KANSAS CITY - The USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships opened on Thursday with just over 50 master-aged riders tackling the demanding course at Kansas City’s Tiffany Springs Park. Gary Thacker (Louisville, Colo./Chipotle-Titus), Phil Bannister (Putney, Vt./Putney-West Hill), Rob Lea (Taneytown, Md./Team Fuji), and Walt Axthelm (Durango, Colo./Durango Wheel Club) won the first of 34 stars-and-stripes jerseys to be awarded at this year’s competition.

With sunny skies and temperatures comfortably in the 30’s the first national championship contest went off at 1:00 p.m. After the early week snow and the morning’s B races, the well-broken-in course made for a slow start to the master men’s 55-59 contest. The slick corners were however no problem for Louisville, Colorado’s Thacker who moved to the front on the first lap and never looked back. The 55-year old veteran mountain biker took up cyclo-cross only three years ago, but has quickly taken to America’s fastest growing cycling discipline.

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Sidi Dragon 2 SRS Carbon Shoes Pro Review - By Russell Clark

• Carbon Sole Replacement System (SRS), a pure carbon insert reaching from the heel to the toe
• Patented Techno II buckle system and Caliper buckle
• Sizes - 39 to 48
• MSRP - $429

My name is Russell Clark. I’m an avid cyclist who dabbles a bit in competitive road cycling and cyclocross racing. Road cycling is a pretty big sport in Europe, and has really gained notoriety in the last decade with stellar performances by a handful of American riders. Cyclocross, on the other hand, is not as popular. I’d say it’s followed by more of what I call ‘the sub-culture of cycling. Cyclocross is a sport which transcended from more of an off-season training regime for professional road cyclists to stay in ‘cycling shape’ during the fall and winter months. In modern-day cyclocross racing, individuals are often challenged by the cold and wet elements of fall & winter. Additionally, courses are designed to challenge the riders’ skill level, often requiring them to dismount, run over/jump obstacles, and remount the machine to carry forward.

The demands of a competitive cyclocross racer are such that his or her shoe must be one that is stable, be compliant enough for the running/jumping bit, offer good traction, and be stiff enough to efficiently transfer the pedal power to forward motion. In my experience, Sidi has been one of the leaders and most highly sought-after shoes for this sport: Cyclocross.

During the past 3 months, I have been testing a pair of “mountain” shoes made by Sidi. This shoe, the Dragon 2 SRS Carbon was the shoe provided by Sidi for me to test. Mountain bike shoes are, for the most part, synonymous with cyclocross shoes. The shoe need for both sports are in parallel, with the added need for running & jumping of barriers, in cyclocross. Now, 3 months might seem like a long time to acquire data, but all weather & terrain conditions were considered…and only recently came to my disposal. My first few rides with the Dragon 2’s were short ones. Once the cleat position was dialed and the 2nd foot bed added, I was ready to venture further than the local trails. I think it took about 4-5 rides for the Dragon 2’s to break-in for me. As I have a low instep, it was necessary for me to add a 2nd foot bed to the shoe for proper fit. Once this was done, the shoe fit perfectly.

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By Steve Cooper

• Frame: R6 Double Butted Alloy
• Fork: Carbon Fiber With Alloy Steerer.
• Sram Rival shifters and derailleurs
• FSA Gossamer 46×36t crankset
• Ritchey Pro wheel set with Hutchinson Bulldog tires
• Available in 7 sizes

The call came in Friday afternoon. “The Redline has arrived”, I repeat “the Redline has arrived”. Mostly set-up, the Conquest Pro didn’t take much time to finish building and match positions to my CCX race bike. I did a test ride in Nisene Marks Saturday morning, and then raced today. Whew, that’s fast. Maybe too fast to work all the kinks out – that’s okay, cause this is going to be a great review ride throughout the hectic CCX race season we’re in the middle of.

In the meantime, here are my first impressions.

Spec: 95% Brilliant. It’s all built around a Redline R6 aluminum frame and a Redline carbon fork. Rival derailleurs front and rear with 09’ Rival shifters make me smile. An FSA Gossamer crank in 46/36 with the SRAM 1070 12-25 rear cassette is my gearing of choice. Avid shorty cantis do the trick, unless the front straddle cable slips loose on lap three (totally attributable to the short set-up window). Other FSA goodness includes a carbon wrap seat post, shallow drop OS bars and stem. Tektro top mounted levers are a new treat for me; I think I’m going to warm up to the option of braking from the flats. The Ritchey DS Pro wheelset looks good and tough. And the rubber? It’s a set of Hutchinson Bulldogs, one of the fattest (but not fastest) set of knobbies you can find these days.

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

Trebon moved from second spot in the NACT standings to first with a wins on both days in Gloucester. Trebon leap-frogged U.S. national champion Tim Johnson (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com) who finished second both days in Gloucester as well as Jeremy Powers (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com) who did not race Gloucester. Trebon now holds 200 points in the series to Johnson’s 170 points. Powers rests in third spot with 90 points.

Under-23 National Champ, Dombroski was also victorious both days in Gloucester and captured maximum points to gain the series lead and the Leader’s Jersey with 158 points. Wendy Simms (Kona) and Sue Butler (Monaviecannondale.com) are tied for second spot with 100 points though neither competed in Gloucester. The Canadian National Cyclocross Championships unfortunately conflicted with Gloucester were Simms defended her women’s title. Dombroski’s two wins will make an interesting battle of Generation Y versus Generation X as the over thirty five paring of Simms and Butler try to take back the lead in the final four races.

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In the women’s race, Katie Compton (Spike Shooter ), Katerina  Nash (Luna Chix Racing Team) and Georgia Gould (Luna Chix Racing Team ) broke away from the field early. Compton stayed in control and took advantage of Gould’s mid-race mishap to keep the Luna riders separate. Compton then powered away from the Nash in the final sprint.

Katie Compton (Spike Shooter)

“Katie is definitely the strongest rider in the field,” commented Nash. ”I decided to stay on her wheel. She is a true cross racer. My team just finished mountain biking. We need a couple of weeks to get into cross racing. I just kept on her wheel and tried to attack her. I couldn’t get away. We did try to put some pressure on each other. We were pretty equally matched today so neither of us could open a big gap.  I had a great time racing today.”

Katerina  Nash (Luna Chix Racing Team)

“It was really hard because Katerina rode really well,” stated Compton.  “It was a challenging race and the course was really tough. I tried everything I could to go fast. We were trying to attack each other and we also tried to have a pace that we both could sustain. It’s pretty hard to get in front on this course. We are just naturally fast starters so we just kept the pace on and we really got a good start. It feels really good to win.”

Compton and Nash keep it close.

Compton, who won a UCI World Cup event last season and finished second at the world cyclocross championship in 2007, said she would be focusing her 2008-09 efforts on European racing.

Elite Women
 
1 Katerine Compton (USA) Spike Shooter                                41.58
2 Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Chix Racing Team                            0.03
3 Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Chix Racing Team                            0.07
4 Kelli Emmett (USA) Giant Bicycles                                    0.18
5 Rachel Lloyd (USA) California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized          0.19
6 Susan Butler (USA) Monaviecannondale.co                              1.26
7 Wendy Simms (Can) Kona                                               2.12
8 Deidre Winfield (USA) Velo Bella - Kona                              2.25
9 Meredith Miller (USA) Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team                       2.26
10 Kari Studley (USA) Velo Bella - Kona                                3.31
11 Laura Van Gilder (USA) C-3 Sollay (Cross Team) Cheerwine            3.52
12 Kathy Sherwin (USA) Velo Bella - Kona                               4.09
13 Shannon Gibson (USA) Velobella                                      4.16
14 Barbara Howe (USA) Velo Bella                                       4.26
15 Natasha Elliott (Can) Emd Serono/Stevens                            4.29
16 Sarah Maile (USA) Ventana Mountain Bikes                            4.36
17 Josie Jacques-Maynes (USA) Specialized/KMC Pb Cal Giant             5.00
18 Tiffany Pezzulo (USA) Park City Iron Man                            5.18
19 Eszter Horanyi (USA) Waltworks/Fuentes Design                       5.25
20 Melodie Metzger (USA) California Giant / Specialized                5.48
21 Kate Scheider (USA) Bikes Belong-Mafia Racing                       5.55
22 Kendall Ryan (USA) Team Cicle Presented By Voler                    6.10
23 Kelli Jones (Can) Sugoi                                             6.22
24 Jennifer Tilley (USA) Velo Bella                                    6.39
25 Kris Walker (USA) Krieg Cycling                                     6.47
26 Lana Atchley (USA) Bailey Bikes                                     7.52
27 Marian Jamison (USA) Velo Bella                                     8.47
28 Dorothy Wong (USA) Team Cicle Presented By Voler                    1 lap
29 Deb Sweeney Whitmore (USA) BMW-Bianchi
30 Heidi Kanayan (USA) Team Cicle
31 Christy Blakely (USA) BMW-Bianchi

All phots copyright Stephanie Gutowski

By Eric Kenney

Cyclocross is huge. Once participated in as training in the fall and winter months for fun it is now a huge international spectacle. Athletes are now focusing their whole year on cyclocross. Even for us Tri geeks and hard core all road all the time people cyclocorss is luring.

The question is coming up more and more; will racing cyclocross be a good option for training in the fall and early winter training?

First lets take a look at your year ahead and behind to answer a few questions.

• Have you had enough time TOTALLY off after your last race/ training block? (I prescribe 2-6 weeks)
• Will you have enough time to rest after your cross season and the start of Base training? (2 weeks)
• How taxing was your summer season of racing and training?
• How much other stressors will you encounter? ($$ for bike, race entry, travel, specific training, etc)

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Boulder Colo. - Alpha Q/True Temper, makers of super premium carbon forks, bars and stems ridden to victory by countless racers, has joined CrossVegas as a supporting sponsor. The international caliber cyclocross race takes place September 24th in Las Vegas during the Interbike tradeshow.

Vince DiMarino, Sales and Business Development Manager, announced the partnership and described the reasons behind the Memphis, Tenn. based company’s decision as ‘a natural extension of our love of competition. Cyclocross is a rapidly growing part of our business, and we want to be part of the spectacle that CrossVegas brings to thousands of Interbike attendees.”

Alpha Q will present the Wheelers and Dealers race, a cyclocross race for bicycle industry members with categories that include: retailer, manufacturer, importer, media, distributor and advocacy. The 30-minute race starts a full evening of racing and fun at the Desert Breeze Soccer Complex in west Las Vegas, a short distance from the famous “Vegas Strip.”

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Boulder Colo. - The wait is over for CrossVegas fans looking for details about the cyclocross race that has become the highlight of the Interbike show week. CrossVegas.com