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I met Kyle Strait for the first time this past summer at the World Cup race in Angel Fire, New Mexico. The 17-year-old freeride phenom had just completed his final downhill run, finishing with a respectable 4:47 on the dusty, rocky course. I had heard about Strait’s heroics in freeride competitions, but considering the deep talent pool at Angel Fire (Greg Minnaar, Chris Kovarik, Fabien Barel, to name a few), his run, while smooth and solid, wasn’t exactly memorable. It turned out to be good for 21st place, about 13 seconds off Minnaar’s winning pace, and, to be honest, it slipped out of my

On starting the "Inside Cycling" column earlier this year I said that my first goal would be to give you a basic story of road racing in "English-speaking" countries. Not a complete history, but the stories behind the "firsts" — first road races in the various countries, first riders to compete in major competitions (such as world championships, classics or tours), and then the first to achieve significant results in those events. Regarding the biggest race of all, the Tour de France, I’ve written about the pioneers from Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States. The first to finish

Another dream season for Nijs?

Saunier Duval team boss Mauro Gianetti and Simoni

Gerdemann at this year's Tour of Switzerland

Four hours of Rampage in a tin

Irmiger swaps Tokyo Joe's kit for Subaru-Gary Fisher come '06

Vanlandingham has the arm strength to swim an Xterra

The self-contained Exposure

They make a helmet-mounted model, too

The Viking attacks

World sport's main arbitration body CAS on Thursday confirmed it had accepted an appeal by Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle who tested positive for a banned substance at the 2004 Athens Olympics. CAS said the track rider, who came third in the women's points competition to hand Colombia an historic Olympic medal in the sport but was then disqualified, can now keep her Olympic bronze medal. Calle tested positive for a banned stimulant, heptaminol, which she said was contained in a medicine. The 35-year-old had protested her innocence saying she had taken paracetamol for a

Simoni has options

Workhorse: Aldag was a tireless team player

A big year for Liquigas

Team Ford-Basis Comes to a CloseAfter three successful seasons sponsoring the Ford-Basis Women’s cyclingteam, Ford and Basis will be leaving women’s cycling.The team was founded in 2002 as a developmental team aimed at helpingup-and-coming riders progress towards the 2008 Olympics. The team recruitedprimarily top collegiate cyclists. Each season, as the riders adjustedto the professional ranks, the team saw increasing success.  2005saw the team's achievements reach new heights, with the squad earning eightprofessional victories and over 20 podium placings.Said founder Nicole

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.Discs, are they okay or not?Dear VeloNews,I've seen allusions to a lifting of the ban on disc brakes for `cross bikes in a couple of places, (most recently the article by Matt Pacocha), but is this for real? I've Googled and looked on the UCI website, but have found nothing. While

Brussels, Belgium (AP) - Belgian triathlete Rutger Beke is suing the World Anti-Doping Agency and two drug labs, seeking 185,000 euros ($221,000) in damages after his 18-month doping suspension was lifted due to doubts over the accuracy of his EPO test. Beke's lawyer, Johnny Maeschalck, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that the athlete had sought an amicable settlement with WADA. "We received a negative answer from WADA," Maeschalck said. "We had at least hoped to be able to discuss the issue but we were rejected." Beke, the 2003 Ironman runnerup, won an appeal in August

Paris (AP) - A United Nations treaty to fight doping in sports was unanimously passed Wednesday by the 191 UNESCO member states. The treaty, however, will not be enforced until 30 member governments ratify it. Then, only those that have ratified the accord will be bound by it.The International Convention Against Doping in Sport, which would require regular doping tests and common penalties, seeks to draw governments into what has long been mainly the domain of national sporting federations. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is hoping the treaty will be put

Bogota, Colombia - October 19 (AFP) - Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle has won back the Olympic bronze medal she lost at the Athens Games after she tested positive for a banned stimulant, her coach Jose Julian Velasquez said Wednesday. A spokesman for cycling's international governing body, the UCI, confirmed the news which was also confirmed by the athlete's lawyer. Calle won the bronze medal in the track points competition but was disqualified after she tested positive for heptaminol. Afterwards the 35-year-old protested her innocence and said she had taken paracetamol for a

1996 Giro winner, Pavel Tonkov sent a message to doubters when he won a stage in the 2004 edition

VeloSwap moves to San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center for October29 eventFor Immediate ReleaseOctober 18, 2005San Francisco -- VeloSwap, the world's largest consumer bicycleshow and swap, will move to the acclaimed San Francisco Concourse ExhibitionCenter in downtown San Francisco for its October 29 event. The 3rd annualSan Francisco VeloSwap and Sports Expo will fill 100,000 square feet andhost some 250 vendors and exhibitors, and attract an estimated 8,000 cyclingenthusiasts.The SF Concourse Exhibition Center is a striking contemporary glassand steel pavilion highlighted with sand

What sort of man reads VeloNews?

Carlos Garcia Quesada and Javier Pascual during this year's Vuelta. The team plans to remain a Continental squad for `06.

Avid's perfect for dry and fast courses. Not great in the mud, though.

Empella: Lots of clearance

Spooky has it, too.

Shimano's low-profile is the right tool for some conditions

SRP's submission to the canti' market

Cane Creek's short canti'

Linear-pull brakes are cheap and strong, but you have to jump through a few hoops to make them work on a 'cross bike

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.Land of the rising cyclist?Hey Guys,I was looking at Discovery Channel’s line up and saw a cyclist fromJapan. For me this is a first, seeing a pro rider from the land of therising sun.Can you tell us more about him and have there been others? Could youimagine Mr. Beppu in yellow?

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now up for your viewing pleasure.Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmost recent contest. Jeremy Furman’s shot “Cycling’s Future” stood out for us. You can’t tell whether the young rider won or lost… and it really doesn’t matter. He’s got a fan base and that counts for everything.Congratulations Jeremy! Contact us and you win a copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapes of Cycling."Go ahead and take a look at our latest gallery,decide what you like and let us know what you think by dropping a noteto

Lennard Zinn book signing at Veloswap DenverOctober 17, 2005 – Denver, CO – Lennard Zinn, bicycle framebuilder and technical guru, will sign copies of his two new books at theVeloGear booth during Veloswap Denver on Saturday, October 22 from11:00 a.m. until noon.Lennard Zinn is the author of Zinn& the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, newly updated in its secondedition and just published this fall. He has also written Zinn& the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, published this summer inits fourth edition.Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance covers every component ofa road

Will Sprint For Food: Collapse of the Sony deal means O'Grady and others are scrambling for contracts

'The race of the falling leaves' runs around the shores of Lake Como

The peloton motors along

Rebellin led the chase and took the bunch sprint for fifth

Schleck had a late go, hoping to foil Bettini and Simoni

American Vande Velde was among the 101 starters who failed to finish; just 91 riders made it to the line

Voight working the feed zone

DiLuca took a stab at it, but had to abandon with knee pain

And the race boiled down to a three-sided contest

Bessette credited mountain biking for showing her the way through the goo

Bruno Roy found Bessette's performance daunting

Bettini closes out the ProTour with a win

When McCormack found a line that worked, he stuck to it

The Bettini group

Johnson's rough start gave the steady McCormack an insurmountable lead

Simoni and Bettini

DiLuca atop his final ProTour podium of 2005

Schleck fought the good fight

Bettini launches

Reporters Without Borders said it was "concerned and shocked" after an examining magistrate in the Paris suburb of Nanterre placed five journalists under investigation after questioning them earlier this week. Three reporters from the weekly Le Point, Christophe Labbé, Olivia Recasens and Jean-Michel Décujis, as well as two from the sports daily L’Equipe, Damien Ressiot et Dominique Issartel, are accused of "violation of the confidentiality of investigation" in the Cofidis cycle team doping case. Ressiot has recently gained international attention as the reporter who linked positive test

The leaves are orange and yellow and barely hanging on the trees. The morning chill stings a little more than usual. Everyone but the hardcore riders (and nutty cyclo-crossers) have already traded in the usual morning ride for some additional snooze time in the comforts of a warm bed. The mountain-bike season, my friends, is in the books. That’s not to say that our favorite fat-tire sport is unworthy of attention at the moment. After all, the off-season is when some of the juicier news comes out. And the biggest news for North Americans and Europeans alike is the release of the 2006 UCI

When Eddy Merckx recently commented on his being called the greatest cyclist of all time, he played down the description in typical “modest Eddy” fashion. “Comparisons between one generation and another don’t mean anything,” he told Vélo Magazine. “For me, the most important is to be the best of your generation.” Merckx, no question, was the best of his generation. And after he retired in 1978 there was a void waiting to be filled, just as there is today on the retirement of Lance Armstrong. The après-Merckx years were marked by some fierce competition for “best in class.” The first

Giancarlo Ferretti in more stable times

Harsh duty for the fat-tire set: The '06 World Cup opens in Curaçao

Bettini hopes for a Lombardia win

Kelly put in a huge effort to take the win

Magistrate Katherine Cornier , seen here exciting the offices of Le Point during a January police raid

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Downshfting from the drops

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Upshifting from the drops

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Downshifting on the hoods

Upshifting on the hoods

Shifting during a sprint

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Five journalists from the French sports daily L’Equipe and the weeklymagazine Le Point were summoned to the offices of an investigatingmagistrate on Wednesday and Thursday as part of an investigation into leaksthat triggered the Cofidisscandal last year. According to judicial sources, two journalists from L’Equipewere questioned on Wednesday and three from Le Point were slatedfor interviews on Thursday by judge Katherine Cornier who has been investigatingleaks within the French police.Earlier this year, Cornier ordered police to seize notes and computersin raidsconducted at L’Equipe and Le

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Sauser Sides With SpecializedWorld Cup Champion Sauser Joins Liam Killeen and Sabine Spitzon Specialized’s Factory MTB Racing Squad October 13, 2005 – Morgan Hill, CA –29 year-old Swiss cross-countryracer and UCI World Cup Champion Christoph Sauser joins top XC talent LiamKilleen and Sabine Spitz with Specialized for 2006 and beyond. A veteran10 seasons as a professional, Sauser chose Specialized knowing they couldprovide him with a technological edge. “Once I saw Liam racing a CarbonEpic this season, I knew I had to connect with Specialized for the future,”says Sauser. “Plus, they have a

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Sauser Sides With SpecializedWorld Cup Champion Sauser Joins Liam Killeen and Sabine Spitzon Specialized’s Factory MTB Racing Squad October 13, 2005 – Morgan Hill, CA –29 year-old Swiss cross-countryracer and UCI World Cup Champion Christoph Sauser joins top XC talent LiamKilleen and Sabine Spitz with Specialized for 2006 and beyond. A veteran10 seasons as a professional, Sauser chose Specialized knowing they couldprovide him with a technological edge. “Once I saw Liam racing a CarbonEpic this season, I knew I had to connect with Specialized for the future,”says Sauser. “Plus, they have

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Maine Hosts 2005 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series OpenerNew Gloucester, ME - October 13, 2005 - With one of the mostdemanding courses in New England, the Downeast Cyclo-Cross kicks off the2005 Verge New England Championships Cyclo-Cross Series, presented by Cycle-Smart,this Saturday in New Gloucester, ME. Known for its mix of fast descents,a leg crushing run-up, and sections of strength sapping mud, the Downeastcourse throws every challenge a UCI course can at the crowds of ‘crossracers anxious to kick off the Verge NECCS.The 2005 Verge NECCS opener will boast one of its best