My good bud and local cross 'evangelist,' Paul McCarthy, has created an ingenious invention for us 'cross heads: Cross Propz Portable Cyclocross Training Barriers. Let me tell you about 'em....

By good bud Brian Patrick of OnSight Media knows cross…as he’s ALWAYS in the thick of it, boots on, feet in mud, trotting around our courses with his hi-end cameras in tow shooting us in all our snotcicle-hanging glory.

He’s released a DVD that’s compiled the 2007-2009 State Championship races here in Colorado plus some bonuses like the 35 Opens from Blue Sky Velo’s race at Xilinx this year.

Local folks can head to Boulder Cycle Sport to pick up your copy for $20.

Remote or lazy folks can order on line here. Same price plus S & H.

Come re-live the glory…and the snotcicles…all in the comfort of your own home and flat screen.

Have a gander of Pete's presentation to a great group of folks who came to hear about racing in Belgium...and as you'll learn, a history of American Cyclocross as told by storyteller, Pete Webber. Thanks to the wonderful sponsors and OnSight Media (Brian Patrick) for hosting and documenting the event.

Continue watching the rest of the videos...

Click to read more ...

My friend Sander, and author for Wielrennen Blog in the Netherlands, who was responsible for the article below I translated on the UCI banning the Diablo, sent me the film from Sporza on the Eindhoven ICE SKATING RINK. Ha! A couple of things to notice: Examine Sven's tire pressure on the low angle shots. More importantly, when you hear the pads squeal on his carbon Dura Ace Rims and he braking and turning, not how the wheel moves not one inch. Incredible.

Oh dear. Yes, it is as good as you've heard...or maybe have seen. I got my little paws on the GoPro Helmet Hero Cam HD and so far zoopa cool! I will be shooting when I can over the next few months and experimenting with splicing in audio to try and create some sweet keepsakes of rides we go on. I put together a brief video to show you all of what's involved with the HD Hero cam. Not awesome production quality on my part but you'll get the point of how this little gem works.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Here are a few very simple taster shots I snapped earlier today with the fam tooling around at the Boulder Reservoir. I can not wait to get this thing into the woods!

Braaap!

My dear friend Michel sent me some bummer news.

Davy Coenen, a popular mountain biker and crosser for the team2mega/Ridley crew in Belgium was diagnosed with brain cancer last year where a 2x3 cm tumor was extracted.

A year of radiation and rehabing and it unfortunately appears that Davy is not gaining ground on the disease.

I snapped this photo of Davy railing the sweet singletrack in Shriek Grootlo in Belgium in January 2008. A mere year before he was diagnosed with the tumor. He flowed that day. I focused on him that day while Brandon was racing because I loved his style. It was noticeable and hooked me. I learned from watching him.

Life is... Well, life just 'is'. Think on Davy as anything can happen. More importantly, put that extra strength down on those pedals each ride. Because you're healthy and you're able.

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to this email today from my friends at Universal Sports!

"Hi Greg,

I wanted to let you know we will be broadcasting the Cyclo-Cross World Championships from Tabor, Czech Republic on-line January 31.  The broadcast will be showing the elite men’s and women’s races at 12 noon (ET), while the rest of the races will be offered on demand.  We are excited to offer the broadcast for this event again and hopefully highlight more Cyclo-Cross through the World Cup season.  Please help in any way you can to spread the word about the broadcast."

So you heard it! Spread the word! Click the picture to the left to head on over to the 'Cyclocross World Championships Dashboard' on Universal Sports.

Thanks to Matt Pacocha from VeloNews who forwarded me a brief article about the Dugast Diablo ban and all the hullabaloo it’s been causing since Sven’s testing of it in Eindhoven. I loosely translated this article originally found on http://wielrennen.blog.nl/. Molly Cameron also chimed in to me to state that he thinks the ban has been around for some time (still researching that….):

"Cyclocross riders may not ride with spikes or with small nails during World Cup events. The Dutch tire specialist Andre Dugast had a new tubular, called the Diabolo (Devil), made specifically for the conditions for Tabor. Dugast is no stranger to the cycling world, as most of the worlds best have ties to the company and race on their tires. In a first test of the course in Eindhoven, Sven Nys achieved a speed of up to 30 km / hour (!), Sporza reporter Marcel Wuyts says. During the World Cup broadcast next Sunday on Sporza a special segment on Sven Nys’ test of the tires in Eindhoven with be broadcast. 

Nys said in an initial reaction that the tires are phenomenally good. And a phenomenon they will always remain because the UCI has thrown in a wrench. When rumors reached the UCI on the spiked tires, they quickly reacted to ban. It would distort competition because less wealthy riders on the "old" treads will not be as competitive. Well, on an old tape you have to learn it? Seriously, it is not dangerous to life with nail bands around, crossing? Imagine that you are smacked against the floor by, say, a drunken supporter. See how quickly you’ll have to have a Czech doctor to find and pull all those nails out of your body.

Moreover, the Schwalbe tire manufacturer has a much longer relationship with spikes in its product range, but unfortunately for the racers, this involves an ATP band as well":

It pains me to not have been there on the beach again this year. A number of my friends made the pilgrimage to Za Motherland to race against the best, but it was no where near my deck of cards this year. It'll happen again some day. When the time is right for the family, I'll pack up the bikes again, set up a base camp and once again race harder than you think is personally possible.

Or will I make it back?

I've questioned lots lately. Can I keep this up...yet again? The mental cycles of build, try, suffer, finish, suffer (mentally) and repeat again are getting tiresome. This equally relates to revolutions on the bike we put in to get stronger, faster...with those revolutions on the merry-go-round we all get on to live and thrive.  Given the spinning that occurs and what it does to my head, I honestly don't know any other way to cope. So I clench my teeth and I go harder. I depend upon it as I love it so much, this sport, this suffering...this lifestyle of ours and our families.

So much is happening in my life. Some great yet some hard to pin an emotion or feeling on. Time will tell and I am forcing decisions...maybe nudging the universe again...but this time I am in greater control. My cross to bear.  My teeth to clench. My freedom to find. My hands on the stick.

A manufactured ethos is on the assembly line. It's an evolution that I can not believe is happening and shouldn't. And I need to hurl a wrench into it.

That is my revelation.

Stoked Philip chose the 35 A's to shoot that day! Rad little keepsake of the day.