News: USA Cycling Announces 2009 Pro XC Mountain Bike Tour

USA Cycling announced today the creation of the USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Cross Country Tour (ProXCT). The ProXCT was designed to recognize the top off-road racers in America and provide them with a consistent stage on which to ply their trade. The ProXCT will differ from the Kenda Cup (U.S. Cup) in that each race will be UCI-sanctioned and will offer UCI points.

Sho-Air International will be the title sponsor of the ProXCT. The 2009 race schedule includes events in all regions of the United States except the Midwest, beginning in Fontana, California on March 29th and finishing September 26th in Las Vegas, Nevada. The existence of the seven race series combined with the U.S. National Championship race in Sol Vista, Colorado will give XC riders a total of 8 opportunities to score UCI points this season without leaving their home soil.

2009 USA Cycling Pro Cross Country Mountain Bike Tour presented by Sho-Air International:

March 29: U.S. Cup – Fontana, Calif.
April 19: Sea Otter Classic – Monterey, Calif.
May 31: Bump N’ Grind – Birmingham, Ala.
June 13: Carmichael Training Systems Sand Creek International Classic – Colorado Springs, Colo.
August 8: U.S. Cup – Mount Snow, West Dover, Vt.
August 15: Yankee Clipper at Windham Mountain, Windham, N.Y.
September 26: USA Cycling Pro Cross Country Mountain Bike Tour Finals, Las Vegas, Nev.

News: Registration Opens for 2009 Breck-Epic

Breck-Epic race director Mike McCormack recently announced that registration has opened of the 2009 Breck-Epic Stage Race in Breckenridge, Colorado. Although entry fees for the race have not yet been finalized racers will be able to register with a $250 deposit. The deposits are fully refundable until January 3rd when the price of entry will be finalized. Currently, race entries will be limited at 400 individuals.

The Breck-Epic is a 6-stage mountain bike race which takes place in and around Breckenridge, Colorado. The race begins with a prologue on July 5th and is slated to finish on July 10th after covering roughly 235 miles of epic Colorado back country riding.

The Breck-Epic will include ten different categories for racing. Those categories include:
Open Men Duo
Open Women Duo
Open Mixed Duo
80+ Duo
100+ Duo
Singlespeed Duo
Solo Men Open
Solo Women Open
Singlespeed Open
Solo Men 40+

In his statement McCormack reiterated that some categories may be eliminated if they have fewer than 5 registered participants.

Although registration for the Breck-Epic has been open for less than a week many prominent U.S. athletes have already laid down their $250 deposit including Garth Prosser (Cannondale), Yuki Saito (Topeak-Ergon), and Evan Plews (Scott). To register for the race visit Sportbaseonline.

News: U.S. Cup Update

Written by: Shannon Boffeli

As MTBracenews readers know Team Sho-Air director Scott Tedro has been leading the charge to create a new U.S. National races series. Plans for the series are constantly evolving. We recently spoke with Tedro who gave us this update.

According to Tedro the U.S. Cup will be split into two individual series' in 2009. With title sponsorship coming from Kenda, the U.S. Cup will consist of an East and West coast series with the two series' combining for the final race in Las Vegas, Nevada. The series finale will be replacing last year's Cactus Cup and will be held in conjunction with the Interbike trade show on September 26, 2009.

Each series will consist of 6 races. While Tedro stated that race dates and venues have been finalized a race calendar has yet to be released. At the time of this publishing we do know that stops at Bonelli Park, Fontana and Santa Ynez, California will be included in the West Coast series as well as the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey.

Tedro, who has always envisioned the East and West coast format said "We are very excited that we were finally able to make this happen. The new format will provide opportunities for a greater number of participants to experience racing on a National level."

Trek/VW Pro Jeremiah Bishop had this to say about the changes for 2009, "I am really excited that momentum is building for US mountain biking next season... An East Coast Cup and West Coast Cup makes it possible for more riders to feel like "hey I can get a top 5 in the East Cup". That's just a days drive to get to all the big races. This is obviously not ideal but as a bridge season it will be nice way provide fun racing to the most people."

While it appears the East and West Coast series' are finalized MTBracenews has been told from outside sources that a plan to carve out a separate series for Professional racers is still in the works. The Pro series would most likely include races from both the East and West Coast series'.

As the 2009 U.S. Cup begins to set sail it appears more industry sponsors are coming on board. Along with Kenda, U.S. Cup title sponsor, Specialized and Hayes Bicycle Group are each proposing some new and exciting race promotions.

According to Tedro, Hayes will randomly choose one amateur racers from each race in the series for an all-expense paid trip to the series finale in Las Vegas. While the folks at Specialized have agreed to pay the entry fees for the first 10 junior racers who register for each event in the series.

Please stayed tuned to MTBracenews.com for future updates on the U.S. Cup including a full race calendar which should be available soon.