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The U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross is adding a fourth weekend to its schedule this year, adding the Planet Bike Cup in Wisconsin to its lineup. The 2009 series will return for a third year to Louisville, Kentucky, Mercer County, New Jersey and Portland, Oregon. "The addition of the Planet Bike Cup is tremendous for the series. Madison has a great cycling community and the Planet Bike Cup was already a wonderful event. We are thrilled to have added such a strong early season weekend of racing to our schedule,” said Bruce Fina, the series' executive director.

The new Ten Speed Drive / Ellsworth Factory Cycling Team is hoping to win some races while minimizing its effects on the environment this year. The team was formerly known as Colavita New Mexico presented by JNF Enterprises. “We are dedicated to promoting cycling as a form of transportation and to further public awareness of everyday techniques — from transportation to energy consumption – the public can use to lessen their environmental footprints,” said team director, John Freisen.

Kellogg to sponsor BISSELL® Pro Cycling Team   The Kellogg Company, the world’s leading producer of cereal and a leading producer of convenience foods, joins the BISSELL Pro Cycling Team as a key sponsor for the 2009 season. Kellogg’s commitment to nutrition and physical fitness is well aligned with the team and the sport of cycling. Alongside Kellogg, the team continues to be supported by longtime key sponsor, Advantage Benefits Group.  

USA Cycling is recognizing 13 regional athlete development programs with $20,000 worth of cash grants through its Centers of Excellence program. Rad Racing of Olympia, Washington, and the Young Medalists of the Lehigh Valley Cycling Club in Pennsylvania received top honors. The award winners were chosen based on organizational criteria and results in developing junior and U23 cycling athletes. Since the program’s inception six years ago, USA Cycling has distributed over $120,000 to grass roots development programs thanks to donations to the Development Foundation.

Why are my bottom bracket bearings wearing out so quickly?

Jonathan Patrick McCartyis joining former teammate Floyd Landis on the OUCH Presented by Maxxis team. "We'd been talking with Pat for quite some time," said team director Mike Tamayo. "Only in the past week or so were we able to work out an agreement with him."

Belgian cycling star Tom Boonen will know on February 3 if he has to face criminal charges over his positive test for cocaine, the judge investigating his case in the northern city of Turnhout said Tuesday. Boonen, a former world champion and winner of such prestigious races as Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, tested positive for the recreational drug in an out-of-competition test in May last year. The 28-year-old escaped a sports sanction because the test was not held under the auspices of a sport body.

Classics star Fabian Cancellara already rules the cobbles and now it appears he might be setting his sights on the hillier spring classics, with possible starts this year at Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race. Cancellara – who is already focusing on Tour of Flanders this year as his top early season goal – could expand into the hillier routes in eastern Belgium and southern Holland.

UCI officials Thursday will officially roll out the new calendar for elite men’s road racing for the 2009 season.

UCI president Pat McQuaid has called a press conference for Thursday at the Geneva International Airport to formally introduce the calendar that’s been in the works for months.

Following several feuding years between the sport’s major players, a cease-fire that took hold last fall will see the ProTour and the so-called “historic” events run side-by-side under the revised UCI “world calendar.”

Under the truce reached last year between the UCI and t

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Editor's Note: Drew Geer is an endurance mountain bike racer who has been using a computer training log since 1998 and has hand-written training logs going back to 1972. He's been an Apple Mac user since 1984. Geer paid retail for each of the products he reviewed in this article.

The BH/Pivot Demo truck is hitting the road with its expanded fleet of technologically advanced bikes. The 35-foot trailer will carry all the 2009 road bikes from Spain’s BH Bikes and all the 2009 mountain bikes from Pivot. The demo tour kicked off Sunday in Plano, Texas. The rest of the year it will travel to festivals, races, dealer demos and tech clinics across the nation.

Double Paris-Roubaix winner Tom Boonen will join his Quick Step teammates this month for a training camp along the sunny Spanish coast. The team will converge at the Spanish resort town of Benicassim for a 10-day camp beginning January 12 to put everyone on the right footing heading into the racing season. Per team tradition, the squad will split into two crews for training rides of different intensity, depending on pending racing schedules.

Living up to the success of last season will be challenging for Saxo Bank, formerly CSC, but team boss Bjarne Riis is cautiously optimistic despite the departure of reigning Tour de France champ Carlos Sastre. Seven riders followed Sastre out the door from the triumphant 2008 lineup, including retired pros Bobby Julich, Michael Blaudzun and Brad McGee and workhorses Iñigo Cuesta, Volodymir Gustov and Allen Johansen.

Day 4 of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic saw the top professionals punish the bunch with explosive and sustained attacks. The sound of popping was almost audible as the pace and surges whittled the field down. Finally the Australian criterium champion, Bernie Sulzberger of Virgin Blue, won the day, sprinting to the line ahead of a reduced field. Sulzberger said after the win: “It makes me very proud to win wearing the Australian champion’s jersey.”

Wilderness Trail Bikes, Inc., a global leader in bicycle components, is proud to announce a new partnership with legendary mountain bike racer Brian Lopes. Lopes will be riding and racing exclusively on WTB’s high-end saddles. Each of Lopes’ team-issue Ibis race bikes will be outfitted with WTB’s Silverado SLT saddles.

The BC Bike Race - The Ultimate Singletrack Experience is proud to announce the LUNA Pro Teams participation in the 2009 event scheduled for June 28th- July 4th.

The 2009 MERCO Credit Union Cycling Classic Presented by McLane Pacific in Merced, CA is pleased to announce that they have added and open Juniors’ Race at both the Downtown Grand Prix and the Foothills Road Race. A $500 Cash Prize list for each day will be awarded plus a champion’s jersey and rock trophy for the single winner of each day. Distances of the races are 20 miles (25 laps) in the Grand Prix and 48 miles (2 laps) in the Road Race.

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Following an extremely successful 2008 season, the Webcor/AltoVelo racing team is expanding its Elite Amateur Men’s team for the upcoming 2009 season. The core of last year’s Pro/1/2 team remains intact, and will be bolstered by extremely talented additions to the roster. For the 2009 season, the Elite Amateur Men’s team will be divided into a National-level “NRC Squad” that will be focused on larger National Racing Calendar (NRC) events all around the U.S., and a “Regional Squad” that will focus on rider development and in-district racing.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE BIKE PURE organization: After the torrent of drug scandals damaging our sport, we have all become accustomed to the annual headlines of another disgraced professional. The image of professional cycling is repeatedly tarnished and the public at large, after being fed so much bad publicity, took it that all cyclists were dopers. Such was the frequency it was no longer clear who was clean and who is doping.

Touchstone Cycling enters the 2009 season with an expanded roster and additional sponsorship. After an impressive 2008 season, Touchstone looks to increase their presence and podium appearances. Kelly McDonald, 6th in the Mogollon Road Race at Tour of the Gila and 9th overall at Cascades, returns to the team and looks to add to her impressive NRC results.

Editor's Note:VeloNews cartoonist Patrick O'Grady and web editor Steve Frothingham have offered some year-end perspective on this site recently. Now for a different take we turn to freelance writer Kathie Reid. Reid helped us cover some of the biggest races on the calendar in 2008, but saw some of the most memorable performances from junior racers at the national championships in California.

Speedgoat Bicycles, Inc., a leading Internet retailer of bicycles, announces the appointment of Don Belt as Chief Operating Officer. Belt brings more than 20 years of corporate management experience, including 15 years with ServiStar and True Value, and President/CEO of Internet-centric start up procurement service provider, MRO Direct. His first assignment will be to establish the management and operational processes within the company to support the scalability objectives of Speedgoat Bicycles.

PRESS RELEASE In response to a tightening economy, the makers of specialty bicycle line Litespeed are launching the bicycle industry’s first ever direct-to-consumer rebate program. Specialty hangtags are being distributed this week to all Litespeed dealers to launch and promote the campaign, in which parent company American Bicycle Group (ABG) will send a rebate check for up to $350 to any consumer who purchases a qualifying Litespeed bicycle frame, frameset or complete bike.

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MILRAM newcomer Paul Voß had a perfect season debut on Sunday in the cyclo-cross race in Vechta. The 22-year-old 'cross specalist from Rostock, who last year won the silver medal in the U23 road world championships as his biggest success to date, brought in the first season win for his new team.

American Rachel Lloyd (California Giant) was second at the Tervuren, Belgium, cyclocross on Sunday, finishing just behind former world champion Daphny Van den Brand. American Sue Butler was eight, Followed by Canadians Natasha Elliot and Wendy Simms in ninth and tenth. Lloyd and Van de Brand were battling for most of the race after gapping the rest of the group on the first lap when Van den Brand attacked into a sandpit and Lloyd jumped on her wheel. The two worked together for a few laps. Van den Brand crashed in the sand at one point and Lloyd rode solo for about a lap.

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History has a way of repeating itself. The Jayco Bay Cycling Classic proved that with Will Walker of Fuji Servetto taking out day 3 of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic. Six years ago Walker as a 17-year-old won a stage of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic with a courageous and powerful breakaway from the main bunch. Walker repeated that performance by breaking away in the last third of the race in an explosive attack and consolidated the gains made until the end.[nid:86289]

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.

The second day of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic was all about thrills and spills. Graeme Brown of Rabobank took out his first win of the season in impressive style leading a bunch finish which saw Robbie McEwen (Team Katyusha), Baden Cooke (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team), Simon Gerrans (Cervelo Test Team) and Nic Sanderson (Rock Racing) finish third, seventh, eighth and tenth respectively.

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The rock and roll cycling style of Rock Racing has had its first ride on Australian soil competing at the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic in Victoria. The self styled ‘Venom’ cycling kit and painted De Rosa frames stood out in the blur of color. The team — consisting of new signing Aaron Kemps (formerly of Astana), Rahsaan Bahati, Justin Williams and Nic Sanderson — came to Australia for some of the fastest critierium racing in the world. Notable absentee from the start line for Rock was new team member Caleb Manion. Manion signed with Rock Racing after racing with Toyota United.

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For I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness.— John Steinbeck, “Travels With Charley”

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Tour de France stage winner, Simon Gerrans, a new recruit of the new Cervélo Test Team, won the first stage of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic in Australia, riding for the local O2 Networks squad on Friday. The race was delayed, in strange circumstances, by more than 90 minutes because Australian sprint ace, Katyusha's Robbie McEwen, had his flight cancelled and was late arriving for the event.

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