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."

Transfers, promotions and rider rumors for 2010

CORRECTION: Omer Kem has not signed a contract for the 2010 season and is still talking with teams.

PHOTO: Jacob Rathe, shown here winning the Banana Belt finale, will ride for the Jelly Belly U23 team next year.

The road racing wheels have barely stopped turning and plans for the 2010 season have already started swinging into action.

OBRA rider Jacob Rathe, a member of the 2009 USA Cycling Junior National Team who found himself atop several European podiums, signed with the Jelly Belly U23 squad. Jelly Belly is the longest running active pro cycling team in the United States. The 19-year-old rider from southwest Portland will likely race a full program of European U23 races with the national team and a handful of NRC races in the States as a cat 1 with Jelly belly.

"There will be three U23s on the team," Rathe said. "There are a lot of U23 races in Europe we can do. I wouldn't be able to do those with a professional license. The jump to U23 racing is huge. And it only makes it bigger if you're not able to do the lower-level races in Europe, which are plenty challenging."

The team is set up to give young riders the best possible environment to learn and develop.

"The idea behind this team is that it gives you free reign to do as much national team stuff as you want," Rathe said. "So it's aimed toward development. And we'll be able to do NRC stuff with the team when I'm home."

Rathe's 2009 CMG Racing/Hammer teammates Wes Stein and Austin Arguello will be riding for Bobs-bicycles.com, a northwest regional powerhouse squad based out of Boise. Marcel de Lisser will be riding with Team Oregon, which plans a boosted national 2010 program for its elite riders.

Kennett Peterson, who rode for team Oregon in 2009, will move over to the powerful regional squad Hagens-Berman out of Seattle. Meanwhile, Adrian Hegyvary, who won the 2009 PDX Twilight criterium while riding in the Hagens-Berman kit, has signed with the OUCH/Maxxis pro team for 2010 after a 2009 season peppered with national and regional wins. He'll be joined by fellow Washington rider Morgan Schmitt, who is moving from Bissell to OUCH, which will be sponsored by United Healthcare for the 2010 season.

On the women's side of things, Therapeutic Associates rider Lisa Turnbull will move to the Riverstone Women's Racing Team for the 2010 season.

The Veloforma women's professional cycling team will add a trio of OBRA riders to its elite squad. Bend's Teri Sheasby, a speedy climber who ascended with some of the best riders in the country at both the Mt. Hood and Cascade Classic stage races, will wear the Veloforma kit for 2010. Veloforma will also have Lindsay Fox, a triathlete who quickly learned the road racing ropes and moved to the front of the women's peleton for team Oregon in 2009. Lisa Reeve, who rode in (and won) her first-ever bicycle race at the beginning of this summer and ended the season as a Cat 2 after stacking up a pile of wins, will also race for Veloforma in 2010.

That's all I've got so far. If you've got any information about rider changes, big team news or other hot off-season tips, please e-mail them to editorial@cyclingaction.com.