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Of all the historic landmarks in Washington DC, none is so seldom visited by tourists as the Armed Forces Retirement Home; the site of no fewer than four National Historic Landmarks, including the Lincoln Cottage.  These grounds and historic landmarks are normally accessible to tourists by appointment only.  But on October 26, BikeReg.com MABRAcross racers can not only participate in the City Bikes DCCX cyclocross race, they can bring their families.  And, if they schedule a tour of the Lincoln Cottage, they can have what may be the most timely historic tour of their lives.   

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North American Cyclocross Trophy Series Update Trebon and Dombroski Hold Series Leads at Mid-Season At the midpoint of the U.S. cyclocross season, the North American Cyclocross Trophy has clear leaders in both the Men and Women’s categories following The Erdinger Gran Prix of Gloucester held October 11 & 12th.in Gloucester Mass. Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Amy Dombroski (Velo Bella-Kona) jumped to the top of the leader board for the national series and will start the next round wearing the NACT Leader’s Jersey

German media giants ARD and ZDF announced Thursday they will not cover the Tour de France because of the recent spate of positive drug tests. "The sporting value of the Tour de France has been reduced by the accumulation of failed drugs tests. Therefore, its broadcast value has sunk deeply,” said ARD chairman Fritz Raff after the decision was made following a meeting in Cologne. ARD, the No. 1 broadcaster in Germany, ceased broadcasting the 2007 Tour in the middle of the race after German rider Patrick Sinkewitz tested positive for testosterone.

The Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast team wraps a successful 2008 season this coming weekend with a return to France, where the squad will race the Criterium de Levallois, just outside of Paris on October 19. The race marks the second outing in France this year, with KBS/M finishing second in the Tour des Pyrenees in August where they also took first on points.

One of the important skills lawyers-in-training (a.k.a. “law students”) learn in law school is the ability to argue either side of a case. That can be tough for the average non-lawyer to wrap their mind around, but it’s an essential skill, because a lawyer has to be able to identify the legal issues at stake in any case, and to understand the arguments both for and against a particular legal point.

Dear VeloNews,
So now that Ricardo Riccò, Stefan Schumacher, Leonardo Piepoli and Bernhard Kohl have all tested positive for CERA, what happens to the results they achieved during the Tour de France? Riccò, Schumacher and Piepoli “won” five stages among them and Kohl finished third in Paris and “earned” the climber’s jersey.

Do they get to keep those honors? How does the Tour de France decide if they get taken away? What will the record books show?
Suzette Byrnes
Vancouver, Washington

9. A solid green indicator light shows when the battery is fully charged. Flashing green indicates half charge, flashing red indicates low charge, and solid red indicates battery near empty. You can ride 1000-2000 miles on a charge, the battery can be charged 300 times without losing any capacity, and when its charge drops too low, it first shifts slower in the front, then shuts down front shifting, and, finally it shuts down rear shifting.

8. The shift buttons on the aero-bar brake levers provide the option that time trial and triathlon bikes are missing. And since you can shift under load, you don’t have to anticipate in advance what gears you’ll need on a climb; just shift as your legs feel the need.

7. No bar-extension shifters are more aerodynamic than these shift buttons; it takes only a tiny finger movement to shift. The top button on each side shifts to a larger chainring or cog, and the lower button shifts to a smaller chainring or cog. But you have another choice of where to shift from, so you don’t have to reach out here to shift while grabbing the base bars for a turn or a climb.

6. Shimano’s long-awaited introduction of electronic Dura-Ace shifters for aero bars arrived at Ironman. Quick, accurate shifting under load from either the ends of the aero bars or the brake levers should appeal to any time trialist or triathlete.

5. Sixth-place Virginia Berasategui’s front Xentis wheel is down to 15 spokes; a 16th should be adjacent the valve stem, but it broke on the gradual uphill to Hawi (on smooth asphalt under a 90-pound rider)! Berasategui was with eventual winner Chrissie Wellington at Hawi, but her front wheel banging her fork for 100 kilometers took its toll, and she dropped far behind, but a 3:03 marathon brought her within seconds of 5th place.

You’ve got to fuel up for the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. But you might be one of the many with overactive bowels out on the course. And Kuota shored up its second place in the bike count from last year – further ahead of Scott and Trek (who reversed positions from 2007) but even further behind a dominant Cervelo.

3. The handlebar count sheet; that’s Profile with the most ticks. Some brands are incredibly dominant at this most important of triathlons; Cervelo frames, Zipp wheels, and of course Shimano components are without peer. Who knew there were so many Cervelo P3s in the world? A quarter of the athletes were on them, and among those at the front, it seemed as though half were! It’s bound to continue next year with the P4.

2. The only category in the 2008 count with a change in leadership from the prior year was saddles. Here, Fizik’s Suzette Ayotte celebrates her brand finally surpassing Selle Italia in total saddles among the 1,700+ in the race. Shimano is the only brand to have led its category in every year of the race’s 30 years. Kestrel and Quintana Roo bikes had each been leaders here in the past; now they are rare.

1. As Ironman competitors deposit their bikes in the transition area, a phalanx of industry people count brands of bikes, components, aero bars, saddles, pedals, and wheels. Always in friendly competition, SRAM counters sit on either side of the lone Shimano counter, Devin Walton. The ticks filling the majority of the sheet of SRAM counter Michael Zellman (in green shirt) are for Shimano, but SRAM surpassed Campagnolo in groups for the first time this year.

14. The front derailleur small-chainring limit screw is on the outside of the main, outer link. The large-chainring limit screw is the little black one on the link behind the cage. Just shift to the chainring you want and turn the limit screw to avoid chain rub on the big-small and small-big combinations.

13. The rear derailleur limit screws stop its travel like on a cable-actuated derailleur. The high-gear limit screw, the more outboard of the two, is to be tightened against the stop when the derailleur is on the smallest cog and then backed out a turn to allow the derailleur to overshift to get to the cog. The low-gear limit screw is just set as a stop when lined up on the large cog.

11. Unplug the port on one of the drop-bar dual-control levers, and you can plug in additional shift button to have on, say, the bar tops for climbing or the bar drops for sprinting.

12. Shimano includes a tool with a fork for unplugging wires and removing port plugs. It also has a long groove for holding wires or port plugs as you push them down into the port in the lever.