Here, Nys topped the podium at Cauberg Cyclocross. © Thomas Van Bracht
by Kat Statman
The weather is warm, thunderstorms are becoming more regular and the trees have turned green in many places around the country. The dirt road epics are starting to show up on the calendars, the thoughts of long road races and long mountain bike races are coming into the brain. Well, we are that much closer to the next ’cross season, a big one at that. In the meantime, Trebon announces his new team; Nys upgrades to the 21st century mountain bike; the Olympic team chase is on; Adam Myerson grabs the holeshot out of the bridge and a bunch of other ’crossers show up to Battenkill-Roubaix; Lars Boom rides through the chase group at Roubaix and then fizzles.
Ryan Trebon goes to Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com.
We said something a few weeks ago and you can check out the real story here, but here are some thoughts. Ryan Trebon likes to win and we all know that, since bike racers tend to like to win, nothing surprising there. But, is moving over to the green machine really the answer? Well, I guess if you want things to be the easy way and have everything handed to you on a silver platter! Which, hey, you can’t blame a guy for wanting! In all seriousness, glad to see he’s got a good deal going and that he’ll be able to prepare properly for Louisville. Considering how well he did last year, could we see him be the second US elite male to make it on the podium at Cyclocross Worlds?
Sven Nys Upgrades to the Big Wheels and Joins the 21st Century
If any of you follow mountain bike racing at all or ride mountain bikes, you would know that 29ers are a big deal and that more and more pro’s are moving over to these huge wagon wheels. Nys, in his quest to head to the London Olympics, has officially announced that he’s adopted the wagon wheels for good after Houffalize. If you check out some of the photos from this past weekend’s world cup in Belgium, you may notice that Nys is on an unmarked black (assuming carbon) bike. Well, with a tweet about 29 inch wheels, it looks Colnago is testing more than just disc brake road and ’cross bikes (check out the coverage of some of that here and follow along as more comes in). How much do the bigger wheels help? Well, a 33rd place finish on one of the climbier courses and first Belgian finisher, sounds like he’s close to punching that train ticket to London.
In the Olympic Run Interests, where are the others?
Well, since most countries are basing their Olympic mountain bike selection on the World Cups (for some reason, the road team is decided on a more discretionary basis and not based on results at specific events – understandable) there are a few names everyone should be watching, like Georgia Gould. Gould may have gotten off to a sub par start in South Africa, but she definitely re-opened the checking account and knocked out a solid performance with 12th place and top American woman last weekend. Georgia was followed by Lea Davison (who made her ’cross debut last year), then Mary McConneloug, and the fourth American was Katie Compton. Guess the race is on for the women’s team.
Adam Myerson Takes the Holeshot at Battenkill
I caught wind of a photo of Adam Myerson at the Battenkill-“Roubaix” coming out of the covered bridge in the lead and looking hungry. Wish I could say more than that, since all the other photos that I’ve seen with Adam in the group, it looks like he was raring to go. Unfortunately, Myerson later flatted and didn’t finish the race. Guess that’s the world of dirt road bike racing.
Myerson not the Only Crosser Rolling at Battenkill
After a cursory look over the results list, it looks like Myerson wasn’t the only ’crosser rolling at Battenkill. The field included an impressive fourth place by new Redline Cyclocross Team signee Justin Lindine, along with defending champ Jesse Anthony, Luca Damiani, Alex Candelario (honorary mention after coming back a year or so ago), Ryan Knapp, Dan Chabanov, Travis Livermon, Jon Hamblen, Jerome Townsend, and probably a bunch of others, but the results list is really long. Nice work to all the ’crossers, that’s a tough day on the bike.
Lars Boom Takes a Flyer at Roubaix
In some final commentary on what is going on in cycling: how about Boom’s riding through the chase group at Roubaix, detonating everyone and then clearly detonating himself a bit? And, doing it on a Giant TCX Advanced ’cross bike (see our upcoming review in Issue 17) with a high bottom bracket and 30 mm tires. Every year we hope a little bit that another ’crosser will come and take down Roubaix, maybe even go on a de Vlaemick-style run of wins, and maybe Boom is the answer. Every year he gets a little bit better and little bit closer. Guess we’ll just have to wait another year.
