MTB News and Notes: BC Bike Race adds solos; Euro camps for XC racers

By Fred Dreier

Solo male and female cross-country racers can race all seven days of the BC Bike Race, from the start in Vancouver to the finish at Whistler Resort. In its third year, the BC Bike Race has decided to open categories for solo men, solo women and solo men 40+.

Kathy Lilyholm, the race’s public relations manager, said the move marks a step into unknown territory for the race, which has featured team-only competition since its debut in 2007.

“We felt that many people were having difficulty locating team partners, especially those not from a large cycling center,” Lilyholm said in a statement. “We are addressing this problem by adding the solo categories and wish to make sure that everybody can participate in our event.”

Solo participants will enjoy all of the amenities of the team riders, including on-course feed stations, dinners and breakfasts, accommodations and timing. The cost for a solo entrant is the same as for a member of a team — $2250 (CAD), about $1799 U.S. Solo registration opens February 24.

For more information, check out www.bcbikerace.com.

USA Cycling unveils junior, U23 XC camps in Europe

As a part of its mountain biking development program, USA Cycling will host a series of European development camps this spring and summer.

The three-week U23 and junior cross-country camps will be based in Kirchzarten, Germany. Participants must complete and return petitions for one of the three camps to national mountain bike development director Marc Gullickson no later than April 1.

The first camp will run May 7–25 and will be open to U23 riders only. The second and third camps, which run May 28–June 15 and June 18–July 6, will be open to both U23 and junior 17-18 riders.

“These camps bring our cross-country mountain bike development program in line with USA Cycling’s philosophy of focusing on developing our top young riders through international race experience,” said Gullickson.

“This plan will provide European mountain bike racing opportunities to a larger number of riders so that the world championships isn’t the first experience a young rider has racing outside of the U.S. The camps will be an important stepping stone for young mountain bike riders to reach the top level of elite racing.”

Levels of financial support will vary per rider qualifications. Full financial support will be offered only to 2008 USA Cycling cross country national champions in the U23 Men and Junior Men 17-18 age categories. Riders who qualified for automatic nomination to the 2008 UCI Mountain Bike World Championship will only be required to pay round trip airfare. All other attendees will be required to pay round trip airfare as well as an $850 camp fee.

Riders should petition for a specific camp using the form at: http://www.usacycling.org/forms/mtb/09MTB_DevCamp_Petition.doc.

The form should be e-mailed to Gullickson at mgullickson@usacycling.org on or before April 1. Riders will be selected based on international and domestic race results as well as performance at the 2008 USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Talent ID Camp.

One non-funded spot will also be awarded to the top U23 rider who places inside the top 10 in the Sea Otter Classic’s pro men’s cross-country race on April 19. One additional non-funded spot will also be awarded to the top U23 rider placing inside the top 20 in the Sea Otter Classic’s pro men’s cross-country race. A third non-funded spot will also be awarded to the winner of the Sea Otter Classic’s junior men’s cross-country Category 1 race on April 19.

Bootleg Canyon’s Thomson passes away

Brent Thompson, head trail master for the network of mountain bike trails in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada, passed away Feb. 18 after suffering complications from a heart attack in January. Thomson was 56 years old.

Thomson was pivotal in helping transform Bootleg Canyon, located just outside of Las Vegas, into a mountain biking destination and site of Interbike’s Outdoor Demo. The international bicycle show has held its demo at Bootleg for the past six years.

FILED UNDER: Mountain