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Apr
2
SoCal high school gets velodrome & track racing program?
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Racing, humor | 1 Comment
How cool is this? Even in the midst of the economic crisis, a high school is investing in cycling. And not just a cycling program, but a whole velodrome!
Update: Too cool apparently. Even though I received the news in my inbox today when my hoax threat level was back down to green from yesterday’s red, I just noticed the release is dated April 1. Sorry. Shame since it would have made for a great record setting venue up in the mountains.
Read the press release below:
SOCAL HIGH SCHOOL GETS VELODROME AND TRACK RACING PROGRAM
Contact: Matt Fritzinger, fritz@socaldirt.org, (510) 653-2453, www.socaldirt.org
Cedar Glen, CA – Last night, with a 7-2 vote, the school board of Mountain Top High School approved the construction of the first ever high school velodrome and scholastic track program in America. The decision serves as a historic milestone in the main-streaming of competitive cycling in secondary schools across the state of California. While high school mountain biking has been picking up steam since 2001 with the formation of the NorCal High School Mountain Bike Racing League, track racing looks to be the next alternative for high schoolers eager for sports that suit their short attention spans.
“Mountain biking is an endurance sport and except for the occasional sprint finish, it favors athletes with slow-twitch muscles leaving young cyclists with the genetic gift of more fast-twitch muscles feeling devalued. I’m very pleased to see this new discipline brought into the schools,” commented Matt Fritzinger, director of the Northern California mountain biking program.
In what may draw some criticism, the velodrome will replace the astro-turf field and football program. MTHS’s Head football Coach, Don Boggs commented “I’m keeping an open mind here. After two losing seasons, I don’t get much say around here anyway. I’m also very impressed with the way cycling is addressing the problem of performance enhancing drugs.” Unlike professional football, which penalizes wealthy players with meager fines and has led to a vast abuse of steroids at the high school level, professional and amateur bike racers face 2-4 year bans from the sport.
School Superintendant, Jim Swift, said “I advocated for this as soon as I saw the cost-benefit analysis. A velodrome is going to cost $1.8 trillion whereas a stadium retrofit and new astroturf was going to cost us $1.9 trillion. That may seem like a small difference, but that’s actually $100 billion dollars. We can buy quite a few books and computers for that much money.”
Additionally, it appears that track racing will become a natural complement to the recently inaugurated Socal Interscholastic Cycling League that only includes mountain biking currently. Board president Quintin Easton commented, “I’m stoked -– we put the generic term ‘cycling’ in the League name because we planned to incorporate various disciplines into the League. This velodrome is a dream come true!”
Read more
Mar
26
Taking to the streets of Brooklyn this Saturday the 28th is the 2009 Red Hook Criterium. In their own words, this track bike-only event will be “an unsanctioned race through a desolate post-industrial part of Brooklyn.” How’s that for painting a mental picture of the venue?
You won’t have to rely on your imagination, though, to visualize the race since there are some pretty awesome plans to film the race in an extensive way. Again, from their press release on BikeBlog NYC:
Multiple HD cameras will be set up to film the race. At least one helmet cam will follow race action firsthand. Additionally, a surprise helmet cam shooter may be in town to cover the race. We will have a camera at the podium presentation immediately following the race.
The race starts at 11pm, but “bus and automobile traffic on the course, even if kept to a minimum, is a near-certainty.”
I can’t wait to see the film since the production is in the very capable hands of Kalim Armstrong who filmed the “Orange Bikes Take Manhattan” film from last year (below) among others. Should be some great footage of the fast and colorful action. It’s hard to beat NYC bike racing – no matter the format or discipline. Prospect Park and the Mengoni GP in Central Park were two of my favorite races before I moved out West in ‘01.
ORANGE BIKES TAKE MANHATTAN from Kalim Armstrong on Vimeo.
Mar
20
Another missing ‘celebrity’ bike: have you seen me?
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Racing | Comments Off
Since wide public attention through the use of social media seemed to help Lance’s TT bike reappear at the Tour of California last month, I thought I’d do my part to help turn up another unique bike that’s gone missing recently.
This blingy GT Golden Zaskar went missing while en route to a video shoot from Madison, Wisconsin to Pennsylvania in a Thule box labeled “ZASKAR.” The shipping label arrived ok, apparently, but not attached to a box with a bike in it. With its custom gold-finished Shimano XTR drivetrain, Mavic Crossmax SLR wheels, and Ritchey bar and stem, it shouldn’t be too hard to spot this one.
GT’s new Golden Race Series is to kick off at the Sea Otter Classic next month and the missing bike is one of the “trophies” awarded in the series. The winner of the first race would win their choice of golden bike – either the Zaskar or the fully-suspended Marathon. To keep the bike, they would need to defend their win at the following race or give up the bike to the next winner. Learn more about the bike and the series at www.gtisgolden.com.
If you see the bike or have any information regarding its whereabouts, email goldenbike@gtbicycles.com
Oh… almost forgot: GT is offering a $3,000 reward for the return of the bike.
Feb
2
Watching the Tour of California on Palomar & Meeting Floyd
Filed Under Cycling, Interbike, Photos, Racing | 4 Comments
On Saturday the Julie and I piled the kids into the car for a ride out to the top of Palomar Mountain, site of the major climb of this year’s Amgen Tour of California on the last stage of the race. I think that it’s safe to assume that Palomar will be the most popular viewing spot for locals since this will be the first time the race has visited deprived San Diego cycling fans on their own turf. The problem is, there’s limited access and it’s not like there are parking spaces lining the narrow two ane access road all the way up to the top. Our plan was to see the climb from a fans point of view and get some idea of what we will need to do to watch the race from a decent spot on the climb without too much stress.
Now if you promise to save us a spot if we’re running late that morning, I’ll let you know what I found out. OK?
Oct
1
Armstrong Interbike Press Conference Video
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Events, Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike, Racing, Video | 2 Comments
Here’s another highlight video from our friends at Cyclefilm. This one is from the Lance Armstrong press conference that took place at Interbike last Thursday morning. For your viewing pleasure in case you missed it or if you were there and want to relive the event. Definitely worth a view. Supporting cast includes: Greg LeMond, Don Catlin, Taylor Phinney, and 200 members of the cycling and non-endemic press. Also, look for Eddy Merckx following Lance as he enters the room.
Lance Armstrong Returns – Press Conf Las Vegas from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.
Sep
29
CrossVegas Video
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Events, Industry News, Interbike, Racing, Video | 2 Comments
From Markus at Cyclefilm, who I met at the show, here’s a nicely done highlight reel of the racing at CrossVegas last week. Lots of Lance Armstrong footage. Thanks for sending me the link and nice work!
Lance Armstrong Returns – Las Vegas Cyclocross from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.
Sep
25
CrossVegas, Armstrong and Museeuw
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Events, Industry News, Interbike, Photos, Racing | Comments Off
Just a quick post tonight since I’m dead tired after trying to fit in every event on the calendar it seems.
Well, Brook, Chris and their team pulled off another stellar event tonight at CrossVegas. I’m certain there were significantly more people at this year’s party, – I mean, race – and all seemed to be having a great time. There was plenty of mexican food and beer and some hot racing.
Speaking of racing, the buzz on the floor and online today was whether Lance Armstrong would be racing and sure enough, all the rumors were confirmed. I caught Lance at the Trek trailer getting his number pinned on. Took a bunch of shots, but with absolutely zero light, my point-and-click camera was only able to get one of them slightly right:
He looked pretty fit and strong in the race despite finishing far back from the leaders. I also noted that the bike industry crowd in attendance was very supportive of him and cheered excitedly for him on the whole.
Another pro (ex) rider in attendance was Johan Museeuw. I saw him chatting with someone in the VIP area (yes, I play a vip occasionally) and when there was a pause in the conversation, I introduced myself to him and invited him to be on Good Morning Interbike on Thursday morning. He’s here showing off his line of carbon/flax fiber bikes – which I haven’t had a chance to go look at yet. He said yes AND confirmed that he will be racing Thursday night at the USA Crits Finals race at Mandalay Bay – continuing the tradition of the ex-superstar pro in the race. Minor thing I noticed,was that Johan’s got a really firm handshake and is taller than I expected.
Alright, that’s all I got for now – gotta crash. So much more to to post and talk abot from day 1 that will have to wait.
Sep
17
CrossVegas Start Lists
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Events, Exhibitor News, Interbike, Racing | 6 Comments
Back from the Denver trip so I can focus on Interbike now (like the rest for the bike industry). Just had a nice chat with the guys at CrossVegas wrapping up a few loose ends. Also asked about who we could expect to see racing this year. I was mostly interested in the industry “Wheelers and Dealers” race, but there have been some rumors online about some other guy who might need to put some competitive miles in his legs between now and next summer possibly showing up. Looks like talks have taken place, but he’s got a busy schedule so it’s still up in the air.
Regardless, you should take a peak at the start list for the industry race that was recently posted here. There are some strong names in there. A few notable racers stand out to me: Dave Lawrence of Shimano (actually, Shimano has a pretty big representation in this race), Thomas Prehn of Cateye and Boulder Sports Research, Gary Erickson the founder of Clif Bar, and Andrew Juskaitis of Giant. Mark McCormack of Fuji is definitely no slouch when it come to cross and if it’s the same John McKone (of Northwave) that I think he is, I raced with him briefly way back in the day on the old Smarfuel-GMBC team and he’s a fast and tough masters racer. And, finally, you’ve got to love anyone that signs himself up as “Mike “The Hebrew Hammer” Weis” from team Michelob Ultra/Big Shark racing. Though with that name, the team should really be sponsored by these guys (yes it’s for real – and tasty). L’Chaim!
Should be an awesome race to watch and a great party to boot. Look for the free shuttles from the Sands on Wednesday.
Aug
21
Racing: Arena Mountain-X in Las Vegas
Filed Under Attendee News, Interbike, Racing | 4 Comments
So we’ve got road racing covered with the USA Crits Finals, cyclo-cross has CrossVegas, cross-country mountain biking will be going on at the revived Cactus Cup just before the OutDoor Demo and there was talk of track racing at Mandalay Bay for a while. Now we seem to have the next bike racing category taken care of with Arena Mountain-X races this year.
Here’s a little something from their press release on the event:
“Held in a “Speedway Format”, racers will battle down a spectacular man-made mountain cross track built specifically for this event! Huge custom scaffolding along with truckloads of dirt will make for an intense racing track, in an arena full of seats for optimal viewing.”
Sounds awesome, but it’s sort a shame that this is on the same night as Cross Vegas. I guess these audiences don’t cross over that much? What do you think?
A busy week in Vegas just got busier. Once you include the folding bike race (more on that later), there’s truly something for everyone at Interbike…
Aug
5
CrossVegas: Industry Race and Free Shuttles
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike, Racing | 1 Comment
Today we announced that we will be providing free shuttle service to CrossVegas this year for show attendees, exhibitors and press. Being over 6 miles off the Strip and with the huge interest in the race, we figured it was time to step up with some transportation for Interbike show goers. Shuttles will run from 6pm to 11pm – check our main website for details leading up to the show.
Also – and I know that the CrossVegas guys already announced it – I’m really excited about the new “Wheelers and Dealers” industry race this year. While I’m no cross racer myself, I can’t wait to see all my fellow industry working stiffs out on the Desert Breeze course like at the crit last year. I’ve heard that there’s some super-motivated guys out there all primed and ready to throw down at this race.
Not to be outdone, the USA Crits Finals return to Las Vegas this year. They’ve still got the Industry Cup race along with the pro races and have added a bunch of amateur USCF races to the schedule this year. Not sure if Ravi and his team will be letting in any ex-pros this year like Cipollini last year, but I’ve already heard a big name mentioned as interested in racing. I’ve got that former pro already scheduled for an interview during our “Good Morning Interbike” show from the Media Center this year – it just remains to be seen if he’ll be racing…
By the way, do you think ex-pros should be able to race the industry cup like Cipo did last year? How connected do they need to be to be an “employee”? The crit guys have their own set of official rules posted, but I still think that its’ a cool thing to have at the race – a once in a lifetime chance to race with a big name ex-pro. But that would mean that I’d actually have to race…
Read the whole release here.