·         2009 racing licenses are now on sale! As memberships are renewed, notice that the fee structure for 2009 is mostly unchanged and the price of an annual license is still the same as it was five years ago! However, a significant increase in insurance claims and premiums has forced a $1.00 increase in the insurance surcharge. Also, mountain bike members are reminded of the new category structure for 2009. Click here for more on purchasing a 2009 USA Cycling racing license.

A reminder that all USA Cycling members receive a 10% discount off the "best available rate" at all Hampton Hotels. The offer is good at any of the following: Hampton Inn, Hilton, Conrad Suites, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacation Club or Homewood Suites. Visit www.hamptonlovescycling.com for more information.

USA Cycling members will receive a 10% discount off their next purchase of 53x11 Coffee when they click here.

·         The USA Cycling Membership Benefits page offers discounts on awesome cycling related apparel and merchandise. Click on the member benefits tab here for more information on all the shopping deals for USA Cycling members only.

USA Cycling Master Cyclo-cross World Championship jerseys are now available from VeloWear at a cost of $69.95. Click here for more information and to purchase.

·         America's only strictly professional racing calendar, the USA Cycling Professional Tour will kick-off the domestic racing season on February 14 with the AMGEN Tour of California. The nine-day, 850-mile stage race is the first of 12 stops on the USA Cycling Professional Tour which is returning for its third year. For more information on the USA Cycling Pro Tour click here. For more on the AMGEN Tour of California visit www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

·         America's premier season-long national-level calendar featuring both professional and amateur cyclists, the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar, will begin on Feb. 15 with the AMGEN Tour of California Women's Criterium in Santa Rosa. The 34-event calendar incorporates 25 women's races and 28 men's races from February to September. For more information on the complete USA Cycling National Racing Calendar, click here. For more information on the AMGEN Tour of California Women's Criterium, click here.

·         After only one event on the UCI ProTour, the United States is eighth in the Nation rankings with Team Columbia's George Hincapie (Greenville, S.C.) the only American to score points thus far. Australia currently leads the Nation rankings while Australia's Allan Davis (Team Quickstep) leads the individual rankings in the very early going. Click here to view the complete UCI World Rankings.

·         Selection procedures for the 2009 Pan American Continental Mountain Bike Championships are now available. The Pan American Continental Mountain Bike Championships will be held in Santiago, Chile, March 17-22. USA Cycling will be offering start positions for both cross-country and gravity riders. A petition process will be used to select all discretionary members of the squad which includes a majority of the gravity competitors. UCI points will be offered to the event's top finishers. Riders should note that team sizes will be limited. Click here to view the complete selection document and to learn more on contesting the Pan American Continental Championships. Elite gravity athletes interested in being considered for a spot on the 2009 Continental Championships Team must submit a petition to Marc Gullickson at mgullickson@... on or before Wednesday, February 11.

·         The final 2009 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Cross Country Calendar has been released. Consisting of 15 mountain bike races across 11 states, the calendar employs a season-long rankings system that results in an overall men's and women's champion upon completion. The updated calendar also highlights seven UCI sanctioned events that make up the new professional cross country mountain bike series designed to recognize the top professional off-road racers in America, the USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Cross Country Tour presented by Sho-Air (ProXCT). Click here to view the complete and final 2009 schedule.

The inaugural event on the 2009 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Gravity Calendar, the All Mountain Cyclery Mob N Mojave, will take place Feb. 14-15 in Boulder City, Nevada. The festival-style event will include downhill, super D and dual slalom competitions. More information including race course maps, registration and videos of last year's race(s) can be found on the event's official website, www.downhillmike.com.

·         The 2009 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Ultra-Endurance Calendar will kick off with the Mas O Menos 100K in Terlingua, Texas on February 14. On-site registration opens at 10:00 a.m. on Feb. 12 and race day festivities begin with a racer's breakfast at 6:00 a.m. on the14th. For more information, visit the official race website at www.desertsportstx.com/masomenos.php.

After finishing sixth overall in the UIV U23 Copenhagen Six Day, Jan. 29 - Feb. 3, Austin Carroll (Orange, Calif.) and Guy East (Indianapolis, Ind.) moved into first place in the UIV Talent Cup Series heading into the series finale in Alkmaar, Netherlands, Feb. 6-8. In preparation for the finale, the Madison pair's sixth-place result brought their UIV season points total to 65 in the Talent Cup series. Click here for complete UIV Talent Cup series standings.

·         Colby Pearce (Boulder, Colo.) and Daniel Holloway (Lonlord, Calif.) finished 10th in the UIV Copenhagen Six Day professional competition with 83 total points. Sixteen-year-old Jesse Marans (Newport Coast, Calif.) and his Dutch partner finished third in the junior contest at the same event.

BMX News

Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) became the first two-time medalist in U.S. Cyclo-cross history February 1, winning a bronze medal in the elite women's contest at the 2009 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Holland. Compton's third-place finish led a U.S. women's team that placed all five of its riders in the top 20. The elite men also took to the fields of Holland with Jeremy Powers (Hadley, Mass.) turning in the top U.S. finish, placing 35th, 2:54 off the pace of winner Niels Albert (BEL). On Jan. 31, Luke Keough (Sandwich, Mass.) provided the U.S. National Team with its best result of the day with a 13th-place finish in the junior men's contest, while Bjorn Selander (Hudson, Wis.) was the top American finisher in the U23 men's contest in 27th. Click here for a complete re-cap of the 2009 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.

·         Americans brought home three medals from the 2009 UCI World Masters Cyclo-cross Championships on Jan. 24, claiming one world title and two silver medals. Katherine Sarvary (Lunenberg, Mass.) earned the gold medal in the women's pre-1960 class, while compatriot Lillian Pfluke claimed silver in the same category. For Sarvary, it was her second consecutive world title after also winning gold in 2008. Adding to the U.S. medal count was Katrina Baumsteiger (Templeton, Calif.), who captured a silver medal in the women's 1960-1969 category. Baumsteiger's performance marked her fourth consecutive silver medal at the world championships, also placing second in 2006, 2007 and 2008. On the men's side, the top U.S. performer was Henry Kramer (Menlo Park, Calif.). Kramer placed seventh in the 1955-1959 category. Congratulations to all the UCI World Masters Cyclo-cross Championships participants.

·         The Collegiate road cycling season will officially get underway this weekend with events both in the Southeast Collegiate Conference and the Western Collegiate Conference. The University of California-San Diego will kick off the weekend in San Diego, CA with the Boulevard Road Race and San Diego State University will wrap up the co-hosted weekend with the 6th Annual Red Trolley Criterium. The University of Florida will kick-off the Swamp Classic with an individual and team time trial on Saturday and will wrap-up with a criterium in downtown Gainesville on Sunday. For a list of all Collegiate Cycling's Spring 2009 races, click here.

·         The 2009 USA Cycling Collegiate Track National Championships have been set for Sept. 24-26 in Trexlertown, Pa.

·         USA Cycling is offering several upcoming coaching webinars. Webinars are web-based seminars open to any USA Cycling member. Most require a fee of $35 and are open to USAC members with advance registration required. The next scheduled webinar is a free webinar on USA Cycling's Development Camps set for Feb. 10 from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. This webinar is open to any interested party at no charge and will provide an overview of USA Cycling's Development Camps. Another webinar entitled Warming up: Science and Art is coming up on March 5 from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. MST. During this session Andy Coggan, Ph.D. will offer insights into the proper warm up for training and competition. Details on all upcoming webinars and technical information are available here.

·         USA Cycling has replaced the level 3 coaching manual with "Introduction to Coaching Cyclists". The new book is aimed at any rider interested in learning some of the basics of coaching whether the rider is self-coached or interested in coaching other riders. The table of contents and ordering information are available on the Coaching Program area of the USA Cycling website. If ordered through your MYUSACYCLING account, the cost of the manual is $30. For those interested in becoming a certified coach, the level 3 certification exam is included.

·         USA Cycling has announced that the 2009 Bill Woodul Race Mechanic Clinic is scheduled for March 12-15 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The clinic is open to all mechanics who wish to become USA Cycling-licensed mechanics. Space will be limited to ensure one-one-one interaction between instructors and students. All participants must register before February 13. Click here for more information.

National Events News

·         The 2009-10 USA Cycling Junior, U23 & Elite Road National Championships have been awarded to the city of Bend, Ore. The dates for the 2009 USA Cycling Junior, U23 & Elite Road National Championships will be July 28 through Aug. 2. The cycling-friendly community will host approximately 1,000 competitive cyclists over the course of the six-day event as they compete for national titles in individual time trial, road race and criterium events. Click here to read more on the recent announcement.

·         USA Cycling has announced dates and locations for the majority of its 2009 National Championship events. In 2009, a total of 17 events will provide amateur and professional cyclists with an opportunity to claim a coveted Stars-and-Stripes national champion's jersey across all five disciplines of competitive cycling. For more information on all of USA Cycling's 2009 National Championships click here.

2009 USA Cycling National Championships

March 21: USA Cycling BMX National Championships - Desoto, Texas
May 8-10: USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships - Fort Collins, Colo.
June 28 - July 4: USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships - Louisville, Ky.
July 2-5: USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships - Carson, Calif.
July 4: USA Cycling Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships - Breckenridge, Colo.
July 10: USA Cycling Tandem Sprint Championships - Trexlertown, Pa.
July 16-19: USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships - Granby, Colo.
July 28-Aug. 2: USA Cycling Junior, U23 & Elite Road National Championships - Bend, Ore.
Aug. 15-16: USA Cycling Elite & Professional Criterium National Championships - Downers Grove, Ill.
Aug. 18-23: USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships - Indianapolis, Ind.
Aug. 29-30: USA Cycling Professional Road & Time Trial National Championships - Greenville, S.C.
Sept. 24-26: USA Cycling Collegiate Track National Championships - Trexlertown, Pa.
Sept. 30 - Oct. 4: USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships - Carson, Calif.
Oct. 16-18: USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships - Truckee, Calif.
Oct. 24-25: USA Cycling 24 Hour Mountain Bike National Championships - Phoenix, Ariz.
Dec. 10-13: USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships - Bend, Ore.
Date TBD: USA Cycling International Omnium National Championships - Location TBD

*All Dates and Locations Subject to Change