September 14/99 1:35 am - More Interbike, Alberta News, Vuelta, Peterborough Race

Posted by Editor on 09/14/99
 

Interbike Tidbits

Our editor is back in the office after 5 days of attending Interbike in the City of Sin - Lost Wages. A report on some of the highlights went up a few days ago, but here are a few more items of information, and an editorial:

- Team Canada won the Bike Industry Hockey World Championship, beating the U.S.A. Midwest team in the final. The score was 6-5, with Craig Pollack of Race Face banging in the winner with only 13 seconds left on the clock. It was a pretty chippy game, with some players sent off. Thanks to Dick Cox of Kona for supplying the details.

- David Cathcart of Team Elita was walking the show floor, meeting with sponsors and drumming up new ones. He says that the team will be expanding to 9 riders next year, with members coming from 3 countries.

- Trek was showing a line of soft tails - pivotless rear suspension that uses chainstay flex. 3 models: 200 ST, 300 ST and 400 ST. They had a 400 ST on display that topped the weight scales at only 22 pounds.

- Cannondale is trying to play the heavy with a small Canadian fork inventor - Terry Woodside. You may remember our coverage of his CNC'd, single strut fork over the past few years. Well, he is closer than ever to putting out a production version, and was at Interbike again - garnering the attention he always does with his unique design. So, on Saturday (September 11th), Joe Montgomery (founder and owner of Cannondale) shows up at Terry's booth with a lawyer and letter stating that Terry's fork looks to infringe on Cannondale's Lefty single strut fork!

This was more than puzzling, to our mind, since the Lefty is only just coming out now, and Terry has been showing his fork at shows in Canada and the U.S. for over 3 years. Cannondale claims that they have patents going back to the days of legendary Å’vapour ware' designer Tim Pong. Terry provided us with a copy of his patent, and said that he will be talking to his lawyer once he is back in Canada.

One highly placed industry source (who wished to remain anonymous) said that Cannondale has tried this sort of intimidation tactic before, and that Terry shouldn't get too worried about it.

Unfortunately, this type of tactic is an increasing trend (and not just with Cannondale): if you are big enough, patent everything you can think of (whether or not you actually produce anything) and then use your money and power to bully or outspend small startups. Some business and legal types call it „Protection of Intellectual Property‰; we call it bullying.

Unfortunately, as we see more and more consolidation in the bike industry, and as more of these big conglomerates go public and the bottom line becomes satisfying shareholders rather than customers, this trend is likely to accelerate. This will, in turn, have the effect of driving talented newcomers out of the industry and sport, drying up the pace of innovation. This is the lifeblood of the industry. It is becoming increasingly rare to see anything really unique at the shows; and if anything halfway interesting does turn up, it is immediately grabbed by one of the majors.

We are not suggesting that companies shouldn't protect their property - we have our own trademarks, which we vigorously defend. However, we seem to be entering a state of Negative Competition, where it is more important to deny someone else an opportunity, than to do something positive yourself. Let's not go there.

Post your comments on the Forums.


News From Alberta
(courtesy Greg Flaaten)

Coming up! This weekend in Jasper the ABA hosts it's fifth annual Women's Camp, this year including both road and mtb riding. Women of all abilities are invited. Several spots remain available - contact the office for more details.

The provincial championship criterium and hill climb events were held this past weekend, in Canmore and Banff respectively. The criterium was held on a hilly 1.2 km circuit, which demanded a high level of fitness. Winners included:

Chuck Sinclair (Bow/Republik) - Category 5
Ben Johnstone (Bicisport) - Category 4
Keir Pittman (Eurotech) - U17 Men
Jesse Collins (Bicisport) - Category 3
Kent Foster (Bow/Republik) - Junior Men
Tricia Milner (NCTDC/Bike Shop) - Junior Women
Jacob Erker (Bow/Republik) - Category 1/2
Leslie Schlebach (NCTDC/Bike Shop) - Open Women

Special thanks to organizer Shawn Taylor for putting this event together on short notice.

On Sunday, the best-attended Norquay Hill Climb in years was held, in perfect conditions. Records were set in two categories:

Master A Men - Clayton Paradis (Pedalhead), set a time of 13:52.4, eclipsing Gary Alexander's mark of 14:07 set in 1996.

Master C Women - Marcy Dibbs (EVCA) beat her 1998 time by 34 seconds, setting a new record of 23:05.5.

The Hill Climb, by tradition, marks the conclusion of our road season, and, up until a couple of years ago, the end of the racing season. Riders now, however, may get even more racing out of their '98 licenses, with 4 Cyclo-cross events on tap in October. The schedule is:

October 3 - Edmonton, hosted by Velocity
October 17 - Edmonton, hosted by Juventus
October 23 - Canmore, hosted by Altitude
October 24 - Calgary (Provincial Championships), hosted by Bow/Republik*

(*note the events on the 23rd and 24th are a change from the handbook calendar)

Finally, the Velocity "brain drain" continues, as we say farewell to Velo Cat. 2 rider, Commissaire, and Race Organizer Eric Harvey. Eric, however, is not on his way to the U.S., but rather is bound for Surrey, B.C. We wish him all the best in his professional and cycling endeavours on the coast!

Jim Jutte, an organizer from Ontario is putting on a trans-Canada charity ride for Ronald McDonald House. He will be towing four children behind him (most likely survivors of critical illnesses and not ride for more than one hour at a time). Jim is looking for assistance in planning this event and putting it together. If you are interested please contact him by e-mail: jimjutte@hotmail.com.

Also for those of you are interested, The Kokanee 24 Hours of Adrenalin has tentatively scheduled a 2000 date for July 22 & 23.


Vuelta a Espana

Stage 9 - Gijon to Corrales de Buelna 186 km

1 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Lotus-Festina 4:33:40
2 Oscar Camenzind (Sui) Lampre-Daikin at 0:03
3 Nicola Miceli  (Ita) Liquigas
4 Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros
5 Rolf Sorensen (Den) Rabobank all s.t.
6 Jose L. Rubiera Vigil (Esp) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0:08
7 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0:54
8 Serguei Outchakov (Ukr) TVM-Farm Frites 1:10
9 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom s.t.
10 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 1:16

GC

1 Abraham Olano Manzano (Esp) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 38:52:14
2 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom at 2:08
3 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mapei-Quick Step 2:58
4 Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Esp) Vitalicio Seguros 3:58
5 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Esp) Kelme-Costa Blanca 5:05
6 Angel Casero (Esp) Vitalicio Seguros 5:56
7 Jose M. Jimenez Sastre (Esp) Banesto 6:10
8 Jose L. Rubiera Vigil (Esp) Kelme-Costa Blanca 6:15
9 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 6:53
10 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Esp) Banesto 7:06

Note: Today is a rest day for the Vuelta.


The Ashburnham Grand Prix - Peterborough Ontario
(courtesy Rob Naish)

September 11, 1999