Friday, July 18th, 2008

West Dover, Vt. (July 18, 2008)— The semi-pro and junior expert cross country races highlighted the second day of competition at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships at Mount Snow Resort. Weston Schempf (Sinking Springs, Pa.) earned the Stars-and-Stripes jersey in the semi-pro men’s cross country race, while Robbie Squire (Sandy, Utah) won his first national championship in the junior expert men’s 17-18 contest. Seth Kemp (Campobello, S.C.) earned the junior expert 15-16 men’s cross country title and Essence Barton (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) won the junior expert women’s race.

Things heated up in Southern Vermont Friday morning as nearly seventy riders pulled to the line to start off the day’s competition with the semi-pro men’s cross country race. Two men riding hard tails, Schempf and Benjamin Portilla (Fort Collins, Colo.) established themselves up front from the start of the 20-mile race. Silver medalist Portilla was able to hold the winner’s wheel through the first two laps, but fell off the pace as the shade disappeared and the 90+ degree temperatures encroached. Schempf was able to hold off the fading Portilla in the fourth and final lap to post a winning time of 1:56:09.

Photo courtesy Michael Piniewski, Frost Hollow Photography

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

West Dover, Vt. (July 17, 2008)-The USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships opened on Thursday with Tad Elliott (Durango, Colo.) and Chloe Forsman (Boulder, Colo.) riding to respective victories in the U23 men's and women's cross country contests. With her win, Forsman successfully defended her Stars-and-Stripes from a year ago at Southern Vermont's Mount Snow Resort while the 20-year old Elliott earned his first national title.

Elliott, stepped up to take advantage of a wide open men's race after an early crash by defending national champion and heavy pre-race favorite, Sam Jurekovic (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Elliott rode a strong fourth and final lap to take the title with a winning time of 1:48:57, while Mitchell Peterson (Sandy, Utah) took the silver and last year's third-place-finisher Colin Cares (Boulder, Colo.) repeated his bronze-medal performance.

"I've never been a national champion in anything before, so this is huge for me," said Elliott, an accomplished nordic ski racer. "I was really nervous, so I was just trying to keep it smooth."

Photo courtesy Michael Piniewski, Frost Hollow Photography

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Even though I’ve moved away from the Right Coast and my roots due to the horrifying nature of the winters here, I’ll be coming back every summer for as long as possible. It’s awesome here. People and Places go a long way towards making the region first noticed by Columbus a continued hit, especially with those who like to ride mountain bikes. Or be lost.

I don’t usually talk about racing proper in this little forum. I’m going to have to make an exception here, sorry… Pretty much from the moment the freshly constructed Cross Country course used it’s awesomeness to trick Carl into riding an unintentional lap in the dark on Thursday evening we knew it was going to be a good weekend. Even if we were both a little puffed out from doing a bunch of Oxygen Assisted intervals at the Rebound Sports Performance Lab earlier in the week at home…

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

VERNON, New Jersey – Whether you are a competitive cyclist, casual rider or just a fan of music, entertainment and the arts, Diablo Freeride Park at Mountain Creek in Vernon, N.J., is the place to be on August 22-23. Jeep 48STRAIGHT, the largest sports, music and entertainment event in the U.S., will roll into town with some of the top professional riders in the world, backed by a full line-up of musicians and a host of social and environmental activities – all designed to empower people to celebrate and connect with the outdoor lifestyle.

The event will be headlined by the Jeep 48STRAIGHT Mountain Bike Series, featuring top ranked racers from across the globe battling in dual slalom format for the richest payout in professional mountain bike racing. Competitors such as World Champions Brian Lopes and Eric Carter, as well as National Champions Rich Houseman and Melissa Buhl, are just a few of the elite athletes who have already signed on to make a run for the title. Local professionals and semi-pros will also have a chance to grab one of the spots in the competition through an open qualifier which will be capped at 75 men and 25 women.

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

July 15, 2008; Conshohocken, PA, USA: American Cyclocross just got bigger and richer, and America will never be the same. So say the promoters of eight of the biggest and well-known international cyclocross races on the American calendar, who have dropped a bombshell by forming an eight-race, coast-to-coast series with $7,000 in year-end cash bonuses. The North American Cyclocross Trophy Points Championship is scheduled to begin this fall and includes such notable races as FSA Star Crossed, Rad Racing GP Presented by Kona and FSA, Gran Prix of Gloucester, Boulder Cup, and the Whitmore's Landscaping Super Cross Cup. All eight races are UCI sanctioned and already appear on the 2008-2009 UCI calendar.

Promoters of the series stress that this is a concrete, guaranteed-to-happen series. According to RAD Racing GP's Jim Brown, "The series is made up of races with a proven track record. They are the classic cyclocross races in North America. The races are already on the UCI calendar, the financial backing for the series is already in place and the advertising has already been negotiated." Brook Watts of Boulder Cup puts it a little more colorfully, "This isn't one of those outrageous pie-in-the-sky plans that gets announced at InterBike and never materializes. I don't think anybody's ever put together a National Series (in America) made up completely of successful already-existing races. The plans for the North American Cyclocross Trophy aren't contingent on anything. It's ready to go right now. The series begins at the FSA Star Crossed on September 20, and it will have more prize money and more UCI points than any cyclocross series in North America."