Finally the long summer wait is over & 'cross racing has begun; a few early skirmishes in Belgium prior to this weekends World Cup opener on the '08 Worlds course in Italy, and the US "international 'cross season started Vegas style" as it actually said on the T-shirts, followed 72hrs later by the USGP Madison weekend.

You've read the reports and seen the photos so I won't repeat what you've already read, suffice to say that Vegas was a slight disappointment from a race perspective, (still great from an event standpoint) as two guys who actually wanted to race cleared off and left a leading group of names who have enough experience to realise that you only win a bike race if you are at the front of it, and no matter how strong you are you'll only end up 3rd at best if you spend an hour looking at each other. So 10/10 to the 'Crossworld boys for tying it up and to Todd Wells for making the front group after four weeks of travel and race torture on a mountain bike and still having the skill, passion and enthusiasm to switch to thin tyres and be competitive, but a 4/10 and must try harder to some other notables in that front group who really should know better.

Then we all left the bright lights and over priced drinks and got off a plane somewhere in Wisconsin; I finally found out where Wisconsin was after I looked at the map in the in-flight magazine on the way back to the UK a few days later, but as I was waiting in baggage claim next to a souvenir shop whose whole display was items dedicated to the art of cow tipping I figured Las Vegas this wasn't, and life might be somewhat quieter than the playground in the desert.But the weekend rocked; great races over both days culminating in one of the most exciting last laps in any race you'll ever see anywhere, and despite some patriotic cheering for the home boys I'm sure nobody begrudged Vervecken what could possibly be his final career victory in his swansong season, for sure his last appearance in the US. He spent the entire hour dangling off the back of the leaders, closing gaps with last ditch efforts, losing metres on every corner to technically better riders, ducking, diving, sitting on trying to recover only to get gapped again as soon as the pace went back up, but he would just not call it quits and THAT is what makes him one of the best racers of all time. When he went into the bell lap still in contention but obviously the weakest of the three, it would still have taken a betting man to put money against him taking the victory, such is his ability to pull off the big moment in the last six minutes. When Page had a sit down to examine his base tapes the strongest opponent was out of the picture and Trebon was probably too scared to attack, but it was a sweet victory and well earned.

And talking of Page... actually I can't say what I really think, he's a really nice guy and he might take it the wrong way. But come on, you are obviously the strongest 'cross racer, with the possible exception of Albert, in the world right now and you should have won three races in five days last week. You've had the summer to get your shit together and I don't accept what you wrote on your site about your misfortunes; it is somebodies fault and accidents don't happen that regularly. You can be World Champion, you are that good, but until you realise that the difference between the Nys' of this world and the equally talented but less prepared athletes who finish top 5 is getting the extra 1% right, and that you have around 5% to make up, it won't happen. You should sit in on one of the workshops on "responsibility" held by British Cycling Psych Steve Peters, the man primarily responsible for raising the bar for the Brit cyclists in the last few years, as it would be an eye opener.  But it was only October a couple of days ago so hopefully lessons will be learnt and JP will show the world exactly what he is capable of in the next few months, & I'll be cheering as loud as anyone.

So question for ya... what is the link between CrossVegas and USGP, but you won't find it in Treviso this weekend? No? Give up? I'll tell you, it's Richard Fries. Now for the Brits reading this Richard is the US equivalent of Hugh Porter. But that is where the similarities end. He calls the races (or "announces" as we say over here), and he does it in such a way that average races become edge of your seat exciting, and otherwise exciting races reduce some grown men to tears and others pee themselves. He really is that good. I was thinking about this on the plane home; I reckon without Richard and his co-speakers (I've heard him with Dave Towle and Larry Longo and both are equally brilliant), the atmosphere at US 'cross would be significantly different to the point that it wouldn't, for me anyway, hold nearly as much attraction.
Richard is encyclopaedically  knowledgeable about the sport and riders, incredibly professional and sponsor-aware, but it is his passion for the sport that comes through in his announcing; you can tell he is just loving it.  He should be calling the World Championships, he should work at the Olympics. If anyone out there is promoting a race you should find a sponsor and pay for his attendance because it will make a difference to your event. And for all those muppets who whined about paying $8 to watch some of the best athletes in the world race at Vegas, well I'd pay $8 at a free-entry race to be wired up to listen to Richard call it, he is value for money.

So whats next? I'll be watching Treviso WC on the net tomorrow then I'll be the UCI guy at the next round in the Czech Republic before heading back for Louisville USGP, and I guarantee that however good the action is in Czech it won't be as exciting as Richard makes Louisville the following weekend!


Simon.