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Cannondale-Leer-cyclocrossworld.com’s Tim Johnson’s bike uses a SRAM Red group and TRP’s low-profile carbon brakes

Decker’s Giant TCX is a mountain biker’s ’cross bike, with linear pull brakes and a single ring

Michelin tubular ’cross tires. They feature Michelin’s Mud2 tread mounted on a Dugast casing

Frank Arokiasamy discusses the long ride from New York to San Francisco

Arokiasamy says the plan isn't as nutty as it appears.

Without the official numbers (those will be tallied by Wednesday), it can’t be claimed with any certainty that day two of the 2007 Interbike Dirt Demo in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada broke any records, but if the lines were an indication — it did. Those not lucky enough to make it onto the first round of shuttles to the demo area went on to spend more than two hours trying to get to Bootleg. In past editions of the show it has rarely taken more than 50 minutes. “They have five buses,” said Elaine, one of the senior citizens who was working for the Las Vegas chamber of commerce by making sure

Cyclo-crossers across the world, take note. A pair of past and present world champion ’cross racers, under-23 world cross champ Lars Boom and three-time world elite women’s champ Hanka Kupfernagel, each won world time trial titles in Stuttgart, Germany, Wednesday. And both credited the muddy discipline for their success. Taking it a step further, Boom said he would focus on cyclo-cross for at least two more years. Winning a world under-23 time-trial championship might be something all developing riders dream of, but Boom, a Rabobank continental professional development team rider has

When I think of China, one word comes to mind — underpants. Hear me out on this one, folks. Per usual, this mountain-bike column opens with a brief anecdote. The time: September 2006. The place: Rotorua, New Zealand. Yours truly clumsily tiptoed through ankle-deep mud on the world championship cross-country course in my flip-flops. I searched for a perch to crack open a Steinlager and observe the remainder of the U23 women’s championship when I spotted a small herd of galosh-wearing Kiwis. These were good people, and they offered me respite from the muck on a small tarp — and more beer.

A North Carolina sports management firm has announced preliminary plans to organize a 27-stage transcontinental “Tour of America,” with an $11 million prize list.In a release issued Wednesday, Aqu, Inc. promised to reveal further details – including dates – at a press conference scheduled for Thursday at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas.In its release, the company said it expects the race will be “the largest spectator event in the history of U.S. sports, covering approximately 4000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.”Distances2007 Tour de France - 3553.9kmLongest stage:

Olympic and world cycling champion Paolo Bettini supplied sacked German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz with doping products, according to television reports in Germany on Wednesday. Sinkewitz, 26, was dismissed by T-Mobile during this year's Tour de France when abnormal levels of testosterone were found in his blood during a pre-race drugs test. The German later admitted he had used 'Testogel' patches to help aid recovery. But according to reports on German channel ZDF, Sinkewitz is quoted in a document as naming the reigning world and Olympic champion and retired Italian Davide

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,

Dillon Clapp, from the accessories manufacturer Lezyne, shows the company’s new Pressure Drive mini-pump. It will cost $30-35 and is rated to 120psi. The pump has a stowable hose with Schrader and Presta adaptors at opposite ends.

Clapp illustrates the use of the Pressure Drive’s stowable hose, which makes it 30-percent more compact than other mini-pumps on the market.

Lezyne is also manufacturing mini tools with smart features. Here’s the Stainless 21 – featuring 21 gadgets in all - with L-shaped 2 and 2.5mm Allen heads that allow you to actually get at hard to access reach brake lever reach adjust bolts.

Wordsmith and ’cross fanatic Mike Ferrentino, turned Santa Cruz marketing guy, showed the Stigmata. It’s a 1300-gram (size 54) U.S. made frame that retails for just $850 with a powder coat, the anodized version costs $100 more, but weighs 1200 grams

Cannondale’s new Scalpel is light and is picking up right where old bike left off, winning international level mountain bike races. The bike attributes its inevitable world cup success to System Integration, says C-Dale product tester Doug Dalton.

Dalton has been on three iterations of the bike; he picks its lack of pivots as his favorite part of the bike making it simple, light and able to provide great rear-wheel traction because of the slightly shorter chainstay length.

Bells and Whistles like DT’s SSD Carbon rear shock bring a large Scalpel’s weight down to 22.5 pounds.

Yeti’s new all carbon ASR-AC weighs only 4.2 pounds in a size medium but is 50 percent stiffer than the old alloy ASR. The frame has a 92.5mm bottom bracket shell that relies on Shimano’s threadless composite cupped bottom bracket.

The ASR-AC most attention getting feature is its integrated seat mast. It maximizes a rider’s power transfer, says Yeti GM Chris Conroy. The mast has four clamp options the lightest is 75mm in length and allows for 30mm of adjustment.

Yeti’s ASR Seven has been in development for three years. It has 7-inches of travel and weighs 7.2 pounds. The rear end has two oversized aluminum seatstays and one large carbon non-drive chainstay, to which the rear wheel mounts concentrically.

Because pivot is at the axle the bike will have active braking characteristics. The absence of a drive-side chainstay leaves weight and noise behind.

At the opposite end the massive chain and seatstays provide protection to the brake caliper and a stiff rear end that promises to track well.

Maxxis’ mech and factory team cyclocross rider Adam McGrath has one of the only new Litespeed CX bikes built and ready to race.

His teammates, Geoff Kabush and Mat Toulouse’s bikes are still waiting to be built with only 29 hours before the Vegas Cross race.

Rotor provides the Maxxis team with chainrings as well as ceramic bottom brackets for their Shimano Dura-Ace cranks.

McGrath’s bike was equipped with Jagwire’s carbon fiber cable ferrules.

Instead of bringing a full catalog’s worth of 2008 models to the Dirt Demo, Ironhorse picked three models and gave them special Monster Energy green paint jobs along with consistent Deore XT and SRAM X.9 level components.

After the show the bikes will be split into two groups and spend the next eight months on respective East and West coast demo tours.

Crankbrothers kicked in its custom Interbike colored Acid pedals for the project.

And WTB made special seats for the special Dirt Demo bikes.

Boom still wants to race 'cross.

Kupfernagel powers to a win.

Kupfernagel had to wait until Armstrong finished to celebrate.

Austria's Christiane Soeder rounds out the podium

Armstrong said the course suited an all-around rider. Maybe she'll be riding 'cross this winter.

Thürig missed the podium this year

Despite the expression, Boom really is happy about his win.

Ignatiev was favored, but he's satisfied with silver

Coppel rounds out the U23 podium

Despite the expression, Boom really is happy about his win.

Ignatiev was favored, but he's satisfied with silver

Coppel rounds out the U23 podium

Van Garderen caught his minute man... but was also caught by the eventual winner

Boom is heading to the dirt as soon as he gets a chance.

Van Garderen had Zabriskie right behind him

The 62nd Vuelta a España wasn’t without its controversies. Carlos Sastre accused race leader Denis Menchov of forming alliances. Universal criticism rained down on a long, boring 52km time trial in Zaragoza. Riders complained that the top-heavy course, with its most important stages packed into the opening 10 days, left for a dull and unexciting second half. But one thing was largely missing from this year’s Spanish tour – doping scandals. The Vuelta has been wracked by its fair share of doping controversies the past few years, including the disastrous EPO positive of 2005 winner Roberto

Big names and big teams have dominated the world’s for the past several years, with established stars such as Oscar Freire, Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini from Spain, Belgium and Italy, respectively, taking the rainbow jersey in the elite men’s road race. Is it time for an outsider to hold off the favorites? On paper, the 19.1km circuit in Stuttgart looks like it could be challenging enough to serve up an attack-laden finale and perhaps deliver a breakaway victor to end the run of relatively large bunch sprints that have dominated the world championships for the better part of a decade. Each

Demo Days are here again as part of the 2007 Interbike trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show starts the way it should, with people riding bikes in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada, a well-maintained mountain bike trail system roughly 20 miles outside of the Las Vegas city limits. The area offers riders multiple cross-country trails, a dirt jumping area, BMX track, road course and downhill mountain bike course. The clear skies and comfortable 75-degree temperature made a perfect day for the event. For 2008 the Outdoor Demo's booth expo area moved to a more developed area with more pavement and

The following is a statement from Anne Samplonius regarding GenevieveJeanson'srecent admission that she used EPO during her carrer:Overall I am happy that Genevieve Jeanson has finally been able to begin to come to terms with everything, with herself, to admit what she did was wrong, very wrong.I understand to some degree what the influence and control of both her father and (Andre) Aubut had over her, and realize that she was for the most part a victim. I knew that all along and my disgust over the entire situation was always more against those in control of GJ, which were Aubut and her

In less than two days I will be lining up with some of the premiere cyclo-cross racers in the world at Cross Vegas during the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas. It’s safe to say I am completely unprepared. An extremely busy summer at the bike shop kept training time to a minimum, but you know what they say, “duty calls.” I guess I shouldn’t really complain because just nine months ago I was standing on the front porch of my Boulder, Colorado, town home staring at a letter from the United States Anti-Doping Agency stating I had committed a doping violation. Me, the guy who first took the

Professional cycling teams have agreed to cover the significant cost of random doping controls as the sport continues to look for effective solutions to weeding out drugs cheats. The Tour de France was hit with several doping scandals in 2007, a year in which the ongoing Operación Puerto doping affair in Spain dominated the headlines for the troubled sport. The latest anti-doping initiative is the brainchild of the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) association. It has been inspired by the internal anti-doping programs of the CSC, T-Mobile and Slipstream teams, and will be

One more in the bag. That brings my tally of grand tours to nine out of 10 finished. None have been the same, all have had their ups and downs, but one thing is 100-percent certain and that unfortuneately is that there is nothing like the Tour de France. For instance, on Sunday I was in the bus on the way to the airport, watching the podium presentation on TV, instead of sipping Champagne with my team. In fact, I was already checked in to my flight to Barcelona before Carlos had finished all his interviews! That kind of scenario leaves you with a strange feeling, but one you quickly get

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. Maurice Hessel’s “Climbing ‘The Snake’ in Burlington, Iowa memorial day weekend” is one image we kept letting our eye drift back to. We’ve seen a lot of images of “The Snake” before, but Maurice managed to capture the essence of the climb and gave viewers reason to understand why that cobbled hill earned its name. Nice work, Maurice. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you

The weather was perfect, the venue is great and getting better, and the attendance was abundant for the first day of the Outdoor Demo at Boulder City’s Bootleg Canyon. The sunny, yet unseasonably cool 75-degree weather meant perfect conditions. Not hot, not cold, sunny, only occasional strong wind – those are nice conditions to ride a bike in. The display booth area is a lot bigger now, with much of it even paved, making road riding a more viable option for bike testing than in the past. Whereas in past years I have rarely taken a road test ride, given that the mountain bike riding is

Cordero says it requires a commitment to keep the sport credible

We spotted Chris King’s new 68mm tall carbon cyclocross wheelset under the command of Molly Cameron at the September 22 Seattle Star Crossed race. Edge, the rim manufacturer, is based in Ogden, Utah. The turquoise hubs are King’s new 'cross model

Along with King’s Pretty in Pink program, which benefits the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation, King is investing a portion of the profits from its DreadSet rasta colored headsets that will benefit Hans Rey’s Wheels 4 Life foundation.

A regular King headset base plate is on the left, and the new High-Five base plate is on the right. The High-Five plate adds 5mm to fix bikes with a problem of fork and downtube interference. It costs a mere $12.

The 1516 gram Edge-King carbon wheelset is not yet ready for public consumption, but the $699 Classic Cross clincher wheel set is. It’s built with DT’s RR1.1 aluminum rim, King’s Classic Cross hubs and DT’s Competition spokes. The set weighs 1590 gr.

Classic Cross hubs (the two sets at the lower right) are available in an array of colors. The front weighs 136-grams and the rear is 278 grams. The have a five-year warranty and cost $479 for the set. King offers them in 28, 32 and 36 hole versions.

Magura’s new $175, 415-gram (front, with 160mm rotor) Louise brakeset is available for sale in the U.S. The model accepts all of Magura’s rotors including the Venti, which flows air over the caliper to keep it cool.

Each year Magura picks a color of the year and offers some special edition products with it. This year the color is pink. 300 sets of the Louise BAT brake will be available in pink.

120 Menja forks will also be available in Magura’s color of the year.

Tires are the talk of the tent at WTB. Here a new Prowler MX 2.1 cross-country tire is compared to its older brother the Prowler XT all mountain tire that was introduced last year. The MX features aggressive siping and widely spaced knobs.

Also part of the Prowler family is the new Prowler SL 29-inch tire. It comes in a 2.1 size and features a more consistent center tread for faster rolling.

Spot Bicycles and its new subsidiary Carbon Drive Systems had one of the buzz booths of the day. It seemed everyone was talking about its carbon belt driven single speed drivetrain.

12. Fulcrum’s mountain bike wheels will be ready for retail sale come October. Three weeks ago the Red Metal Zero disc supported Julian Absalon’s latest world championship win. The wheelset is said to weigh 1570 grams will cost roughly $1100.

The Red Metal Zero’s aluminum spokes have been lightened from those first seen at Sea Otter this past April, but they are still laced using Fulcrum’s 2 to 1 drive/disc to non-drive/disc spoke count.

Those familiar with off-road dirt bike competition will know that Tire Balls are small air chambers that fill out a tire in lieu of a tube. They’re more puncture resistant and allow tires to stay in service even with major sidewall gashes.

Wade Summers, the father of nine-time GNCC national championship winner Scott Summers is the creator of Tire Balls for motorcycles and now bikes. A wheel’s worth of tire balls weighs 300-grams for the 2.5-inch downhill size.

Tomac is officially back, to date, there are roughly 550 new Tomac Snyper and Caliber bikes in riders’ hands worldwide. In fact, Japanese Olympic mountain bike team member, Takei Forza won his country’s professional title on a carbon Tomac Caliber.

Tomac's downhill bike the Primer 220 is close to its production form. The 220mm travel bike is designed by Doug Bradbury and is similar to the old Tomac Magnum 204 in function.

You may remember the 5-inch travel Trance X from Eurobike reports, but I was able to ride on in Bootleg Canyon.

Giant’s communication manager Andrew Juskaitis was our personal tour guide on Bootleg’s Caldera trail, a hour and a half long loop with embedded volcanic rock that will bite back if one gets to brash.

At the end of the ride, it was perfect to find Chris King serving gourmet beef tip sandwiches back in his booth, and yes we all took him up on his offer. Thanks Chris.

This is a letter you never want to receive.

Boulder Cycle Sport Wrench, Mike Doyle, dials in the nicest cross bike I have ever ridden.

Ahhhhh.... The fresh smell of tubular glue. It must be 'cross season.

This bike is fast, but I'm not so sure about the motor.