FIRST 2008 RACING UPDATE
Recently the UCI released the final 2007 International Mountain Bike Rankings. As of December 31, the United States' position remained unchanged with no Americans in action over the UCI Mountain Bike Calendar year's final weeks. In the Women's Nation Rankings, the United States retained its number two ranking with 3586 points behind China's 4334. Germany (3069) is a distant third, followed by Canada (3062) and Russia (2654). In the Men's Nation Rankings, the U.S. held the seventh spot with a total of 2019 points behind France (4315), Switzerland (3284), Spain (3047), Germany (2591), Belgium (2487) and Sweden (2021). In the individual standings, Georgia Gould (Ketchum, ID/Luna Chix) and Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, MA/Kenda-Seven) both remain ranked in the top ten in sixth and seventh respectively. In the men's standings, Adam Craig (Bend, OR/Giant) is the top-ranked American in 16th with 808 points.
Cumulative 2006 and 2007 Nation's Rankings will determine the number of start positions a country will receive at the 2008 Olympic Games this August in Beijing. Those rankings, recently released by the UCI, list the U.S. women in third with 6193 points behind China (7236) and Germany (6346). After a solid 2006 campaign, the men are ranked sixth overall with 4224 points behind France (7864), Switzerland (7349), Spain (5472), Belgium (4364) and Germany (4353). Based on those rankings the U.S. is expected to receive two start positions each for men and women.
GRAVITY EAST SERIES
The Gravity East Series is returning after a successful debut in 2007. This year's series will consist of eight races with all events acting as qualifiers for the 2008 U.S. Mountain Bike National Championships. The host venue of the Gravity East Series Finals will be released when the venue has been selected.
2008 GRAVITY EAST SERIES SCHEDULE
May 9-10: Massanutten Resort, McGaheysville, VA; www.massresort.com
May 31-Jun 1: Mount Snow Resort, West Dover, VT; www.mountsnow.com
Jun 21-22: Wisp Resort, McHenry, MD; www.skiwisp.com
Jul 5-6: Plattekill Mountain, Roxbury, NY; www.plattekill.com
Aug 16-17: Bolton Valley, Bolton Valley, VT; www.boltonvalley.com
Aug 30-31: Whiteface Resort, Wilmington, NY; www.downhillmike.com
Sep 6-7: Attitash Resort, Bartlett, NH; www.attitash.com
Oct 11-12: GES Finals, TBA; www.gravityeastseries.com
CYCLOCROSS
The U.S. Cyclocross National Championships marked the 37th event on the season long Cyclocross Calendar. With just one event remaining, the overall titles have all but been decided as Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, CO) and Tim Johnson (Middleton, MA) have significant leads in the overall standings. The current calendar standings are as follows:
1. Tim Johnson...Cannondale-Leer-Cyclocrossworld...512 points
2. Barry Wicks...Kona-Yourkey...381
3. Ryan Trebon...Kona-Yourkey...372
4. Jeremy Powers...Cyclocrossworld...327
5. Todd Wells...GT...316
WOMEN
1. Katie Compton...Spike Shooter...310 points
2. Georgia Gould...Luna Chix...240
3. Lyne Bessette (Can)...200
4. Maureen Bruno-Roy...Independent Fab...180
5. Rachel Lloyd...Proman-Paradigm...163
The lone remaining race on the 2007 Cyclocross Calendar is the Urban Cyclocross at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, CA on Jan. 19.