As we move through the spring and into the hot summer months, the assortment of cyclocross videos available for posting becomes pretty slim. I thought I had a hot lead when I heard about Sven Nys and Spongebob Squarepants teaming up to put on a summer cyclocross camp for kids, but it turned out that the promo video was available only on their web site, and therefore not a good candidate for it’s own post on this site. But after expanding the definition of “cyclocross” to include anything that involves Sven Nys, I did finally hit pay dirt with this short video of Mr. Nys racing to victory in last weekend’s Belgacom Benelux Championships mountain bike race in Averbode, Belgium.

If you look carefully you’ll notice that Belgian mountain bike racing is different from Belgian cyclocross in that the tires are wider, the bars are flatter, and there’s a big tree right in the middle of the course. Similarities, however, include lots and lots of sand, and Sven Nys winning.Speaking of sand, what is it with Belgian cycling and sand? I’m actually a little surprised that they haven’t figured out a way to work a long sand section into the Tour of Flanders. Hell, why not? It’s already got a run up.

Anyway, enjoy this video, and make sure to let me know if you see if any other good off-season videos that I should be looking at. We’ve still got a long way to go before Fall.

Here’s a nice little Vimeo video with some highlights from the 2009 Superprestige Cyclocross series.

With cyclocross season now winding down almost everywhere in the world (When is the Australian season?), there is a unfortunate shortage of new videos to post. This does give me a good excuse, however, to bring up an item of local interest. It not technically cyclocross, but it does have a ‘cross connection, and I even found a video.

It looks like Pirate Race Productions, promoters of the Dirt Derby and Lone Star Cyclocross Series (there’s the ‘cross connection), may be putting on a hill climb time trial this summer in Austin. The tentative date is June 13, and the location is the road into the Alexan Vista Apartments, across 2222 from Jester.

There’s a discussion of the event on the BiKe MoJo boards here.

Mike Weiland has a post on his blog detailing the climb, and the following video was shot  by Mike during the ride described in that post.

Here it is. The final lap of today’s elite men’s race from the 2009 Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. By this point in the race it was pretty much the “Niels Albert show,” but it’s still worth watching, if only to see the last-lap enthusiasm of the partisan crowd.

Here’s the final lap of today’s under-23 race at the Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide. Sorry for the lack of witty commentary, but it’s Worlds weekend, and I’m just trying to keep up.

 I can’t understand a word they’re saying, but the video quality good, and it includes all your favorites: Lars Boom, Sven Nys, Niels Albert, Bart Wellens.

Please post in the comments if you can tell me what “klotebrug” means.

U.S. under-23 national champion Nick Weighall riding this weekend’s worlds course in Hoogerheide with a handlebar cam.

There aren’t enough cyclocross videos on Vimeo, which features much higher video quality than YouTube. There are a few clips every week, but most of them are of the “hey, look at my buddies riding through the really deep puddle” variety.

This video of the London Cyclocross League Race last weekend at Herme Hill Velodrome, however, is pretty good. It features some exciting, although admittedly amateur, racing action, and the course and weather are about as good as you could ask for in a local race.

Here’s a helmet cam video of the course for the 2009 Cyclocross World Masters Championships, which was contested last weekend in Mol, Belgium. Check out the length of that sand section.

And congratulation to the maker of this video, James Melville of Scotland, who I see finished 40th in the 1965-1969 category.

World Business just did a story on the economics of cyclocross. Nothing earth shattering, but it does include some good race footage. Mostly from the Pijnacker World Cup race, I believe.