edge Japanese technology available to kid’s bike back and I was a proud owner of that bike. After that, bicycles became just means of transportation and during my college years my motorcycle took over that role. Then bicycles were long forgotten until recently.
I came to Chicago to attend the graduate school and then somehow I got married and soon we had a son. Since my wife and I had a job in suburb, it was natural for us to move out of the city to get closer to where we work. Soon after we moved to the suburb, I got a cheap used bike to ride along the bike path at the forest preserve near our home. I mounted a child carrier and my son and I had a lot of quality time together on the bike. That was how I got back on the bike again and it was the beginning of my new life as a cyclist.
I met Todd in the winter of 2007. The next summer he invited me to drive down for the ride from Roscoe Village Bikes to Highland Park. By then I had decided to participate in some triathlon events and I had bought myself a road bike. I was very nervous about riding with people I don’t know well and on the route I don’t know well because I was slow rider at best. But just like everybody else tried the ride says, I had a good time riding up to the café in Highland Park. Everybody in the group was friendly and I felt very welcomed. It seemed that Dean was little disappointed to find out that I was not Chinese because he could not show off his ability to speak Chinese though. Dui Bu Qi, Dean.
After doing several rides and a century ride as a guest, I had already knew what club I wanted to join when I wanted to start riding seriously. I sent out an email to Todd asking if he knew the membership was still closed for the next season. Then I received an email from Vanessa soon after with the membership application attached. It has been the highlight of my life since then. I knew that Spidermonkey Cycling was one of a kind and it would worth a drive down into the city to ride with you awesome people. I truly thank you for all the encouragements, the advices and the cheering during the rides and races. I am glad that I become a cyclist and a Spidermonkey. You guys make me feel at home in this country. I have been shining quite a while now!
1 comment:
I just realized the North Shore Century is the same day as Jackson Park CX. Bummer, man. Both are awesome events.
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