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• Pro Bike Profile: Bart Wellens’ Winning Ridley X-Night Cyclocross Bike

  27 September 11 • 2 comments

  

  By any measure, Telenet-Fidea’s Bart Wellens’ first U.S. cyclocross campaign has been a success, with three victories in five races, one second place, and one late-race attack in CrossVegas that nearly netted him the victory. Wellens leaves the States with a pile of 2011 UCI points to bring home, and leaves behind a slew of [...]

• 2011 Wedgewood New Brighton Cyclocross: A Joe Sales Photo Gallery

  27 September 11 • 1 comment

  

  With scenery like this, Joe Sales couldn’t resist taking some scenic shots of the racing action at the 2011 Wedgewood New Brighton cyclocross race this past Sunday.

• Echelon Gran Fondo and Cyclocross Magazine’s Day in the Hood: “CrossMountain” Dirt Ride

  27 September 11 • 1 comment

  

  by Robbie Carver There aren’t too many rides that begin with a helicopter buzzing the start line. Then again, there aren’t too many rides that include an ex-marine handing you a semi-automatic and telling you that hitting the bull’s-eye will take 10 minutes off your time. But Echelon’s Gran Fondo rides are known for their [...]

• 2013 Louisville Cyclocross World Championships in Jeopardy? UPDATED: Bruce Fina Comments

  26 September 11 • 14 comments

  

  Louisville’s hold on the 2013 Cyclocross World Championships may be in jeopardy, according to Belgian newspapers. The race, which would be the first cyclocross world championship to be held in the US, is to take place in February of 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky, but according to Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen, the organizers are having [...]

• Mechanical Mondays: Mechanical Disc Brake Adjustments

  26 September 11 • 2 comments

  

  There is no denying that disc brakes are gaining in popularity among cyclocross bikes. One look at the ’cross bike photos from the recent Eurobike and Interbike trade shows is enough to show that disc-brake-equipped ’cross bikes are the wave of the future. Their benefits are well known; tire clearance is now only a matter of the frame. They are more powerful with more control and they are not so nearly affected by water and mud. Apart from all these benefits though, the tighter tolerances associated with disc brakes lend themselves more easily to poor adjustment, and improper adjustment on disc brakes can ruin your race more easily than a poorly adjusted cantilever. Too loose and you lose your braking altogether; too tight and your brake drags the whole time. The down side is these poor conditions happen a lot easier to disc brakes than to cantilevers.

• UPDATED: Rohrbach’s Ellison Park Cyclocross: the Brit and the Frenchman take the Wins

  25 September 11 • 3 comments

  

  by Molly Hurford USGP Sun Prairie may be happening today, but in upstate New York, there’s some UCI action going on as well. With small fields (only 20 registered riders in the Elite Men’s field and 14 registered in the Elite Women’s field) there are some UCI points and some serious payouts that were snatched [...]

• USGP Sun Prairie Day 1: Nash Continues Win Streak, Trebon Escapes Wellens – Updated: Full Results, Galleries

  24 September 11 • 1 comment

  Cool and slick cyclocross conditions greeted Sun Prairie, Wisconsin for the first day of the UCI C1 Planet Bike Cup, the opening weekend of the 2011 Exergy USGP Cyclocross series (see Troy Wells’ course preview video here). While some key racers on the women’s side were missing (Katie Compton, Amy Dombroski and Helen Wyman), the [...]

• Sun Prairie USGP Planet Bike Cup Cyclocross Course Pre-ride Video by Troy Wells

  24 September 11 • 0 comment

  

  Just 15 miles from Madison, Wisconsin is the town of Sun Prairie, the home of this weekend’s Planet Bike Cup opener of the Exergy US Gran Prix of Cyclocross. The course features a mostly-grass, twisty, turny course with a few signature features including a rideable (for some) stair and run-up section, and several horseshoe off-camber [...]

• Interbike 2011: PowerTap’s Impressive New Lineup

  24 September 11 • 1 comment

  PowerTap has long been a big player in the power meter market, but the distinctive oversized hubs are a relative rarity on the cyclocross course. While there are plenty of ’crossers who train with PowerTaps, most of those who choose to race with power typically opt for one of the crank-based meters like SRMs or Quarqs.

  Part of the knock on PowerTaps was their weight. Another factor is the added expense of needing a PowerTap hub in a training wheel and at least one – perhaps several – race wheel. The new G3 PowerTap hubs tackles that first drawback head on. According to Eric Wallace of Saris, PowerTap’s parent company, the new hub is the lightest power meter on the market, adding about 100g to a comparable high-performance rear hub.

• Pro Cyclocross Rumors & Rumblings Week of September 23rd, 2011

  24 September 11 • 1 comment

  The American ’cross season is in full swing with two full weekends and two Wednesday night extravaganzas completed, the European season is just getting underway and now the first USGP is here. It really is ’cross season. Sometimes I don’t believe it’s real. How can the best bike racing season, which we’ve been waiting so long for really be here already? Didn’t we just finish last season? Anyways, onward we go, there is a long winter coming up and lots of rumors to talk about. In this week’s edition: Euro ’Cross is back on TV, start looking for your live feeds, folks. Kevin Pauwels takes a big win for his new team in Erpe-Mere. Zdenek Stybar will be showing off the new Quick Step rainbow stripes in Stribro this weekend. Enrico Franzoi has found a home with the Guerciotti team, he lines up for the first time this weekend in Switzerland. Is it true that Pro ’crossers actually understand the worth of their equipment? At least Tom Meeusen does. Amy Dombroski heads back to her motherland for the season. With a venerable “who’s who” of ’cross lining up in Sun Prairie this weekend, is there really a favorite? Who should we talk about in this week’s Working Man’ Edition? We’ll go with Justin Lindine, Jake Wells, Bryan Fawley, and Chris Sheppard

• Interbike 2011: Nifty knickknacks from Showers Pass, Prestaflator, Adarga Bar Tape

  23 September 11 • 3 comments

  

  by Josh Liberles Showers Pass “VelEau” Hydration Pack The best way to describe the VelEau hydration pack is a combo between a tri-geek’s bar-mounted sipper and a Camelbak hydration pack. But it’s actually way cooler than that. Frank Bretl and Mark Proia came up with the idea when looking for something to use while doing [...]

• LeMond Preps for Hood River Dirt Fondo

  22 September 11 • 1 comment

  Greg LeMond made a showing at West End Bikes in Portland, Oregon, tonight for the packet pick-up party for this weekend’s Echelon Gran Fondo in Hood River. The event features plenty of ride options both on and off-road, LeMond’s here for the Cyclocross Magazine CrossMountain dirt fondo, which mixes pavement with dirt double track and [...]

• Powers, Stetson-Lee Take Cross After Dark Gateway Cup – UPDATED: Full Report

  22 September 11 • 0 comment

  

  by Matt James St. Louis, MO.—On a crisp, fall evening in St. Louis, Missouri, a collection of top domestic and international cyclocross racers took to a twisting and technical course in Heman Park to contest the third round of the newly minted Cross After Dark series. With top class fields in both the men’s and [...]

• Interbike 2011: New Speedplay Syzr Pedals

  22 September 11 • 2 comments

  Speedplay has offered mountain bike pedals for years with the company’s Frog model. But the Frogs never really made a dent into the ’cross market. That could very well change with the introduction of the new Syzr pedals, which will relegate the Frog largely to touring and commuting duty. Modeled after the very popular Speedplay Zero road pedals, the Syzr offers adjustable float adjustment as well as tension adjustment for release and entry.

• Pro Bike Profile: Aaron Schooler’s Norco Threshold

  22 September 11 • 0 comment

  

  Norco is launching their new Carbon Cyclocross bike the Norco Threshold this Fall. To be in stores soon, this beast of a bike boasts an impressive resume already with a top 15 in Cross Vegas, top 10′s at Starcrossed and the Rapha Focus GP and a BC Cup Provincial Win to start off the 2011 season. Aaron Schooler of Team H&R BLOCK and powered by Sri Importing got a couple of these custom painted bad boys just in time for the beginning of the cross season and was highly impressed with the updates that Norco has made to the old Scandium CCX SL revamping it from scratch and moving to the carbon mold. The Norco Threshold is a European race bike with some North American Flare to it.