Ever since last year’s Interbike, I’ve heard nothing but buzz about Giro’s entry into the bike shoe market. The claims were they were light, stiff, and had the performances of Levi Leipheimer not only killing it on the road, but winning the Leadville 100 MTB race and setting a new course record in a pair of prototype Giro MTB shoes he received on the day of the event.

The Bicycle Leadership Conference is an industry bigwig event held just before the Sea Otter bike festival in Monterey, California. I got to attend this year thanks to Cyclocross announcer Richard Fries asking me to moderate a panel on Social Media. Overall, it’s kind of a weird conference, these aren’t bike shop owners but major manufacturers and large bike accessory and advocacy companies. They talk mostly about trends in the industry and where things are headed but there is always a lawyer or two present to make sure there is no collusion or talk of pricing or anything. A common theme at the event was talking about challenges to the industry status quo, but not a lot of talk of people seeing them as opportunities, mostly, it was talking about what historically worked.

What follows are my notes from the sessions from the two day event, and some of it is just regurgitating the stats from the speaker podium but I found the whole event fascinating and gave me lots of ideas of how I’d attack the challenges if I were a shop owner or industry bigwig. There was also a bit of the event on Twitter, using the hashtag #BLC2011.

After spending the past few days in Bend, Oregon for the US Cyclocross National Championships, I’ve come away exhausted (I didn’t even race!) and entertained by the high caliber of racing action. It’s the one race of the year a lot of people train for and they always put it all on the line for the stars and stripes jersey and bragging rights of saying “I’m the fastest person in the entire country.”

The Venue

The crowds were big for the final races, and the course looked long, slightly muddy, and technical. The weather varied between snow flurries on some mornings, rain at times, and finally sunshine and temps in the 50F range on the final afternoon of racing. Like the weather, the course varied between mud bog, water logged, and got much faster as it dried out.

Though I love cyclocross, I’ve long had a love/hate relationship with the equipment used on most cross bikes. I ride a variety of terrain on my cyclocross bike including standard cross races (usually flat, sometimes muddy) but also very hilly gravel roads near my home as well as things I’d normally take my mountain bike on. The biggest difference from my MTB and my cross bike is the braking – I have sure-footed discs on my mountain bike that can reliably slow me down any steep descents with good control while my cyclocross bike’s ancient cantilever brake design mean I’m mashing them to the rim with all my might, white knuckles showing on the downhills as I watch the edge of the trail approach my front wheel at way too great of speeds.

Cross Vegas, the annual cyclocross event that coincides with Interbike, had its third outing last night on a sprawling spectator-friendly course that served up blistering speeds and some surprising performances to a huge crowd.

As we prepare for Interbike coverage at The Hub, the onslaught of product previews, press releases, and interview requests reaches a crescendo that only stops when you spot something amazing that stands out above the noise.

Getting into bike racing often means having to negotiate protocols and procedures set in place by die-hard veteran racers, but cyclocross is generally non-serious and one of the most welcoming types of bike racing, especially for beginners.

It’s almost time for Cyclocross across the country and here in Portland, it’s already begun. Portland is often mentioned as the hotbed of cylcocross in the US, with 1200+ racers showing up to every weekend race in the fall. Due to the incredible demand, September is a full-on preseason time to brush up at a skills clinic and maybe even race before the main season begins in October.

You’ve seen them all over this year’s Tour de France coverage. Lance wears them. Cavendish wears them. Hincapie’s been wearing them since the earliest prototypes.

It’s the new Oakley Jawbone, and I just got my own prescription pair this week. I’m still so-so on the looks of them, but behind the lenses and in the saddle, they’re one of the best.

From the moment my daughter was born a few years ago, I counted the days until I could ride with her. I wanted to show her the world at 15mph. I wanted her to experience the sense of independence and wonder of riding yourself to new places both physical and mental. I wanted her to enjoy cycling as much as I do, but after dragging her in a trailer as an infant and toddler, I figured we wouldn’t get to really put in miles together until she was 10 or 12.

But then I tried a trailer bike.