Mountain

Beijing Olympians Adam Craig and Ollie Beckinsale will lead Giant Bicycles’ global mountain bike racing team in 2009. The American Craig and Brit Beckinsale will be joined by Australian downhill racer Jared Rando. Craig, 27, repeated as U.S. cross-country champion last season. He also collected his sixth consecutive U.S. Super D title. Consistent international results earned Craig a spot on the U.S. Olympic team at the 2008 Summer Games.

Riders at the 2009 BC Bike Race will begin their seven-day journey through British Columbia’s singletrack with a spin over an automobile bridge. Not just any bridge, however. The scenic 1800-foot Lion’s Gate suspension bridge that connects downtown Vancouver with that city’s North Shore municipalities will host the opening miles of the race to Whistler, slated June 28 to July 4. The North Shore area is also home to some of the region’s best riding.

World downhill champion Rachel Atherton of Great Britain dislocated her shoulder after colliding with a car in Santa Cruz, California, on Sunday. Atherton, who rides for Animal-Commençal, was training on her road bike with her brothers Dan and George when the accident took place. The three had been in Santa Cruz on a training trip since January 9. Atherton reportedly hit the car head-on, with her Cervelo road bike taking the lion’s share of the damage. The 21-year-old Atherton also suffered cuts and bruises to her face.

Specialized Bicycles already owns a prolific World Cup-level professional mountain bike racing team, which is home to 2008 world champion Christoph Sauser and downhill great Sam Hill. But for 2009 the California bicycle manufacturer is adding a North American component to its global umbrella of mountain bike racing. Specialized has teamed with Sho Air International, a Huntington Beach, California-based shipping company to sponsor the California-based Sho Air-Specialized mountain bike team.

Anne-Caroline Chausson – the reigning Olympic BMX champion – is taking aim at another landmark: the world speed skiing championships.

The 31-year-old Chausson, who has always been an excellent skier and lived in Andorra for several years, will compete in the “production” category of the competition, which runs January 17-24 at Vars in the French Alps.

According to French wire reports, Chausson will race on traditional ski equipment and could hit speeds nearing 200kph on the renowned Chabrières course at Vars.

The list of riders who have suited up for the Trek-Volkswagen professional mountain bike team over the years reads like a who’s who of North American off-road racing: Travis Brown, Alison Sydor, Roland Green, Susan Haywood and Jeremiah Bishop, just to name a few. But after 13 years, the Trek-Volkswagen program is calling it quits. The news comes after Volkswagen declined to renew its contract with the Wisconsin-based bicycle manufacturer.

IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL MAGURA Durin Race 80/100 Magura USA today announced that long term product testing has revealed a structural flaw in the lower leg assembly of the Durin Race 80 and 100mm suspension forks. The recall only affects early production runs of the fork. If your fork is found to be within the recall serial numbers please do not use it from this point forward. Further use of this product may result in failure and pose a possible risk of danger to the user.

California-based mountain bike race promoters have finalized plans for the 2008 U.S. Cup, a 13-race series set to become the premier cross-country racing series on American soil. The U.S. Cup is being sponsored by the Los Angeles-based shipping company Sho-Air, and will offer competition for both professional and amateur riders. The news answers questions about the future of American off-road racing which were raised when the National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS) — North America’s premier off-road series since 2004 — closed shop at the end of 2008.

Superbike racer Ben Bostrom has joined the Sho-Air professional mountain bike race team for 2009. The Yamaha pro, who dominated domestic and international motorcycle racing through much of this decade, will race the 2009 Sea Otter Classic and the 24 Hours of Moab for the Southern California-based Sho-Air team in the pro category. He will jump in other mountain bike races as his motorcycle racing schedule allows.

The scabby blisters on my hands are all-but healed, and only a few bits of red clay remain buried in my fingernails. The dull soreness that, just days ago, throbbed in my calves and quads is long gone. After all, I’ve enjoyed four days of rest and downed an uncountable number of bottles of Imperial. My recovery from this year’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike race is nearly complete.

A buzz of nervous anticipation hangs thick in the air at Jaco Beach today, as the 400 or so participants in Costa Rica’s 2008 La Ruta de los Conquistadores are picking up race packets, packing bags and preparing for tomorrow’s opening stage. The first of four days packs a serious punch — 68.7 miles and roughly 14,500 feet of elevation gain from Jaco to Ciudad Colon. The day also includes a plethora of super steep ascents, muddy hike-a-bike sections, river crossings and plenty of pain.

A federal jury has awarded more than $300,000 to mountain bike racer Susan Haywood for USA Cycling’s failure to report race results to the UCI, an act of negligence, the court concluded, that cost her a spot on the 2004 Olympic team. In the summer of 2004 Haywood was embroiled in a global race for UCI points with Mary McConneloug to secure a nomination to the country’s only slot for women in the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens. By mid-July, Haywood was initially given the nomination, leading McConneloug by a single point, 1489 to 1488.

Fellow Boulderite Brandon Dwight greeted me at the final finish line of last year’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores with a chilled bottle of Imperial in one hand and a digital camera in the other. The cold booze momentarily soothed the numerous aches and pains I had accrued during the four-day, 250-mile race from Costa Rica’s Pacific to Caribbean coasts.

The Iceman Cometh seems likely to live up to its moniker on Saturday, when some 2000 mountain bikers will start the 19th annual race along the northwestern bank of Lake Michigan. The 27-mile race from Kalkaska to Traverse City has gained a reputation for chilly temperatures and variable weather. The National Weather Service predicts heavy showers and a high of 40 degrees, although temperatures will be much lower when the race starts at 9 a.m. start at Kalkaska middle school.

Australia’s Naomi Hansen, the woman who for the past ten days has managed a smile, even in her darkest moments, was handed the ultimate accolade by her fellow Crocodile Trophy combatants Friday when the race reached its final destination of Cape Tribulation in Tropical North Queensland. As the peloton rolled onto the beautiful beach, fringed with World Heritage-listed Rainforest, race winner Ondrej Fojtik (VIG+ Racing) steered his bike to one-side, making way for the Coopers Shimano Dream Team cyclist, who crossed the finish line in first place to claim the stage winner’s boomerang.

Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-Volkswagen) and Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth) won the National Mountain Bike Oktoberfest in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday. The eight-hour cross-country race was the final event of USA Cycling’s National Ultra Endurance calendar.

The elite event capped of a weekend of four different cross-country races.

Lees-McRae College will once again host the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships, starting Friday in Banner Elk, North Carolina. The action begins Friday morning with the cross-country races held on a five-mile loop through the Appalachian Mountains. Both Division I and II men and women will compete over the varying, half-single track course, which is a permanent fixture on the Lees-McRae campus. Later that afternoon, gravity riders will attempt to qualify for the finals on the technical downhill course at Sugar Mountain Resort.

Colorado’s Summit County has granted provisional approval for a six-day endurance mountain bike stage race in Breckenridge for 2009. The “Breck Epic,” is tentatively scheduled to run from July 5 to the 10th. Mike McCormack, former director of the Mountain States Cup, is spearheading the Breck Epic’s organization. McCormack said the last hurdle the race needs to clear is approval from the United States Forest Service.

Temptation was all around during the second stage for Belgian cycling great Eric Vanderaerden as the race passed by more than a few outback watering holes. But the man who has shed 20 kilos to return to competition held steadfast against the lure of a cleansing ale, especially while the cameras were upon him. Photographed passing by the pub in the Atherton Tableland Town of Herberton, the former winner of Paris-Roubaix had his eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead and his ultimate objective of finishing the Crocodile Trophy. [nid:84454]

Shedding more “largesse? in recent months than most European banks, an almost unrecognizable Eric Vanderaerden has arrived in Cairns, Australia, fit and ready to complete his long-held dream of finishing the Crocodile Trophy, the 1200-kilometer mountain bike race across Australia. Gone are the mullet and spare tire, which the 46-year-old Belgian cycling great carried as excess baggage on his last journey to Tropical North Queensland, when he drove the Crocodile Trophy course as a team assistant.

Known to many as “Toast,” Josh Tostado (no, not Tostada) smoked an all-star field at last weekend’s Suzuki 24 Hours of Moab in the solo competition. Tostado completed 17 laps of the 15.5-mile course for a grand total of 263.5 miles of riding. He opened his gap on the opening lap and then held off Tinker Juarez and the sport’s heaviest hitter, Chris Eatough.

Quebecer Marie-Héléne Prémont has changed her mind about retiring at the end of the 2008 season. The 31-year-old Premont — who in 2007 announced she would hang it up after 2008 — will race the UCI World Cup and world championships. The news comes after Prémont enjoyed her best-ever season, which saw her claim the 2008 World Cup overall title.

With three weeks to go until its November 5 kickoff date, the Baja Epic — a four-day cross-country race in northern Mexico — has finalized its route. The race will cover approximately 250 miles and include 24,000 feet of climbing. The race runs November 5-8. The opening stage starts on the beach at the resort city of Rosarito and runs 65 miles to Santa Veronica, and includes 7800 feet of elevation gain. Stage 2 is the longest day, and includes 81 miles as riders journey from Santa Veronica to Ojos Negros.

Three-time Vuelta a España winner Roberto Heras will toe the line at next month’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike race in Costa Rica. The four-day race covers 250 miles from Jaco Beach on the Pacific coast to the finishing city of Limon, on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. The race will mark a return to top-level racing for Heras, who retired from competitive cycling in 2005 following his record-breaking fourth Vuelta win. That victory, however, was negated after Heras’ urine sample tested positive for the blood booster EPO.

Roughly 2000 mountain bikers will head into Southeastern Utah this weekend for the Suzuki 24-Hours of Moab, the largest 24-Hour race on North American soil. In its 13th year the race — organized by the West Virginia-based Granny Gear Productions — has come to own the title “Galactic Championships” of 24-Hour racing, a direct challenge to the 24 Hours of Adrenaline’s World Championships event.

Trek Bicycles will sponsor a World Cup-level mountain bike team for 2009 built around cross-country racers Liam Killeen and brothers Lukas and Matthias Fluckiger. The squad will also have a gravity component, although that roster has not yet been announced. Australian Martin Whiteley, former boss of the successful Global and G-Cross/Honda downhill teams, will manage Trek’s new team, which will be based in Europe.

Two-time Olympian Todd Wells is heading back to his roots for 2009, leaving GT Bicycles to join the Specialized factory mountain bike team. Wells, 32, raced for Specialized as a semi pro and neo pro from 1996-1998, riding alongside Ned Overend, Steve Tilford, Shaun Palmer and Bart Brentjens. After taking a break from racing, Wells rode with Pacific Cycles from 2001-2008, for the company’s Mongoose brand from 2001-2004 and then for the GT Bicycles brand from 2004-2008.

The 2009 USA Cycling mountain bike calendar boasts higher cash prizes and a more logical travel schedule, the organization said Thursday. The third annual USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Calendar includes 34 events; the calendar is intended to boost top tier events that have not traditionally been part of a national series. The 19-event cross-country calendar kicks off with the Fontana United States Cup in Fontana, California, on March 20 and ends seven months later on the last weekend in October with the Piney Hills Classic in Ruston, Louisiana.

NorCal League Heading South
The organizers of the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League, America’s largest interscholastic bike racing league at the high school level, have taken their successful model south. On August 4, the NorCal league helped launch the Southern California Interscholastic Cycling League.