USA National CX Champs...

Some hard core CX racers might recall a movement to push the USA National CX championships to January to more closely match the time line for most of the European champ dates.

Well today 'our' UCI guy announced the '09 Verge tentative calendar
A snip from the first email:

Here are the tentative dates for the 2009 Verge New England Cyclo-Cross
Series:

1. September 26, Vermont
2. September 27, Vermont
3. October 3, Gloucester
4. October 4, Gloucester
5. October 24, Maine
6. October 25, Maine
7. November 7, Northampton
8. November 8, Northampton
9. November 28, Sterling
10. November 29, Sterling
11. December 5, Rhode Island
12. December 6, Rhode Island

There may still be a few changes in the next 2 weeks, and I will update you
accordingly. It's possible that Vermont may go earlier. Note that Maine is
back on the calendar, and Sterling is going to a double weekend.

Sterling a double? SWEET. Maine back on the calendar? Very cool. Winding up in RI? Perpetuated Awesomeness. 12 race series? WICKED AWESOMENESS! New England ROCKS for cross. Them's a lot of races, eh?

Anyway. It was a follow up email with this that caught my eye with regards to nationals:

More on the schedule:

-VT is definitely locked in to the 26/27
-Northampton has worked out its potential conflict with Beacon/HPCX in the
MAC, and they will be one weekend earlier. Basically we're swapping dates.
-Nationals will be on Dec. 10-13, so Rhode Island will definitely stay on
the 5/6.

Again. Just a snip. But I was caught off guard. Certainly the talk about moving nats to Jan would be the logical move. But this is Adam's reply to my question:

Yes it has. For now, the conversation is dead.

Essentially, the UCI came around on their own accord and decided that a
December nationals was good for US 'cross. It means more grassroots riders
are still racing, and that the elite riders can go to Europe early to
contest the circuit there and be adjusted before Worlds.

There are pros and cons to each, but for the foreseeable future, Nationals
will be the second weekend in December, provided there isn't a World Cup on
that weekend. That's the one stipulation from the UCI.

Adam

Adam being Adam Myerson, often called Adam Myerspace. Anyway everyone in cross should know his palmares and there's no need to go into it all. Word has it that some intrepid correspondant with CX Magazine has done or will do an interview with him.

I'm sure it will be as good as the Kraus or Nys interviews.

Side track eh?

Well, still no word on a location for next years CX Nationals. Location isn't really as important as the ability, energy and funding to put on a successful race. Where it is may color the pack fodder crowd; those who won't be in contention for a jersey in an age group or the Elite race, but it won't be the factor in it's success.

All those words were out sort of in public on the NECX list. I just wanted to capture my excitement about next year's verge expansion (from this year). And to distract myself from the fact that my car is still locked down in Limp Mode. Still trying to track down a darn OBD reader. Might just have to break down and spend some money. I hate doing that, at least tomorrow I can just eat, hang with family and relax and focus on how nice it is to be with family.

heddwch
G