Schwinn World Sport

by Lucas Seibel

After joining team rides to Highland park, a grueling cyclocross season, and a few podium finishes in the 4a/b races I knew I was going to like this spidermoneky cycling team. Beginning when I was 12, I had a garage full of bikes in Plymouth, MI. I had a BMX bike, but I didn’t ride BMX, a ten speed my dad found in a dumpster, and a kmart mountain bike. I was either riding around with my friends or we were trying to “Fix” them by taking our bikes apart. At one point I even went out on my Mountain bike and tried to ride with a club who rides nightly. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I was left in the back. It wasn’t until I moved to Chicago that I my life was really taken over by cycling. It started slowly, but at one point I was looking at almost 14 bikes in my apartment and I went Car/CTA free for almost a year.

Moving to Chicago to attend Columbia College, I brought two bikes and a pair of running shoes. In high school I had run Track and Cross Country and was hoping to continue in Chicago. I had heard such great things about the Chicago Lakeshore Path. And the things I heard were right; it was beautiful running with the lake on one side and the skyline on the other. Trying to start a running club at Columbia, I organized runs in the morning and night, but who knew that art students wouldn’t want to get up at 7:00 AM to run. So went by myself most of the time, but once I got on my bike and saw how much more of the city I could see I quickly gave up running and started riding everyday. I’d often just try and keep up with anyone on the path that looked faster than me. Once I had kept up with a rider on the lake who told me that I should join a team or club to race, but wasn’t sure how to get involved or if I could afford a road bike, my singlespeed Schwinn World was all I had.

Once I graduated College, I had more free time and time to meet more people in the Chicago cycling community. I still had never done a group ride, but I trained everyday either on the lakeshore or on my rollers because I was getting ready to race track. I joined the Chicago Velo Campus and went down every Saturday for winter training. When it warmed up we started riding on the track. What a rush, but then summer got in the way and I never made it back down to ride. As the summer ended I figured I’d just have to wait until next year before I’d be able to do any racing, then I did a cyclocross race.

Lucas in Chicago Velo Campus kit .. Looking mean!

Talking to my friend, PJ, he gave me some insight about racing in Chicago and he said I should come out to the next cyclocross race and ride in the 4A and 4B race, or the power hour as some call it. I wasn’t doing anything that Sunday so I said why not, the best way to try something new is to just dive in. It was a hot day in September, and I was up at 7:00 AM for the first time in a while, but I was excited for my first bike race. Since PJ was on the Spidermonkey team we hung out at the team tent most of the day, which gave me an opportunity to meet everyone. My first race was so much fun, I crashed a few times, went home covered in dirt, and had a few cuts, but I couldn’t stop smiling. I was ready to sign up for next weeks race, but I wanted to join a team, mostly so that I could get a cool kit, so I joined Spidermonkey Cycling that week, I’ve met a fair amount of the team and haven’t looked back.

Lucas in the pain cave at Psychocross

Now that the cyclocross season is over, I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of the team, team rides, and a summer of road and track racing. I hope to see you out on the roads.

Lucas and PJ go 1-2 at Montrose 4B’s! Sandbaggers! Oh yeah, Lucas got 3rd in the 4A’s. Think he’s got the power hour down or what?

Where’s my beer??

The moment that I first knew I loved cycling was when I “borrowed” my younger brother’s Schwinn Predator and jumped it over a pretty decent double at a nearby park in Michigan. I still remember being mid-air and completely uncertain if I was about to bust my ass or ride away clean. Luckily it was the latter and I was hooked.

The single most influential person to my cycling would have to be my dad nicknamed “Jeffe”. He was always riding his Schwinn World Sport to work (about 10-15 miles each way) just for fun and constantly bringing my family on bike rides. No matter if I was playing hockey, racing, or wrestling, he was there to cheer me on and support me when I lost. To this day if he is in town, he will be the first to my races or the lone fan in the stands at a hockey game. I couldn’t ask for more.

As a very active (and short) teen, I left soccer/baseball/wrestling/hockey for more “alternative” sports like snowboarding, skateboarding, and eventually bmx racing. I wasn’t very good because I enjoyed the jumps and practices more than the races themselves, but I did pretty well for myself coming away with only a separated shoulder and a small trophy.

Fast forward to college where I sold my car and moved to Chicago to pursue a degree in graphic design. My bmx bike was still with me at this point so I rode when I could and used it to save cash not taking the CTA. I also picked up a 70’s Motobecane Mirage that I converted to a single speed after realizing how terrible commuting on a bmx bike was. This 30lb single speed would be the catalyst that was about to hurl me to the world of road cycling.

When I met my fiancée, she just started working for the American Diabetes Association and was helping out with their Tour de Cure cycling fundraiser. My friend and I wondered if it were possible to do the 62-mile route on our single speeds being as they were the only bikes we had at the time. Before we signed up, we hit the lakefront path just out of curiosity and cranked out a 40-mile ride without clipless pedals, bibs, drop bars, gears, or any idea how to draft.

In what seemed like no time, we were halfway through the Tour de Cure and it hit me how much ground I was covering under my own power. The most impressive part of cycling to me has always been unrivaled freedom it gives the rider. It was a pretty enlightening feeling while hearing nothing but the hum of tires on the road and being able to hear every breath. I’m certain I looked like an idiot because I was smiling the entire time. Occasionally we would ride along a few other riders and the rolling bond that developed is what left me wanting to find a group.

In April of 2011 I did a google search for Chicago bicycle “clubs”. When I stumbled on the Spidermonkeys, they seemed fun and relaxed. Then I saw the 312 logo and things got urgent. I emailed Vanessa and came to a group ride, thanks to Fred who helped me get back to the group after dropping my only bottle, rookie mistake. That year alone I raced the Monsters of the Midway Criterium, Tour of Elk Grove, completed 3 Centuries, and a 200-mile 2-day Chicago-Michigan ride with a friend of mine. My hockey team won our Championship over the summer and I got engaged earlier this month, pretty packed.

Potato Soup!

In addition to the inexpensive sport of amateur cycling, I enjoy the other wallet diet that is amateur photography. Since I don’t ride a lot of BMX anymore, shooting it is a great injury-free way of enjoying it without riding. Being a graphic designer means that I often wear a lot of hats around the office and I guess the photographer cap just comes with the “cyclist” hat by some sort of hipster nature. My cycling/photography/food blog is here.

I just want to express my gratitude to Dean and Vanessa and all the other monkeys who make this group what it is. Not only are we lucky enough to have the opportunity to enjoy cycling, but we have found a group of incredible people to share it with. What more could a cyclist want?

Beer.

– Derick

Tag: Schwinn World Sport

Spidermonkey of the Week – Lucas Seibel

Spidermonkey of the Week – Derick Adame