The Chainlink

If you have EVER thought of racing, Especially women, now's your chance

With the Gapers Block Crits


Dearest Ladies,


We hope we're not coming on too STRONG, but we wanted to let you know just HOW MUCH you get our gears going.  HOW MUCH we want your presence at the GAPER'S BLOCK CRITS March 26th-29th, Half Acre's practice race series, just for the beginners (women cat 3/4).

We'd SO LOVE to see your fast foxy selves spinning 'round our Calumet Park course,  that we have ALL KINDS of gifts to entice you, just you, ladies.

1. We've cut the price of racing in half, just for you. 4 nights of racing for ONLY $25! ALSO each night, PRE-REGISTERED RIDERS are eligible for a raffle drawing. So Register soon!!

2. Do the Men get a prize for all overall winner? NO. Do the ladies? YES, the Top 3 overall women get PRIZES thanks to Half Acre Cycling's many sponsors!

3. We know you love shoes! (At least this lady does!) Tati Cycles is GENEROUSLY giving away shoes the the first few pre-registered women, who have NEVER done the Gapers Crits before.  It's first come, first serve!! SO PRE-REG, and also you must actually race. 

4. We don't want to leave you in the cold after your race.  Not us. We want to cuddle after. We are having a special post-race chat/follow-up/QnA just for the women, after the first 2 evening's races. We understand your needs to communicate AND we want to make sure you get the most knowledge out of your racing experience. 

5. We are here to give you what you need.  If you don't have a road bike, let us know. Does your friend want to race and not have one? Let us know.   We're not about to leave you hanging. Just reply to this e-mail and we will do our best to hook you up!

6. If you race ALL FOUR nights, purchasing a day-of license each night, Half Acre Cycling will COVER the rest of the Annual USAC License Fee (total fee = $60).   An annual license is the gift that keeps giving b/c we know you'll want to race in the Illinois Cup next!

7.  Your race starts at 6:50 pm, because we know you have a lot on your plate, and we want to give you plenty of time to get to the park.

8. FINALLY we want you to be prepared, like good girls scouts, so I divulged all of my racing secrets.  Now you're ready to race your best crit, or first crit, ever.

What more could you ask for? We want to be the most devoted bike race series we can be. If you aren't a Cat 3 or 4 any longer, if you have moved up the racing ladder, you can still spread the love to those women who are thirsting for the thrill of a bike race and just starting out. 

For more info or to register, click right here: https://www.bikereg.com/Net/15540.   Registration opens March 1st at 12 am in other words tonight (2/29) at midnight!! 

And, please, ask us anything, ANYTHING about this race or heck, even races in general. We are an open book.

See You March 26th!

Much Love From Vanessa &  Half Acre Cycling

Tags: criteriums, crits, racing

Views: 1839

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael A on March 4, 2012 at 10:57pm

Brianne, the people who pre registered did so for all 4 days. It is not uncommon for some not to do all 4 nights of racing, and we(Half acre) hold back 10 spots for day of regstration

  I would try to come down a night or two and see if you can get into a race, you have pretty good odds especially if you come early.

Hope to see you out there, or at one of our team group rides on the weekends

Permalink Reply by Vanessa B on March 4, 2012 at 11:09pm

Actually i will add to what Michael said that if you come on Wed. or Thurs you will for sure get in.  We'd love to see you out there.

And if you wanted to come down on tuesday for the mini clinic we are having you could certainly do that as well before you even tried to race. 


Brianne D said:

After reading all these comments, I started to get super excited (I've never raced before), and then I saw that registration is closed. Boo! Oh well. Good luck to all you new racers!

Permalink Reply by Julie Hochstadter on March 12, 2012 at 1:22pm

I'm going to show up and try to register day of!

Permalink Reply by Melanie K on March 12, 2012 at 4:12pm

Checked out the practices on Sunday- considering I rode the 25 miles to the practice area, with my commuter bike fully loaded, I didn't do much practice...I have approximately 2 weeks to learn how to use clipless shoes &  pedals, practice how to ride in a group, and fix my intended race bike so that it shifts correctly (as that is all that is left to fix on it)..fun, fun! I am excited and I look forward to seeing everyone there! Met a lot of nice people on Sunday, too. 

Permalink Reply by Vanessa B on March 12, 2012 at 4:19pm

It was nice to meet you Melanie! really glad you came out. And J. the host of the practice races mentioned how rad your mixte was on facebook and the fact that you STILL gave it a go for a few laps. that is great. Sorry we couldn't chat longer!

vanessa

Melanie K said:

Checked out the practices on Sunday- considering I rode the 25 miles to the practice area, with my commuter bike fully loaded, I didn't do much practice...I have approximately 2 weeks to learn how to use clipless shoes &  pedals, practice how to ride in a group, and fix my intended race bike so that it shifts correctly (as that is all that is left to fix on it)..fun, fun! I am excited and I look forward to seeing everyone there! Met a lot of nice people on Sunday, too. 

Permalink Reply by Vanessa B on March 12, 2012 at 4:19pm

You will totally be able too!! See you then!



Julie Hochstadter said:

I'm going to show up and try to register day of!

Permalink Reply by Melanie K on March 12, 2012 at 4:26pm

Thanks- Great to meet you, too! I had no idea someone liked my commuter- that's cool! I will be seeing you guys again, as I really need to practice! And I'll be looking for Julie on race day, too :) 

Vanessa B said:

It was nice to meet you Melanie! really glad you came out. And J. the host of the practice races mentioned how rad your mixte was on facebook and the fact that you STILL gave it a go for a few laps. that is great. Sorry we couldn't chat longer!

vanessa

Melanie K said:

Checked out the practices on Sunday- considering I rode the 25 miles to the practice area, with my commuter bike fully loaded, I didn't do much practice...I have approximately 2 weeks to learn how to use clipless shoes &  pedals, practice how to ride in a group, and fix my intended race bike so that it shifts correctly (as that is all that is left to fix on it)..fun, fun! I am excited and I look forward to seeing everyone there! Met a lot of nice people on Sunday, too. 

Permalink Reply by LT on March 15, 2012 at 12:13am

I think one of the Half Acre guys is taking this outreach to women thing to heart, but suffering from poor execution.  As I was riding in commuter mode on the crowded lake path today he got on my wheel and tried to "coach" me on  how to weave around pedestrians at 20mph when encountering oncoming pedestrian and bike traffic. When i declined, he told me that I had to "take my opening when you see it, honey" (for reals, he said honey !!) and when I continued to not be persuaded and expressed doubt at the safety of this maneuver, he told me he was a bike racer and knew what he was doing.  Funny thing is that I was a bike racer, and I know what I'm doing.  I appreciate the attempt at engagement with the apparent non-racer community, but could've done without the condescending tone.  

Anyways, good luck with the races.  Its great that you are putting them on!

Permalink Reply by Katie on March 15, 2012 at 9:41am

I think I"m also going to show up and see about a day of spot....

Permalink Reply by Julie Hochstadter on March 15, 2012 at 9:44am
Melanie - I learned how to ride clipless a year ago in spring. I love it! I just starting clipping in again this past week now that im back to a road bike with the right pedals. If you want to meet I can try to give you some tips that helped me.

Melanie K said:

Checked out the practices on Sunday- considering I rode the 25 miles to the practice area, with my commuter bike fully loaded, I didn't do much practice...I have approximately 2 weeks to learn how to use clipless shoes &  pedals, practice how to ride in a group, and fix my intended race bike so that it shifts correctly (as that is all that is left to fix on it)..fun, fun! I am excited and I look forward to seeing everyone there! Met a lot of nice people on Sunday, too. 

Permalink Reply by Melanie K on March 15, 2012 at 10:18am

Julie, you are awesome- and I think you live pretty close to me, too, so I may just have to take you up on that. I just purchased some used pedals, shoes and some very well-worn cleats. The pedals are Time RSX carbon- they look great, the cleats and shoes are so-so and were just thrown into the deal for free- which was good as I didn't have shoes, but I think the cleats are too worn, as it is a bit of a challenge to clip in. Lucily, REI has some replacement cleats in stock which I think I will pick up this weekend.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Melanie - I learned how to ride clipless a year ago in spring. I love it! I just starting clipping in again this past week now that im back to a road bike with the right pedals. If you want to meet I can try to give you some tips that helped me.

Melanie K said:

Checked out the practices on Sunday- considering I rode the 25 miles to the practice area, with my commuter bike fully loaded, I didn't do much practice...I have approximately 2 weeks to learn how to use clipless shoes &  pedals, practice how to ride in a group, and fix my intended race bike so that it shifts correctly (as that is all that is left to fix on it)..fun, fun! I am excited and I look forward to seeing everyone there! Met a lot of nice people on Sunday, too. 

Permalink Reply by Julie Hochstadter on March 15, 2012 at 10:23am

Let me know, I'm around.

Melanie K said:

Julie, you are awesome- and I think you live pretty close to me, too, so I may just have to take you up on that. I just purchased some used pedals, shoes and some very well-worn cleats. The pedals are Time RSX carbon- they look great, the cleats and shoes are so-so and were just thrown into the deal for free- which was good as I didn't have shoes, but I think the cleats are too worn, as it is a bit of a challenge to clip in. Lucily, REI has some replacement cleats in stock which I think I will pick up this weekend.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Melanie - I learned how to ride clipless a year ago in spring. I love it! I just starting clipping in again this past week now that im back to a road bike with the right pedals. If you want to meet I can try to give you some tips that helped me.

Melanie K said:

Checked out the practices on Sunday- considering I rode the 25 miles to the practice area, with my commuter bike fully loaded, I didn't do much practice...I have approximately 2 weeks to learn how to use clipless shoes &  pedals, practice how to ride in a group, and fix my intended race bike so that it shifts correctly (as that is all that is left to fix on it)..fun, fun! I am excited and I look forward to seeing everyone there! Met a lot of nice people on Sunday, too. 

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