Even though there's snow on the ground now, it's not many weeks before the Tuesday Night Criteriums and monthly Gardner Time Trials start up with some new features for 2008. Check out the flyer and the Masters category being offered.

Also in February, one of the more challenging weekly rides in the metro, The Wednesday Night Hill Ride will roll out from a new location: Bates City BBQ. The BBQ is on last year's route (at 65th and Nieman). Start time remains 6:30 PM. Watch for more info here.

Localcycling.com continues to lead the Monday No-Drop (a.k.a. Recovery) Ride from Tienda Casa Paloma (82nd and Metcalf). This is a great way to learn about group rides or just relax after a hard weekend.  The group stays together for a one hour tour with a different theme and route every week. Great food and beverage afterwards.

Dean Parker has sent another great batch of photos from the Grote Prijs Shawnee. Here's the gallery (the first shot is of some Drill Instructor in a Fez...very weird). Dean also has photos from other events here at his Flickr site.

The DeStad van Kansas Cyclocross Series standings are posted here.  Chris Locke says that some custom awards, merchandise and comp' entries for next year's series will be ready in the next few days, watch the site for details. 

Regarding Scoring here's a mini-editorial:

Local cyclocross racing has experienced a lot of growth over the last several years. More racers in more categories mean a lot of positive things, but it has put a lot of pressure on the scoring side of events.  The nature of 'cross with multiple laps means some confusion for the folks tracking the racers, BUT riders who pay the entry fee deserve accurate results in the end. The current method of scoring most races depends heavily on our USAC officials who use a hand scoring system. It's not a glamorous or easy job. Nor is it the best technology. It's complicated by a local shortage of working USAC officials. There is also a dependence on the rider of each event to review the results and 'protest' within a short time after results are posted.  Solutions are being worked on for upcoming events. Some may require investment in technology such as chip timing, others may be as simple as more volunteers to take the pressure off the Officials. The goal for all promoters and officials should be to have accurate results posted the first time, rather than mistakes caught in the 'protest period"; that should be the exception not the rule.

The Kansas Cycling Association is taking a step towards some of these issues with an active recruitment program for new officials. Click on the 'read more' below for details:

Out of the mud. Photo by Heather Taylor

Roger Harrison photos are here.  A little video here. AND some more great shots by Heather Taylor here. We should have more pictures today and final series calculations soon.

Full results below, click on 'read more':