Bend's Boswell inks one-year deal with Bissell

Ian Boswell of Bend signed one-year deal this week to race with the Bissell Professional Cycling Team for the upcoming 2010 season.

Boswell, a member of the powerful junior racing team Hot Tubes and the USA Cycling Junior National Team, said the deal was a last minute "changearoo" when plans for the Cervelo Test Team U23 development squad fell through.

"I had talked with Omer (Kem) and he said they were kind of looking for a younger rider," Boswell said. "I raced with Ben Jacques-Maynes at Nevada City Classic in June, so I contacted both of those guys and asked if there was still an available spot on the team. They were about to sign another rider, but they both had known me and thought I’d be good for the team. The opportunity opened and I jumped on it."

Bissell is also a good fit for Boswell because he's currently going to school in Chico, California, which means he'll be close to a core group of Bissell teammates who race and train around Santa Rosa. The Jacques-Maynes brothers and last year's Mt. Hood winner Paul Mach all came up through the NorCal racing scene.

"I’ll race a lot of NorCal stuff with the team for a lot of the early season," he said. "Based off my performances there and how I’m riding, the better I ride, obviously, the bigger races I go to. Hopefully I can do some fun races like the Cascade Cycling Classic and Mt. Hood. And I want to try and have a good performance at U23 Nationals in Bend. Having it be in my hometown makes it a big goal. I missed it this year because I was at the (junior) world championships in Moscow."

Boswell will start the year with team camp in Santa Rosa and then hit the NorCal circuit with his new team.

"There’s a pretty good group to race with in northern California week in and week out," he said. "There’s a lot of BMC guys, so there are some pretty competitive fields here."

With the Cervelo Test Team hiccups and the added stress of a late signing now behind him, Boswell's looking forward to start the new season.

"It’s one of the premiere professional teams in the U.S.," he said. "So I’m excited to race with those guys and get some good experience."

Local media catch whiff of Oregon's competitive cycling scene

Euro star Chris Horner gets his fair share of media attention from Oregon's journalists, but the exploits of Oregon junior racers Ian Boswell and Jacob Rathe have grabbed the attention of the local media, who've recently caught on to just how hot Oregon's local competitive cycling scene really is.

Oregonian reporter David Stabler and photographer Torsten Kjellstrand spent some time with Rathe, his family and his coach to put together a nice feature article about the 18-year-old Lincoln High School graduate, who will compete with Boswell at the junior world championships in Moscow next week.

And local Fox outlet KPTV Channel 12 turned its teen spotlight on Rathe. If you haven't seen the coverage, check it out now and let these media outlets know you support more cycling coverage. Sponsors sure appreciate it.

LINKS:
Rathe prepares to lead U.S. juniors team to Moscow, The Oregonian, July 31.
KPTV High School Spotlight on Jacob Rathe, KPTV Channel 12 video

Oregon's Boswell leads Lance, hits the NY Times cover

Southern Oregon junior racer Ian Boswell (Hot Tubes), a member of the USA Cycling Junior National Team, hit the super big time recently when the New York Times website featured a photo of the young rider tagging along behind American grand tour riders Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer at the Nevada City Classic.

Armstrong won the race, but not before benefiting from a little last-lap lead out from the up-and-coming Oregon rider, who won the juniors race earlier in the day. The tempo Armstrong and Leipheimer set on the hilly circuit, which winds up into the hills before descending back into town, quickly shattered the field. Like many in the race, Boswell was soon lapped by the lead group of Armstrong, Leipheimer and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling Team). The young rider hung with the leaders for an incredible seven laps before dropping off again.

Near the end of the race, after Armstrong had dropped his break companions and was soloing in for the win, the seven-time Tour winner came up on Boswell again. This time the young rider decided to give the legendary Tour rider a boost.

"He caught me at the top of the climb, and again I jumped on his wheel," Boswell wrote on his blog. "As we crested the top the paced slowed so I decided to give him some help. I went to the front and gave it all I had, and leading through the start/finish I heard one lap to go. The crowds were going wild. I lead him into the sharp left hand turn and accelerated up the climb knowing I only had one lap left. It was an awesome feeling leading the greatest Tour de France riders in history up the finial lap of his first victory since his seventh Tour win."

You can read Boswell's complete post about the race and view photos at his blog: The Boz Blog.