Hmm. It appears so. Ik Sven's finger prints are all over this bad boy. According to Ernesto:

For the 2010 we are proud to introduce the NEW carbon Cross frame, the PRESTIGE. This new cross frame has been developed with the input from former World Champion, 9 time Super Prestige winner Sven Nys.

The front triangle is a HHM (High Modulus carbon) monocoque with polygonal section on the top- and down tube, it has a curve between the inside of the top and seat tube, this for better comfort when carrying the bike on the shoulder. The rear triangle is lugged.

Stability, speed and weight are key components to the PRESTIGE.
The PRESTIGE will be available in 6 sizes, (50 to 60 with).

Beefier than the C-50's and the first advancement I've seen of their carbon cross mainstay for a decade.

I'm not sure what's with all that curvy carbon by top and seat tubes. Sort of ridonculous and unnecessary carbon. I'm digging the traditional horizontal top tube though. I will never understand sloping top tubes on cross bikes...

I'll take my Ridley X-Night's though any day in a head to head beauty contest. I'm probably just in lust at the moment though...but I can't stop messing around with the frames! Bike 1 built this weekend. 

(UPDATED) I loved seeing Sven when he'd tackle the Spring Classics. He'd attack the pave' and get himself on the front of the race to ensure cameras would see him attack the Kemmel and all the other cobbled climbs. The results never really materialized for Sven on the road in the spring which is why I love seeing him focus so decidedly on MTB since the Olympics last year...proving his dedication to using Dugasts from 32 to, now, 45.

Today he crowned himself King Of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg in the 'Lowlands MTB Championships'. What was rad was seeing Dutch National MTB Champ and all around 'cross hard-man Thijs Al take 2nd and other crossers (Stybar, Berden, etc) lay down the gauntlet on the field including  some heavies...like Julien Absalon (3rd). All hail the 'crossers!

Click the photo below to view the pictures on the day or click here to read the story on www.sport.be (in Dutch....). Use Babelfish or Google to translate.

Oh, and what was Sven rolling on today? My 'cross loving sister and camera-carrying soldier in Belgium, Mieke De Cnodder, caught Sven on...ahem...these incredible wheels. Look familiar???

And I'm NOT kidding this time. Sven is moving to Landbouwkrediet-Töissteiner as of January 1, 2009. Per Sven's new team:
On a press conference today in the building of our main sponsor Landbouwkrediet, it has been officially announced that cyclo-cross rider Sven Nys will join our team in 2009. He will wear our green jersey for the first time in his home grand prix in Baal on New Year's day. We wish Sven, who is the reigning Belgian champion and the number one on the world ranking of cyclo-cross, a lot of success!
Sven'll be on his trusted C50 still as his new team are also a Colnago sponsored crew. Isn't that convenient.

By now, cross hoars, you've read every character and examined every pixel of this CyclingNews article on Nys' C50.

But holy crap on a stick. I'm gonna kick the ass of Sven's mechanic for the bunk job he did on his tape when I gets to Belgie! I mean Mourey's crappy tape job is one thing, but how could the Cannibal be let out on the parcours with this! For shame.

Unbelievable weekend as you've all read by now. Compton is absolutely sick and deserving of the world cup win....the first by an American. Seeing her last weekend at the Redline and Boulder Cups, my buds and I were drop-jawed at her power. The sand was nothing for her....and literally she rode the entire sections while most the men's pros and 35 opens ran it. Sick.

Boom. That was the sound Lars made blowing Sven (his teamate...ha!) and everyone else up. Wellens had a great weekend obviously but Sven was not Nijs this weekend.

Totally weird observation. When Sven suffers, he switches his porting technique. Even in total deep mud like today, when he is on song, he ports under the down tube. But when the suffering sets in, he wraps the head tube. Weird. Maybe I'm just a total geek but it's just something I've noticed after watching zillions of hours of Flemish.

Photo ©: Isosport

Daaaaamn. We are all getting older. Even the cyborg, Sven Nijs is beginning to show some weather. I've got a couple-a 3 or 4 gray hairs starting to show their face in the bouffant, but Sven's head is either getting bigger with each World Cup victory or he's starting to show some age:It's all good Sven. It's aaaaaaaaaaall good. Getting older is OK, man. No need to worry about that little wunderkind Niels Albert or Klaas Vanthournout (FYI: He's my prediction of the up-and-comer for this season). Just keep doing your bunny hoppin' thing out there and keep that Giro on your dome. No one will know.

Alright, "Seattle's Finest." After being inspired by watching his nemeses in Seattle get rad and all 'cross like at a ridiculously young age, my 3 year old decided to start training. Look out world:

What did YOU do to get ready for 'cross today> This 3 year old is getting 'er done.

...who are working their Taiwanese manufacturers into the production of some entry level CX bikes. You can see all of the intros for 08 by Colnago and Pinerello in this CyclingNews article, but of particular note is the picture of the cable routing for this cheap(er) Colnago. All top tube! I'm making reference to the post I did on opinions on cable routing found here.Sven's influence is certainly all over this design....vicariously through his influence over the c-50 version of the 'cross bike.

Who's thinking cyclocross! I am! I am! In fact, I never stop thinking about it. I just watched the 2000 Worlds again for the zillionth time last night. Love watching Groovy-daal work the mud. In other words, I watch and study 'cross as an obsession. Rewinding again and again and again to see how Ik Sven takes a line with insanely low tire pressure in the Dugasts; *or* how Erwin ports the bike Belgie style, finessing the bike on to his shoulder and arm around the head tube in such syncopation you need to see it in slow motion; *or* how De Clercq stutter steps his muddy climbs to conserve energy.

It's all in the details and that's where cross races are won and lost.

So, what makes a cross rider great? Technical savvy. I love putting pain to roadies who fumble through 'cross courses like a deer trying to walk across ice. 'Cross, if you haven't figured it out yet, is a game of not only sheer maintenance of power but also of utter grace. The power keeps you at the front but the grace ensures it is damn near impossible to bridge to you.

Technical savvy off the bike is what makes the best cross riders the best. And to be specific, it's the barriers that above all are the bottleneck and gating factor (no pun intended) to those desiring a podium spot. When you can flow effortlessly through the barriers and reduce all amounts of friction through your transition and get back on the bike fluidly, folks without those same skills fumble, waste energy and when they finally remount and get going again, they have to add those additional watts of power to get back on your wheel. Compound that wattage expenditure over the course of 60 minutes and those without your barrier skills have burned WAY too many matches.

So, how do you get better? Practice, dummy. And to practice you need barriers. Back in the day, we used to drive our cars to a schoolyard and pull out wooden boards we'd made. That is retarded, and this will enable you to be mobile by bike, carry 'em in a back pack and have LOTS of barriers as well to set up multiples. So in my quest to make American 'crossers LOOK way better than our stereotypical bumbling selves, behold my secret plans.

What do you need?

For 4 complete barriers you need

• 16 22" sections of 1/2" PVC tubing (for the top bars).
  
• 16 18" sections of same 1/2" PVC tubing (for the legs). NOTE: you may want to go as high as 19" for a bit more height on the leg tubes. The 18" tubes are high but just slightly lower than the UCI height.
  
• 8 3-way joins for 1/2 tubing (buy extra 'cause they break)
• 12 2-way joins for 1/2 tubing (buy extra 'cause they break too)

This is what the 2 and 3 way sections look like (the 2 way on the left, 3 way on the right). You can find them near the PVC tube section in your hardware store.

I drafted up a little diagram for y'all in Visio to show you how this stuff fits together:

When you get them all cut up, throw some stickers on the long top sections. This makes it SUPER easy when you get to your course site and pull 'em out of your back pack to know which are the top and which are the leg tubes. They all fit nicely into a backpack as follows:

And when you are at your site, set 'em up (takes about 2 minutes) and begin your practicing to dominate the competition! RM'ers training using the port-o-barriers in action:

Shittily translated by yours truly from CycloCross.Info

"The Second Flanders Indoor Cyclo Cross has moved to Hasselt after a successful first edition in the Malines Nekkerhal. The 2nd Flanders Indoor Cyclo Cross in on Thursday 31 January 2008, but will move to the Ethias sand in Hasselt, and will remain there the next 3 years per the organizing crew Promocycling negotiated. The concept started last yere where the racers do two 20 minute heats will remain."

I spoke briefly to Chris G about this and we have all it takes to do it here in the Denver Boulder area. There is an NBL league that does this already and we could get some RAD things going on here I am sure. 20 minute heats would be sweet as would a Le Mans start. True story: One year at a DFL, they did the Le Mans start thing. I won the running hole shot but ALL the bikes were laid out in front of us. I did a flying leap over what seemed like two bikes only to land square on some dudes wheel. Sorry dude. Yeah it was a training race but it's urban jungle cross man.

I think this would be a marvel concept to add in some barriers etc in a tight format. Advantage to the skilled guys who have had some gate crashing experience (moi). I'll have to do me some thinkin' on this.