Mud crit. Could those turns get any wider or more gentle? I'd love to see these guys race Gloucester or Northampton.

dstokes said:

I was riding my trainer while watching live this morning. It was a great race. Stybar thoroughly apologized later on. He said he lost his balance. Together with Nys' low-speed catastrophe, its all par for the course.

Check out this quote on cyclingnews. I know sometimes these things get lost in translation:

The Czech was enjoying mixed emotions after his cyclo-cross debute in his Belgian hometown of Essen. "It's very sad. It was a beautiful 'cross. Jan was very strong. What happened is very sad. I didn’t want to make him crash. I'm glad he's not injured. I moved to the left. I saw him coming but he came much faster than I expected. I tried to balance with the shoulders. I didn't train for the 'cross so I'm very happy that I was able to battle for the win. It's weird that without specific training, I was able to mix in," Stybar told Sporza.

It sounds like he intentionally tried to shut the door on his competitor, and lost control of his bike. Which is weaksauce. I think we've all been there, felt a guy coming up on our side and wanting to move over. But you can't. It's not safe, and on the track at least, if memory serves, it's not legal to move off your line in the last couple of turns.

The move isn't legal in road or cross sprinting as well. They DQ's him. In fact, someone dq'd a sprinter (Amaury Perez?) In a prospect race a few years ago for a similar move, basically sprinting in a diagnal line across the road to close the door on others.

There is also history between those two riders. I think Stybar was out sprinted (caught by surprise) by the same guy last year in a race.

I thinks that's right about Amaury.  Euris Vidal was relegated for an irregular sprint at Mengoni this year. 

It was this "closing of the door" that crashed me out of day 2 of Providence this year.  That photo looks like a history channel reenactment of my crash.  Simply shouldn't happen, intentional or not.  And I think Stybar is being a bit generous when asserts that the other guy wasn't injured.  Bet he felt injured, especially when rolling out of bed this morning. I agree with Marc - weaksauce.  When you sign up to race, you sign up to resist that little voice in your head that might suggest this sort of irregular nonsense.

 I did the Kreb Cycle 'cross race at Pilgrim State on Sunday.. Man was it cold, and windy. So cold and windy in fact, that after walking a city block to sign in only to find I left my license in my car, I took it as an omen that maybe I was better of at a local Starbucks with a cup of coffee. So I actually got in my car and started to head home, only to pull over a minute later, where I decided not to been a wuss, and went back to the park. It was cold, and awfully windy. The course was frozen at first, which made it easier, as it was not muddy. But it warmed up by the 4th lap (out of 7, long for me), and turned into a slogfest. I was 25th at the end of the first lap (out of 55) and, like everyone else, was lapped twice by Chabanov and the other two pros in attendance. That said, I loved the course, and finished 16th of 55, making it one of my best races of the year. It is a fun course, and I will do both races of the series next year. I recommend it to everyone who wants a fun day late in the season....especially those who live on LI, who can get there in about half an hour like I did. Happy New Year!!

Nice one. Kudos for toughing it out too.

Impressive! Cold day, late in the season and a Champion's effort in the end

Hey, I apparently missed the story where all the top cyclocross stars changed teams. Is this a normal "New Year" occurrence that I've heretofore been unawares?

January 1 is the day for new signings to take affect. Basically, the pros are on calendar year contracts. See Cavendish in Omega Pharma kit as of Tuesday.

They didn't change teams.  The teams changed sponsors.  This happens every January 1.

A couple of pictures from CX nationals from our friends who live in Madison

And another

They are currently smoothing out all the ruts from the course. Crazy!

Judging by their tweets, Meyerson & Mo Bruno Roy very unhappy about this development. Figures, from a couple of great bike drivers who are down major horsepower on the favorites. Ryan Trebon on the other hand is like..."whatever..."

Marc Bertucco said:

Judging by their tweets, Meyerson & Mo Bruno Roy very unhappy about this development. Figures, from a couple of great bike drivers who are down major horsepower on the favorites. Ryan Trebon on the other hand is like..."whatever..."

Madness.

New location for Thom Parson's interview and highlight packages:

http://dirtwire.tv/

Not sure what happened with his relationship with cyclingdirt...

So the girl who won 15-16 and rode through most of the 17-18 field? Emma White. Not only has she been racing New England Cat 3 men all season, but she's finishing in the 30s and 40s out of 100+ rider fields.

http://dirtwire.tv/2013/01/cx-nats-junior-women-15-16-and-17-18/

Women's race on right now. Nicole Duke broke her shifter. The pit mechanics managed to swap out her shifter in 6 min!

Chaos in the pit as racers try to change bikes every 1/2 lap.
The temperature is 19 deg F and the water from the power washers is freezing the shift cables to the frames.
Wisconsin is a stupid place to have Jan cross races.

Compton may be able to destroy the US field, but I don't think she will have a chance against Vos.

Hey is Keith at Nationals? Louisville organizer needs a professional picture of Page ASAP.

Keith said he can have it in two hours.  Send me the contact into and I'll get it to him.

Pretty cool

https://www.usacycling.org/rankings/points.php?state=NY&sex=M&disc=Road:CX&cat=04&agemin=50&agemax=55&mode=get_rank

Nice!!!

Well, as long as we're showing off, lets make that age category age 40-60, and see how we dominate that 20-year range in NYS. 1st through 4th, plus 7th. That's 5 out of the top 10. I think I smell some minor marketing copy cooking up!

https://www.usacycling.org/rankings/points.php?state=NY&sex=M&disc=Road:CX&cat=04&agemin=50&agemax=55&mode=get_rank

I get cat 1 honors for 35+.

Take the car 4 ranks down to 35 and we still kick as s