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What’s the best way to quantify pain? This question popped into my head countless times during today’s opening stage of La Ruta de los Conquistadores, a hellacious 68.7-mile slog from Jaco Beach to the outskirts of San Jose. During the journey I carried my bike up ridiculously steep, muddy slopes, climbed 14,500 feet of elevation gain (much of it in the granny gear) and suffered like a rented mule. I crossed the line cross-eyed and drooling just under eight hours in 42nd place, about two hours behind stage winner Frederico “Lico” Ramirez.

Ivan Basso of the Liquigas Team, has just returned from the land of the rising sun where he took part in the Japan Cup gaining an excellent third place (behind Damiano Cunego and Giovanni Visconti) after an extraordinary and entertaining performance. Upon his return from Japan, Ivan visited the Sidi Sport headquarters of Maser in the Italian province of Treviso.

Ukranian Valeriy Kobzarenko, who was one of Team Type 1’s most dependable riders in 2008, will return to the squad in 2009. At the same time, the second-year team announced the signing of promising young Slovenian sprinter Aldo Ino Ilesic.   The two join eight other riders already announced for Team Type 1, a team striving to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. Co-founders Phil Southerland and Joe Eldridge are two of four riders on the men’s professional roster who have Type 1 diabetes.  

Kansas State Cyclocross Championships Leavenworth, KS - November 11, 2008 - The Cow Town Cycling Team is proud to present the 2008 Kansas State Cyclocross Championships. This years De Stad Cross Cup doubles has the the state championships on the historic campus of University of Saint Mary. A championship course has been designed using much of the natural 240 acres that the campus offers. "This is by far the sweetest course in the mid-west with sections of cobbles, natural run-ups, challenging sand, beautiful tree lined hillside and the

Price: TBA Web site: www.zerotractionfilm.com ZERO traction is a film about the 2007 cold and muddy USA Cycling’s Cyclocross National Championships in Kansas City. Shot entirely in high definition, the film captures the grimy details of ‘cross. The film is scheduled to premiere in Lawrence, Kansas on November 19th. DVDs will soon be available at www.zerotractionfilm.com.

Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich won nearly a half-million dollars in back pay from his one-season run at Team Coast in 2003 after a German court ruled in his favor Wednesday.   The 1997 Tour winner was back at the center of attention Wednesday with a court appearance in a long-running dispute between the now-tainted German star and the defunct Coast team, whose manager, Günther Dahms, refused to pay part of Ullrich’s salary because he said the rider was doping.  

Editor’s note:Tom LeCarner, VeloNews’ copy editor, is a 41-year-old longtime cyclist and former racer who has been struggling with tendonitis this year. Specialized has offered to help Tom overcome his injuries with its Body Geometry equipment and treatment by Andy Pruitt of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. Tom will report on if and how he progresses in a regular column on VeloNews.com. His first piece here gives some background of the causes of his injuries.

They say the best way to perfect a skill is to go to where that skill is practiced perfectly. For cyclocross, Belgium is that place. Cycling fanaticism in Belgium is difficult to explain. There is really no correlation to it in the United States. Football is the easiest association, in the scale of the fan base and the spectacle, but the true Belgian cyclocross fan is more deeply rooted to the athlete than the true football fan.

Bobbles, bubbles and beer — there was all that and more last weekend during the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships in Portland, Oregon. Canadian Drew MacKenzie won the men’s crown, beating the likes of Ryan Trebon, Nat Ross, Steve Fassbinder and Adam Craig. Sue Butler took top honors in the women's race, winning a come-from-behind battle.

Dear Explainer,
Is there an instance in which a rider returning from a two-year ban has been caught doping again?

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Popular Science has awarded Shimano's new Dura-Ace 7970 Di2 electric group a "Grand Award Winner" in the Recreation category of the magazine's “Best of What’s New 2008.” The group, available in January net year, was one of 100 technological innovations included in the December issue of the magazine, but swept the Recreation category to take the top prize as one of ten Grand Award Winners.

Team Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale doubled up this past weekend during the UCI 1 Toronto International Cyclocross in Toronto, Canada, putting Jeremy Powers atop the podium on Saturday with Tim Johnson taking the win on Sunday. Canadians had plenty to cheer about, too, as Ottawa’s Natasha Elliott (Stevens-EMD Sorono) scored two consecutive victories on the muddy Centennial Park course.

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.

Throughout his career as promoter of the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup in the Hamptons, Myles Romanow has been battling rumors about his race.  “People hear about the celebrities and their mansions in the Hamptons and automatically assume that a hotel room costs, like, five thousand dollars a night.  But Hip Hop moguls and television stars aren’t the only people who live here.  We still have cops and school bus drivers, house cleaners and guys who pump gas, just like the town you live in.  They live in whole communities with normal-priced restaurants and hotels.  If you nee

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to ride in a professional peloton? Well, now is your chance to ride with some of your favorite pros as part of the Cycling Sherpa program at California BikeFest. Cycling Sherpa are past and current professional cyclists who are ‘for hire’ for the rides in Ventura, California on Saturday, December 6, 2008 starting at the Crowne Plaza, Ventura Beach.

Team Type 1 will be bolstered in 2009 by the return of stage racing specialists Matt Wilson and Ian MacGregor, as announced by Sport Director Ed Beamon Monday.   Wilson, 31, rebounded from breaking his right wrist in March to score stage wins at the Tour de Beauce and the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. The 2004 Australian national road champion also earned King of the Mountains titles at the Tour of Ireland and the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Australia.  

Capitalizing on a very successful 2008 season, the ValueAct Capital Women’s Cycling Team has added even more depth and top talent to its roster for the 2009 season.  The team, who had wins at Tour of the Gila and podiums at Mt. Hood, Elite Nationals and the CSC Invitational, will be contesting a full NRC calendar in 2009.  

Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) has launched www.rei.com/bikeyourdrive, an online resource created to inspire more people to cycle by exposing myths and breaking down common barriers associated with using a bicycle as an alternate means of transportation. The site offers helpful "how-to” video demonstrations, a calculator to show environmental, caloric and financial "savings,” and recommended cycling gear essentials. Online expert advice and other tools assist riders of all skill levels in understanding proper safety procedures, bike maintenance and the rules of the road.

In the seven years since the TransRockies began, it has quickly become a great aspiration for many mountain bikers. We’re proud that it is on so many riders’ to-do lists and we’re stoked every time we hear someone tell us “next year I’ll do TransRockies”. And we hear that a lot!

Kenda Pro Cycling p/b Spinergy is pleased to welcome new sponsors for 2009 to its family of long-term supporters. As Inferno Racing LLC’s new program enters its freshman year as a UCI Continental team, they are excited to forge new relationships with: AlphaQ, Cane Creek, Feather Brakes, Fluid, Hincapie Sports Wear, Look, Qoleum, Showers Pass, Travelers Insurance, and TruTrainer.

Land Rover has entered the cycling market with a new sponsorship role for Land Rover-ORBEA, the young cycling development team based out of Portland, Ore. Looking to step into a first year U.S. continental squad for 2009, Land Rover-ORBEA now has the title sponsorship it needs to push them to the next level.

The Chicago Cyclocross Cup is pleased to announce the addition of a collegiate race for both men and women. The race is scheduled for Sunday, November 16 in Lansing, Illinois. The Lan Oak Park Race #8 allows collegiate riders to earn points toward the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference (MWCCC) Cyclocross Series. This is the first time the series has incorporated a collegiate race as part of the race offerings.

Coming off impressive performances at the Boulder Cup in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month, Kona-FSA Factory Team CX rider Ryan Trebon and Velo-Bella Kona rider Amy Dombroski hold first place in the elite men's and women's categories in the North American Cyclocross Trophy Series (NACT). The two riders will look to maintain their top rankings at the final race of the series which takes place on Nov. 22-23 in Southampton, New York.

Don’t think it’s too soon to plan ahead for the first favorite ride of the season on Colorado’s Front Range. As usual, ground zero begins at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock, Colo., for the    8-mile family course, 32, 50, 65, 100-mile road rides, and a 25-mile off-road course during the 22nd Annual Elephant Rock Cycling Festival Sunday, June 7, 2009. For adventurers new and seasoned, the clock starts June 5, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. for the 24-hour race at the Greenland Open Space Park south of Castle Rock in Douglas County.  

Amanda Carey, Kenda Titus Hayes, dominated the women's field at the Iceman race this past weekend in Traverse City, MI. Racing in near perfect conditions, she covered the 27 miles from Kalkaska to Traverse City in 1:45:45, more than two minutes ahead of Susan Stevens and Heather Irmiger. This was Amanda's biggest win in her first year of pro racing capping a great first season which included top 10 results on the NMBS circuit and wins at several regional events. "Every time I felt myself falling back, I said nail it, it's almost over," Carey said after the race.

Beth Lyndon-Griffith (Hagens-Berman) and Zach McDonald (Classic Cycles) emerged triumphant on Sunday as the Seattle Cyclocross series visited a gooey course at the Bremerton fairgrounds. With several inches of rain in the week leading up to the race and many local rivers on flood watches, the course was already wet. Sunday began with showers that diminished as the day wore on, and as temperatures reached the low 50s the conditions created a course to test nearly every ’cross skill in the book.

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