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With a grassroots movement that continues to flourish, a handful of pro races to show off and national championships in two disciplines being fought out on its turf, the Pacific Northwest looks to be a hotbed of cycling again in 2009. The local peloton will shift into high gear March 1 when the nearly 30-year-old Banana Belt Series hits the roads around Henry Hagg Lake, about a half hour west of Portland. Banana Belt promoter Jeff Mitchem says he expects anywhere from 350-500 participants for each of the three series races, depending on the weather.

Price: $80 Weight: 117 grams Sizes: EBB Shells 68 x 55mm Colors: Red, blue, silver, black Web site: www.ninerbikes.com Do you rely on an eccentric bottom bracket (EBB) for proper chain tension on your single speed, internally geared hub, or tandem? If so the new Niner Bio-Centric EBB may come as a relief to your current creaking and ovalized EBB shell woes.

More than 1,700 people attended Sunday's final day of the fifth annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Indianapolis, bringing the weekend’s total to almost 6,500. Exhibitors commented on Saturday’s huge crowds, and many shared the feeling that this was the best NAHBS ever. Awards for the best bikes on display were announced near the close of the show.

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Lance Armstrong’s road map back to the Tour de France continues to take shape. Astana team officials confirmed to VeloNews that Armstrong is scheduled to race Milan-San Remo (March 21), Vuelta a Castilla y León (March 23-27) the Giro di Trentino (April 22-25), the Giro d’Italia (May 9-31) and the Tour de France (July 4-26).

Editor's note: Tom LeCarner, VeloNews' copy editor, is an avid cyclist who has been unable to ride and train for most of 2008 because of knee pain. He is being treated at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, using Specialized Body Geometry equipment and services at Specialized's expense and reporting on his progress in regular columns.

A series of cycling events in eastern Kentucky this summer will culminate in a UCI-sanctioned stage race for juniors. The UCI 2.1 Elite Junior Tour of the Red River Gorge kicks off on Tuesday, July 13th with a prologue in Irvine, followed later in the day with the Irvine-Winchester-Mt. Sterling-Stanton road race.

Two-Time Olympian, John Vande Velde to address Seattle cyclists at benefit auction REDMOND, Wash., March 2, 2009—Former Olympian John Vande Velde will be the keynote speaker at a fundraiser dinner and auction to benefit the Marymoor Velodrome Association on March 14. Vande Velde will share stories from his cycling career and the career of his son, a professional cyclist for Team Garmin-Slipstream, Christian Vande Velde. The “First to the Line” dinner and auction will be held at The Community Center at Mercer View. A wide variety of cycling and non-cycling

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) has pulled out of Milan-San Remo, citing injuries sustained when he fell during the Amgen Tour of California, his team announced on Monday. The 33-year-old Spaniard, who broke two ribs in the stage-4 crash, has also withdrawn from the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, which precedes the spring classic.

After an exciting opening weekend of the classics season – with Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen taking a pair of victories in Belgium – the hammerheads have plenty on their plates this week. The top draw for the first week of March is Monte Paschi Eroica in Italy, already considered a major event despite only its third year on the calendar. Spanish stage racing continues in the sunny south with the Vuelta a Murcia, where Denis Menchov (Rabobank) is the top name joining mostly Spanish riders in the five-day race.

The 2009 Giro d’Italia promises to be a star-studded affair, with defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre expecting to be one of the favorites duking it out for the maglia rosa. The Cervélo captain has some unfinished business of sorts with the Giro. Boasting podium spots in both the Tour (1st in 2008, 3rd in 2006) and Vuelta (2nd in 2005, 07 and 3rd in 2008), the Spanish climber only lacks a top three in the corsa rosa to join an elite club of grand tour podium finishers.

Among all the builders and the wide selections of material, color, construction and size at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, one common theme that I’ve noticed is a distinct respect for all-purpose, utilitarian bikes. Perhaps it’s a reaction to fuel prices during the summer, or simply an expression of the small builders’ ethic, but at least 70 percent of the builders on display are showing some variant of an urban town bike, a cargo bike or an all-purpose touring road bike.

Juan Pablo Magallanes of Mexico’s national squad won the opening stage of the Vuelta Mexico-TelMex, outsprinting his fellow breakaway companion, Francesco Rivera (Amica Chips Knauf). The two left the field early in the day, building up to a lead of 4:15 before being reeled back over the final lap of a nine-kilometer circuit in Lunes del Cerro, in the province of Oaxaca.

In Switzerland, French rider Rémi Pauriol (Cofidis) took his second win on the season ahead of veteran Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni) after the pair peeled away in the 178km GP Lugano. The 26-year-old Frenchman won the GP d’Ouverture Marseillaise to open the French calendar on Feb. 1 and takes a victory a month later on the opening weekend of the Swiss calendar. Last year, Rebellin finished second in the GP Lugano to Rinaldo Nocentini, but took revenge on his Italian rival by beating him for the overall at Paris-Nice two weeks later.

Greg Henderson scored a sprint victory in Sunday’s Clásica Almería in the Spanish one-day race controlled perfectly by the Columbia-Highroad team. Henderson out-kicked Graeme Brown (Rabobank) for his first win on the season while Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) came through third out of a reduced, 35-strong front group.

Quick Step's Tom Boonen claimed his first big spring classics win of the season at the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne semi-classic on Sunday. A former world champion, Boonen finished ahead of Columbia-High Road's sprinter Bernhard Eisel of Austria and Britain's Jeremy Hunt (Cervélo TestTeam ), who was third in a bunch sprint for the line. At Sunday's race, held over 194km, the 194-strong field stopped to pay tribute to Belgian racer Frederiek Nolf, 21, who died in his sleep at the Tour of Qatar on February 5.