On the eve of the day that news of American cyclocross racer Amy Dombroski’s deathspread through the cycling world Tim Blumenthal, the president of People For Bikes wrote this compelling piece for the organization’s website.
In the pre-digital age, I would have been described as a broken record. That’s because every day, at least a half dozen times, I repeat the phrase, “When people ride bikes, great things happen.” I say it in media interviews, sponsor pitches, and in pep talks during staff meetings here at PeopleForBikes headquarters. . . This simple sentence neatly summarizes all the health, air quality, road congestion, business, and money-saving benefits of riding bikes. It helps explain why our organization exists. It’s a pure reflection of the smile in our red, white and blue logo. . . But the truth is, not all outcomes of bicycling are positive. Far too many bike riders get injured (or worse) worldwide.
Do yourself a favor and read the rest (if you haven’t already). It presents the situation we’re all in and beautifully explains the challenges ahead and what we all can do to surmount them.
It’s Thursday, four whole days after the SoCalCross Prestige Series Opener in Donwtown Los Angeles’ Historic Park and there are still no official results posted anywhere. Organization was pathetic. They ran out of timing chips and race numbers and racers were forced to lobby for their finishing places, but don’t let that keep you from checking out this video from the first two laps of the open category posted by J. Weir. Yes, he went two laps before getting a flat, which was about par for the course on Sunday, September 29, 2013. Seems like nearly everyone flatted. If they ever post the results we’ll link them up.
Need something to drool over here at the start of the 2013 cyclocross season? Well, Giant has a nice little nugget on display featuring disc brakes and a whole lot more. It’s the TCX Advance and the way it rips through Bend, Oregon’s Phil’s Trails we’re really not all the interested in waiting until next season to get up to speed. Decisions, decisions, decisions. . .
Pivot Cycles has taken their LES technology and built a disc-braked cyclocross ruler that they’re calling the Pivot Vault.
It features new school cyclocross geometry with a lower bottom bracket height, slightly shorter chain stays and an overall fit and finish that will make a Pivot fan out of even the most diehard traditional cross bike fans. The Vault has it all! We started with a clean slate to design the most highly optimized, race tuned cyclocross bike ever created.
Oh man. This thing looks like a crusher. For the official word from Pivot, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
I just can’t do it. I can’t be interested in something if I’m not actually doing it. Just can’t. This often puts me in awkward situations, because lots of things are probably fine to watch and not participate in, particularly for middle agers like me. But maybe I’m not your typical middle ager. Rather, I’m the one 44-year-old on a field of 20-somethings at the Sunday pick-up soccer game, or at the skatepark with a swarm of tweens zipping all around me. And when I say awkward, I mean for them. Because—after all—I’m used to the looks, the shrugs, the questions. It’s everyone else who’s crazy.
I think I’m just comfortable around weirdos (that would sure explain a lot). In fact, I gravitate toward them. You’d think that as I settle into middle age I’d be content with all the work, family, hobbies, and clutter I’ve accumulated in almost a half century of accumulating, but such is not my nature. Every so often, my mind latches onto something new, and I investigate, and sometimes exhaust my interest in it; I’m pretty picky these days, I don’t just hop onto every cool thing I come across (that Stratos jump was pretty neat, but I don’t plan to become a human rocket anytime soon). [click to continue…]
When we last left cyclocross stud Jeremy Powers he was just kicking off the season with a quick trip through Las Vegas. Well, a lot has gone down in three episodes and here we are again to catch back up.
Jeremy’s first task is to find Brown University’s 95.5 WBRU to spread the word about the race with promoter, and all-around good guy, Richard Fries. After hitting the airwaves, it’s off to Providence’s famed Biltmore Hotel, where the entire New England cyclocross community is on display. After all the rubbing elbows is done off the course, it’s time to rub elbows inside the tape.
The rest is 20 minutes of. . . well, you know the rest.
Dive into Las Vegas with national cyclocross champion Jeremy Powers and Rapha Focus as he “prepares” for CrossVegas and races it kicking off season three of Behind The Barriers in style and victory.
The new fall cyclocross season kicks off on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada with CrossVegas and none of us have to travel to party city to watch it live. No, thanks to VeloNews we can all sit in front of our computers with a chip-n-dip and watch the whole think online.
Six-time Emmy award winning producer/director Kent Gordis will direct the broadcast. Dave Towle, billed by promoters as “the voice of American bicycle racing,” will anchor the commentary team. VeloNews.com editor Brian Holcombe will join Towle in the booth, with Simon Burney, author of “Cyclocross: Training and Techniques”, providing course-side insight.
There might be worse ways to spend a Wednesday night, right? Coverage begins at 8 PM Wednesday, September 19, 2012 right here.
