From Vegas to Seattle

A week and-a-half of cyclocross craziness wrapped up Sunday with the Rapha-FOCUS Gran Prix in Seattle, Washington. Zac Daab, the man whose Cascade Bicycle Studio (recently named in Bicycling magazine's 100 Best Shops guide) inspired the boutique bicycle movement, put together a weekend full of fantastic cyclocross. There was plenty of beer to go around, plenty of frietjes and the fiercest racing the Pacific Northwest has seen this year. Euro pros Bart Wellens, Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea Cycling), Ben Berden (Stoemper Bikes) and Planet Bikes' Jonathan Page, whom we like to think of as half-Belgian even though he is originally from the States, were on hand to keep the speed high.

Our own Zach McDonald was there to represent the Rapha-FOCUS squad. The Gran Prix was the final race in a series of events that officially kicked off this year's US cross season. Last week we put up a preview of the US cyclocross scene. Stay tuned later this week for a follow-up on what has been going on with all things cyclocross, from the Vegas desert to the rainy shores of Seattle.