Hello Cyclocross (and MTB and Gravel) friends! I want to take a minute to tell you about the CXHAIRS Bulletin substack, a new home for cyclocross, MTB and other two-wheeled content from Zach Schuster and Bill Schieken.
Zach and I have been creating bike racing content for quite some time, and wanted to find a way to make it easier for you to receive the commentary, analysis, videos and race information you want, while also giving us the opportunity to receive a few dollars for our effort and experience.
Zach is the former editor of Cyclocross Magazine who spent several years bringing you unprecedented levels of cyclocross and gravel deep-dive articles, race recaps, results, interviews and Simpsons references. Over the past year, Zach has brought his dedication to the cyclocross written word to CXHAIRS.com. He is also a co-host of three cycling podcasts: Cyclocross Radio, GROADIO and Nowhere Fast.
For my part, I’ve run CXHAIRS.com for over a decade, created several video series including SVENNESS, CXs and Os, Cyclocross Television and the CX Heat Check, and continue to host Cyclocross Radio (along with Zach and Micheal Boedigheimer). I’ve also done multiple tours of the MTB World Cup circuit and covered MTB racing in the US. I’m also a race photographer and videographer who has worked for Trek Factory Racing, Clif Pro Team, and USA Cycling among many others.
It should go without saying that the changing media landscape has not been kind to cyclocross coverage. It sounds crazy to say, but for North America, Zach and I have been responsible for an overwhelming majority of coverage for the sport over the past several seasons. The CXHAIRS Bulletin aims to centralize that coverage into one place. And also give you top shelf coverage of the gravel and MTB scene.
For this newsletter, we plan to provide readers with commentary similar to Zach’s recent Woutmas 2020, MvdP Returns and PiddersPalooza or Toppers, Sub-Toppers, and Middlers: A Cyclocross Classification. We also will provide weekly start lists for upcoming races to your inbox before a UCI race begins and give you the results after the conclusion of the race. For the current cyclocross season, these races will include the SuperPrestige, Ethias, X20, World Cup and World Championships. Finally, you will receive our Cyclocross Heat Check Power Rankings and updates to the CrossMetrics, our proprietary cyclocross stats, such as On Podium Percentage (OPP) and Podium Scrub Zone Percentage (PSZP) .
The CXHAIRS Bulletin is available by subscription for either $8.00 per month or $70 per year. We are here to serve the cyclocross gods and more, and we want you to come along for the ride. Subscribe to the Bulletin for periodic free postings and please consider becoming a paying subscriber for in-depth analysis and information from Zach and Bill. Your contributions will help support independent cycling media.
Everything we post will be free to view for everyone for at least two weeks. After that, a portion of the content will go behind a paywall.
Weekly Publication schedule:
Saturday/Sunday Night: Race Results (calendar dependent)
Wednesday: Commentary/analysis column
Thursday: CX Heat Check Power Rankings (print version)
Friday: Start lists and race preview
Hi, the cycle of cyclocross is brilliant, watching out for the latest videos from Maghalie Rochette (really inspiring), Rebecca Fahringer, Curtis White or Telenet Baloise All Areas, seeing the latest updates on Cyclocross 24 and cx hairs twitter, listening to the latest Cyclocross Radio (always enjoyable), watching out for the start lists for the next weekends racing, enjoying the races themselves (though sometimes its only been one race at the weekend this year) and itching to see the full result lists, then it starts all over again. I love all of it but not currently the narrative about Denis Betsema you never seem to tire of pumping out, a rider who missed most of last season, whose case was decided by the UCI but who is judged to be North America’s most hated Cyclocross villain. There is lots of commentary about stuff in the world that doesnt contain the word hate but presumably you would consider hate and yet its alright to use hateful North America Cyclocross twitter comments as the basis of the narrative you continually push. Initially you seemed to decide to ignore her and then were slightly amused by incidents she was caught up in and derided her sprinting ability and then Bill Shiekins instruction to Honsinger to ‘finish her’ at Namur. It all sounds like schoolyard bullying and some of the techniques and callous talk is exactly that (look it up). This isnt in any way ‘sauce’ as you put it and this is from a world that talks about ‘fairness’ and ‘cyclocross friends’. I hope she can blank this out as it would otherwise be really tough. A real bit of journalism would be to find out more about Denise Betsema and perhaps approach her to talk to her about the events of the last couple of years and see how she lives, trains and even what she thinks of all this stuff you keep putting out. I know I have said this before but its all getting a bit boring now and seems quite lazy. When there is a bit more balance and respect I will subscribe to substack. Sorry this is posted in a strange place but I dont do social media.
Hi, I am glad that there was further debate on this at the last Cyclocross Radio show but the narrative stays the same and you even used a voicemail at the start of the show to emphasize this – perhaps it was the only voicemail you received. It was proven that it was a contaminated substance (back to the source) but the UCI statement made no mention of this and together with it only referring to her ban being up to October 2019 (and not mentioning that she had not been able to ride until late in the season) the UCI actually threw Betsema under the bus. You interviewed Honsinger but are not interested in finding out more about Betsema and are only interested in the drug cheat angle and not the side with see on Instagram including her island life, young family, healthy eating and home decor.
I am not obsessed with Betsema, just believe in fair play and kindness. Actually I dont think she has the form to challenge at the world championship as she looks perky and explosive at the start of races but flat at the end and this follows the same pattern every race. She seemed to do better when she was coming from behind. I have been so pleased to see the rise of Honsinger from her top ten in the under 23 worlds in early 2019. Like you I despair and at the shortness of women’s races and wonder what we can do about this.