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Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Free Bird

T-Mobile phenom’ Mark Cavendish confirmed his arrival to the big leagues over the weekend by reaching his pre-season target of 11 victories on the year. The 22-year-old Brit surged to victory in Saturday’s stage at the Circuit Franco-Belge to put an exclamation point on what’s been a dazzling rookie season. “I’ve reached my target and I’m about delighted about that,” Cavendish said on T-Mobile’s web page. “We miscalculated things a bit in the sprint yesterday and that cost me, but things ran so smoothly today.” Cavendish opened the year with an eye-catching second at the Etoile des

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Dear readers,     VeloNews.com recently experienced an unexpected technical problem with one of several servers used to host a large portion of our video content. As a result, several videos from this year’s Tour de France, Tour of Missouri and other feature items are not currently available.     Our technical staff is working on the problem and we are currently re-loading many of those items using back-up files. Missing videos will gradually reappear on our site over the next few days.     We apologize for the lapse and appreciate your patience as we work to resolve those

Calling for "an overhaul" of national and international anti-doping enforcement systems, Floyd Landis announced Wednesday that he has filed an appeal of the ruling that resulted in the stripping of his Tour de France title. Landis filed an appeal with the International Court of Arbitration for Sport ahead of Thursday's deadline for challenging the decision of a three-member U.S. arbitration panel that resulted in the 2006 Tour title being awarded to Oscar Pereiro. “Knowing that the accusations against me are simply wrong, and having risked all my energy and resources – including those

Cavendish earned his 11th win of the season this week.

Petacchi's Salbutamol case is far from over.

Landis during last May's hearing at Pepperdine.

George Hincapie is hoping a switch to T-Mobile will bring him closer to winning an elusive Classics victory. After racing from 1997-2007 at U.S. Postal Service/Discovery Channel, the 34-year-old had a feeling that a change would do him some good. Hincapie said new teammates and a innovative philosophy under the leadership of Bob Stapleton will help keep him motivated as he enters a two-year deal with the German team looking to increase its North American profile. A few years ago, a switch to rival T-Mobile would have been seen as a major controversy, but times change and Hincapie’s

Jon Baker is living the dream. That is, if you consider spending fourmonths chasing some of the world’s fastest cyclocross racers around mud-and manure-filled European fields in sub-zero temperatures. The dream? Luckily he looks at it that way. Up until about a month ago the 33-year-old Baker was leading an averageAmerican life, happily married to Cyndi with two kids, Leah, 9, and Axel,1. He was a software engineer for BEA Systems, and he balanced his passionfor cycling with his family life and a full-time career, as most of usdo. He was a weekend warrior, albeit a darn good one. Baker

Caisse d’Epargne’s Oscar Pereiro will receive his yellow jersey as the retrospective winner of the 2006 Tour de France next Monday in Madrid, organizers announced Tuesday. The 2006 runner-up has been moved up to first position after American Floyd Landis was stripped of the title for doping. Pereiro finished the 2006 edition 57 seconds behind Landis, but the American tested positive for testosterone following his 17th stage win at Morzine, three days before the finish in Paris. Landis is the first winner in the history of the Tour to be stripped of the title for doping. The top three

Hincapie rode his last Tour in Disco colors this July.

Jon Baker, Axel and enough gear to mount a European campaign.

Each bike has a name tag just in case some Euro dude has a 60cm bike painted hunter’s orange.

3. ROL’s new CX38 wheelset adorned with Dugast’s Rhino mud tire.

That nifty custom brake adjuster.

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. Roger Klepacki’s “Off the back” made us both cringe and remember the pain and frustration of when a racing day goes bad… really bad. Roger, please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of our new Coors Classic DVD. Meanwhile, go ahead and take a look at our latest gallery, decide what you like and let us know what you think by dropping a note to

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Denver VeloSwap - October 27VeloSwapis the world's largest consumer bicycle and sports expo. It is THE placeto see, swap, buy, and sell every imaginable bike, part, and accessory.This cultural cycling happening is a not-to-be-missed experience. Itis the place to feel the pulse of the cycling community and rub elbowswith like minded cyclists.Booth space is available to individuals, clubs, retailers and manufacturers.Come see why 15,000 people think Veloswap is the best event of the year.For more information, visit www.VeloSwap.com19th Annual Subaru Denver VeloSwapDenver, ColoradoSaturday,

Barry Wicks (Kona-YourKey.com) took advantage of world champion Erwin Vervecken’s derailleur failure with half a lap to go to take the win at the second day of the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Sunday at Southampton, New York. Wicks, who lost to Vervecken (Fidea) by a wheel in the previous day’s sprint finish, was never out of contention on the much more technical course featured on the second day at the Southampton Youth Services Center.

First-time cyclocross racer Steven Gordon (Haymarket Bicycles) and Betsy Shogren (Fort Factory) won their respective races at the fourth annual Breast Cancer Awareness Cyclocross Challenge on Sunday in Hagerstown, Maryland. Stephen Cummings (Meridith Group) took second in the men’s A race with Michael Gallagher (U.S. Armed Forces) third on the dusty, serpentine course at the Hagerstown Fairgrounds Park. In the women’s A race, Lisa Vible (C3 Sollay.com) took the runner-up spot with Libby Sheldon (Tokyo Joe’s) third. Other winners included: Men’s Category 4: Steven Wahl (AVC). Men’s B: Ethan

How tough is Stuart O’Grady? Just look at the wrist bands he brought to the Tour de France this summer and you’ll find out. The Paris-Roubaix champion is set to race this weekend for the first time since suffering a horrible crash in stage 8 to Tignes in the Tour de France. O’Grady fell on the treacherous descent off the Roseland and fractured eight ribs, three vertebrae, a shoulder and collarbone and punctured his lung. The Aussie spent nearly a week in the hospital and wasn’t able to start training again until September. O’Grady will race in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour from October 14-21

Off the back

Wicks takes the victory

Wicks and Trebon tag-teamed the world champ again

Compton and Bissette hung together early

But the national champ eventually soloed off to win

Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) and world champion Erwin Vervecken (Fidea Assurance) took two very different paths to winning their respective races at the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Saturday in Southampton, New York. Vervecken did battle with three reigning national champions — American Ryan Trebon (Kona-YourKey), Canadian Greg Reain (RWR-Colnago-Time) and German Malte Urban (Heinz von Heiden) — and it proved to be a fight to the finish for the jet-lagged rainbow jersey.

The 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships concluded on Saturday as the final five national titles were awarded in one individual and four team events. Just six weeks before making its debut on the UCI World Cup program in Sydney, the women's 3km team pursuit was introduced to the national championships. The trio of two-time world champion Sarah Hammer (Ouch Pro Cycling), Thursday's individual pursuit national champion Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) and this year's sprint and keirin national champion, Jennie Reed (Momentum), rode to a victory in

Vervecken and Wicks battled right to the line

Vervecken said winning was tougher than in his previous visits stateside

Bausch, Reed and Hammer in the the women's 3km team pursuit

The podium

The bicycle Italy's Paolo Bettini rode to his second consecutive title at the world road race championships last Sunday has been stolen, the Ansa news agency reported on Saturday. Thieves stole a total of 21 bicycles belonging to the Quick Step team and the van in which they were being stored overnight ahead of Saturday's Memorial Cimurri race between Parma and Bologna. The bicycles are estimated to be worth 150,000 euros ($212,000). The team was able to assemble a collection of reserve bikes for Bettini and the team to use in the 183km race. The 33-year-old was crowned world

Eight more national champions were crowned Friday on day three of the 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships as elite and U23 categories of the men's and women's sprint and points race were contested. After qualifying second behind Adam Duvendeck (Momentum) in the 200-meter time trial on Thursday, Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) captured both the elite and U23 national titles in the men's sprint. Blatchford dispatched silver medalist Ben Barczewski (T-Town Express) in two straight rides in the finals to claim the national title while Duvendeck took two straight

Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

He’s certainly off to a good start. World junior time trial champion, Taylor Phinney captured the national elite men's individual pursuit title on Thursday evening, competing in his first-ever event on the track. The 17-year-old Phinney (TIAA-CREF) earned the number-two seed in Thursday morning's qualifying session at USA Cycling’s Elite Track National Championships in Carson, California, with a time of 4:35.550 Phinney’s time set up a head-to-head match against top-seed Brad Huff, who had earlier set a mark of 4:34.976. In the gold medal, Phinney rode to an early advantage in

T-Mobile general manager Bob Stapleton is taking a “wait and see” attitude toward the ongoing power struggle between the UCI and the organizers of the three grand tours. Last week, the UCI announced a restructured 2008 ProTour calendar that excludes the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España and major one-day classics associated with the big three race organizers. Stapleton said the news of a watered-down ProTour calendar caught teams by surprise, but added this likely won’t be the last row in the ongoing battle over the controversial ProTour. “I think this is round one of what’s

Slipstream Sports LLC, the parent company of the Slipstream professionalcycling team, has developed a grant program designed to breathe new lifeinto American youth cycling.The organization today announced "Causing the Slipstream," a developmentprogram to provide financial support to outstanding youth cycling programsacross the country.U.S.-based cycling programs with a junior development program are encouragedto apply for grants through www.slipstreamsports.com.Grant winners will also receive access to private training from Slipstream/Chipotleteam members and renowned Sports Physiologist,

Good genes or the power of argyle? Either way, Taylor Phinney is flyin'

Stapleton isn't expecting a rapid resolution to the ProTour fight.

Slipstream supports juniors

Dear Readers,In Deliveranceof the bird man, a reader wrote in to ask about an incident in which his group ride was buzzed, and in response, the ride leader flipped the offending driver “the bird.” As you may recall, this immediately led to an altercation between the “bird man” and the “enraged and rather large passenger.” In that column, I wrote that “the bird” is not constitutionally protected speech, and may even be a provocation to fight. In response, I received the following letter. Hi Bob,Interesting discussion of the "bird," although lacking in brevity and accuracy. I take issue

Peter Van Den Abeele’s has the title of Mountain Bike Sports Coordinator within the UCI, which is a fancy way of saying he runs the show. A former pro off-road racer himself, the Belgian now patrols the start/finish line of World Cup races, doing everything from handing Gatorade to finishes, adjusting metal barriers and schmoozing potential sponsors. With a cash sponsor in Nissan on board, the UCI World Cup and world championships rose to new heights in 2007. And with the 2008 Olympics in Beijing on the horizon, Van Den Abeele owns an extensive to-do list. Van Den Abeele sat down with

Three cyclocross races in one week! Sure, temperatures for all events hovered around 80 degrees and even though only one race featured beer chugging, bike junkies throwing money at the racers, it still felt a little bit like Christmas time in Belgium. The first race of the last week was Cross Vegas, the soon-to-be annual kick off to the U.S. cyclocross season. This spectacular nighttime event took place last Wednesday following day three of the yearly super bike nerd convention known as Interbike. If you’ve never been to Interbike, all I can say is standing on concrete floors underneath

Oscar Pereiro finally feels comfortable enough to put on the yellow jersey from the disputed 2006 Tour de France. The Spanish rider donned the maillot jaune for a photo shoot with the Spanish daily AS and said it rightfully belongs to him following last month’s ruling against Floyd Landis. “A lot of time has passed but I feel good. And I’m not afraid to put it on,” Pereiro said. “Since I received a fax from the UCI (on Sept. 21) informing the news about the 2006 Tour, I know that putting on the yellow jersey again isn’t a provocation. I have nothing to hide.” In the eyes of the UCI,

Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Them there's fightin' words, boy

Cyclocrossworld.com's Jeremy Powers raiding the Team Maxxis espresso stash.

Bright lights, big city. Boulder Cycle Sport's Colby Pearce makes his way back to Sin City after the race.

Boulder Cycle Sport Sales Manager Rob Ferola trying to put the moves of Cipo.

With his bikes still in Las Vegas, Whitey Debroux does his best rendition of a crazy Belgian super fan.

The chase.

One hour before this photo was taken, Trek's Travis Brown rolled into Boulder, stole a mountain bike from Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski's garage, then came out for a little Las Vegas detox session.

Pereiro in the maillot jaune during the '06 Tour

As reported yesterday on VeloNews.com, Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will ride next year with Astana under the leadership of Johan Bruyneel. The Spanish daily MARCA reported Wednesday that Contador will sign a two-year contract worth 1.5 million euros per season and bring Benjamín Noval and Sergio Paulinho with him. Other riders linked to Bruyneel’s move to Astana include Janez Brajkovic, Levi Leipheimer and Tomas Vaitkus. Leipheimer looks likely to join Bruyneel as the Belgian director is poised to take over the troubled Astana team as general manager as part of a three-year

Dear Monique, Thanks for a great article titled “Feed Your Head.” I have one question though concerning the following statement:Research on caffeine consumption during exercise indicates the 1.5 mg/kg of body weight improves performance.Is that per hour or what time frame? I weigh 87 kg, so is that 130 mg/hr?Thanks,MPCharlotte, NCHi MP,Thanks for your question. While many cyclists and other endurance athletes may consume a moderate caffeine dose about one hour before exercise, consuming some caffeine during exercise, especially in the later part of a long training ride or race is not

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Contador is ready to join Bruyneel at Astana

Thanks 'Vegas — for kicking my butt. I almost made it. After six days in the Sin city I was as close as I could have come to making it out unscathed. I spent two days in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada, where the trails are known for their brutality. Crashing there is like riding a razor blade covered Slip-and-Slide into a wading pool of glass. It’s a good place to practice the 80-percent rule — riding at only 80-percent of your ability to ensure that you’re not the guy — you know, that guy who crashes at an event where you have no reason putting it all on the line. Plenty of the attendees

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. Reid Beloni’s “Early trip to the races” made us remember all of those foggy-headed mornings driving to any number of local races near or far. Yeah, yeah, we’re waxing nostalgic and Reid managed to capture the image that started us down that road. Nice work, Reid. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of our new Coors Classic DVD. Meanwhile, go ahead and take a

Johan Bruyneel is poised to take over the reins at the troubled Astana team and will bring heavy hitters Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador with him for the 2008 season. Sources close to Bruyneel told VeloNews that the Belgian director is finalizing negotiations with the Kazakh government and will assume control of the ProTour team. A formal announcement is expected in the coming weeks. Bruyneel could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Last month, the Belgian sport director confirmed reports that Kazakh officials approached him to take over the squad in the wake of devastating doping

As is usually the case with web reports from Interbike, we managed only to scratch the surface of all of the latest and greatest we saw at the show this year. Here are a few more items for you save your pennies for in the coming year. Be sure to take look at VeloNews issue 20 when it becomes available later this month, too. We’ll have a lot in there as well.

The RAAM Fall FestivalA celebration of the people and inspiration of one of the world’s greatestexperiences!You and your friends are invited to join the RAAM Family for the InauguralRAAM Fall Festival in Boulder, CO, USA – the World Headquarters of RAAM.The fun happens Saturday October 13th, 2007.Schedule of Events10:00 Ride!A group ride of 35-50 miles exploring the foothills of the Rockiesnorth of Boulder. Here’s your chance to catch up with your RAAM friendsand ride with RAAM veterans. Bring your RAAM jersey or buy one from ourstore. We’ll start from the home of the Race Director.4:00 Show

Look’s new 586 breaks the sub-1000 gram mark including an uncut integrated seat mast. The new frame is more than 130-grams lighter the 595, but not quite as stiff. The frame set, including fork, headset and E-Post will cost $3700.

The E-Post seat post system offers three different clamps, which differ in offset. The standard comes with +/- 20mm of adjustment, while there are reversible 32mm and 5mm options (pictured from left to right).

Giro’s Xen mountain bike helmet is a fixture in the trail segment, its design and greater coverage remains unchanged for 2008, but its style continues to evolve. The finish on this helmet is actually a fabric.

We first saw the $225 Ionos helmet in the 2007 Tour de France. It has 15-percent more vent volume than the Atmos thus keeps a rider’s head 15-percent cooler, says Giro.

In the fall, winter and early spring 15-percent cooler isn’t always wanted, so Giro includes a winter liner with every Ionos it sells.

Bell’s $130 Drop full-face helmet meets CPSC and ASTM specific standards for Downhill helmets, which are specific to full-face helmets.

Motor heads got the first look at Bell’s new Bell Star Moto GP inspired street helmet at Interbike. The design and Viper graphics all come out of Bell’s Santa Cruz facility. It will be available this coming spring.

Fi’zi:k re-engineered two saddle’s specifically for off-road use. The Aliante Gamma XM comes with K:ium rails and Technogel padding. The new Gobi XM also has K:ium rails and has been designed to fit like the ever-popular Arione.

Team Slipstream carried out a contest to design the team’s 2008 kits. Pearl Izumi, a company that has been absent from the professional road arena for two years, will manufacture the winning design.

Pearl’s new sub-200 gram Octane SL road shoe (single shoe, size 43.) The shoes rely on an 88-gram uni-directional carbon sole and costs $300.

The Octane jacket is made from a breathable, waterproof four-way stretch material. It comes with a removable hood and drop down tail to keep both your head and bottom dry.

Dakine’s Apex pack $120 has been a hit ever since its release last year. This year it’s material pallet has expanded to include wool.

Ibis showed its Mojo SL, a sub-five-pound frame. It uses a higher modulus carbon as well as carbon headset cups and dropouts to shave weight. Even the main pivot shaft is made from carbon.

The $2500 Mojo SL frame builds into a 21.9-pound bike using Ibis’ WTF ultra light kit. The kit includes an XTR drivetrain, Easton cockpit and NoTubes wheels, all of which is super light, but still very usable.

'Cross bike of the year? Well, Time’s Cross ProTeam frame is definitely on the short list. The $3250 module (frame, fork, integrated seat post, headset and stem) weighs 2125 grams, while the frame alone is 1280 grams. Available in five sizes.

Like the frame, the Mono-bloc fork is made by Time. The fork features fibers that run continually from drop out to steerer. The legs feature Vectran for compliance and the steerer is reinforced with Kevlar to protect it from a stem’s clamping forces.