From CyclingBC – The 2010 cross-country and downhill BC Cup Series has been announced and will feature 7 of the best races throughout the province in each discipline.  With Champions being named in each age category and cash prizing for the pro/elites, the Series is gaining momentum!  Check out each series below for further details.

This year will see several changes. Rules have been adjusted slightly, for example the Finals will not be mandatory, and new races have been added. The Rat Race no longer exists and has been replaced by the Sunshine Coaster, and the Junkyard Dog XC is back on the calendar after being absent for 2009. In addition BC will host 2 national downhill events.

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Cycling BC 2010 Draft Race Calendars are now posted online. Be sure to check back frequently as they are being constantly updated…

• DRAFT 2010 Road Calendar
• DRAFT 2010  Downhill Calendar
• DRAFT 2010 Cross Country Calendar
• 2010 BMX Calendar

A number of triathlon and cycling clinics geared towards youth are being offered in Victoria by the Pacific Institute of Sport Excellence. The clinics focus on skill and technique development and are being taught by experienced coaches Kelly Guest and Houshang Amiri. For more information and to register visit PISE at www.piseworld.com.

Clinic details included below:

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Youth Triathlon Camp Ages 12 – 15—training to train

Our spring break triathlon training camp will work on skill and technique development for all three sports. Under the direction of a Kids of Steel coach, the PISE Youth Triathlon Camp will help kids get a grasp on how to prepare for races, be confident in their skills, and lay the foundations for a great triathlon season! This program will include strength & conditioning; testing; educational talks; guest coaches; technical skill development; and lots of fun! Cycling and running gear is mandatory.

Instructor: Kelly Guest

Monday – Friday 8:30am – 4:00pm

March 8 – 12 250 ($265)/5 sessions

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For Immediate Release Jan 10, 2010

Victoria BC, – Seamus McGrath and Andreas Hestler in cooperation with Big Mountain Adventures and BC Bike Race launch ‘Performance Cycling Camps’.

Two seven day training camps will be held in Victoria: March 28-8 and 8-15.

With over 45 years of experience between two celebrated athletes; 3 Olympics, multiple National Titles, countless World Cups and a couple of BC Bike Race wins, Andreas and Seamus know a few things about preparing for a cycling season. Join Performance Cycling Camps to set the foundations for a successful race season or a platform for lifelong cycling success. (more…)

By Rod Mickleburgh, from Monday’s Globe and Mail -

Experts predicted traffic doom, but barring cars from a lane on Burrard Bridge has been anything but

Few can sniff pending disaster like the media, particularly if there might be pictures. So television, radio and notebook-wielding print reporters were in place early, primed to file up-to-the-minute dispatches on what would surely be the fiasco of the year.

This was July 13, Day One of the great bike-lane experiment on the busy Burrard Bridge. Pundits had been predicting chaos for days. TV choppers circled overhead, searching for the first trace of long lines of impatient motorists.

When suddenly, as the Monty Python skit put it, nothing happened. But for a brief snafu at one end of the bridge during the evening rush hour, pounced on by the news-starved media as manna from heaven, the day had all the drama of a golf course tap in.

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From the Victoria Times Colonist — The 2000s began for Ryder Hesjedal on the mountain bike, continued on the road and conclude with the Victoria rider being named Canadian cyclist of the decade.

The quietly intense Hesjedal, 2003 world mountain biking silver medallist who in 2008 and 2009 became the fourth Canadian to ride in the Tour de France, was given the honour in balloting by Canadian fans conducted on CanadianCyclist.com.

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The BC Provincial Cyclocross Championships took place last weekend in North Vancouver at Mahon Park. It was cold, clear and dry but the course was muddy and slippery. Congratulations to everyone who competed!

Results can be found here.

An amazing photo slideshow from the race by John Irvine can be viewed here.

Dave Shishkoff has posted a great report from the race including pictures on his blog here.

(Photo courtesy of Dave Shishkoff)

The 2009 cyclocross season offically comes to an end this weekend in North Vancouver at the BC Cyclocross Championships.

The event takes place at Mahon Park on Sunday, November 29th with the first race beginning at 10am.

You can register on-line here.

All participants will also automatically be entered to win a 2009 Rocky Mountain cyclo-cross frame in YOUR size.

Did you know that this week is the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition’s (VACC) 3rd annual Winter Bike to Work Week?

From November 2-6 cycle commuters can either visit a commuter station for free food, prizes and mechanical help, register a team and recruit your co-workers for the online competition, or become a sponsor. The goal in all of this to promote cycling as a viable mode of transportation within the city.

For more information and to register visit the VACC website here. You can also view the map and schedule of commuter stations.

From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail -

Except for a few angry drivers, the first day of the Burrard Bridge bike lane experiment – with one traffic lane designated for bicycles – had a smooth start yesterday.

The 2009 edition of the BC Bike Race is now offering participants the option to ride solo. Solo riders will be able to compete in one of three categories: open men, open women and men 40+.

According to race organizers, “Solo category riders will experience the full 7 days of racing and will be added to the already successful competitive 2 person team format and the recreational 2, 3, 4 and 5 person team formats that require two riders on the course at any given time.”

Recently organizers unveiled a new route for 2009 which will include a start in Vancouver and a tour through the legendary trails of the North Shore.

The BC Bike Race will take place this year from June 28-July 4. For more information visit www.bcbikerace.com.

If you’re interested in cycling a recent three-part audio series from the BBC looks at bicycles in the modern world from Paris to Uganda to India. Each series can be downloaded as an MP3. Following are descriptions of each episode:

• Part one — A new bicycle system in Paris – In Paris, France a new bicycle transit system called the Velib has been installed. Twenty thousand bikes have been made available and can be used free of charge for up to half an hour per ride. They allow Parisians and tourists alike to get from A to B at their own pace, and to rediscover the beauty of the city at the same time. The montage of voices in the programme include the Velib’s designer and Parisian residents. They talk about the bicycle’s design features, how they use the system, the journeys they take, and how has the Velib has changed the city.

• Part two — Why cycling matters in Kampala, Uganda – The montage of voices in this programme talk about why peddle power matters in Kampala, Uganda. In Kampala, a particularly distinctive and sturdy metal framed bicycle can be seen everywhere, and it is used for a great deal more than commuting. We hear from cyclists talking about how they get around the city, bicycle repair workers, delivery workers who rely on bicycles, and a wheelchair user who owns a wheelchair made of bicycle parts. The programme explores why cyclists in Kampala are emotionally attached to their bicycles, and how the bicycle is put to various ingenious uses. As a two wheel mobile pay-phone stall, an ice-cream stall, and to transport heavy goods and passengers.

• Part three — How biking in New Delhi, India helps the economy – Rupa Jha introduces a montage of voices who talk about why peddle power matters in New Delhi, India. Here, the bicycle is fundamental to one of the city’s essential economies – the newspaper delivery industry. At 5:00 every morning, hundreds of newspaper deliverers gather with their bicycles in bazaars, ready to deliver the day’s news. The programme features deliverers who take us on their route across New Delhi. They share stories of what impact the bicycle and their job has had on their lives. For one 19 year old it is a way of funding his studies, and for another deliverer the income has helped to support his family.

The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition wants your help as a team leader to encourage your colleagues and workplace to experience the benefits of cycle commuting year-round. In fact, with the onset of winter weather cycling becomes an even more important part of a physically and mentally healthy lifestyle, as well as continuing to be a great choice for the environment!

SIGN UP NOW: www.vacc.bc.ca/biketowork

(NOTE: The first person who signs in from your workplace will become the team leader. And we also ask if team leaders can, to the best of their ability, keep their team roster current by removing those people who are no longer on their teams.)

We have online and in-person resources to help you rally your team, and create a bike-friendly workplace for year-round cycling!

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Backcountry.com has just posted a picture on their website showing the coolest bike wheel ever. Where can I get one?!

From the Vancouver Sun…

VANCOUVER – Premier Gordon Campbell pledged $31 million Tuesday toward building bicycle routes around the province. The announcement brings total spending on bicycling infrastructure by the province to $114 million over seven years.

"We want to provide people with a sense of safety and security" when they cycle, the premier told a news conference alongside the Central Valley Greenway bicycle route.

Vancouver Coun. Suzanne Anton – who has cycled in stages from Canada’s Pacific to Atlantic coasts – said after the news conference that about $250,000 would be used to help make improvements to the Central Valley Greenway route from Vancouver to New Westminster. Work has already begun on the $1.8-million, two-kilometre project on a section between Commercial Drive and Science World.

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Its finally official, after several days of rumors Lance Armstrong, 7 time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor, has confirmed that he will return to professional cycling. The following was published in the New York Times yesterday…

After more than three years away from professional cycling, Lance Armstrong — the cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France winner — announced Tuesday that he would emerge from retirement and climb back onto his bike.

Armstrong, who will turn 37 next week, spoke briefly about his decision in a videotaped statement posted on his foundation’s Web site.

“Hey everybody, I know there’s been a lot of reports in the media today about a possible return to racing,” he said, wearing a white T-shirt and leaning toward what seemed to be a handheld camera. “Just want to let you know that after long talks with my kids, the rest of my family, a close group of friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in 2009.”

Continue reading on the New York Times website …

Here’s an excerpt from a great editorial written by Karen Von Hahn for this past weekend’s Globe and Mail.

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I love driving a car. There, I’ve come out with it: the worst, most inflammatory statement anyone can make at this moment in history.

But seriously, I do enjoy driving, even if I lament what North American auto dependence has wrought, in wretchedly unwalkable cities and car-centric sprawl, as I also enjoy walking. What I find as both a driver and a pedestrian, however, is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to love my fellow cyclists, who are now so empowered by their environmental correctness that they have begun to proclaim their own (naturally superior and far more fashionable) bike "culture."

Continue reading …

Trainharder.com blogger Hugh Trenchard is currently competing in the Cascade Classic .

The Cascade Classic is the longest consecutively run elite stage race in the US and has attracted most of North America’s top cyclists and teams over the years. The quality of the race courses, the beauty of Central Oregon and the fun atmosphere of the race has made it a perennial favorite and has the competitors returning year after year.

Hugh is Rider Number 170 and is riding for Team Schawlbe.

Check out the results here: 2008 Results

FYI: A decision on the Floyd Landis case will be handed down tomorrow by the Court of Arbitration for Sport five days before the start of the Tour de France. Keep an eye on www.bicycling.com for the latest updates.

Bike to Work Week is an annual event held within various communities across the Province. We are currently day two into Vancouver’s Bike to Work Week , and Victoria’s will follow next week. A number of events are held during the week long event, including commuter challenges, workshops, and the setup of "celebration stations" along popular bike routes. The Buzz According to Buzz has a really good post on events in and around the Vancouver-area.

A "celebration station" along North Vancouver’s Main Street Tuesday morning.

The purpose of these events is to promote cycling as a way of commuting to and from work. In the spirit of Bike to Work Week, Trainharder offers its own top ten tips for better bicycle commuting.

1. Know your route – cycling the same route that you would normally drive isn’t always the best option. You will want to consider the topography of the land (hills) and how safe the route is. Here are some links to bike maps for Vancouver , Burnaby and Surrey .
2. Give yourself extra time – you’ll need extra time to clean yourself up once you get to work, and to eat and drink something.
3. Pack your stuff the night before – this just makes things easier in the morning.
4. Prepare for rain – get fenders, wear booties, have a good water-resident jacket, wear warm gloves. Riding in the rain isn’t that bad, you just need to prepare for it.
5. Wear eye protection – for bugs, dust, debris kicked up by cars, cold wind, etc.
6. Make sure your bike fits you – handlebars, saddle, wheels, gears, and brakes can all be adjusted, but the frame has to fit from the start. To find the right frame size, straddle the bike: on a road bike there should be one to two inches of clearance between your groin and the top tube. On a mountain bike, the clearance should be two to three inches or even more.
7. Don’t carry things on your back – it’ll get sweaty and ache. Instead make your bike do the work, put your stuff into panniers.
8. Keep your cool – there are a lot of bad, inconsiderate drivers out there and eventually you’re going to meet one. Loosing your cool makes things worse. The driver will hate cyclists even more and you will have a dark cloud hanging over your head.
9. Have a good helmet -the most important piece of safety equipment. Research suggests that wearing a helmet reduces the risk of a head injury by up to 60 per cent. And it’s required by law. A helmet needs to feel comfortable, fit correctly and be suited to your style of riding.
10. And finally safety, safety, safety – make eye contact with drivers, make yourself seen, be patient and follow the rules of the road.

Please feel free to share your tips .