There were two whacky events on Saturday: the Afterglow post-season cyclocross race in muddy and snowy Humboldt Park, and the Dreidel & Santa Rampage!, an event with seemingly no other purpose than to have a fun bike ride and perpetuate the tradition (you must be dressed as Santa, an elf, or a dreidel to join).
A cyclocross race is like riding a souped-up road bike on a track people would normally ride mountain bikes on. And there’s always jeering and costumes.
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Audrey can often be found at races with a megaphone “encouraging” riders to stop going so slow.
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This guy often dresses up as Supergirl.
See more photos of the race from myself, or from Audrey. The results are on the USA Cycling website.
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A 30-second video of the Santa Rampage ride, by Andrew Bedno.
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Santa and, presumably, Mrs. Claus, riding a tandem in the 2010 Santa Rampage. Photo by lushhaze.
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Two dreidels in the 2010 ride. Photo by lushhaze.
Dubi Kaufmann has photos of yesterday’s ride. And so does Cale Wenthur, but from the Milwaukee version.
I was shocked to see the after-effect of the “Afterglow.” That whole corner of the park is a muddy pit with deep ruts worn into the grass in a lot of places. Last year it was colder when they held the race and the ground was frozen so there wasn’t as much of an impact, but that’s not the case this year. With the weather being so warm and wet nearly every section of the track was reduced to muddy strips that crisscross the entire northwest portion of the park. Hopefully the ground will recover by spring, but right now it looks horrible and even the paved walking paths are covered in mud where the trail crossed it. On top of that, I saw leftover stakes that were used to mark off the track just lying on the ground in a few places. Awesome…thanks for ripping up our park and then leaving your trash behind.
I think the CCC should find a new home for the race, I don’t think a city park that gets used by so many people and for so many purposes is a good place for an event that has such a harsh impact. I also don’t like the fact that, in the fall, there are about 50 racers who use the park to practice in about 3 or 4 times a week. I can’t even recall how many times I’ve almost been hit or had my dog run over or seen little kids playing in their path. Humboldt Park is just not meant to be a bike track, I’m sure the race is a lot of fun but I’m also sure there are many other locations that are more appropriate for that use.
I believe that the fee the race organizers pay to the Chicago Park District includes an “impact fee” much like the organizers of Lollapalooza pay to repair Grant Park. I haven’t verified this, though.
Regarding the leftover stakes, you can notify the Park Supervisor: 312.742.7549.