Chicago Cross Cup #5 Carpentersville, IL.

What a great course! So much fun! Mud, rollers, water crossings, sand, sweet corners, and a beer garden. This is cross.

This year the rollers had an add on of farm field full of mud. Thick, sticky, clay filled, mud. Gave the earlier races hell. Hell being fun in cross. We surely do enjoy the suffering. And suffer we did. Everyone on the team put in their best and had a good time doing it.

Katie Tom was sporting her leaders jersey after becoming the overall points leader for the Women’s Cat 4 last race. Brandon held his own in the Cat 3 race. I almost got to finish my second 1/2/3 race. Only getting lapped by the top 4 riders. Great job fast SRAM dude. Mumford was in the top 10. Get some.

But mostly, I can just say, THIS COURSE ROCKS!

Here are some pictures. And thanks to our sponsors!

Village Cycle Center, Trek Bicycle Corp, SRAM, Sidi, Giro, Gore Bike Wear, Tifosi, and Saris Cycling Group.

Mud creek crossing. Photo credit to: Ben Van Couvering

Mud covered rollers.

Kinky Llama Racing base camp and heckle corner

Katie sporting her fancy yellow jersey!

Becky powering around heckle corner

Mumford moving through the corn field faster than Malachi.

Brandon avoiding someone during their prayers to the mud rollers. Photo credit: Bill Draper

Race report was cut short. More to come soon. Have a great day! Go ride your bike.

Sport Wash - Product Review by llama

I wish they made this stuff in gallon containers. Especially for cross season. Sport Wash does not have any dyes or perfumes that clog your technical fabrics or leave a film on your Gore-Tex. I have been using Sport Wash for about 5 years, and have noticed that my gear keeps its performance levels up longer with it. Not to mention it actually gets the stink out of dirty base layers and socks. I ride all year round, and this stuff even cleans the winter road salt encrusted off my Gore Bike Wear City Overshoes.
Here is what Penguin Apparel Care says about their product:

Outperforming your performance wear? If you are washing it with regular detergent, then you are. Residues left by regular detergents trap moisture which cause odor, and block their performance-enhancing features of your gear.

Penguin Sport-Wash is no regular detergent.

Its residue-free, non-allergenic formula is deisgned to keep high-tech fabric at peak performance and odor-free by washing away residues left by regular detergents, removing dirt, neutralizing bacteria, and restoring breathability, moisture-wicking, and factory applied waterproofing (DWR).

And it's biodegradable, so your conscience is as clean as your gear.

• Removes trapped odors from fabrics
• Restores factory applied waterproofing (DWR)
• Keeps high-tech fabrics looking & working like new
• Restores wicking properties and eliminates odor to *Dri-FIT®, *Under Armour ®,Coolmax ® and engineered polyester fibers
• Restores the loft & effectiveness to down & synthetic insulation
• Removes blood & grass stains
• Prevents color fading
• Biodegradable
  (Contains biodegradable vegetable surfactants.)

*Under Armour® is a registered trademark.
*CoolMax® is a registered trademark of INVISTA.
*Dri-FIT® is a registered trademark of NIKE.

Village Cycle Center has Sport Wash in stock at all times.

Chicago Cross Cup #4 Wauconda (Psycho Cross)

What a great weekend for cross. And day one of the two, brings Psycho Cross.

Saturday is a power course at Psycho Cross, and also my first venture into Cat 1/2/3. I figured, what the heck. Whats the worse that could happen? Man, oh, man. That was a good time. And by good time, I mean pure suffer.

Giant flyover!

It was sunny, but  holy crap was it windy. The noise from the flapping course tape was thunderous as you rode the course, and coming into a headwind across a farm field sure put a burn in your legs. This course is a speedway. Mostly flat with a giant flyover. Not my cup of tea, but what else would you want to do on a weekend off work aside from ride your ass off? Turned out that Brian Matter  had the same idea. This dude is fast. Fast as fast is. And after 40 minutes of hauling my ass around the golf course and over the giant fly over, I was pulled. Placed 19/25 but at least was the first Cat 3. Still fun, but now my goal is to race a 1/2/3 and not get pulled.

Bad ass indeed.

Enough about me, there was also a good showing from the rest of our team. Our Pretty. Fast. Becky Welbes came out with her new socks on and rode her bad ass off.

Holding her own with the fastest ladies in the Chicago Cross Cup series, she placed 8th.

Brandon Murphy came out for the Cat 3 mens race and had as

Brandon passing out of the corner! Go B go!

much fun as a chimpanzee riding on a segway.

It’s a long, fast  course. And after it was all over. B got a 45.

Good job sir. Keep up the weekly dose of suffer.

Katie Tomarelli rode her bike like a pretty woman possessed. And landed a 5th place finish for the Women’s Cat 4 race.

We can’t forget about Alex Blom, new to cross and bike racing, holding her own in the Womens Cat 4 race and finishing with a very respectable 13th place finish.

I would like to give a special great job to Meghan Murphy-Gill. WEEOOOOOOO! 

Kinky Llama Racing peoples.

 I would like to give the usual thanks to our sponsors:

Village Cycle Center, Trek Bicycle Corp, SRAM, Sidi, Giro, Gore Bike Wear, Tifosi, and Saris Cycling Group.

As well as a BIG, FAT, thanks to Ted Schweitzer and everyone else who worked to make Psycho Cross a good time.

WORS #12 Wigwam MTB Challenge, Quarry View & Evergreen Parks — Sheboygan, WI

I love Wigwam! Such a great course, so much fun to ride. Last year at Wigwam was my first XC race in 9 years , and this year I returned for another good time as a Cat-2 Comp racer.

Kinky Llama Racing has grown and this year we come in numbers. All will race, some will finish, but a good time will be had by everyone. This year we learn that broken bikes, still come with big smiles.

Kinky Llama Racing was represented by

The pure power of Felke.

John Felke Cat-3
Tyler Cox Cat-2(sport)
Brandon Murphy Cat-2(sport)
Becky Welbes Cat-2(sport)
Jim Pittacora Cat-2(comp)
John Hunt Cat-2(comp)
Anthony Mikrut (Me) Cat-2(comp)

The day starts off with John Felke leading off in Citizen.
Turns out ol' Felke has some thunderous power coming from the two giant pistons he calls "legs", and sheared off a cog in the middle of his XTR cassette. He tried as he might, but trying to shift over a missing cog is nearly impossible. After and a half, his rig couldn't take it anymore, and a DNF was in his future. Doesn't matter to us, as long as we have a good time racing.
Racing in sport we had Tyler Cox, Brandon Murphy, and Becky Welbes. Becky, Tyler and Brandon took off like mad

Brandon making the Equalizer his beatch.

men & woman possessed. Possessed by who or what, I have no idea.

Tyler and his buddy, The Equalizer.

One of the most memorable climbs WORS has to offer is the Equalizer.
Everyone thinks they can do it, some try it, and few climb it. And those who do, get $5 on your first lap.
Tyler and Brandon both finished off without any mechanical incoviences and both placed well.
Up next was Becky Welbes, This girl can RIDE THE SHIT OUT OF A BIKE.  Excited to race and having already pre-rode the course, she was ready to rock. Unknown the her, a rock had already been ready for her. And her rear tire blew out only a 1/2 mile into the race. It looked like it had been attacked by a badger. We all learn from our experience, and we can all learn from Becky about keeping our chins up when shit happens. You can read her blog post about her experience on her site Pretty-Fast.org.

Following the sport racers, comes comp. John Hunt, Anthony Mikrut, and Jim Pittacora are going for the gold, or at least the finish, in this one. A couple mechanical issues for Mr Hunt suffers him a bit on the race, and a cleat that wasn't tightened fully becomes my undoing. The first lap the cleat was moving, by the second, one of the two screws was

Game face for llama

gone, the third was a wiggle fest on my foot, and as I cross the line for the fourth lap, the cleat was stuck in my pedal, without my foot. After a mile of trying to stay on the bike and pedal, another DNF came down our pipeline and landed right in my lap. Sad not to finish, but still very happy to had gotten in 3 laps of one of my favorite rides. Fast rides with fast people are a blast.  Rounding out our comp racers Jim stands on the podium for a 3rd place finish.
Fun was had, bikes were broken, and smiles were everywhere. This was great event. Looking forward to Iceman Cometh.
We would like to thank our sponsors for all of their support and superb products that help us do what we love to do.
Village Cycle Center, Trek Bicycle Corp, SRAM, Sidi, Giro, Gore Bike Wear, Tifosi, and Saris Cycling Group.
Our final results were:

John and the log jump. GET SOME!

John Felke Cat-3 - DNF
Tyler Cox Cat-2(sport) - 19 age group - 111 overall
Brandon Murphy Cat-2(sport) - 10 age group - 57 overall
Becky Welbes Cat-2(sport) - DNF
Jim Pittacora Cat-2(comp)
John Hunt Cat-2(comp) - 13 age group - 48 overall
Anthony Mikrut (Me) Cat-2(comp) - DNF

Race Report for Chicago Cross Cup #2 Hopkins Park, DeKalb

Twas a great day for cross, and all through the park, not a single person was quite, not even a mouse. The day started out a bit on the chilly side, but turned out to be an amazing day for a good time in the dirt.

Brandon Murphy leading off in the Men – Cat 1/2/3/4 – Masters – 30-99 landing in 43. Great job to Brandon, achieving his personal goals and having a good time doing it.

Go Brandon Go!

For the Women – Cat 1/2/3 our she speed demon, Becky Welbes, was on the sidelines recovering from kicking some major lady booty at USGP. A bit sad to not to be doing what she loves, she was a still there to be a great support to the rest of the team and was very enthusiastic in her heckling. Thanks Becky!

Men – Cat 3 went off next, which included our Paul Mumford in his last race as a 3. Ol’ Mumford took the hole shot and never looked back. Aaron Voreis and Chase Negley shared the podium with Mumford and stared with silly grins and Mumford did his thing. Spinning and dancing while chanting “Take pictures, take pictures!”

"Take pictures, take pictures!"

Following Cat 3 Men was the Cat 4 Women. Katie Tomarelli was up front with a call up and in the mix Alex Blom was ready for her very first cross race. An amazing race for all the women, with Katie Tomarelli taking turns leading the pack. Katie Tomarelli finishes off on the podium in 2nd place and Alex Blom coming in at 11! Holy shit our women are fast!

Alex, Katie, & Becky. Pretty. Fast.

Men – Cat 1/2/3 saw Mumford going at it again. Racing for an hour. Suffer baby, suffer. After already racing once for 45 min decided to go at it again for a bit longer. Finishing the race in 11th place overall, he was 2nd for the Cat 3′s. Not too shabby.

Mumford climbing the stairway to GET SOME!

Men – Cat 4 saw a few of us Kinky Llama Racing folks starting off. Anthony Mikrut, Brandon Murphy, Tyler Cox, Pablo Ternes, and John Felke. It was a good time to be had by all. Llama’s first race of the season and Tyler’s first CX race on an actual cross bike. A little tangle up ended up with an imprint of a drop bar on the chest of Anthony Mikrut, but no one was hurt, and much fun was had. Results are as follows Anthony Mikrut – 36, Brandon Murphy – 49, Tyler Cox – 63, Pablo Ternes – 68, and John Felke – 86.

Barriers done with style.

Men – Cat 4b followed right after, and a few of us came to party one more time. Brandon in his 3rd race for the day. Wasn’t able to finish due to losing a tire on a jump, yes a jump. How can you not hit a jump if it is in the course.

Llama "getting some"

4b’s was done with much fun. Cowbells being smacked, flyovers being flown, and hecklers heckling.

Flyover, llama style.

In the 4b race we saw another visit from one of our favorite people on two wheels, Erik D. Mann. More enthusiasm comes from Erik than the whole Dolphins cheerleader squad. Completing two laps and another personal goal. We look forward to Erik at all cross races. The 4b race results are as follows: Anthony Mikrut – 7th, Pablo Ternes – 63, Erik Mann – DNF (we don’t care), Brandon Murphy – DNF (from getting some).

Last, but not least. Our star heckler and favorite Gore Bike Wear rep (sorry Simon), Brenden Gecik headed out for the OUILSSSCXC 2011. Hay bails and picnic tables proved interesting obstacles during the race. And Brenden pulled through all the heckles back with a big ass smile. If I could find the results for that race, I would post them. When I do, I will change it.

We would like to thank all of our sponsors for their continued support and truly solid products that allow us to perform as well as we do. Village Cycle Center, Trek Bicycle Corp, SRAM, Sidi, Giro, Gore Bike Wear, Tifosi, and Saris Cycling Group.

I would also like to send out a very special thank you to Liz Sapp. She was on the grill and taking pictures of the team. What a fabulous person to have supporting the team. Big smile and a giant heart. We love her.

The original post can be found on our teams site www.kinkyllamaracing.com.