Oregon’s off-the-hook cyclocross scene grabbed even more attention this month. Issue 8 of Cylocross Magazine features Molly Cameron, Portland’s own “iconic” cross racer.

The in-depth article by Josh Cohen covers Cameron’s gender identity, world travels and life in general as a bike-shop-owning pro cyclocross racer. From the article:

“A lot of guys were like, ‘what the f***?’ at first, but when they got to know me, they were like, ‘OK, this isn’t something weird.’”

Find a copy and check it out!

BEND — Last December’s four-day USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in Bend generated $1.09 million in direct tourist spending, officials said Monday.

Based on the final economic impact study conducted by VisitBend during the Dec. 10-13 championships, 2,460 tourists visited Bend for an average of 3.6 nights.

“We could not have asked for a better turnout for these championships during one of Bend’s slowest tourism periods of the year,” said Doug LaPlaca, president and CEO of Visit Bend. “Not only was the short-term economic impact significant, but the editorial coverage and word-of-mouth exposure will have significant long-term benefits for the community as well.”

The championships generated a total of 2,090 paid lodging nights at 56 different lodging properties during that time. In addition, visitors from 43 states traveled to Bend, with only 14 percent of visits coming from within Oregon. Forty-two percent of attendees at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships were first time visitors to Bend.

“If we can get someone to visit Bend one time, we are confident that not only will they return, but they will encourage their friends and family to visit the destination as well,” LaPlaca said. “What’s more, with such a high percentage of event attendees indicating that they were likely to consider moving to Bend or buying real estate as a result of attending Cyclocross Nationals, there is an additional long-term real estate benefit to hosting events such as this.”

Participants completed a total of 713 written surveys in person during the event, and 761 people completed a post-event online survey. The latter provides a research sample representing 54 percent of contestants, not including local participants.

Read the complete study results HERE.

Here at Cycling Action World Headquarters we’ve reached all the way back to October 2009 to bring you these very brief videos of Cross Crusade superstars Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon.

The first video features Cross Crusade crew members Andy Wilson and Brad Ross repairing course tape as ‘08 National Champion Ryan Trebon (Kona-FSA) flies over the run-up and barriers.

The second video, from the 2009 Cross Crusade in Astoria, features “Cougar Bait” Barry Wicks (Kona-FSA) entering the coffin corner. Wicks won both days in Astoria, including Sunday’s costumed event shown here.

Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported today that the United States could host the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in 2013.

UCI officials confirmed the U.S. bid was from from Louisville, Kentucky, according to a report on cyclingnews.com, which also reported that the southern state was leading the competition to host the 2013 worlds. The decision to choose the venue will likely be made on Thursday of next week.

Louisville is a natural selection; it hosts a weekend of the U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross, which culminates in Portland, and is home of USGP organizers Joan Hanscom and Bruce Fina.

USA Cycling this week named the 20 riders who will represent the United States at the 2010 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships  in Tabor, Czech Republic, Jan. 30-31. Ryan Trebon of Bend made the elite men’s squad, while Washington’s Zach McDonald, who’ll race in the U23 competition, is the only other Pacific Northwest rider on the U.S. team.

Elite Men
Jonathan Page (Northfield, N.H./Planet Bike)
Tim Johnson (Middleton, Mass/Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com)
Ryan Trebon (Bend, Ore./Kona-FSA)
Jeremy Powers (Hadley, Mass./Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com)
James Driscol (Jericho, Vt./Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com)

Elite Women
Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Planet Bike)
Amy Dombroski (Boulder, Colo./Schalmm p/b Primus)
Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./California Giant-Specialized)
Laura Van Gilder (Cresco, Pa./C3-Sollay)
Maureen Bruno-Roy (Arlington, Mass./MM Racing p/b Seven Cycles)

U23 Men
Danny Summerhill (Englewood, Colo./Garmin-Felt)
Luke Keough (Sandwich, Mass.)
Zach McDonald (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Stevens Classic Cycle)
Jerome Townsend (Princeton, Mass./Bikereg.com-Joe’s Garage)
Dave Hackworthy (Hudson, Wisc./Plan C)

Junior Men
Cody Kaiser (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Cal Giant)
Jeff Bahnson (Newark, De./Thule-Vandessel)
Skyler Trujillo (Fort Collins, Colo./Black Sheep)
Chris Wallace (Shawnee, Kan./KCCX-Verge)
Matt Spinks (Layton, N.J./Young Medalists-Team Dual Temp)

OBRA’s Joshua Berry, an Idaho rider who moved to Portland this year to learn the finer points of navigating through mud during cyclocross season, has been in Europe with Geoff Proctor’s Euro Cross Camp and recently published a brief diary on cyclingnews.com.

Berry’s performance at the USGP in New Jersey, where he finished 6th in the U/23 category, paved the way for selection to the European trip. A regular rider on or near the front of Oregon’s Elite Men’s races, he won the Blind Date at the Dairy series and finished second at the SSCXWC09.

Berry competed in 10 races over 16 days at the same Belgian camp that has previously hosted Ryan Trebon, Jeremy Powers, Erik Tonkin, Jamey Driscoll, Barry Wicks, Jesse Anthony, Bjorn Selander, Danny Summerhill, Troy Wells and Nicholas Weighall.

From Berry’s cyclingnews.com diary:

“I have just finished my season and in the best way possible I am not relieved with the end but ready to prepare for the next one. Also, I decided that Ryan Weaver is the Sven Nys of Portland. Sorry, you don’t get that if you are not from Portland.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Danny Summerhill, who won the U23 U.S. Cyclocross National Championship last week in Bend, continued his good form Saturday with a win at the U23 race at the Lichtervelde cyclocross in Belgium.

OBRA’s Joshua Berry, who earned a trip to the Eurocross Camp by virtue of his 6th place finish at the USGP in New Jersey, finished 34th overall. Berry won OBRA’s Blind Date at the Dairy cyclocross series earlier this year.

Summerhill, a silver medalist at the 2007 Junior World Cyclocross championships, finished third in the overall elite race behind Kendric Van Grembergen and Paul Oldham, and was the first U23 rider to cross the line. Fellow American Travis Livermon finished 25th.

Cyclocosm has the answer for anyone struggling with ‘cross basics. Check out this tongue-in-cheek video promo for “Chris Horner’s Cyclocross Essentials” …

BEND — Colorado’s Katie Compton returned from her European World Cup campaign to take her 6th consecutive Elite Women’s title Sunday at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in Bend. In the men’s race, Tim Johnson led from early on and took the title in front of 2008 champion Ryan Trebon.

RESULTS
USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships
Bend, Oregon
Sunday, Dec. 13

Elite Women
1. Katie Compton
2. Meredith Miller
3. Amy Dombroski
4. Alison Dunlap
5. Laura Van Gilder
6. Adrea Smith
7. Mary McConneloug
8. Kelli Emmett
9. Maureen Bruno Roy
10. Sue Butler

Elite Men
1. Tim Johnson
2. Ryan Trebon
3. Jonathan Page
4. Todd Wells
5. Jeremy Powers
6. Jamey Driscoll
7. Adam Craig
8. Dan Timmerman
9. Barry Wicks
10. Chris Jones

With the elite men’s and women’s cyclocross national championship races coming up on Sunday there are plenty of superstars in Bend right now, including the ones who live there and those who are just visiting. The good folks at Cyclingdirt.com have gone to great lengths to get the inside story, including breaking and entering …

Were there really SEVEN spare bikes in that guest bedroom?