All Content

“That’ll work,” I told Keith Novello about an hour before the start of the elite men’s race at the U.S. Cyclo-cross National Championships this past weekend in Portland, Oregon. I was referring to his $7000 Moots Psychlo-X cyclo-cross bike, which I had just taken for a 45-second spin. He asked whether the seat height needed adjusting, and I said, “Nah, it’ll do,” drawing a chuckle from him in response. “Now I have to ride fast,” I said. Keith replied, “Don’t worry, man, it’s all gravy after this morning.”

Stronger teams, hotter weather and a much larger audience will be the likely result of the changes in store for the Vuelta a España, whose 2005 route was presented in Madrid on Wednesday. At 3239km, the course itself is 200km longer than this year’s race, with three stages over 200km (compared with one in 2004), six mountaintop stage finishes (the same), and three individual time trials (as opposed to two). The most significant change is the inclusion of the Vuelta in the UCI’s infamous ProTour. Even though the organizers of the Vuelta and the other grand tours have yet to sign off on the

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Hincapie lends a hand to fund-raiserEditor:Thank you for your part in sponsoring the fund-raiser at the Frostig School in the Pasadena area this past Sunday with George Hincapie as the guest. As an amateur rider it was a a thrill to take a 20-mile ride with George, get an autograph, ask

Durand during the 2004 Giro

The 2005 Vuelta a España

George and the gang at Frostig School

More tire talkDear Lennard,I really enjoyed your recent wet-road tire discussion with Tom Petrie and Alberto De Gioannini. Just the topic I was looking for, but I'm still a little confused. I thought the cord compound made a big difference and it wasn't mentioned at all. I recall racing in the rain in a crit next to a friend who was running cotton-cord sew up tires as opposed to my silks. While we'd been comparable in bike handling otherwise, I found myself nearly sideways in corners while hewent around like on a rail. We'd pumped our tires to comparable pressures.I'm taking a group over for

Tour de France organizers have ruled out breaking new ground by starting the 2008 edition of the race in Québec City. The Tour has ventured out of France before, but only within Western Europe and never before has it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. But with American Lance Armstrong having won the last six Tours and Québec looking to celebrate its founding in 1608 by Frenchman Samuel de Champlain, the project was examined. The conclusion, however, was that it would be too difficult to organize from a logistical point of view with scores of people, bikes and equipment to move and the time zone

The 2005 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships will return to Mammoth Mountain, California, the U.S. governing body announced Tuesday. The championships will be held September 15-18. More than 1400 athletes raced at Mammoth this past September as USA Cycling unveiled its new one-day format for crowning national champions. “We were very pleased with the outcome of the first one-day national championships in 2004,” said USA Cycling CEO Gerard Bisceglia, “Mammoth is an ideal location and we look forward to another great event in 2005.” The resort's management was happy,

The 2005 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships will return to Mammoth Mountain, California, the U.S. governing body announced Tuesday. The championships will be held September 15-18. More than 1400 athletes raced at Mammoth this past September as USA Cycling unveiled its new one-day format for crowning national champions. “We were very pleased with the outcome of the first one-day national championships in 2004,” said USA Cycling CEO Gerard Bisceglia, “Mammoth is an ideal location and we look forward to another great event in 2005.” The resort's management was happy,

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.It's all two-wheeled joyEditor:I just couldn't help but respond to the two letters you posted fromMichael Jones and Chris Whippern (see "Friday'sMailbag").First of all I would like to thank Pat Follett and Tom Spiegel for givingus the chance to do what we love, and that is to ride and

For the first time, a state east of the Mississippi River has taken top-honors in the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) Report Card. West Virginia received the highest grade in the 2004 edition of IMBA's annual survey of mountain biking. The Mountain State has everything a mountain biker could want: endless miles of backcountry singletrack, stunning Appalachian Mountain scenery and a community of avid riders. The West Virginia Mountain Biking Association has emerged as one of the top mountain bike advocacy groups in the nation, balancing trailwork, advocacy, riding and

Sand City, CA – Effective immediately, Veltec Sports, Inc. will extend its distribution of Look Carbon Fiber Frames, Pedal Systems and Components into Canada. Veltec Sports and Look Cycle reached this agreement after reviewing the needs and opportunities of the Canadian market. “With Veltec’s proven success with the Look brand in the United States and the strength of their sales force in Canada, it is a natural expansion of our relationship” says Christophe Jouffret, Sales Director for Look Cycle of France. “Increasingly the North American market is seen as one market, so this was a

Indoor track cycling, which was one of America’s most popular sports until World War II, is starting to rediscover its roots at the ADT Event Center in Carson, California. On Saturday, the second night of the three-day UCI track World Cup saw a near-capacity crowd entertained by a variety of world-class performances. And the new fans were on their feet at the end of the evening, cheering all the riders in the men’s 30km points race in which Colorado’s Colby Pearce almost pulled off a stunning victory against Russia’s immaculate Mikhael Ignatiev. After both men had gained three laps on the

Downhiller Chelsea Redwood has accepted a two-year suspension for testing positive for the appetite suppressant phentermine. Redwood, 34, of Big Bear Lake, California, tested positive September 26 during the U.S. Mountain Bike National Championships at Mammoth Mountain, California, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials announced Saturday. She finished 14th in the pro women's DH, racing for Turner-No Brakes Racing. She told officials she used the substance for weight loss without knowing it was banned by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Under the terms of the suspension, Redwood was

In an attempt to unseat two-time defending national cyclo-cross champion Jonathan Page (Cervelo-Hot Tubes-Adidas-Mavic), rising 23-year-old talent Ryan Trebon (Kona) put up the fight of his life in a thrilling showdown Sunday afternoon at the 2004 cyclo-cross national championships in Portland, Oregon.

Theo Bos closed the Los Angeles round of the 2004-05 UCI World Cup the way he started it, with an outstanding win, to lead the Netherlands to a convincing overall victory. After setting an astounding personal-best kilometer TT time of 1:01.768 on Friday night, Bos anchored his Dutch team to a winning 45.163 seconds for the three-lap, 750-meter team sprint on Sunday afternoon. Bos did not compete in the sprint, the discipline in which he is the current world champion, although he will defend his title on this same track in March; he will also do the kilometer and team sprint. “Today we did

Pearce gives the U.S. its second podium of this World Cup

The points race drew a big crowd

Mirabella just missed medaling in the individual pursuit

That win went to Mactier

Bourgain took the sprint

The team pursuit went to Germany

Now that's what we call a velodrome

Bos and the Dutch charge to a team-sprint win and the overall victory

Germany took the Madison

Nothstein and Pearce began strongly, but saw the Germans lap the field

Reed led it out in the keirin only to see her competitors rocket past

Arustamova took the scratch race ...

... while Pendleton got the women's keirin

Colorado's Compton surprised the field

One more time!

'Cross nats: Page makes it three in a row; Compton surprises 'em

There were only a couple of hundred people left in the ADT Event Center when Dutchman Theo Bos, the world sprint champion, burst out of the starting gate in the men’s kilometer time trial. It was the last event of Friday night on the first day of the Los Angeles round of the UCI track World Cup. On the other side of the track was Jason Queally of Great Britain, the 2000 Olympic kilo champion, who was using this ride on the newest American indoor velodrome as a nice try-out before the world championships at this venue in March. Bos is notorious for his bad starts in the kilo, but this time

What was expected to be a mano-a-mano battle for the under-23 national cyclo-cross championship between reigning national U23 ‘cross champ Jesse Anthony (cyclocrossworld.com) and the World Cup experience of European-based Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly-Aramark) turned out to be a demonstration of singular skill as the 20-year-old Anthony won his sixth straight national championship, beating Powers by a convincing 1:21 margin on a cold winter day in Portland, Oregon.

Mirabella took gold in the points race

Tsylinskaya won the women's sprint

Mulder took the keirin

Bos was boss in the kilo

Jesse Anthony makes it six in a row

Powers got caught in the middle

Fort Lewis's Shriver won the men's collegiate championship

"Cycling in the News" is a regular service of VeloNews.com. Readers,reporters and friends are encouraged to send links to current stories aboutcompetitive cyclists and cycling that appear in the mainstream media. Ifyou come across a news item that you believe may be of interest to otherVeloNews readers, we would be grateful if you choose to send it to Rosters@InsideInc.com.The Oregonian, December 10 Cyclo-cross riders return to face tougher course By Abby Haight The first time the USA Cycling National Cyclocross Championships churned into Portland, racers had to contend with mud thick as

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Predictions for ‘cross natsEditor:Regarding cyclo-cross nationals: Jonathan Page will win the men’s elite race hands down so long as his bike stays together in the mud. Todd Wells and Ryan “Treefarm” Trebon will fight it out to the end for the second and third spot. Ann Knapp and Gina

Australian sprinter Ryan Bayley, who won the sprint and keirin gold medals at the Athens Olympics in August, and the women’s 500-meter TT champion Anna Meares star in the three-day UCI World Cup track classic this weekend in Los Angeles. This will be a dress rehearsal at the ADT Event Center indoor velodrome in Carson for the full-blown UCI track world’s next March. The three-day track meet on the 250-meter Schurmann-designed wood track with its 45-degree bankings should provide a feast of racing from most of the nations that will race at the world’s. Qualifying round take place Friday and

"Lausanne Recommendations" on "Sudden Cardiovascular Death in Sport"adopted10 December 2004The "Lausanne Recommendations", a consensus paper on the preventionof sudden death, has been adopted today under the umbrella of the IOC MedicalCommission at the meeting on "Sudden Cardiovascular Death in Sport" inLausanne. The meeting of the ad hoc working group on Sudden CardiovascularDeath in sport, coordinated by Professor Erik J. Meijboom of the UniversityHospital Centre in Lausanne (CHUV) brought together a group of experts.Dramatic"Sudden death" in sport is always a dramatic event and has to be

When USA Cycling announced that the 2003 and ’04 cyclo-cross nationals would be hosted by the popular Cross Crusade series in Portland, Oregon, images of epic mud-spattered battles immediately sprang to mind. Last year’s championship weekend did nothing to sway that image, as continuous rains turned the course around the Portland International Raceway into a thick, soupy mess.

Hospitals are removing or taping over patients' LiveStrong bracelets for fear of a fatal mix-up. The yellow bands are the same color as the "do not resuscitate" bands a hospital chain puts on patients who don't want to be saved if their heart stops. No mix-ups have been reported, but BayCare Health Systems officials don't want to take any chances. The popular rubber bracelets are sold through the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It's part of the champion bicycle racer's efforts to raise money for cancer education and research. Hospitals use colored bracelets to quickly tell doctors, nurses and

You get what you pay for, and if you paid your entry fee at the 2004 U.S. National Cyclo-cross Championships, which opened Friday at the Portland International Raceway, you got mud and muck, and plenty of it. For a city that averages almost seven inches of rain during December, Portland was a predictably soggy host to the first race of the weekend, the championship for collegiate and under-23 women. UC-Berkeley Ph.D.

After the usual post-season lull in the mountain-bike racing world, the second week of December saw the fat-tire news rolling in at a breakneck pace. Tops on that list, of course, was the news from Big Bear Lake, where it was announced that Snow Summit Resort – the Wrigley Field of downhilling – was shutting its doors to the gravity set. The initial explanation was that a combination of liability exposure and pressure from the Forest Service were to blame. And a source with knowledge of the situation told me that the liability concerns have reached their crescendo because of a $25 million

Portland means mud: Just ask Ann Knapp, seen charging through the goo at the USGP opener

Metzger mud-surfs to the collegiate crown

Much crashed a ton, had plenty of fun ... and won the under-23 title

Can you say '45-degree banking?'

1st Annual North American Handmade Bicycle ShowHouston Texas will host the first ever “North American Handmade BicycleShow” the weekend of January 15th 2005.  This is a milestone eventthat brings together some of North America's Finest Custom Bicycle FrameBuilders Notorious Builders such as Richard Sachs, Darren Crisp, Don Ferrisof Anvil Bicycles and many others will be on hand to display their craftTrue Temper will also be on hand displaying and talking about their mostrecent development, the "S 3 tubeset"A Q/A session will be beneficial to Amateur Bicycle Framebuilders whoattend regarding

You simply can’t get away from it. Obviously, bicycles for commuting purposes rule the earth when compared to their internal combustion engine bastard off-shoots, but who would have imagined running into a pack of dedicated mountain bike racers in the middle of nowhere? With the racing season on winter hiatus, and activity here at VeloNews a bit slower than in the heavy season, I felt it the perfect time to grab a bit of vacation time a couple of weeks ago and head south across the Mexican border aboard my motorcycle (yeah, yeah... I said motorcycle. Deal with it). My original route

He’s a New England kid with the initials JP, he’s been racing cyclo-cross in Belgium all fall and he will definitely be a factor in this weekend’s U.S. Cyclo-cross National Championships. While two-time defending elite national champion Jonathan Page meets all of the above qualifications, so does Jeremy Powers. Powers, 21, will line up in Portland as one of the favorites for Saturday’s Under-23 national title, but since he’s spent the vast majority of the 2004 ‘cross season in Europe, he could be one of the most overlooked ‘cross specialists in the U.S.

Lance Armstrong said Wednesday he will wait until May to decide whether to go for a seventh successive victory in the Tour de France next year. Armstrong won a record sixth Tour title in July, surpassing a host of Tour legends such as Belgian Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain of Spain, who was the only rider before Armstrong to claim five straight Tour de France victories. However since setting the outright race record, and with family life and his personal relationship with rock star girlfriend Sheryl Crow becoming more important, rumours have been rife that Armstrong may ditch the Tour to

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.All dressed up and no where to go (down)Editors,Wow, what sad news that Big Bear is banning downhill bikes (see"Gravityracing (and riding) to be banned at Big Bear").While there are other places for DHers to ride, this means the nearestNORBA NCS DH race from the Bay Area is 800 miles

Downward bound

Tech Report: Maintaining perspective

Tech Report: Maintaining perspective

Tech Report: Maintaining perspective

Answer Kashmir winter boot

Answer Kashimir boots beg for fresh powder

Jeremy Powers: International Man of Mystery

Joe and Dirk,You recently mentioned that it is a benefit to sleep at a higher altitude and train at a lower altitude, but what about the opposite?Riding in Colorado I often find myself at much higher elevations than my home and I had operated on the assumption that training at a higher altitude would help me out when I am back at a lower elevation. Do you care to set me straight on this matter?Mike Dear Mike,Training at a high altitude (8500 feet or higher) may have beneficial effects on your aerobic system. This is of great benefit within your base training especially. But training at a

Need a long-valve tubie? Try VittoriaDear Lennard,I have been looking around and have been unable to find a long-stem tubular tire. Almost all the tire websites don't even mention the stem length. I thought for sure with the popularity of deep carbon rims there would be at least one company that offered a model with a long valve stem. Thanks for any help.Brian Dear Brian,My tire-aficionado friend Tom Petrie assures me that at least Vittoria offers tubular tires with 51mm long valves with a removable valve core as well as 42mm-length valves without a removable valve core. Vittoria also offers

One of America’s most renowned mountain-bike racing venues has pulled the plug on downhilling. Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California will no longer allow downhill bikes on its chairlifts during the summer riding season, and this means no more downhill racing either. According to Dick Kun, president of the resort, the change in policy stemmed primarily from the amount of liability exposure his resort was facing by allowing downhillers to ride on the mountain two hours drive from Los Angeles. “Even with the insurance that NORBA and Team Big Bear carried it wasn’t enough to protect

And away goes trouble, down the drain

Reston, Virginia - The racers who showed up for the final Verge Mid-Atlantic Series cyclo-cross race, the Fitness Concepts Capital ‘Cross Classic in Lake Fairfax park, Reston, Virginia were winners before the race even started. With just a handful of elite men and women on the start line, virtually everyone who finished was guaranteed a chunk of the prize list. With that in mind, the only thing left to race for was bragging rights, a handful of UCI points and to get in a good workout before next week’s cyclocross nationals. Unless, of course, you were Ryan Leech or Betsy Schauer of the

Dendermonde, Belgium (AP) Belgian Frank Vandenbroucke wassentenced to 200 hours of community service on Monday after police foundillegal performance-enhancing substances during a raid on his home two yearsago. Police discovered endurance-enhancing EPO, muscle-boosting Clenbuterol andmorphine during the 2002 search, and Vandenbroucke was suspended for sixmonths. Vandenbroucke admitted to police during an interview that he had used the drugs. Vandenbroucke's lawyer, Luc Deleu, had argued that the suspension waspunishment enough for the cyclist and that there was no need for

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.There’s hope for a U.S. pursuit squadEditor:I recently read a letter from one of your readers noting that the U.S. once again will not have a team pursuit team in the upcoming World Cup (see Friday’s mailbag: “In (four-man) pursuit of excellence?”). I am writing to inform you that we

Leech wraps up the men's title

Schauer has an eye on collegiate title, too

Gould got an early jump but was reeled back

Storm on the attack that led to his win on Sunday