Jamey Driscoll is off to Europe for a Christmas cross camp and Matt White writes in with a UCI win from the weekend before nationals. You can see a full report of White’s win on cyclingnews.com

Matt White Win's Capitol Cross Classic UCI Cat 2 Reston VA, December 7th

After a disappointing day at the Carlisle Classic UCI race in PA, where a tire malfunction took me out of the lead of the race, and put me in the pits, I took to the course with fire in my eyes and plenty of air in my tires on Sunday in VA. I knew today was going to be one of my best chances to win a UCI race this season, and I was psyched for the opportunity.

I love racing at the front, defending a lead, or strategically planning my victory, it's just really different to me than racing for 3rd or 7th against the countries best. Today it was day for defending a lead, as the tight course was made for getting a gap early, and the steep long climbs wouldn't allow much drafting. I took it from the start, grabbing the $50 prime at the barriers early in the lap, and never looking back.

I slowly opened a gap on a small chase group of 5 or 6. By mid race it was out to 20 second, and the chase group was down to only 2, Jeremiah Bishop (Trek) and Steve Tilford (KCCX). Bishop was taking the precious seconds back in the closing laps, but I gritted my teeth every time up the long climb that comprised half a lap, and convinced myself he wouldn't catch me.

I finished 2 seconds in front of a sprinting Tilford, who sat on Bishops wheel until the last second, saving all of his energy for a late race catch. I felt very accomplished having spoiled Tilford's race long thought out plan, and for my precise calculated effort.

Driscoll Races GP Montferland Cyclocross in the Netherlands, December 23

The first race went surprisingly well after my missed/unannounced call up. This race is the one with the 100 stair run-up, which we did 12 times. The first time up, I was in the 50s or 60s and it was amusing, because there was really only enough room for 1 person, so there was this massive waiting line. I moved up steadily after things thinned out a bit, all the way up to 27th and 9th for the u23s.

Fiordifrutta Rider Writes for Bicycling!

In the next few weeks Fiordifrutta will release our complete roster for 2008, but one sneak peak is that we have picked up Phil Gaimon who had a couple of great NRC finishes in 2007. He is also an English major and has picked up a gig writing for Bicycling.com. You can read his first entry here.

Driscoll Wins Collegiate National Cyclocross Championship, Dec 16

Having just missed winning a stars and stripes jersey the day before in the U23 race, Jamey Driscoll dominated the collegiate race to win for the 2nd straight year. You can check out the full story on cyclingnews.com and see some great photos of Jamey’s podium hat.

Driscoll Takes 2nd at National Cyclocross Championships, Under 23, December 15

Jamey was narrowly outsprinted for the title, and you can read the full results on cyclingnews.com with tons of photos. Toby Marzot also finished off the year with a 19th place finish, and there are lots of photos in the mud, and frame by frame of the sprint finish.

Driscoll Wins Final Two Races of New England Championship Cyclocross Series and the Overall U23 Title, December 8-9

Jamey Driscoll ended his New England cyclocross campaign with 2 wins in the U23 category at the W.E. Stedman GP of Cross and the NBX Grand Prix of Cross, both races were in Rhode Island over the weekend of December 8-9. These two wins gave Driscoll seven straight U23 wins in the series, and he obviously took the overall title!

He gained enough points to finish 7th among the elite men with a 5th place finish in the last race. You can see a writeup of the final race and overall results here.

Wish Jamey good luck at the National Championships this weekend where he is the defending collegiate national champion and 4th place finisher in last year’s U23 race.

Jamey Driscoll Readies for 2008 worlds in Italy

I was able to finalize my trip to Belgium for the Christmas Camp with Geoff Proctor during one of the many layovers returning home to Vermont. Bike racing is hard, and certainly not cheap when you are travelling all over the world with 2 bikes ($80 each, one way)! I feel lucky to have good friends and a good team to help support my racing. Now I begin my specific preparation for worlds.

First, I’ll be doing some Indoor testing and riding at incline-training. My team I have worked with Jay Gump, Ph.D. for the past 2 winters. Jay’s approach with Fiordifrutta is to place riders in unfamiliar situations and teach them to excel by using a combination of physical strength, tactics and teamwork. “Athletes can improve power output without improving results. We emphasize that race execution is trainable and necessary to win at the national level,” says Jay in his friendly southern draw. Jay and I will specifically be working on getting through the Christmas Camp and ultimately worlds in Italy Jan 26th 2008. My goal will be to hold and hopefully improve my form for nationals and Worlds.

Next, I’ll be attending the eurocross Christmas camp again this year. I was there last year and the experience was invaluable as preparation and as a life experience. I wrote about last years’ trip here. I hope to stay healthy and build on my recent racing form.

Jamey Driscoll has done it for the second year in a row, taking the crown as top U23 cyclocrosser in the US. You can read about both Saturday and Sunday races on cyclingnews.com and see some great podum pics.

Driscoll Wins Under 23 USGP Cyclocross Title, December 1-2

Saturday – 1st U23 and 6th Overall
It's a real shame that my only experiences with New York city have been in transit, and nothing ever seems to be on schedule, such as the parking lot that was the JFK airstrip on Friday night, a delay which made my pacific time in Oregon arrival too late ….or too early for me to dare think of what time it was at home.

Though it wasn't pouring Saturday morning when I woke up, the lawn of my host family was still pretty saturated with previous Portland rain storms- Maybe it’s always saturated? Last time I raced at this venue, in 2004, the mud was so deep and thick half the race was spent running, fortunately this year, the ground was harder with good slick mud on top. A perfect mudder's course, just like I hope for. This course was technically challenging, and as the course wore in, it showed who had the best strength and skill.

A non perfect start to the race made for some clogged first corners, but actually allowed me to rest until the second lap where the race had spread out enough for me to be able to move up. The same can’t be said for my main competition, Bjorn Selander (Ridley), who led the race for close to the whole first lap. Within 3 laps, I caught up to the U23 “front group” of Danny Summerhill and Bjorn.

In our newly formed group was mountain bike strong man Geoff Kabush, he and I kept the pace as high as we could forcing Danny and Bjorn to struggle in the tricky conditions. With my U23 competitors struggling in the mud I could race the rest of the race concentrating on keeping my bike running smoothly and placing high overall in the elite race.

I was able to just hold off Kabush for 6th place, my best result this season! One day down and I was more confident that I could repeat my 2006 USGP U23 overall.

Sunday – Driscoll Wins U23 race again, 6th overall
I woke up to the sound of steady rain on Sunday. I was thinking this could make things even more epic than Saturday, but hopefully not epic to the point of 2004’s foot race. Setting out on the course, I was a bit surprised; a large part of the slippery mud sections from the previous day turned into large puddles which were actually less slippery, these puddles also served as little bike washes as well.

Fortunately, some of the key sections were just was rutted and still very slick, and could prove decisive. Normally I am not one to bring a trainer for warming up on, but I wished I had my Elite Crono today! After riding a few laps on the course and hosing my bike off, I was pretty wet. Combined with the hurricane force winds off the coast, I was pretty darn chilly.

The start of the race again saw my U23 rivals off to a fast and furious start, one by one I caught and passed them, and fortunately they put up less of a fight than the day before. After about 1/3 of the race, I was in 6th again with Geoff Kabush, I overtook him and surged hard to get a little gap . I got too greedy, went too hard, and got passed back again. I rode in, periodically blinded by specks of mud for 6th place again. Overall, I was very happy with my performance in both races, and felt happy to have won the USGP jersey again.

The journey home took me through Salt Lake, a cruel joke for a former ski bum from Alta, with the mountains in plain sight for a solid hour and a half. Now I sit here waiting for my last plane home as I scribble down my adventures from the weekend. They are much more captivating than the engineering homework I should be doing.