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November 15, 2004 (Berkeley, CA) – An October 30 dinner and silent auction for the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League at Delancey Street in San Francisco drew a crowd of 140 and raised more than $20,000 to support training for the twelve high school teams throughout Northern California who participate in the League. The NorCal League is the brainchild of Berkeley High School math teacher and former amateur road racer Matt Fritzinger, who founded a racing team and organizes the annual coaches’ conference, winter riding camps, and the spring race series as well as a weeklong summer riding

Giant-Pearl Izumi team rider Adam Craig showed up to camp

The TCR Advanced you can buy in the United States.

The TCR Giant won't sell here...

... because this seatpost requires a perfect cut.

Time Sport's founder and president, Roland Cattin

The lightest version of Time's new RXS pedal has a titanium spindle, with a claimed weight of only 195 grams per pair.

Paolo Bettini's Time VXR. Bettini has since upgraded to the lighter VXRS frameset, and he will have a new time trial ride for 2005.

Will the CAS force a medal shuffle?

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn - Splines, cleats and big guys on bikes

Just complete an online survey about what features you look for in training monitoring equipment. It's quick. (20 minutes tops) It's easy. (All we're looking for are opinions) And if you complete it before November 22, 2004, you could win $100 cash! By participating, you will help companies create quality products that help people train more effectively. And win yourself some sweet spending money in the process. To get started on the survey, simply copy the following PIN number, click on the link below, and paste the PIN number in the designated window. PIN number: training789 Link:

Andreas Rihs, Chairman of Phonak Holding SA, may pull the plug on the cycling program.

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.Hincapie’s a gentleman and team playerEditor:Regarding the letter from Earl Aneas dissing George for apparently not signing an autograph for his wife (see Friday’s mailbag: “Don’t look to Hincapie at all”): I live in South Carolina near where George resides when he's stateside and had

The five cities looking to host the 2012 Summer Games submitted bids to the International Olympic Committee on Monday, with Paris the front-runner to win next year's vote. London, Madrid, New York and Moscow also turned in documents, each book totaling more than 550 pages. The IOC will evaluate such credentials as venues, security, transportation, hotels and financing. “The bid document in itself is not enough to get you across the line, but it will make your bid better," said London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe, the Olympic 1500-meter champion in 1980 and 1984. “This is what I would

The Swiss cycling team Phonak said Monday that its very survival was at stake following an initial decision by the UCI to leave it out of the 2005 ProTour. Phonak, which has had three top riders fail doping tests this year, vowed to fight for its place on the final list at a hearing with the UCI's licensing commission on November 22. "The participation in the ProTour is of existential significance to the team's future and vitally important to Swiss cycling in general," the team said in a statement. "Participation in the most important races has to be guaranteed and is the principal

Nys continues a great season

Mind Games: McConneloug often fights her biggest battles in her head

McCormack fights his way into the lead

The Swiss team Phonak is not among a list of 19 teams receiving a “favorable sanction” to participate in the UCI's 2005 Pro Tour, sources have told Agence France Presse. Phonak was the only one of 20 teams presented to the UCI to be overlooked by the organization's licenses commission. The UCI is expected to announce which teams will be granted Pro Tour licenses early in December. The news follows three doping positives involving Phonak riders: American Tyler Hamilton, 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the individual time trial; Spain’s Santiago Perez, runner-up in the 2004 Vuelta a España; and

Sunday’s return to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for round three of the Bay Area Super Prestige Series will be a homecoming for two Northern California cyclo-cross stars from the days when California ruled the ’cross roost. Former junior national champs Jim Gentes and Clark Natwick, who were archrivals in the mid-1970s, will find that the area near the park’s Polo Fields which will host Sunday’s round has changed little since their racing heyday, with its cypress tree forests, sandy paths, and trails covered by pine needles. San Jose’s Gentes won the national junior title during the

When Germany’s Nina Kraft, 35, swept to her overwhelming 17-minute victory over Switzerland’s Natascha Badmann at the 2004 Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii October 16, photographers noticed a curious thing when Kraft crossed the line. She had her head down and never looked up. She looked almost embarrassed, which many took for shyness. When Badmann crossed the line in second place, her joy was palpable and open. “Nina needs to take lessons from Natascha about giving good finish line,” said one veteran triathlon journalist at the time. With Tuesday’s revelation that Kraft

VeloNews Q&A: Specialized's new team, Gerolsteiner's new ride

Mike Sinyard

Gary Fisher and Clark Natwick challenging Golden Gate Park’s log barricades in this December 1975 event, just a week before the first U.S. cyclo-cross championships in Berkeley

The start line, ‘70’s style, in Golden Gate Park. Five-time national champ Laurence Malone is on the far left .

Jim Gentes (left) and Dan Nall bunny-hop barriers in Golden Gate Park

Laurence Malone, U.S. cyclo-cross champ from 1975 to 1979. He electrified the world's crowd at Hanover in 1977 using this same tactic

Kraft powers along on the bike en route to her 2004 Ironman World Championship WIN

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.Letter writer praises letter writersEditor:It’s encouraging to know that people out there feel the way that I do (see Wednesday’s mailbag). First, Ian Sharp makes a great point about doping and lifetime bans. Only drastic punishments will leave athletes thinking about their mistakes and

Looking out my office window at a cold rainy, day, with the promiseof snow falling on Colorado’s Front Range once the temperature drops thisevening, it’s all too clear that winter has arrived. Forget the near-perfect70-degree weather we had over the weekend, or the fact that winter doesn’t“officially” start until December 21st. From where I come from, snow andtemperatures in the low-20s means wintertime.It’s funny, as I was driving into work today, looking out at gray daythat appeared exactly as myfavorite Internet weather service had predicted, I couldn’t help butlaugh thinking of all the

I often receive emails from readers with a comments or follow-up questions regarding this column. Although I can’t always respond, the input is helpful and valuable. In fact, some of the important questions can come from the most unexpected places, let me offer a message from B.R. in Michigan as an example: Bob,I read your most recent “Legally Speaking” column on VeloNews.com, and I had a quick follow-up question. From the article and my own understanding, there is no right to travel. Is there a right to have adequately maintained roadways, however? I ask because here in Michigan, there

Remembering KyleTo my friends at Velo,Although I greatly appreciate the opportunity to write something aboutmy friend Kyle Bielenberg, I must tell you it was one of the hardest thingsI have ever done.I spent nearly a full hour last night trying to write something thatmade sense. I would type a few lines, phrases, then delete all ofit and start over, never satisfied with the outcome. I feel wholly incapableof putting a man’s life into a few short paragraphs. My usual rantingsat drunkcyclist literally roll off my fingertips in a rapid-fire crescendoof keystrokes and laughter. This exercise

San Francisco, CA Saturday Nov. 13th at the Cow Palace. Seattle—RacerMate, Inc., of Seattle, Washington, manufacturer of the CompuTrainer electronic bicycle training system, will stage 8-rider indoor bike races at VeloSwap in San Francisco, November 13th. This years event will feature a “Founding Fathers” race consisting of the Bay Area pioneers of mountain biking including: Gary Fisher, Mike Sinyard, Joe Breeze, Scot Nicol, Jacquie Phelan, and James McLean. They will race from 2-3 p.m. on a virtual simulation of the original Repack Downhill Race founded in 1976 in Marin

Dionne wins in San Francisco again

Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Rough roads ahead

Groenendaal soloed to victory

Page rode to 15th place

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has voiced support for a private plan to commit more than $21 million to create cross-country mountain-bike trails and BMX courses as part of the city’s bid for the 2012 Olympics. The plan is part of a much large proposal to convert the former Staten Island landfill – known as Fresh Kills – into a large public park with an extensive trail network. On Wednesday, Bloomberg and other city officials held a news conference on the Fresh Kills site, asking reporters and others assembled to imagine the one-time-garbage dump as hub around which a large portion of the

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.Cycling needs more character and fewer excusesEditor:I could not agree more with Patrick Buono’s thoughts on the state of cycling (see Monday’s mailbag, “This ain’t freakin’ rocket science!”). Richard Virenque tearfully protests his innocence, then admits to doping, and ever since we

Mountain bike groups coast-to-coast will soon receive an unprecedentedboost for their volunteer trailwork projects, as a result of a financialand gear grant from Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), announced todayby the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA).For the second consecutive year, IMBA and REI will award outdoor stewardshiptoolkits to select mountain bike clubs nationally for the purpose of buildingand maintaining trails. This year's $45,000 REI grant nearly doubles theamount of last year's award, and increases the number of toolkits from50 to 100. Each toolkit contains

Nina Kraft, winner of the 2004 Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii, has tested positive for EPO. On Wednesday, the 35-year-old Kraft acknowledged the result of a test on an A-sample taken immediately following her October 16 victory in Kona. Kraft’s confirmation came even before the completion of tests on her B-sample. Kraft faces a two-year suspension from the sport of triathlon. “I screwed up,” noted Kraft, according to reports in the German media, after being informed Tuesday by the DTU, the German national triathlon federation, that her A-sample, a urine test collected by

Threshold Sports, LLC, producers of the Pro Cycling Tour, has releasedthe official dates for the first of its 2005 race calendar.  Theseevents and dates are:Wachovia Cycling Series-Lancaster - May 31Wachovia Cycling Series-Trenton - June 2Wachovia Cycling Series-Philadelphia - June 5New York City Cycling Championship - July 31San Francisco Grand Prix - Sept 4Robin Morton, PCT Technical Director, reports that the Wachovia Cycling Series and the San Francisco Grand Prix have been upgraded on the UCI Continental Calendar. The men’s events in San Francisco and Philadelphia have been given

USA Cycling board president Jim Ochowicz’s failure to properly disclose details of a financial relationship with a sponsor of the national governing body does not constitute a conflict of interest, USAC’s board of directors has decided. While concluding that Ochowicz’s paid consulting services with Zürich World Cup promoter Upsolut do not constitute a conflict, the panel has also noted that he had violated the letter of USA Cycling rules by not formally requesting the board’s approval. In an August letter (posted below), John Tarbert, then board vice president, acknowledged that Ochowicz

Andrew Herrick

VeloNews Q&A: Crank Brothers’ unexpected crank

Frank Hermansen, Carl Winefordner and Herrick with the Crank Bros' newest creation

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn - Rake, chainrings and tubular tape

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 are other fish to fryEditors,I think it would be great for Lance and cycling in general if he skippedthe Tour de France and rode some other races (see “Armstronghints he'll skip '05 Tour”). Look at what he has done in the AmstelGold race in the past few years. It would be great to

Groenendaal was forced to chase from the start

Nijs almost closed the gap

Amstrong tells L'Equipe he may skip the '05 Tour

Nys bobbled and had to settle for second

Dimpled Zipp rims began appearing on pro bikes first

Felix Cardenas's Vuelta stage win.

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.Florit says adios to team, racingEditor:I am writing this letter to thank all the sponsors of the RLX-Ralph Lauren team, who during the six years I have been with the team supported us with the same level of passion we had for racing. Racing for the RLX-Ralph Lauren mountain-bike team

Andy Ording

Generation 5

The Genius may need a genius lawyer to ride on U.S. trails

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.We need more than old guys on bikesDear Velo,In response to Kristen Kehl’s letter (see "It'sworth it" in Monday’s Mailbag). As one who has picked many a bone with the USCF/USAC over the past 25years, I have to agree with Kristen’s assessment of the fee situation.However, this is a

The 2005 Madone SSL

Another round of product testing

Nys is in top form

Wellens: The end of the rainbow... or just a slow start?

Knetemann in 1979

Knetemann at last year's world's in Hamilton

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood: The Winds of Change

Bontrager lets his helmet do the talking at the recent 24 Hours of Moab

So if you’re reading this column, and you haven’t yet voted, please get out and do it now. It’s really not all that difficult, and, as we all know, this is poised to be one of the most tightly contested presidential elections in history. My bit of nonsensical ramblings will still be online tonight, (at least I hope it will), while your chance to exercise your democratic right won’t. Speaking of voting, our editorial staff is busily compiling votes of our own for the 17th annual VeloNews Awards Issue, due out at the end of the month. In it you’ll find all the usual awards, such as

If you’re awaiting word on the final outcome of the Tyler Hamilton doping case, better not hold your breath. It could be well into January of 2005 — or even later — before any kind of conclusion is reached, according to Hamilton’s attorney Howard Jacobs. Speaking by phone from his office in Southern California, Jacobs told VeloNews that he is still in the “document gathering process.” “We’re hoping to get started by January on the Vuelta tests,” he added, “but to get going before the end of the month isn’t likely.” Jacobs said that he has faced substantial resistance from the UCI and IOC

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.What is going on at Phonak?VeloNews,Are my eyes deceiving me or have two riders from Phonak both testedpositive for blood irregularities? (see "Perezimplicated in blood doping, Spanish daily reports" and "Perezmaintains his innocence"). With this being the case, it makes youask two