Armstrong on his comeback:		12 Hours of Snowmass Race Video
Armstrong vs Wiens in Leadvill		Armstrong's Las Vegas Press Conference

In front of an enthusiastic crowd of thousands, 2006 U.S. national cyclocross champions Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Katie Compton (Spike) won the CrossVegas UCI cyclocross race Wednesday night, held under lights in conjunction with the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas.

After surging ahead of a persistent Tim Johnson (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com) with just under two laps remaining, Trebon finished alone in front of a field that included riders such as Jonathan Page (Planet Bike), Florian Vogel and Thomas Frischknect (Swiss Power), and surprise competitor Lance Armstrong (LiveStrong).

Compton won in similar fashion, surging ahead of Katerina Nash after Nash's Luna Chix teammate Georgia Gould clipped a pedal on a barrier and lost contact in the closing laps.

The second annual CrossVegas event, attended by thousands of cycling industry insiders, received a boon when Armstrong arrived after a day spent in New York City at the Clinton Global Initiative, followed by a cross-country flight to Las Vegas on a private jet.

 Rolling at the front of the pack over the grassy terrain of the Desert Breeze soccer field, Trebon led a select group that contained Johnson, Page, Vogel, Frischknect, Jeremy Powers (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com), Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), Adam Craig (Giant), Matt Shriver (Jittery Joe’s), Jonathan Baker (Vitamin Cottage) Christophe Sauser (Specialized) and Todd Wells (GT).

Lap by lap the group whittled down, particularly after Kabush launched an ambitious solo move with three laps to go. Though the Canadian was eventually reeled in, the move caused a panic in the group, particularly after a frustrated Trebon sat up.

“The only ones who really wanted to ride hard were Tim and (Page), and I wasn’t going to be the only person to chase,” Trebon said. “It came to a point where I said, ‘If no one else wants to work, Geoff is my friend. I’d be happy to see him win.’”

But Johnson and Powers, both winners ahead of Trebon last weekend in Seattle and Tacoma, contributed to the pacesetting that eventually brought Kabush back to the fore. That allowed Trebon some time to recover, and in the final laps Trebon launched a trademark attack that no other rider could match.

The lanky Kona rider finished less than 10 seconds clear of the national champion. Craig, who wowed the crowd by bunnyhopping the course’s barriers, finished third to round out the podium, with Page in fourth.

“People said I was racing smart, and I don’t know if I would agree with that,” Trebon said. “That was kind of an insane move, and Tim was chasing really fast. I honestly didn’t know if I could hold it, and didn’t know I had it won until I crossed the line.”

With no UCI points, Armstrong received no special treatment, positioned in the fifth row as the first starter behind ranked riders. He missed the initial selection of a dozen riders, and finished mid-pack. Asked about his decision to race after flying across the country, Armstrong answered, “I slept on the plane. I wanted to race. I just love racing my bike.”

Armstrong finished well off the winning pace. Afterward, he said he had a new respect for the speeds the front group held.

“I didn't have any grand ambition or big dreams that I would ride away,” Armstrong said. “These guys are strong and clearly it is their time of year. But it feels good. I come as a cyclist first and foremost, and as a bicycle shop owner as well. It's great to see the support out there.”

Armstrong joked that he was “reevaluating” his plans to race 'cross at the elite level this season.

Cross Vegas also marked the final competitive event for Frischknect on North American soil. The Swiss rider, the only man to compete at every world cross-country championship since its inception in 1990, is closing out a career of mountain bike and cyclocross racing that spans three decades. Frischknect finished an admirable fifth place.

“I wanted to represent well, and go out on a positive note,” Frischknect said. “It was important to me to have a good showing here in front of so many friends and sponsors.”

(report by velonews.com)

CrossVegas Results:

1    TREBON Ryan   

2    JOHNSON Tim  

3    CRAIG Adam    

4    PAGE Jonathan  

5    FRISCHKNECHT Thomas  

6    KABUSH Geoff   

7    SAUSER Christopher

8    VOGEL Florian   

9    POWERS Jeremy 

10    BAKER Jonathan    

11    SHRIVER Matt   

12    WELLS Todd   

13    MUELLER Michael   

14    JACQUES-MAYNES Andy   

15    PARBO Joachim  

16    DRISCOLL Jamey   

17    WICKS Barry   

18    WELLS Troy   

19    MYERSON Adam   

20    ST JOHN Derrick  

21    CRUZ Antonio   

22    ARMSTRONG Lance   

23    HEEMSKERK Tim   

24    WELLS Jake   

25    DECKER Carl   

26    TONKIN Erik  

27    PRENZLOW Brent   

28    GRABINGER Jr    

29    BROOKS Paul   

30    KRIEG Sam   

31    SMITH Shadd   

32    WHITE Bradley  

33    ANKNEY Matt  

34    BOTTGER Frederick    

35    KAPPIUS Brady   

36    STEVENS Nicholas   

37    MCKEEN John   

38    BOWERS Stuart  

39    BEHRENS John   

40    BOUPLON Aaron   

41    ROBINSON Justin   

42    FOSHAG Robert   

What is cyclcocross?

PUSHING THE LIMIT

Blood, Muddy Courses and Air Horns

By MICHAEL BARRY

Overnight, Centennial Park in Toronto turned into a maze of caution tape, orange pylons and wooden planks. As the sun grew higher in the sky, burning off the morning frost, cyclists began circling the park, riding through the maze, which was their course, and jumping the planks, like runners flying over hurdles in a steeplechase. They ran up the hills with their bikes on their shoulders, and maneuvered them cautiously yet quickly through the technical sections of wet grass, rooted woods and mud. For an hour they raced, sweating and panting, going as fast as possible without, almost inevitably, crashing.

Cyclocross is an autumn and winter sport that was originally an off-season way for road cyclists to stay in shape during the winter. Over the years, it has developed its own stars, fan base, and a professional World Cup circuit that stretches from September until February with events in Europe and North America. After years of mediocre performances on the international level, United States riders are now beating the best: Jonathan Page came within meters of winning the world championships in 2007. Not only are American riders breaking into the international scene, the Europeans are occasionally flying overseas to race. The cycling-rich communities in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Massachusetts have consistently hosted the premiere events on the United States cyclocross calendar.

With sponsors, North American professional cyclocross racers can now make a small income. A decade ago, riders rode at their own expense and could only hope to win a gift certificate to the local bike shop.

In some parts of Europe, the top cyclocross riders are household names, like their colleagues who ride the Tour de France. The riders’ lives are followed closely in the Flemish tabloids and their incomes are equal to most top road cyclists. In Belgium and the Netherlands, a dozen riders, including Sven Nys, Bart Wellens and the current world champion, Lars Boom, have become superstars.

A cyclocross course is designed to be faster than a mountain-bike course, so a specific bike is needed. There are no long climbs, the technical sections are quicker to run than ride, and the courses are a mix of pavement, grass, gravel and dirt.

Unlike the slow build of a road race, cross riders sprint off the start line. Positioning before the narrower sections of the course is crucial because passing can be difficult. When a rider falters or crashes, he slows all of those behind him. In a race that lasts only an hour, it can be impossible to make up lost time.

The running sections, the barriers and the steep ascents create the spectacle: the speed of the riders is slower, spectacular crashes are more frequent and the action is intense. The European events attract huge crowds of spectators, willing to brave the winter weather.

The courses are circuits, ideal for spectators who see the riders repeatedly over the hour. The fans blow air horns, wave flags and scream encouragement or obscenities to the riders. Their ebullience is fueled at the beer tents set up around the course. Several races used to go right through the center of the beer tents until officials banned such routings because of drunken fans who threw empty bottles at riders they disliked, or rivals of those whom they had bet on.

On occasion some top riders have thrown punches or kicked at rowdy spectators who have tossed bottles and mud at them, or have pushed the crowd barriers into the course to impede their progress and cause crashes.

Although many road cyclists use the cyclocross races as off-season training, they rarely perform like elite cross riders who train specifically for their season. Cross experts develop the skills of an acrobat on a bike and tune their physique to perform at its maximum for an hour. Their peak fitness is attained through the winter, when the road cyclists regress.

The top cross riders don’t have the endurance or fitness base to perform at the top level in a road event. Lance Armstrong has recently been racing cyclocross events in North America to train for his comeback on the road in 2009. He isn’t winning and said it is harder and faster than he expected.

When I was a teenager growing up in Toronto, I would race to a park to ride the grass fields after school in the autumn, snake through the woods on single-track dirt paths and run through creeks with my bike on my shoulder. My high school friends and I rode for hours, practicing our skills and racing one another. It was on those trails that I learned many of the skills I use as a professional road racer today.

We returned home when it was dark, our lights never strong enough to light the trails. Covered in mud, we sat around my parents’ dining room table, paging through the latest cycling magazines, listening to Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin, refueling, dunking cookies in our cups of tea and talking about the coming cyclocross events we would race in through the autumn.

We were different from our classmates; our minds were high from riding the trails and far from our homework. Our legs burned from the efforts and bled from nicks and scrapes from branches and crashes.

Even now there is something romantically alluring about riding a bike through the woods on a brisk Sunday morning. The crisp air, the crunch of the fallen leaves, the scent of autumn, all bring calm, yet the race puts the rider on edge as he focuses on staying upright, moving quickly and working to find the almost elusive rhythm that only an athlete knows.

Michael Barry is a professional cyclist and the author of “Inside the Postal Bus: My Ride With Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Cycling Team.”