And then go say them

I've been reading FatCyclist for many years, chortling, chuckling and moved to tears with laughing so hard at the world through Elden's eyes.  But I've also been moved to the tears reading how his beloved wife Susan has been fighting with dignity the cancer that is ravaging her body.

Elden has generously shared insights with his multitude of readers, and some might say friends, and today as things are looking very dark right now for the family, he wrote:

Think for a moment about the person you care most about. Now think about what you’d wish you could have said if that person were taken away from you. Now think about how glad you would be if you were given a second chance to say those things.

And then go say them.

Whatever your beliefs are, send your vibes and/or prayers to Elden, Susan and their family and then go be with your loved ones.  Peace.

Cross baby

On tap this weekend is the opener of the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross p/b Crankbrothers, the Papa John's Derby City Cup, in Louisville, KY.

The US Gran Prix  of Cyclocross is a three weekend, six race series which also include The Mercer Cup presented by Knapp's Cyclery in Mercer Co., NJ on November 15 and 16; and the Portland Cup presented by Stanley on December 6 and 7.  These races represent the deepest, strongest, and fastest cyclocross fields in a series format on this side of the Atlantic. In 2008, the USGP also hosts the official U23 and Junior Worlds qualifying races and are the only sanctioned UCI Junior races on the American CX calendar.

Full event schedule and list registered riders are available on bikereg.com. The list of riders includes a who's who of cross racers including US Cross Champ Tim Johnson and his teammate Jeremy Powers (Cannondale/CyclocrossWorld.com), Kona twin towers Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks, Wells bros Todd (Team GT) and Troy (Team Clif Bar), Andy Jacques-Maynes (Specialized/KMC pb Cal Giant), Chris Jones (Sonic/Louis Garneau), Maureen Bruno Roy (MM Racing p/b Seven Cycles), Sue Butler (MonavieCannondale.com), Georgia Gould (LUNA), Rachel Lloyd (California Giant Strawberries/Specialized) and lots more....  Cyclocross Magazine will be providing live updates throughout the weekend of racing.

Can't make it to Kentucky? Head on out to your local cross race and don't forget your costume to celebrate Halloween early. All over Canada and the United States, from Alabama to Washington, cross races are being held this weekend.  Don't know what costume to wear? You can always go as a turkey, a gorilla, a polo player, a cheerleader, a pirate... no? well there's always the (almost) naked look but don't forget the sunscreen.

And the kiddies can also play as most if not all events have a kid's race. Speaking of, the Li’l Belgians race at the second annual City Bikes DCCX in Washington DC is sponsored by the Belgian Embassy which will be offering all participating kids a special (and tasty) prize.

the week that was

Fairly quiet on the road cycling front as riders take some time off the skinny tires to either have fun on the cross circuit or just simply put aside the steed for a few weeks.

On a sad note, Ed Farrar, a Wenatchee, Washington doctor and father of Garmin-Chipotle's Tyler Farrar, was seriously injured  in  a head-on collision on Skyline Drive when a car crossed into an opposing lane on Wednesday morning. Dr Farrar is a biking enthusiast who blogged about the world of health and fitness. My thoughts and well wishes to Dr Farrar and his  family.

Staying with the argyle team for a bit, on Saturday, November 22 in Boulder, Colorado, the new 2009 Garmin-Chipotle professional cycling team will be introduced and anyone can attend for a price. The evening will include  a Sundance documentary preview, open team Q&A, silent auction and raffle for a complete 2008 team issue Felt F1.


The  Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast team wrapped up its 2008 season with a final race, the 108 km Criterium de Levallois outside of  Paris,  France last weekend.   The four-man team consisted of Reid Mumford, David Veilleux, Jonny Sundt and Jake Keogh was active throughout the 60 laps around the 4-corner  1.8km course. Mumford jumped into a break that lapped the field, sprinted and won a series of primes and finished in tenth place. Italian  Fissore Fabio (Promo Cicloi-Brunero) won ahead of  Alexandre Lemair (Roubaix Lille Metrople) and Haynes Hamish (Yawadoo Colba). For his efforts, Mumford was awared the Most Aggressive Rider Award.

US Women’s Cycling Development Program (USWCDP) Mentor and Professional Cyclist Dotsie Bausch has joined forces with JETCycling to serve as the Vice President of Athletic Development. In this key role, she will be looking at the overall strategy and development of juniors within the JETCycling program. Based in Southern California, JETCycling's focus  is to build the foundation of junior competitive road cycling working with juniors  between the ages 10 to 18. The program takes hands on approach to coaching, backed with education and a pillar of ethics for juniors.

“JETCycling is a program I truly believe in with my heart and soul. It has been such an honor to work with these kids throughout the summer. It is inspirational to me to ride with them. They keep me fresh and on my toes. I really look forward to the future with these budding stars and the JETCycling program." said Dotsie.

On the team transfer front, Tour of Georgia stage winner Richard England has announced that he will be riding with the Italian Continental team Amore e Vita-McDonald's for the 2009 season.    His contract with the Bissell team was not renewed, and the Australian told cyclingnews that he not only  looked forwards "to returning to the US to race against many of the people who I have befriended the past five years"  but also wanted to "prove to my old team that they made a big mistake when planning for their programme in 2009".

On the rumorage front, it seems that the Rock Racing team will also field a Master's team next year as team owner Michael Ball wants to race. Rumors of signings of SoCal masters racers to join him are floating around but nothing official as of yet.

CrossVegas on TV - in certain markets (yes once again).  6-time Emmy awarding winning producer Kent Gordis of Kent Gordis Productions produced the 30-minute program on the international cyclocross race held September 24 in Las Vegas.  The first broadcast is scheduled for October 25 at 2pm MDT on the Altitude Sports and Entertainment Network which is available in a 10 state region that includes all or parts of: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah. Complete schedule available, including repeated airtimes, on altitude.tv.

Team Swift - Ride fast, ride smart, be swift!

Cycle with Champions. Support the Team Swift Junior Cycling Development Program and ride with (and watch the younguns try and drop the pros)  BMC's Tony Cruz, Mike Sayers, and Scott Nydam and Swift alumni Steven Cozza of the Garmin-Chipotle team on a beautiful 30 mile or 50 mile ride through Sonoma Wine Country on Sunday, October 26, 2008. (Schedule and pricing info here).

So what is Team Swift?

Team Swift Junior Development is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community based youth bicycling organization.  Created and directed by retired pro-cyclist Laura Charameda, Team Swift's mission is to develop elite bicyclists from beginners, helping riders aged between 10 to 18 years of age to navigate through the different stages during development as junior cyclists by bringing them many resources including equipment, coaching and technical advice.

"Swift is great. When I was a junior I had no clue about cycling, I didn't know where to go and Swift and Laura showed me the direction in cycling and that's basically what led me to be where I am right now. Without Swift I had no direction, I didn't even know where to go race so it's pretty cool." said Cozza earlier this summer about Team Swift.

Team Swift also teaches the rules and etiquette of cycling to help create good ambassadors for our sport as well as good community members. As part of the program, the junior cyclists on the team also create race reports which can be read on their teamswift blog.

Boys and girls of all levels of riding ability take part in the program with the development pipeline moving younger club riders of beginning skill levels up to the elite level of junior racers if they choose to dedicate themselves to cycling. Once a rider is at a  more advanced level, the expectations shift to developing the competitive aspect of the sport. Discipline becomes emphasized at this level and riders must demonstrate this discipline in their training, their ability to be coached and their overall desire to represent the team and the program. The Team Swift riders have a full calendar of local, regional and national events, including the US Nationals.

The name Laura Charameda should be familiar but let me refresh your memory. As a top sprinter in the 1990s, racing both in the United States and Europe, Charameda racked up over 250 career victories which included  two National Criterium Championships, stage wins at the Tour du Feminin, a bronze medal in the World Championships  behind Jeannie Longo and Leontien Van Moorsel.  She was also a member of the U.S. National Team from 1993-1998.

She was racing for two teams, an Italian and an American team in 1996 when disaster hit.  And the end of the season after the World Championships, she injured her back  and herniated a disk.  After not taking the time to heal properly,  in a one year timeframe, Charameda had two discectomies and a fusion to the area, and  knee surgery, and had to retire to let her body recover.

During this time of healing, she focused her attention on training and coaching kids. Her coached athletes have ranged from absolute beginners to world class athletes such as Katheryn Curi, the 2005 U.S. National Women’s Road Race Champion; Steve Cozza; and Nathan Miller, another Team Swift graduate who raced with the BMC Racing Team in 2008. Charameda also held directing positions with multiple women’s cycling teams.

Oh and Charameda was also  responsible for organizing and served as race director for the Pro Women's Criterium in Santa Rosa during the 2008 Amgen Tour of California.

"It has been a central philosophy of Team Swift that the overall success of American cycling depends upon widespread opportunities for young cyclists. The support of our local cycling community is key to helping more young people experience the benefits offered by Team Swift. We want to bring you fast, smart, swift riders to your communities and cycling clubs."

Read more on Laura Charameda and other fabulous women of racing at  ProCyclingWomen.com

Photo of Laura Charameda courtesy of Team Swift

the week that was

It's been awhile.

Last weekend, the third edition of the UCI 2.2  Vuelta a Chihuahua concluded on Sunday October 12. Francisco Mancebo (Fercase–Rota dos Moveis) successfully defended to take the honors of the  7-stage, 875.5 km (544 mile) race ahead of Gregorio Ladino (Tecos-Trek) and Iker Camaño Ortuzar (Scott-American Beef). Mancebo grabbed the leader's jersey after stage 4 when he finished third in the ITT and never let go.   Raúl Alcalá returned to racing after retiring 14 years agobut the 44-years old crashed in the second stage and had to abandon the race.

The Garmin-Chipotle squad finished with two riders in the top ten overall,  Tom Peterson in fourth place and Jason Donald in eighth.  Patrick McCartney took control of the pink KOM jersey on the second stage when he went into a 8-man break and never let go.

Peterson also won the U23 classification. The only bad news for the team was the crash of Donald in the final kilometers of the last stage where ue was accorded the same time as the stage winner and kept his position on GC. Donald was diagnosed with a chip on the posterior side of the greater trocanter of the femur. According to the team, "It’s not serious and a couple of weeks on crutches should do the trick. We expect a quick heal.”

Canadian François Parisien (Team Race Pro) survived multiple crashed including one in the final stage to win the intermediate sprints competition. According to Parisien, the goal of the team's participation in the race was to show off the team in an international competition. "Mark Walters, Ryan Roth and myself tried to show our jersey. For the young riders, it was more gaining experience."

Team Race Pro  team's management was looking towards the next season when they send their riders to Chihuahua as they are looking to expand the difficulty of the races for the team.  Parisien has re-signed with the team for the upcoming season, and he was happy that he turned to this team in 2008. "It was one of the very good decisions that I've taken in my career."

The Mexican team  Tecos de la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara-Trek team finished with two riders in the top ten, Tour of the Gila winner Ladino who finished second and Juan P. Magallanes in seventh place.  Rider Luis Macas also won stage 6 and took home the overall team classification.

All photos above courtesy of Vuelta a Chihuahua. Lots more fabulous photos on the race site.

After returning from the Vuelta a Chihuahua, Garmin-Chipotle's Christophe Laurent announced that he was leaving the team and returning to Agritubel for the 2009 season. Even though Laurent had another year to his contract,   the integration and communication challenges he faced throughout the year made him reconsider his  move to a non-French team and after discussions with Jonathan Vaughters, the decision was made, amicably, to move back to France.

The CSC-Saxo  Bank team dominated the  6-stage Jayco Herald Sun Tour which ended on October 18 by winning 4 stages including the preface, pulling off a 1-2 in the overall classification with Australian Stuart O'Grady on top ahead of teammate Lars Bak and repeat stage winner Matt Goss claiming the points classification. Toyota-United Ben Day finished this in GC, defending champion Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) won the KOM title.  Glen Chadwick was the highest placed finisher for his Team Type 1 in sixth place, Dominique Rollin joined his Toyota-United teammate in the top 10 and Canadian Will Routley (Bicycle Superstore Canada) finished in the ninth spot.

Lots of rumors on the team news front with riders still looking for contracts, but for now I'll stick to facts (for now).   Kristin Sanders who rode for the Aaron's Cycling team will be joining the ValueAct Capital Cycling Team and Tim Farnham (Team Norcal Bike Sport) will join the Bissell team as a neo-pro next year.

Coming up. The USGP Mercer Cup p/b Knapp’s Cyclery will host a cyclocross clinic at the campus of The College of New Jersey on Sunday, October 26th on the Green Lane fields.  Beginning at 1 PM, the clinic is free but size is limited to the first 25 riders. The clinic will focus on basic cyclocross techniques including mounting, dismounting, shouldering and carrying of the bike, navigating obstacles and basic race strategy.

Can't make it to New Jersey? No worries if you're in Northern California. The inimitable Velo Bellas have put together their great cross clinic on October 25, the day before the Spirit of Surf City Cyclocross in Soquel CA.

Ride with the pros and do some good. Join Saul Raisin and Joao Correia (Bissell) for the  Spin for Kids Charity Ride on October 26th in Georgia. A fund-raiser ride for the Camp Twin Lakes a not-for-profit organization that offers year-round recreational, therapeutic, and educational programs for children with serious illnesses and life challenges. Can't make it to the ride? S'okay , you can still donate.

Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) and Chuck Coyle (Successful Living) will be providing a Boulder based training ride to the winner of the upcoming Moving to End Sexual Assault's annual raffle. The cycling package includes lots more.... The proceeds from the raffle will benefit Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA), the Boulder County Rape Crisis & Information Hotline. The winner of the raffle will be drawn at MESA's annual Brave Bold & Beautiful held on Friday, October 24th in Boulder.

A closer look at the 2009 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar (NRC)

Earlier this week, USA Cycling announced the 2009 National Racing Calendar (NRC) topping off at 34 events, one more than last year, which includes 27 women's races and 29 men's races. 

Gone from this year's calendar are 8 races including Sequoia Cycling Classic, Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix, Sea Otter Classic, Tour de Nez, ATT Austin Downtown Crit, the Cox Charities Cycling Classic and the Louisville Metro Police Foundation Crit.

The good news is that the calendar includes 8 new events starting off with the $25,000 Amgen Tour of California Women's Stage Race held at the same time as the UCI Men's race. Other new races include the Dana Point Grand Prix of Cycling, the Tour de Windhaven, the Chicago Criterium, the Tour of Elk Grove, the Marion Classic Riverwalk, the ING Direct Capital Criterium powered by CycleLife , the San Francisco Twilight Criterium and the Priority Health Ann Arbor Cycling Classic p/b Saint Joseph Mercy Medical System.

The 27 events on the women's calendar include 10 stage races, 2 more than last year which combined with the one-day races provide 76 days of racing as opposed to 54 in 2008. On the men's side, 11 stage races are included in the 29 events providing a total of 70 days of racing compared to 71 last year. As a reminder, the men also have the UCI America's Tour which include events such as the Amgen Tour of California, the Tour of Leelanau, the Tour of Missouri and more.

Still same disparity in the prize money. The overall prize list for the 2009 NRC is $1,378,660, with the overall purse for women coming to $424,330 compared to $954,330 for the men.   Of note, with $57,330 up for grabs, the International tour de 'Toona offers the largest women's prize purse.

While some problems with the calendar have been fixed, there are still some eyebrow raising decisions.  The two big money races, the Tour of Elk Grove and the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational are no longer going to head to head and are on different weekends.

But there is still a big gap of 6 weeks between the first race of the calendar, the Amgen Tour of California and the next race, the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Another big problem is the 3-day gap between the 7-day stage race the International Tour de 'Toona in Pennsylvania and the 5-day  Cascade Cycling Classic in Oregon.

Add to the WTF file is the just announced  first-annual National Racing Calendar (NRC) Promoters Summit in Colorado Springs Nov. 14-16, 2008. A great idea except that the three-day event will be open to all  and only the 2009 NRC race promoters. As Olaf pointed out:

"what about all the previous NRC promoters and the wealth of experience they could bring to such a summit?  What about potential NRC promoters who could benefit from attending such a summit?  Shouldn’t they all be invited to a 3-day event of such importance?"

2009 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar
Date	Cat	Men/ Women	Race, Location
14-16 Feb	2.4	W	Amgen Tour of California Women's Stage Race, California
26-29 Mar	2.2	M/W	Redlands Bicycle Classic, Redlands CA
26 Apr	1.5	M/W	Dana Point Grand Prix of Cycling, Dana Point CA
29 Apr–3 May	2.3	M/W	Tour of the Gila,Silver City, NM
2 May	1.4	M/W	Sunny King Criterium, Anniston, AL
3 May	1.4	M/W	Nalley Historic Roswell Criterium, Roswell GA
7-10 May	2.2	M/W	Joe Martin Stage Race, Fayetteville AR
11-17 May	2.1	M/W (*)	Oregon Pro Cycling Classic, Portland OR
16 May	1.4	M/W	Bank of America Wilmington Grand Prix, Wilmington DE
17 May	1.4	M	Kelly Cup, Baltimore MD
24 May	1.1	W (*)	Tour de Leelanau, Leelanau MI
25 May	1.4	M/W	Tour of Somerville, Somerville NJ
29-31 May	2.6.2	M/W	Tulsa Tough, Tulsa OK
30 May	1.2	M/W	CSC Invitational, Arlington VA
7 Jun	1.1	W (*)	Liberty Classic (Women), Philadelphia PA
10-14 Jun	2.1	M/W	Nature Valley Grand Prix, Minnesota
21 Jun	1.5	M	Tour de Winghaven, St Louis MO
28 Jun	1.3	M/W	Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, Manhattan Beach CA
2-5 Jul	2.3	M/W	Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, Fitchburg MA
13-19 Jul	2.4	M/W	The International Tour de Toona, Pennsylvania
18 Jul	1.3	M	Boise Twilight Criterium, Boise ID
22-26 Jul	2.3	M/W	Cascade Cycling Classic, Bend OR
26 Jul	1.4	M	Chicago Criterium, Chicago IL
31 Jul-2 Aug	2.2	M	Tour of Elk Grove, Elk Grove Village IL
8 Aug	1.1	M/W	Presbyterian Hospital Invitational, Charlotte NC
9 Aug	1.4	M/W	Hanes Park Classic, Winston Salem NC
18-23 Aug	2.4	M	Tour of Utah, Utah
22 Aug	1.5	M/W	Marion Classic Riverwalk Criterium, Marion IN
23 Aug	1.4	M	ING Direct Capital Criterium Powered by Cyclelife, Washington DC
30 Aug	1.2	M/W	Chris Thater Memorial, Binghamton NY
5 Sep	1.5	M/W	San Francisco Twilight Criterium, San Francisco CA
7 Sep	1.3	M/W	US 100K Classic, Atlanta GA
12 Sep	1.5	W	Priority Health Grand Cycling Classic p/b Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids MI
13 Sep	1.5	W	Priority Health Ann Arbor Cycling Classic p/b Saint Joseph Mercy Medical System, Ann Arbor MI

*: Women's races are also on the UCI International Calendar

Dominique Rollin Interview - it was a good year

Quite a year for Canadian Dominique Rollin. On his first year with the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team and his second year racing on the North American circuit, he caught everyone’s attention after the fourth stage at the Tour of California, the 135-mile (217 km) slog from Monterey to San Luis Obispo. In horrendous weather conditions, Rollin pulled away from his breakaway companions with 12 miles (20 kms) to go and held off some of the best riders in the world, including a chasing George Hincapie (Columbia) to take the stage win after nearly seven and a half hours in the saddle. He also went on to win the Sprint Competition.

Throughout the year, the 6 foot 2 inches, 182-pound Rollin worked hard for his team to bring in victories and Rollin himself finished thirteen times on the top step of the podium in 2008 (so far) which included a stage win at the Cascade Cycling Classic and the CSC Invitational.

I caught up with a relaxed Rollin at the start of the Tour of Missouri where after joking about wishing for windy and horrible weather conditions for the upcoming race, Rollin who excels and loves racing in bad weather, looked back at his year.

Rollin spent years racing on French amateur teams learning the craft and expressed his interest in returning to Europe during the interview. “I want to try Europe, I want to see something different, to have a different calendar, not to go from the hardest race in America to crits.”

Read full interview on RoadBikeReview.com 

Jayco Herald Sun Tour preview

While the road season is finished in the Northern Hemisphere, the action is heating up down under with Australia’s oldest stage race, now in its 57th year,  the Jayco Herald Sun Tour which started today. For the next seven days, 14 professional cycling teams including ProTour teams and riders familiar to the North American Racing scene will compete in the 389-mile (627.5 km) stage race held predominantly in Gippsland and eastern Victoria.

Last year, Hodgkin’s disease survivor Matt Wilson then riding for Unibet.com won the “greatest prize of his career” in front of an adoring home crowd. The 30-year-old Victorian, who now rides for Team Type 1, is back to defend his title. He will be joined by his teammate and fellow countryman Fabio Calabria who is believed to be the first rider with Type 1 diabetes to compete.

While Wilson will wear bib number 1 as the defending champion, Chadwick might ultimately wind up as Team Type 1's leader.

"I don't know how long I'll be able to go," said the 31-year-old Wilson who  has been slowed by a knee injury that has limited his training.

The squad directed by Ed Beamin will start with one less rider than the other 13 teams after Chris Jones was unable to make the trip. Jones has been sick since helping Glen Chadwick win the Vuelta Mexico last month.

West Australian Henk Vogels returns to the Sun Tour  with his Toyota-United team that includes a Canadian, Dominique Rollin, a Kiwi, Heath Blackgrove and a number of fellow Australians such as brothers Jonnie and Hilton Clarke who both hail from Victoria. Ben Day who also won the Sun Tour's 2006 time-trial, is in excellent form having finished sixth overall in last week's Tour of Missouri.

Hilton Clarke, a multiple Tour stage winner and 2006 points champion, said he was looking forward to getting back after missing last year’s race due to injury. "It is such an advantage to know a lot of the roads in country Victoria -- that local knowledge should be a big help." he added.

The Jelly Belly team will be led by Victorian Nic Sanderson and includes fellow Australian Matty Rice and Brad Huff. Other familiar names include Victorian Richard England riding for the Virgin Blue Australian national team, who will be hunting for stage wins.

Canada is also represented by a composite team, the Bicycle Superstore Canada squad, led by eight-time Canadian Champ Eric Wohlberg. The team includes   fellow Symmetrics' Andrew Randell and Will Routley, U23 riders  Eric Boily and Bruno Langlois.

For many riders on the hunt for contracts, this race could be the last chance to show off to North American teams.

The race opened up with a preface (not a traditional prologue) but a circuit race in Traralgon on Sunday 12 October. Stage one to Inverloch and two to Warragul may also see the sprinters do battle for victory but the winds can be strong in this area of Gippsland so anyone expecting an easy ride is in for a surprise.

The race heads to the mountains for stage three with the finish in picturesque Marysville. The climbing on this stage is not tough enough to decide the Tour but, for those prepared to take some risks on the final tricky descent, provide an opportunity to take time on the other favourites.

Stage four is the moment of truth and the queen stage of the race. The 115.4 kilometres from Alexandra to Mt Buller will be the day that the real contenders for victory try and take the yellow jersey.

If the mountain has its way, just two or three riders will be left in contention for the overall victory going into the individual time trial at TarrWarra Estate Winery on stage five. The vineyards and rolling hills of the celebrated wine region form the perfect backdrop to the test of truth.

Traditionally the final stage is an opportunity for the leader of a Tour to bask in the glory of wearing the yellow jersey. Not so at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. The last two years have seen the race decided by just a handful of seconds making stage six anything but a relaxing ride around Lygon Street, Melbourne, for those chasing the final yellow jersey.

Subscribe to Sun Tour's RSS feed to stay current with all the race news.

Matt Wilson photo courtesy of Team Type 1

The week that was

(A belated) catching up with the news from the past week. On the team and rider front, Team Type 1 announced four riders for the 2009 roster, Chris Jones and Moises Aldape are returning and new to the team are Ricardo Escuela from Successful Living and Ken Hanson from California Giant Berry Farms. Philip Gaimon who was previously announced on the Premier Sports Partners team (renamed Time Pro Team) in 2009 is now joining the Jelly Belly Cycling Team. Gaimon recived an offer from the Dany Van Haute team after the first announcement and decided to go with the more established team which will give him opportunities to race in the bigger US races. After winning stage 4 of the Vuelta a Chihuaha, Francisco Mancebo told Velonews that he is in talks with Rock Racing but no deal has been struck. Meanwhile,  young Adam Switters announced that he will not be riding with Rock Racing next year.

The Garmin-Chipotle team pursued and was granted a four-year UCI ProTour license. I guess this is a good thing now that the UCI and GT organizers war is seemingly over. As a reminder, the ProTour races now include the Tour Down Under (AUS), the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco (ESP), the Tour de Romandie (SUI), the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (ESP), the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian-San Sebastian (ESP), the Tour de Pologne (POL), the GP Ouest France-Plouay (FRA), Vattenfall Cyclassics (GER), Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (FRA) and Tour de Suisse (SUI).

Canadian TT Champion Svein Tuft who finished second in the World Championships Time Trial in Varese, Italy, said that samples taken during the competition should be retested for doping. "I think it’s fair." Tuft told CBC Sports. "If they’re that serious about cleaning up the sport, then I’m for retesting." 

Tuft sports an upside 13 tattoo on his left wrist which stands as a symbol against doping. According to the Symmetrics team, "Svein was team mates with Mat Decanio on Prime Alliance. After Matt came clean for doping and started stolen underground he adopted the upside down 13 as a symbol against doping in cycling. Svein's tattoo is inspired by Decanio, but for him it stands as a personal symbol against doping and for the fact he's proud that through all the crap he's been through in cycling, he never chose to go down that path."

Tuft's neighbor, friend and team mate on the Symmetrics team and now on the Garmin-Chiptole team for the next season, Canadian Road Champion Chris Meier showed some photos on his blog of the Canadian Champ color scheme that his new Felt bike should have next year. Pretty sweet.

More chances to ride or chat with pros while doing a good deed.  Go and ride with two of track racing's coolest guys - Adam Duvendeck and Travis Smith and help raise money for Deaf Schools.  The fundraiser for Deaf Schools is one day ride planned in Northern California in Fall of 2008 which will go through the Fremont and Coyote Hills park close to the bay on Sunday, October 19th, 2008. More info at RidingForDeafSchools.org, including a fabulous video.

Take a ride on October 18th with multi-time US National Champion, 13 time Tour de France veteran George Hincapie to get NYC school kids on bikes. All proceeds for the rider will go to I Challenge Myself (ICM). ICM challenges and supports youth from under served communities in New York City to achieve physically, socially and academically through their innovative cycling program-- Cycling Smarts.  More info at ichallengemyself.org.

Lastly, USA Cycling introduced the Joshua Kuck Memorial Scholarship Fund, a new collegiate program which will annually award two scholarships to student-athletes who excel in the areas of cycling safety, advocacy and education. Funded by the USA Cycling Development Foundation, the Joshua Kuck Memorial Scholarship Fund was created in memory of the collegiate cyclist whose name the program now bears.

Team Type 1 brings in Escuela and Hanson and re-signs Jones and Aldape

Earlier this week, Team Type 1 announced some of the riders that will be on the roster for 2009. Contrary to last year, when Team Type 1's DS Ed Beamon started "putting the team together in November" which to Beamon "didn't leave us a lot of opportunities to get the riders we wanted.", this year, on its second-year as a professional Continental squad, the team has started to beef up its sprinting strength with the addition of Argentinian speedster Ricardo Escuela and U.S. Elite Criterium Champion Ken Hanson.

It's no secret that a weakness of ours this year was not having any depth in the sprint finishes,” Beamon said. “We are making moves to fill that void and Ricardo is a key addition. He has shown that he is capable of winning the bunch kick in criteriums, as well as hard selection-type races. He can also put himself in the breakaways where his finishing speed becomes that much more dangerous.”

Escuela, 25, established himself as one of the top sprinters on the domestic circuit in 2008 by winning stages at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and the Cascade Classic while racing for Successfulliving.com presented by ParkPre.

The 26-year old Hanson won the USA Cycling Elite Men's National Criterium Championship at Downers Grove, Ill., in August to begin a string of impressive victories that included the San Ardo (Calif.) Road Race and the Priority Health Ann Arbor Cycling Classic in Michigan in September. Hanson has also won on the international level, having captured the first stage of the FBD Insurance RÁS in Ireland in May and being a part of the winning team time trial squad last year at the 45th Giro del Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The team also announced that both Mexican Moises Aldape and American Chris Jones have re-upped with the team.

The 27-year old Aldape represented Mexico at the Summer Olympics in Beijing after winning the King of the Mountains classification and one stage of the Bend Memorial Cascade Cycling Classic, as well as the sprint classification at the Tour de Beauce. Aldape is also remembered for his sixth place finishing on infamous Brasstown Bald Mountain, the decisive stage at the Tour de Georgia.

The 29-year old Jones scored his second straight top 10 finish at the US Pro Road Race Championship in Greenville after winning the Patterson Pass Road Race earlier in August. The Redding, Calif., native also played a key role at the Vuelta Mexico and the Tour of Arkansas, both of which were won by Team Type 1’s Glen Chadwick.

Fewer than three years ago, Jones was racing on his own, traveling around the country by car and racing as often as possible.

"I went to college, got a real job and then realized 'ohh this isn't quite as fun as I thought it would be', so yeah took a chance and rode amateur by myself for a year and last year, rode for Nerac and this year, it's paying off." said Jones earlier this year about his decision to take a chance on professional cycling.

More news in the coming weeks while the 2009 roster is being finalized.

Moise Aldape photo courtesy of Team Type 1

Tour de Nez on Universal Sports TV this week but only in select markets

An hour recap of the Tour de Nez held around the Tahoe area in California at the end June will air this week, beginning on Thursday, October 9 at 6:00 pm PDT, on  Universal Sports TV in select markets around the United States.

The air dates, for this week, are (please check online schedule)

• Thursday, October 9, 6:00 pm PDT (9:00 pm EDT) and 9:00 pm PDT (12:00 am EDT)
• Friday, October 10, 11:00 am PDT (2:00 pm EDT)

The Universal Sports affiliates are available in Los Angeles, San Diego, Greenwich/Stamford, Hartford/New Haven, DC, Chicago, Omaha, Albay, New York City, Las Vegas, Reno/Lake Tahoe and Dallas/Fort Worth. Complete list is available here.

The overall victory of the 5-stage Mighty Tour de Nez came down to a battle between the Bissell and Kelly Benefit/Medifast teams in the last stage, the Northstar-at-Tahoe Village Circuit Race  where Aaron Olson came out victorious.

While you're at, set up your DVR and/or TiVO and record the Tour of Georgia and UCI Road World Championships which are also on the schedule - while the rest of us not in the select markets  are green with envy

Your 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Champions

Over 5 days, the following National titles were awarded at the 2008  USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships held at at the ADT Event Center veldorome at the Home Depot Center:

Taylor Phinney (Garmin-Chipotle) men’s kilometer time trial men’s 4,000-meter team pursuit with teammates Daniel Holloway, Colby Pearce  and David Koesel men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit (and new track record) photo courtesy Vero Images

David Espinoza (Herbalife) U23 men's kilometer time trial

Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) men's standing 250-meter time trial U23 men's match sprint (Photo courtesy USA Cycling)

Daniel Holloway (Garmin-Chipotle) men’s 4,000-meter team pursuit with teammates Taylor Phinney, Colby Pearce and  David Koesel men's scratch race U23 men's points race men's madison with Colby Pearce (Garmin-Chipotle) photo courtesy Vero Images

Colby Pearce (Garmin-Chipotle) men’s 4,000-meter team pursuit with teammates  Daniel Holloway, Colby Pearce  and  David Koesel men's points race men's madison with  Daniel Holloway (Garmin-Chipotle) (Photo from  LA  World Cup in January 2008)

David Koesel (Garmin-Chipotle) men’s 4,000-meter team pursuit with teammates Taylor Phinney, Daniel Holloway and Colby Pearce

Julian Kyer (RMCEF Racing) U23 men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit

Jimmy Watkins (Momentum) men's match sprint men's keirin men's team sprint with Dean Tracy (LandRover-Orbea), Kelyn Akuna (Veritas Cycling)

Dean Tracy (LandRover-Orbea) men's team sprint with Kelyn Akuna (Veritas Cycling) and Jimmy Watkins (Momentum)

Kelyn Akuna (Veritas Cycling)  men's team sprint with Dean Tracy (LandRover-Orbea) and Jimmy Watkins (Momentum)

Cari Higgins (Proman-Paradigm) women’s 500-meter time trial women’s keirin women's sprint women's team sprint with Liz Reap-Carlson (Verducci/Breakaway Racing) (photo courtesy Proman-Paradigm team)

Kimberly Geist (Metro Volkswagen) women’s 3,000-meter individual pursuit U23  women’s 3,000-meter individual pursuit women’s 3,000-meter team pursuit with Alison Powers (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Shannon Koch (Metro Volkswagen) (Photo courtesy of Metro Volkswagen Cycling team)

Alison Powers (Colavita-Sutter Home) women’s 3,000-meter team pursuit with  Kimberly Geist (Metro Volkswagen) and Shannon Koch (Metro Volkswagen) (Photo courtesy of  Colavita-Sutter Home)

Shannon Koch (Metro Volkswagen) women’s 3,000-meter team pursuit with Kimberly Geist (Metro Volkswagen), and Alison Powers (Colavita-Sutter Home) (Photo courtesy of Metro Volkswagen Cycling team)

Cristin Walker (Northwest Cycling Club/Alkek) U23 women’s 500-meter time trial U23 women's sprint

Shelley Olds (Proman-Paradigm) women's scratch race  (Photo from  LA  World Cup in January 2008)

Kacey Manderfield (Verducci/Breakaway Racing) women's points race U23  women's points race

Liz Reap-Carlson (Verducci/Breakaway Racing) women's team sprint with Cari Higgins (Proman-Paradigm)

Day 5 results of 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships

USA Cycling awarded the final 5 Stars-and-Stripes jerseys as the 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships concluded at the ADT Event Center velodrome at the Home Depot Center on Sunday.

In the Madison, the Garmin-Chipotle duo of Colby Pearce and Daniel Holloway scored 38 points to beat Guy East (CRCA) and Austin Carroll (Rock Racing), while the pairing of Ian Moir (Rock Racing) and Daniel Heeley (Southbay Wheelmen) finished a lap down to place third. That makes 3 titles for Pearce and 4 for Holloway.

In the women’s points race, 22-year old Kacey Manderfield (Verducci Breakaway Racing) won the event to claim both the elite and U23 titles. Manderfield was one of six riders to lap the field and won two intermediate sprints to score 34 points. Alison Powers (Colavita-Sutter Home) was second with 29 points, while Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci Breakaway Racing) finished third with 27.

With two titles under his belt, Jimmy Watkins (Momentum) teamed up with Dean Tracy (Land Rover-Orbea) and Kelyn Akuna (Veritas Cycling) to score a team sprint championship. In second place were Lanell Rockmore, David Espinoza, Stephen Hill and Justin Williams and the trio of Ryan Crane, Daniel Walker and Andrew Weathers (Hurricane Ike Survivors) were third.

Women’s sprinters also took center stage over the weekend as Cari Higgins (Proman-Paradigm) completed a sweep of all three events. After her keirin, 500-meter time trial and sprint titles, Higgins teamed up with Liz Reap-Carlson (Verducci Breakaway Racing) to win the team sprint. Becky Lang and Dana Feiss riding for Home Depot Center finished second and the Team U23 pair of Cristin Walker and Andrea Fisk were third.

Mitch Clinton photos
Full results.

Vuelta a Chihuahua preview and the return of Raúl Alcalá

The third edition of the UCI 2.2  Vuelta a Chihuahua starts today in Mexico with 17 teams from 8 countries vying for the overall win of the 7-stage, 875.5 km  (544 mile) race.  The big news is the return of 44-year old Raúl Alcalá who is returning to  racing after retiring 14 years ago - seems to be a trend. Alcalá who was the first Mexican to participate in the Tour de France  will be racing with the Mexican team Rica Burger.

The total purse of $80,000.00 dollars will be awarded with $10K earmarked for the overall winner and $3K for each stage winner. 

The two North American teams participating are  Garmin-Chipotle and Team Race Pro. No start list available but according to the team's website, Garmin-Chipotle riders are  Tom Peterson, Jason Donald, Christophe Laurent, Pat McCarty and Caleb Fairly.

The European teams include  the two Spanish teams Xacobeo-Galicia  and Contenpolis-Murcia.  Elk Haus from Austria, the Swiss-registered teams NGC Medical  and Scott-American Beef  with Juanjo Cobo, José Angel Gómez Marchante, and the two teams from Portugual Lagos Benfica and Fercase Rota dos Moveis led by last year's winner Francisco Mancebo. Asia is also represented by the Meitan Hompo GDR team from Japan.

Rounding off the roster are the Mexican teams Canel’s Turbo, Code Jalisco, San Marcos, Orven Seek, Rica Burger and Tecos Trek y Universidad de Chihuahua. Photos from the team presentation can be seen on race website (in flash),

The route is almost the same as last year except that the organizers removed the initial circuit of Ciudad Juarez and added an individual time trial for stage 4.

The 147.8 km (92 mile) stage 1 from the  Chihuahua to Camargo is  a stage for the sprinters and includes one mountain and three intermediate sprint lines.

On Tuesday October 7, the riders will be faced with the Queen stage, the 188.7 km (117 mile) stage 2 from Parral to Guachochi with five KOMs as it hits  the Sierra Tarahumara mountain range.

Stage 3 is another difficult day in the mountains. During the 155.9 km (97 mile) from Guachochi  to Creel, the riders will face 7 KOMs including the final climb to the finish line and 2 sprint lines scattered in the beginning.  

Stage 4 is still in the Sierra Tarahumara mountain range for the 18.9 km (12 mile)  time trial over rolling terrain.

Finally in stage 5, the road starts going down. After 152.8 km (95 mile) course from Creel to Cuauhtémoc with 3 KOMs, and 3 sprint lines, the riders leave the mountain range.

Stage 6 is practically all downhill.  The 126.3 km (78 mile) stage starts in Cuauhtémoc and includes only one climb and 3 sprint lines before fininshing in Chihuahua.

The race concludes on Sunday October 12 with stage 7, the 84 km (52 mile) circuit race in Chihuahua

Update: cyclingnews has posted a startlist

Here is an 8-mnute video created by the organizer and given to all the attending teams at the final reception dinner (thanks to Kevin Field):

Repeat winners at Day 4 of USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships as Higgins makes it three, Pearce and Watkins make it two

Another National Title for Proman-Paradigm's Cari Higgins on Saturday at the 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships at the ADT Event Center veldorome at the Home Depot Center. The 32-year old Higgins beat Elizabeth Carlson (Verducci/Breakaway Racing) to win the  sprint national title, complementing her gold medals in the women’s keirin and elite women’s 500-meter time trial. Colleen Hayduk (BicyclingWorld.com / Kutztown) beat Cristin Walker (Northwest Cycling Club/Alkek) to take third place. As the highest-placed U23 in the standings in sixth,  Walker was awarded her second U23 national title, adding to her gold in the U23 500-meter time trial.

Another repeat winner in the men's keirin as Jimmy Watkins (Momentum) took home the gold medal, making that two titles with his match sprint title won on Friday. Justin Williams (Rock Racing) came in second and Lanell Rockmore (Gotham Cycling) was third.

The third competition of the day was the men's points race won by Colby Pearce (Garmin-Chipotle), his second victory following his win in the 4,000-meter team pursuit. Pearce put on a show as  lapped the field twice, the first time as part of a group of five riders and the second time in a solo move to claim victory. By also winning three intermediate sprints Pearce racked up 66 points to finish ahead of silver medalist Kirk O’Bee (Health Het-Maxxis), who scored 48, and Daniel Holloway (Garmin-Chipotle) with 35 points. As pointed out by a reader, that makes three for Holloway as he can now add the U23 title for the points race to his gold medals in the scratch race and in the team pursuit.

The 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships conclude on Sunday  evening with national titles up for grabs in the men's and women's team sprints, the women's points race and the men's madison.

Full results

Photos of Friday's night session at Elite Track National Championships

 

 

 

Photos courtesy Vero Images

 

Third National title and new track record for Phinney; Proman adds two more golds at Day 3 of USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships

Taylor Phinney (Garmin-Chipotle) did it again and this time set a new track record in the men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit.  The 18-year old  Phinney won his third national title of the week on Friday at the 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships at the ADT Event Center veldorome at the Home Depot Center.

Phinney clocked a time of 4 minutes, 23.514 seconds in the qualifying round to establish the new record besting the previous track record time of 4 minutes 25.8 seconds held by Robert Bartko.

Phinney then went on to beat Daniel Harm (Broadmark) in the gold medal final to win his second consecutive elite title in the individual pursuit.   Third-place finisher Julian Kyer (RMCEF Racing) took the bronze medal ahead of Daniel Lionberg (Colorado State University) and also earned the U23 national championship. That makes three titles  for Phinney: the 4000-meter individual pursuit, the kilometer time trial and 4,000-meter team pursuit.

In the women’s 3,000-meter individual pursuit, Kimberly Geist (Metro Volkswagen) claimed the national title over Alison Powers (Colavita-Sutter Home). Powers qualified first with a mark of 3:50.496, but fell to Geist in the head-to-head final by less than a half second. The 21-year old Geist  also took home  the U23 title.  In the race for the bronze medal, Shannon Koch (Metro Volkswagen) beat Annette Williams (Avanti).

The men’s and women’s scratch titles was also awarded as Daniel Holloway (Garmin-Chipotle) and Shelley Olds (Proman Paradigm) claimed victory. Holloway lapped the field in his 15-kilometer race to secure the men’s title as Kenny Williams (First Rate Mortgage) and Cody O’Reilly (Successful Living) finished second and third overall. In the women’s race, Olds outsprinted Kacey Manderfield (Verducci Breakaway Racing) and Rebecca Quinn (Southbay Wheelmen) in the 15-kilometer contest to take the win.

After the men’s match sprint field was pared down to the final four on Thursday, Jimmy Watkins (Momentum) beat Stephen Hill (East Point Track Club) in two straight rides to win the gold medal while Lanell Rockmore (Gotham Cycling) was awarded the bronze. Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) withdrew before his semifinal match against Hill due to a lingering injury but was still awarded the U23 title.

In the final title decided on Friday, Cari Higgins (Proman-Paradigm)  won the women’s keirin over runner-up Dana Feiss (Tri State Velo) and Cristin Walker (Northwest Cycling Club). This was the second National title for Higgins and the third for her Proman-Paradigm team as she took home the elite women’s 500-meter title the previous day.

The 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships continue on Saturday evening with national titles up for grabs in the elite men’s keirin and the elite and U23 women’s match sprint.

Day 3 Results
Rob Evans and Mitch Clinton Photos

the week that was

End of the season and end of an era in Canadian cycling during the past weeks. Some riders are recovering from the Interbike show last week, others are putting away the road bike for a few weeks, still others are picking up the cross bike and heading for the dirt and (hopefully) mud and  many are looking for a team for the 2009 season.

For the second year of its existence, CrossVegas put on a hell of a show, all the big names in US cross were there and more, but the night belong to Ryan Trebon (Kona). With 2 laps to go, after catching Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), Trebon launched a solo counter move from the select lead group to win the race ahead of a chasing US Cross Champ Tim Johnson (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.Com) and Adam Craig (Giant Mountain Bike Team). The women's race came down to a battle between US Cross Champ Katie Compton (Spike) and Luna Chix's Katrina Nash with Compton taking the victory. Georgia Gould (Luna Chix) finished third.

The other race held during Interbike was the USA Crits Finals in a side parking lot of the Mandalay Bay casino/hotel.  USA Crits Finals winners Hilton Clarke (Toyota-United) and Jen McRae (Advil-Chapstick) are both facing the same challenge of looking for a team for the next season as their teams are disappearing at the end of the year, and Clarke is going to continue to race until he has a job.

With 11 races in the USA Crits Series concluding during Interbike, Yosvany Falcon (Toshiba-Santo) and Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) came out on top to win the Individual Standings, and  Toshiba-Santo and Vanderkitten won the Team standings.   Speaking of Vegas, Spike Shooter's Katie Compton and Time Pro's Adam Myerson won the Double Down at The Mandalay Bay for their consistent performance in both CrossVegas and the USA Crits Finals.  Both have won a vacation package.

Team owner Erik Saunders announced that his Time Pro Cycling team will be renamed as Premier Sports Partners for 2009. The team, which remains a UCI Continental team, also signed six new riders and brought in former Masters National and World Champion Jason Snow to direct the outfit. The 2009 roster will be Andy Baker, Jackie Simes, Eric Barlevav, David Guttenplan, Mike Stoop, Tom Soladay, Daniel Ramsey, Jon Hamblen, Adam Myerson and new additions Mark Hekman, Phillip Gaimon, Logan Loader, Will Hoffarth, Spencer Beamer and Issac Howe.

Mark and Kevin Cunningham announced that the Rusty Chain Projects Inc the management company that owns and operates the Symmetrics Cycling Team will not be operating a professional cycling team in 2009. The Symmetrics Cycling Team has been the most successful cycling team in Canadian cycling history. In the past five years, the team won twelve National Championships (Road and TT) - with a staggering 25 Championship medals, won more than 180 races and has been ranked in the top three teams in the UCI America Tour for the past three seasons. Svein Tuft, Silver medalist at the ITT World Championship and his teammate, friend and neighbor Chris Meier each signed a two-year contract with the Garmin-Chipotle team. As of August 01, Meier was a stagiaire with the Argyle team. More team announcements should be coming soon for other riders in the S-team.

And to recap Interbike news, Toyota-United's Dominique Rollin and Bissell's Teddy King will be joining the new Cevelo-Test team alongside Carlos Sastre. Following his retirement announcement, Bobby Julich is still in discussion with Bjarne Riis for his new role with the CSC-Saxo (IT) team as Bobby declined the DS position since he "can't multitask and doesn't like to drive".

Chance to ride or chat with pros while doing a good deed. The Jittery Joe’s Fall Classic Century, where all registration fees go toward the Athens Area Habitat for Humanity, is scheduled for October 25. More info here.   The NorCal High School Mountain Bike Racing League's annual CycleFest is scheduled for the weekend of November 7. The guest of honor is Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and the events include a cocktail party, a dinner and an exclusive group ride. More info here.

Following a special election to determine the two athlete representatives on the USPRO Board of Trustees, USA Cycling announced that Nick Reistad and Will Frischkorn have won the two open seats. Reistad was also elected to the USA Cycling Board of Directors as the Athlete Director representing USPRO. Forty-four athletes voted in the election, which represents more than 50% of the athletes eligible to vote.  Both Reistad and Frischkorn will each serve four-year terms on the respective Boards.

Lastly, for pure entertainment, in his online diary on cyclingnews,  Canadian MTBer Geoff Kabush talks about the closing ceremony at the Olympic Games where he along with Seamus McGrath went looking for beer and ended having a beer chugging contest with  Yao Ming.



Kabush gave the best line at Interbike when we asked him the day after the CrossVegas race what it was like to have Lance Armstrong in the race, and his answer, delivered in his dry style was "Armstrong, was he there? I never saw him." Brilliant.

Team Pursuit, 500-Meter time trial titles awarded in Day 2 of 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships

Four more national champions were determined Thursday as the 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships continued at the ADT Event Center at the Home Depot Center with team pursuit and women’s 500-meter time trial contests.

In the men’s 4,000-meter team pursuit, Taylor Phinney claimed his second national title of the week when he teamed up with Garmin-Chipotle teammates Daniel Holloway, Colby Pearce  and  David Koesel to clock a winning time of 4:21.047. On Wednesday, Phinney also scored a Stars-and-Stripes jersey in the men’s kilometer time trial. The team of Kenny Williams, Roman Kilun, James Stangeland, Daniel Harm grabbed silver and Team Colorado with Zach Watson, Daniel Lionberg, Ian Burnett and Julian Kyer won the bronze.

In the women’s 3,000-meter individual pursuit, the trio of Kimberly Geist, (Metro VW Cycling Team), Alison Powers (Colavita/Sutter Home) and Shannon Koch (Metro VW Cycling Team) rode a 3:43.959 to earn the national title. The Proman Racing team of Shelley Olds, Christen King and Megan Guarnier finished in second place and the Southbay Wheelmen trio of Kelli Jones, Morgan Kapp and Jennifer Reither was third.

Cari Higgins (Proman-Paradigm) won the elite women’s 500-meter time trial national title with a winning mark of 36.781 seconds, besting runner-up Liz Reap-Carlson (Verducci Breakaway) by a mere .07 of a second and third-place finisher Anna Lang (Aaron’s).

As the highest-placed U23 in the standings in sixth, Cristin Walker was awarded the U23 national title in the 500-meter time trial after posting a time of 37.745.

In other competition on Thursday, Jimmy Watkins (Momentum), Lanell Rockmore (Gotham Cycling), Stephen Hill (East Point Track Club) and Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) all advanced to the semifinals of the men’s sprint. Watkins and Rockmore will square off on Friday in a best-of-three head-to-head format for a spot in the finals while Hill and Blatchford will do the same.

Qualifying heats for the men's and women's scratch races were also held. Those advancing to the finals include Anna Lang (Aaron's), Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci/Breakaway), Alison Powers (Colavita/Sutter Home), and Proman's Shelley Olds and Megan Guarnier for the women, and Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing), Rob Evans (Montano Velo Track), Cody O'reilly (Successful Living), Austin Carroll (Rock Racing), Daniel Holloway (Garmin/Chipotle) and Kirk O'bee (HealthNet/Maxxis) for the men.

On Friday, national titles will be awarded in the men’s elite and U23 match sprint, the men’s and women’s elite and U23 individual pursuit, the women’s keirin, and the men’s and women’s scratch race.


photo of Cari Higgins courtesy Proman-Paradigm
 
Day 2 results
Mitch Clinton photos 

Hilton Clarke is not finishing his season until he has a job

In an unfortunately familiar refrain, USA Crits Finals winner Hilton Clarke of Toyota-United is looking for a job.

"I'm looking for a job, I'm riding as hard as I can, I'm not finishing my season until I've got a job so it's not the best thing for US cycling but all I can do is try and win races to get myself a job." said Clarke after winning the race in Las Vegas.

On May 2, 2008, team owner Sean Tucker announced that Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. had decided not to renew its title sponsorship of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team following the conclusion of the 2008 season. Since then, negocations have been in progress to find a new sponsor but no deal has been signed as of yet.

"It's really disheartening that this brilliant team is going and I really feel for all my teammates because there's not one guy on my team that's got a job, so we are all looking for a job." continued Clarke. 

After three years with the now defunct Navigators Insurance Team, Clarke along with his younger brother Jonny joined the Toyota-United team at the beginning of 2008. The duo was joining a team full of fast men including Ivan Dominguez and Australian leadout expert Henk Vogels.

After a somewhat slow start to his season, the Australian hit his stride by May, where he started to win criteriums, starting with two races during USA Crits Speedweek and finishing up with the USA Crits Finals in Las Vegas, and by the end of that stretch, the 29 year old had added 11 wins to his palmares. 

Back in May, Hilton Clarke won the Mt. Tabor Criterium, stage 1 of the  Mt Hood Cycling Classic

“It's my seventh year racing in America, and this is the first time that I haven't been the only sprinter on the team, it's a great bonus. Tour of Georgia I didn't get to do anything because [Ivan] Dominguez was flying but that's was good because I didn't have that good a form. Now I have good form, the team is riding for me, it's just a matter of rotation, it's great as far as I'm concerned.” said Clarke about riding in a team chockfull of sprinting talent just after winning the Mt Hood crit.

The slow start to his season was due to an injury sustained in the previous year. In 2006, Clarke came to everyone's attention when he won the US PRO Championships in Downers Grove and expectations were high for the future. But the following year, the man who had started cycling at the age of 9,  was faced with a major injury as a rotated pelvis sidelined him for the most of July and into August. And looking back now, it took half a year or longer for him to recover and involved adjusting his position on the bike.

"In 2007, I had a really brilliant start to the year and for the first time in my career I had a really bad injury, it was a bit of a mystery, I had a few problems with my pelvis, and it really set me back and I didn't know what to do about it, it was the first time in my career that I got injured and really the first half of this year, it was still a process of getting myself back, and I'm back, I'm really back now." said Clarke.

And he is continuing to race. Clarke along with six teammates will be racing at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Australia starting on October 12, the final stage race - ever -  for the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

"I'm going to keep racing, if I have a black jersey on I'll keep on racing around until I get myself a team. I'm going to do the Sun Tour, keep racing until I get a job."

Note that his teammate Dominique Rollin is joining the new Cervelo team.

Day 1 results of 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships

Three national champions were crowned on the first day of competition of the 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships.

Following a meteoric rise in the individual pursuit event since last year’s championships, 18-year-old Taylor Phinney scored an elite title in the men’s kilometer time trial. Phinney clocked a winning time of 1 minute, 3.208 seconds to best silver medalist Jimmy Watkins (Momentum Cycling) by more than two seconds, while Stephen Hill (East Point Track Club) finished third.

In the U23 classification of the kilometer time trial, sixth-place overall finisher David Espinoza (Herbalife) was awarded the national title with a mark of 1:07.370. Although only 18, Phinney was ineligible for a U23 championship since he is still considered a Junior.

Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) clocked a time of 18.388 seconds to win the standing 250-meter time trial over Lanell Rockmore (Gotham Cycling) and Jimmy Watkins.

Women's Mass Start and Women's Team Pursuit test events were also held on Wednesday.

Complete results here
Mitch Clinton photos

Elite track national championships Oct. 1-5 in Carson, California

The USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships are the National Championships for the sport, and will feature more than 300 elite cyclists from across the United States – including rising stars, as well as 2012 Olympic hopefuls. The competition features both sprint events such as match sprint, time trial (500m and 1km), Keirin and team sprint and endurance races such as individual pursuit, team pursuit, scratch race, points race and the Madison).

Junior World Champion and 2008 Olympian Taylor Phinney (listed as unattached) who is scheduled to compete will be defending his individual pursuit national title, and will also apply his skills in both the timed events and endurance races. A member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team, Phinney also set a new junior world record at the ADT Event Center in June.  Other Olympians scheduled to compete are Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) and Adam Duvendeck (Momentum Cycling).

Brad Huff (Jelly Belly) and Colby Pearce (Garmin-Chipotle) who competed in the track Olympic trials and emerging sprinter Jimmy Watkins (Momentum Cycling) are also scheduled to compete. U.S. national criterium champions Rahsaan Bahati and Justin Williams lead the Rock Racing squad that includes Sterling Magnell and endurance rider Austin Carroll. Proman's Shelley Olds riding  her recovered BMC trackmaster will be present along with teammates Megan Guarnier and Helene Drumm. Other roadies include Alison Powers (Colavita/Sutter Home), Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci/Breakaway Racing), Taitt Sato (ValueAct), Cody O'Reilly (Successful Living), Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe's), Dan Holloway (Garmin-Chipotle), Roman Kilun (Health Net-Maxxis) and more. List of registered athletes is available here.

The five-day USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships runs from October 1st til the 5th, with the following finals schedule (full schedule) 

• Wednesday, Oct 01: Men 250mTT and 1km TT - Elite & U23
• Thursday, Oct 02: 500m TT - Elite & U23, Team Pursuit Men & Women
• Friday, Oct 03: Women Keirin, Pursuit Men & Women - Elite & U23, Men's Sprint - Elite & U23, Scratch Men & Women
• Saturday, Oct 04: Men Points - Elite & U23, Men Keirin & Women's Sprint
  
• Sunday, Oct 05: Men & Women Team Sprint Final, Men's Madison,  Women's Points Race