USA Cycling announced its annual Club of the Year awards on Friday, recognizing nine clubs — one in two different categories — for what the national governing body called “outstanding programs throughout the 2007 season.”

The 10 clubs will receive complimentary registration fees for the 2008 racing season. Clubs were judged on several key areas, including race promotion, membership composition, instructional clinics and seminars, club activities and charitable contributions and racing performance.

Three primary clubs were recognized based on membership size: Division I, 76 or more members; Division II, 30-75 members; and Division III, one to 29 members. Seven additional clubs were honored in specific categories – mountain bike, collegiate, track, new club, women’s, masters’, and junior/high school. Receiving Division I Club of the Year honors was Velo Club La Grange Westwood of Santa Monica, California. The club promotes the West Los Angeles Grand Prix, conducted multiple clinics and seminars focused on development, skills, competition, nutrition and fitness, and held introductory track classes at the Encino Velodrome. Velo Club La Grange Westwood also held regular weekly training rides five days a week and hosted several annual club rides – some of which doubled as charitable fundraisers. Community benefits included the Meals on Wheels Annual Thanksgiving Day Ride, the Start to Finish MS Bike Tour and the Annual Volvo City of Angels Fun Ride benefiting the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Velo Club La Grange Westwood also administers the Scott Bleifer Scholarship Fund and regularly provides volunteers for major events at the nearby ADT Event Center Velodrome. Additionally, the club donates clothing to needy cycling communities and supplies the Bicycle Kitchen with unused bike parts in order to make bicycles more accessible to all people. The club has 458 members, including Coryn Rivera, a six-time national champion in 2007 alone. Members of the club captured 37 victories this season, including 11 state championships, 94 podium finishes and 244 top-ten performances. Tri-Power Cycling Club of Virginia Beach, Virginia, was named Division II Club of the Year. The promoter of the Conte’s Cycling Classic, the Amphibious Assault Criterium and the Mt. Trashmore Cyclo-cross Race also received high marks for its clinics and seminars. Tri-Power was active in charitable causes, too, sponsoring its members’ participation in the MS 150 and Bike for the Cure fundraisers as well as contributing to various organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross and Bikes for the Homeless. The club also features strong initiatives on behalf of juniors, women and masters cyclists. Cross Creek Cycling Club of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was named Division III Club of the Year and Masters’ Club of the Year. No stranger to awards, the club earned Best New Club of the Year in 2004 and Masters’ Club of the Year in 2005. Cross Creek promoted the Dragon’s Challenge Omnium and the North Carolina State Criterium Championships and featured 36 clinics and seminars focused on cyclo-cross instruction, bike fit, winter riding, bike safety and maintenance, beginner development and nutrition. Cross Creek also contribued to several charitable organizations including the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Special Olympics, Bike to Iraq, Habitat for Humanity, Ride Without Limits and Operation One Voice. Cross Creek’s masters program places juniors under the mentorship of several masters’ riders, who provide post-race feedback to the developing riders. The club also conducted three master-specific racing clinics. Black Bear Cycling of Sussex, New Jersey, was named Mountain Bike Club of the Year. The promoter of the Wawayanda Spring Cleaning mountain bike race in Hewitt, Black Bear Cycling featured four clinics throughout the season that focused on bike safety, maintenance and technology.

Members scored podium finishes at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships, the 24 Hours of Allamuchy and the Campmor H2H MTB Race Series.

Black Bear Cycling scored bonus points for its high-level of trail advocacy. Club members completed 203 hours of volunteer trail maintenance in 2007 while the club emphasizes responsible mountain biking through promoting exercise, stewardship of resources and volunteer activities. Colorado State University in Fort Collins was named Collegiate Club of the Year. The school hosted the Rivalry Race Weekend and the Beaver Meadows Mountain Bike Festival in addition to a bicycle tune-up and maintenance clinic that was attended by more than 200 riders, a bike handling clinic that attracted 100-some attendees and weekly presentations on nutrition, physical therapy and training techniques.

CSU also featured the Fifth Annual Horsetooth Double Dip ride, an event that benefited the Rist Canyon Fire Department. Additionally, the club oversaw 400 volunteer hours of trail maintenance at Beaver Meadows.

CSU’s Phil Mann won the criterium at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships. The squad also earned a bronze medal in the team time trial and a silver medal in the women’s cross country race by Amanda Miller at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships. For the fourth consecutive year, the Track Club of the Year award went to the Hammer Racing Team of Littleton, Colorado. The club annually promotes its Hammer Time Trial Day at the Track – an opportunity for beginners to expose themselves to track racing without the intimidation of mass-start racing.

Hammer Racing also works with the Colorado Velodrome Association to conduct beginners’ and women’s clinics. At the 2007 USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships, Hammer Racing members came home with eight national titles, a pair of best all-around rider awards and its sixth consecutive team championship. The squad also earned a silver medal at the UCI Masters Track World Championships in Sydney, Australia.

Hammer Racing also donated its time to assist with regional bike races for the Special Olympics and the wheelchair division of the Colfax Marathon. Project Velo Racing of Troy, Ohio, was recognized as Best New Club of the Year for 2007. The club promoted three races this season and conducted a series of bike skills, safety, nutrition and mechanics clinics throughout the summer. Project Velo Racing athletes also collected more than 100 top-10 finishes in local and regional races, including several state-championship medals. Women’s Club of the Year went to the Northeast Bicycle Club of Billerica, Massachusetts. The club boasts 100 women members – nearly a third of its total membership – and supports the NEBC-CycleLoft Elite and Category 3-4 eomen’s teams. The NEBC also has a successful junior women’s contingent and a strong corps of masters riders, including the 2001 masters world time trial champion in the 60-64 age group. In 2007, women competitors also claimed seven USA Cycling national titles. Finally, the National Capital Velo Club of Washington, D.C., was named Junior/High School Club of the Year. The club has 40 junior members and hosts a series of junior-based training clinics and seminars including the Tucson U19 training camp, the Lost River U19 training camp, pre-national championship training camps and a pair of cyclo-cross clinics.

Juniors participate alongside their senior counterparts to support several charitable causes, including the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Inova Fairfax Hospital and the Chris Sander College Scholarship Fund.

National Capital Velo Club riders took several victories and top-10 finishes in local, regional and national-level races.

USA Cycling slates national championships
Southern California will host a number of national-championship events in August 2008, USA Cycling announced Friday.

The elite, U23 and junior road nationals are scheduled for August 7-11 in Orange County while the junior track nationals will be held August 14-17 at the ADT Event Center in Carson.

USA Cycling awarded the road events to Jet Cycling in conjunction with Rock-n-Road Cyclery, which will serve as the local organizing committee for the road race, time trial and criterium.

Of USA Cycling’s 15 national-championship events in 2008, three are yet to be announced –masters road nationals, collegiate road nationals and BMX nationals. Those should be announced by year’s end.

2008 USA Cycling National Championships
July 4: Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships
Breckenridge, Colorado

July 17-20: Mountain Bike National Championships
Mount Snow Resort
West Dover, Vermont

August 2-3: 24-Hour Mountain Bike National Championships
9-Mile County Forest
Wausau, Wisconsin

August 7-11: Elite, U23 and Junior Road National Championships
Orange County, California

August 14-17: Junior Track National ChampionshipsADT Event Center
Carson, California

August 16-17: Professional and Elite Criterium National Championships
Downers Grove, Illinois

August 30-31: USA Cycling Professional Road and Time Trial National Championships
Greenville, South Carolina

September 2-7: USA Cycling Master Track National Championships
Hellyer Park Velodrome
San Jose, California

September 11-13: USA Cycling Collegiate Track National Championships
7-Eleven Velodrome
Colorado Springs, Colorado

October 1-5: USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships
ADT Event Center
Carson, California

October 24-26: USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships
Lees-McRae College
Banner Elk, North Carolina

December 11-14: USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships
Wyandotte County Park
Kansas City, Kansas

TBA:
USA Cycling BMX National Championships
USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships
USA Cycling Master Road National Championships