The Surf City flame stays lit thanks to the continued efforts of Sabine Dukes and Team Velo Bella. Following up on their successful single day event last season, this incredibly efficient group of girls & guys have conspired to organize a three event series this year with a $13,000 overall prizelist. The first event is on Sun-Oct-16 at Aptos High School, with a training clinic the day before on Saturday. The course design & setup crew is headed up by Brent Chapman, myself & a seasoned group of volunteers, and the school has gone through some significant changes in the intervening years, so expect the unexpected.

For the first time in SCCX history, the final event of the series will be a UCI Sanctioned, Category 1 event and part of the National US Gran Prix of Cyclocross Series. The course will be the highly configurable Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, so expect a couple of substantial run-ups, many fast riding sections, off-camber turns, and 7-7.5 minute (elite Men) lap times. Full details and a schedule of events is available at the Team Velo Bella site. USCF or NORBA licenses will be required to race the series, and both annual and one-day ($) licenses will be available at registration. UCI licenses will be required of Elite Men & Elite Women riders at the final event.

Speaking of National-class events, Santa Cruz local David Gill, in conjunction with Team Santa Cruz is organizing the FIAC National Cyclocross Championships on Sun-Nov-6, also at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds (Check his URL - is that a great cyclocross domain name or what? It may be available for the right price...).