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Road Gear

Interbike kicks off with Outdoor Demo’

The tradeshow season culminates with the start of the Interbike tradeshow in Las Vegas. Although the majority of the show takes place at the Sands Expo and Convention Center - in Sin City itself - the show actually starts a couple of days early, with bike demos in Bootleg Canyon roughly 20 miles outside the city limits. The area is renowned for exceptional mountain bike trails (a few have even earned IMBA’s renowned “Epic Rides” label to prove it). The Interbike folks have been coming to Bootleg canyon for the past few years, because the area offers demo’ riders the opportunity to try out

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Road Culture

Vande Velde’s View: Was it the clams?

Do you ever feel like the clock has slowed down? The last few days have all but crept to a halt for me, with the exception of last Friday, however, when, I slept all day. After the Vuelta I was looking at my schedule, thinking positively about how the last month would go by fast and that it wouldn't be too painful to stay focused. And I still believe that and am trying to go through with it. However, when the schedule is thrown off, no matter how small a change it might be, it can be hard to recover. For me, Friday morning melted into Saturday. I woke up, went straight to the bathroom

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Road Gear

Interbike ’05: A fine day in the desert with speedy mechanics and a 40-pound bike

The 2005 Interbike show kicked off with a warm, cloudless day over the rocky, serpentine singletrack trails of Bootleg Canyon above Lake Mead. The venue has a short section of closed, divided paved road for road-bike testing and a vast area riddled with interesting singletrack for testing mountain bikes. The trail system offers so much mileage that, despite the large crowds at this well-attended Outdoor Demo, many of the nicest trails I had almost completely to myself all afternoon. Ah, the freedomA revelation for me was riding the Santa Cruz VP Free, the company’s all-out freeride bike.

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News

WADA publishes ’06 prohibited list

The executive committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency has approved organization'supdated prohibitedsubstances list for 2006.That list is now available on-line for review and will go into effecton January 1, 2006.

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Road

Tuesday’s EuroFile: Raisin extends; Boonen’s done

Following an excellent neo-pro season, which includes the best climber’s jersey at the Tour de l’Avenir and ninth overall at the Tour of Germany, Saul Raisin has decided to stay where he feels most comfortable. The 22-year-old Georgian signed a two-year extension with Crédit Agricole that will keep him on the French team through the 2008 season. “I had a lot of offers from other teams after the Tour of Germany, I decided I just wanted to stay focused and not have to worry about changing teams,” Raisin told VeloNews after his impressive world’s debut when he was part of the day’s early

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Road

On the comeback trail? Millar aiming for ’06 Tour

Britain's David Millar, currently serving a ban for drug use, will make his professional cycling comeback at next year's Tour de France after signing for the Spanish team Saunier Duval, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday. Millar was banned for two years after admitting using the banned hormone EPO (Erythropoietin) but his two-year sanction ends in June 2006. Millar has now signed to race the Tour with the Spanish team that is run by Italian brothers Pietro and Vittorio Algeri. Millar said last week he has been studying a number of offers from teams, reportedly

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Road Racing

Boonen finds the end of the rainbow

Tom Boonen was among the top-line favorites for the 2005 world road cycling championships, but with less than three kilometers to go in Sunday’s 272km race, it didn’t look like he, Alessandro Petacchi or Robbie McEwen had a chance. A six-man break had slipped away from the sprinters in a chaotic, attack-filled final lap, but Boonen’s Belgian bodyguards saved the day, hurling him onto the finishing straight to catch the attacking Alexandre Vinokourov with 600 meters to go. Boonen finished off the job with a long, 300-meter sprint and roared across the line to claim the coveted rainbow

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Road

Fun in the sun: Serious racing in Bermuda

At the CD&P Bermuda Grand Prix racers come with two priorities: racing hard and having a bit of fun in the process. This is, after all, Bermuda. The four-day stage race is the final stop of the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series. The top ten teams after the International Tour de Toona are provided free airfare and accommodations to come race on the remote tropical island. The relatively short stages allow plenty of time for the competitors to experience the island, but the demanding courses provide exciting racing action. In Thursday’s first stage, a criterium through the streets of downtown

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Road

Germany’s Schleicher grabs road title

Amber Neben dared to try to hold off the sprinters in Saturday's elite women's road racing world championships on the 21km Madrid circuit course that almost everyone agrees favors a mass gallop. Neben, winner of the Tour de L'Aude earlier this season, sprung away after the second climb with about 7km to go to nearly catch the sprinters by surprise. Neben clung to a five-second gap, but was reeled in with 4km to go before the powerful German team sling-shot Regina Schleicher into the rainbow jersey. "I was able to get a gap there, but I didn't have the legs to stick it," said

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Road

Ukrainian Grabovskyy takes U23 road title

It was a double dose of disappointment Saturday for the American U-23 men's team in the 168km world championships as Ukraine's Dmytro Grabovskyy soloed to an impressive victory. The motivated five-man team missed an early breakaway in the second of eight laps and then American captain Tyler Farrar crashed out in a high-speed pileup in the final kilometers. U.S. team doctor Eric Heiden reported Farrar had some "pretty bad road rash," but no broken bones, but the disappointment was obvious when teammate John Murphy led the Americans across the line 119th some 11 minutes down. "We were

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Road

World’s Notebook: Outsiders could steal thunder; Where’s Oscar?

Most observers agree there are three favorites for the elite men's road race: Alessandro Petacchi, Robbie McEwen and Tom Boonen. But every world's delivers at least one surprise. Here's a look at some of the characters who could rock the sprinter's boat: Alejandro Valverde, SpainThe enigma of this year's world's, the 2003 silver medalist has only raced once since pulling out of the 2005 Tour with a sore knee. With three-time defending champion Oscar Freire sidelined, the Spanish team will be doing everything to avoid a sprint. Valverde and other Spanish riders such as

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