Wednesday, June 27, 2007

June CX Bike O' Month

As we hit a lull in the mountain bike racing season, my thoughts have turned to cyclocross and specifically getting a new CX bike. Not that my Scott Cyclocross Team isn't a fine bike, just want to look around to see what's out there. This is always really difficult, even in NorCal since so few stores even no what a CX bike is. So, I thought I would highlight a few easy to buy rides while we wait for the season to start.

My attraction this month is a bike with a fine pedigree and a good price:


Bianchi Cross Concept

Your Price: $1,489
37% off $2,349.99 msrp
http://www.jensonusa.com/


I like the specs: scandium frame with carbon rear triangle, carbon fork, Shimano Ultegra mostly drive train and WTB tires. It's also one of the few CX rides that you can get over the Internet, in case your local dealer doesn't carry them.

Next month, I'll look at an American CX bike from Cannondale.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

2007 CX Schedule Is Coming ...

The Northern California Nevada Cycling Association has published the preliminary 2007 NorCal Cyclocross (CX) race calendar.

It looks like they have tried hard to harmonize the schedule across all the different CX racing leagues. Most of the series have fewer dates, but none of them overlap. From a discussion over at the Sacto CX forum, it appears that a lot of work has gone into this:

So here is an unofficial skinny on changes to come. Things are still in flux so bear that in mind.

The number of races will be cut from 11 races to 6. This will minimize conflicts with other race series, but it will allow for an improved Nor Cal race calendar. Sacramento folks will have a chance to race in other locations without the worry of missing a local race. This also works in favor of racers from out of town that want to race in the capitol city.

The season will also be longer too since there are only 6 races. The season will begin in mid September as usual, but it will extend into January. Right when the pros are getting ready for worlds, we will still be racing.

There will also be modular teams that handle specific tasks at each and every race. These modular teams will be the same faces every time. They will know all of the details with respect to their assigned task. There will be a registration team, a course setup and take down team, website team, and any others that are needed. Sponsoring clubs will be providing the man power to assist these teams.
All good stuff, but I am not sure that I completely agree with the no overlap between the Sacto and Bay Area racers. Sure this helps out the Elite level racers a lot, but most lower level riders probably won't drive a few hours to these. It just means less race dates to them. I'll keep an open mind and see how it shakes out.