Well, our first contest was literally dreamed up less than 24 hours before the race. I’m happy to say it was a good start, and thanks to Dan Plitman of Stelvio BIKEWEAR for offering the prize. Congratulations to Ace McDade for being our inaugural winner.

There was, however, one problem with our contest. With a small field, all serious contenders were taken instantly. If you weren’t one of the first to respond you were out of it. No one bothered to use the opportunity to brown nose his or her team captain by picking him. Not this week.

This week we’ve upped the ante a bit. Challenge tires have generously given us a set of their Criterium tires as this week’s prime. The Criterium is Challenge’s top of the line clincher, with a 300 tpi thread count. All Challenge tires are handmade and not vulcanized, and have a supple ride that simply must be experienced first hand. This is a $100 retail value (who loves ya, baby)!

With our new prize comes new rules. Instead of just letting you pick a sprinter and win, you now have to pick a winner for all fields. If more than one person gets the A winner right, then the one with the highest finishing B rider wins. In the event of yet another tie, it goes to the C’s. If no one gets the A winner, then it’s the highest placing A rider, with the same tiebreakers. The races are all very short, so pick accordingly. Should there be some crazy finish where a winner cannot be determined, the prize will carry over to the Turkey Race. Oh, and the final tiebreaker will be correct spelling, so think twice about picking Basil Montsopoulos or Ted Pozniakoff.

So here’s what you do. Click on the message board link on the left, and register if you haven’t already. To win you have to register, one entry per person. Make sure you’re logged in when you make your pick. Go to the ‘Challenge Challenge’ thread. List your three picks. You can pick yourself or a teammate. You can pick someone from another team, though I wouldn’t expect a leadout Saturday if you did. Once the club certifies the results we’ll send those tires to you. Good luck!

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I don’t know how to convey the concept of ‘suppleness’ photographically. Does that make me a hack photog?