“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” said Miller who still delivered a top 20 finish for the final race of her cross season with the California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized team.

:You want to go harder but you can’t because you know if you go harder in one section, you’re going to blow it in the next section. You have to have a little bit left, a little momentum to get into the sand sections, it’s tough. Pre-riding I was riding the sand sections and then you get in the race and every lap, your fatigue starts to set in and then it’s just, I was running, not really trying to ride much.”

Miller had a good start to be in the top 10 as the field hit the first obstacle, an early sandy runup. “It was super fast of course because everybody wanted to get to that hill first so it was so fast but I got off the line fine.”

But then, the course took its toll for Miller who was at her first time of racing in Koksijde having missed the World Cup on the same venue earlier in November.

“We don’t have anything like this in the US, playgrounds, a few volleyball courts or something like that but nothing where it’s all the way around the course. It’s one thing to be able to ride the sand, it’s another to be able to down it and then know how to dismount and keep your momentum, there’s so much to it.”

Miller crossed the line in 20th behind winner Marianne Vos o the Netherlands who claimed her fifth Cyclocross World Championships.

“I came here without any expectations.” concluded Miller. “I was hoping for better than that in the back of my mind but it is what it is. I did what I could out there and that was it.”

“Everything was good.” Kaiser said after the race. “I felt good riding in the sand, I was passing guys each lap, I was catching one, two guys. Nothing to say that I wish I could have done more so that was good.” Kaiser had placed 52nd in the World Cup race.

The course on the west coast is like no other in the world and can be described by one word sand. Lots and lots of deep sand, long sections either uphill, downhill and off-camber. Over 800 meters of sand per lap are a challenge and enforce a different rhythm than races in the United States.

“It’s just really demanding, there’s never off the gas.” Kaiser said of the course. “Even the downhills you have to be on the gas because otherwise you’ll just stall. You’re always on and the spots where you want to go harder where it’s easy for us to go hard like on the pavement and the mud sections, you don’t because you have to save it all for the sand. You want to save all your bullets for the sand and so when you’re on the pavement, you’re trying to go easy for recovery.”

Over 800 meters of sand per lap are a challenge and enforce a different rhythm than races in the United States.

Kaiser continued, “So when I was here in November, I was passing these guys, I was just giving it all on the pavement and then I’d catch two guys and then when I’d hit the sand, three guys would go pass me and I’d never catch them again. I was always going backwards and this time I got smart and was going forwards.”

The pace was high from the start with the Belgium and the Netherlands National team riders battling at the front. Kaiser had a good start from the third row and settled into his own pace to ride smoothly to the finish. The world title was won by Lars van der Haar of the Netherlands for the second year in a row.

Overall Kaiser is satisfied with his result. “My goal was top 35 because I’ve never been 35th in Europe but 36th is close enough, next year will be better.”

Earlier that day, teammate Tobin Ortenblad finished 48th in the Junior Men’s Cyclocross World Championships won by Mathieu van der Poel of Belgium.

“The course was super super fun, definitely the hardest course I have ever raced. Overall its been a great season.” commented Ortenblad.

Cody Kaiser from El Dorado Hills, Calif. will compete in the U23 race as a discretionary selection.   Kaiser placed second in the U23 race at nationals and was the second-best American U23 rider in three out of four domestic qualification events.  “In 2009 I won the Junior CX National Championships and have been a three time US Worlds Team Member. I hope to represent California Giant in the best way possible and I can’t wait to compete in Worlds again” said Kaiser.

Also contesting the junior men’s race is discretionary selection, Tobin Ortenblad riding for Cal Giant/Specialized from right here in Santa Cruz, Calif. Ortenblad placed second in nationals in the junior men 17-18 race.  “I’m feeling really strong coming off of nationals and into the Worlds, I have heard great things about the course and as always I’m sure the spectating will be wild. I cannot wait!” says Ortenblad.

“We are excited to be included in this exclusive roster this year and look forward to seeing our athletes compete for the U.S.   All three of our riders have worked hard this season to earn a spot on the U.S. team and we hope they do well against the tremendous competition” says Anthony Gallino, Team director and VP of Sales for California Giant Berry Farms.

This is the third appearance at Worlds for both Meredith and Cody, but Tobin’s first appearance at only 18 years old.   All three will be riding in their California Giant/Specialized kits as they race in the final UCI World Cup in Hoogerheide, Netherlands in January as a tune up for Worlds.

As a grower-shipper of fresh berries, California Giant contributes to the health of American consumers by providing an abundant, healthy and delicious product. The company is committed to supporting organizations and alliances like cycling that send positive messages about the importance of combining diet and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle to consumers.

For more information on California Giant Cycling and this year’s team, please visit calgiantcycling.com.  You can follow us on twitter at @calgiantcycling and ‘like’ us on Facebook at /California-Giant-Cycling to receive up to the minute results and links to watch it live.

“Yeah, it was great to have the three of us on the podium.” said Overend. “It feels great to win the jersey and especially in classic cross conditions, cold weather, slippery mud and ice.”

“It was a good tough race with some really good riders and of course Ned which is always a honor to race and finish on the podium with.” commented Kreiss who admitted that taking second was frustrating. But then he added, “on the other hand it feels better then 10th.”

Kreiss’ plan was to go fast from the gun on the course where the frozen ruts were giving way to perfect muddy conditions under sunny skies on Sunday afternoon.

“I got a really good start, Jim Gentes lead it out and I came off his wheel and Ned’s wheel for the holeshot . At this point, I felt my best chance to beat Ned and Henry was to open a gap and cause them to make mistakes chasing. I had a good gap and if I had Myall’s horse power it would of worked, but I don’t and it didn’t.” Kreiss said.

Solo for the first lap, Kreiss was caught by Overend and Kramer on the second lap. “I had a pretty good start and was chasing Norm on the first lap, when I went down and was back in fifth when I got going again. Norm led through with a 17 second gap starting the second lap with Kramer in second and me in third.” Overend explained.

The three rode together until Overend opened up a small gap when Kreiss went down. “Kramer was having some shifting problems. I was just trying to ride the open straightaways really hard and stay upright in the turns.”

Overend pushed the pace at the front, set the fastest lap time of 9:57 on the second lap. He continued to open up his gap, crossing the finish line in victory with over one minute and 22 seconds lead at the end of four laps.

Behind him, Kreiss and Robert Downs (Planet Bike) caught Kramer and the battle was on for second place.

“Going into the finish it was the three of us. Downs went wide and Henri stumbled a little, I ran cleanly and was able to get on the pavement cleanly and win the sprint.” Kreiss said.

Overend is keeping his options open for the 2013 Masters Worlds in Louisville while Kreiss not only wants to return but hopes to entice his wife Gina Hall to also race at the event.

“I have not made any race plans for next year, I’m looking forward to taking some time of the bike and doing some cross-country skiing.” Overend commented.

Kreiss concluded, “Overall it was a great experience to race Worlds with a great course and really well organized. I’ll definitely be back next year and won’t miss the pro worlds. Maybe, we get Gina H. fired up!”

“I am super happy with my result and thank Anthony (Gallino) and my wife for letting me live my dream.” Myall said after his race.

“That’s pretty cool.” Coats commented about his fifth place. “I am disappointed a little for having never getting to race it out with the front guys, but I had a great ride. And I can’t be more proud of Don Myrah, my teammate Gannon Myall, and myself for representing Norcal Cyclocross.”

The rainbow jersey was claimed by fellow Northern Californian Don Myrah.

Both Myall and Coats had issues at the start of the 45-minute race. A miscommunication sent Coats from the second row to the fifth row which was even more an issue given the conditions of the course.

“I had a crappy start by missing my pedal and so I was around 10th on the first lap and then started to make moves around people which was hard as the conditions did not allow for a lot of passing.” said Myall.

After days of freezing temperatures, rain and some snow, the sun came out. “Conditions were still frozen but were thawing. The course workers did a great job taking some of the more treacherous sections out just to make it a bit safer.” explained Coats who pitted twice a lap on the messy course. “Thank again to Norm, Spider Monkey and Cory in the pit. And my lovely wife cheering for me along the way.”

Myall quickly found himself in a duel. “I was in battle with a local guy and the crowd was heckling me bad, pretty funny.” he exclaimed.

Coats was 25th after the first of five laps and knew that he had his work cut out for him. “I started upping my rhythm and picking people off, sometimes two at a time. I was making good progress as I had good legs.

Then halfway through, Coats was 12th and still moving up, all the way 7th at two laps to go. “At one to go, I made it to the fifth-place guy and went right by. He didn’t answer and away I rode. Half way through the last lap I was catching fourth but ran out of time. All in all, I had a great ride.” Coats concluded.

A tough day for Justin Robinson who finished 19th in the Masters Men 35-39 race on Saturday afternoon.

“Front flat on the start line, caught the lead group but then tore my rear derailleur off. Ran for three quarters of a lap, got back into the top 10, tangled in the course tape and had to remove my front wheel to get rolling again, picked off a few more guys, finished 19th.” Robinson said. “Physically I think I was on. Mentally and mechanically, a very difficult day for me.”

The Masters World Championships conclude Sunday with Norman Kreiss and Ned Overend taking on the world in the Masters Men 55-59.

“My goal for the race is to win but I realize I will need to have a good race and avoid mistakes for that to happen, and with cross there is a lot of ways to lose a race.” said Overend who will be racing the Masters Men 55-59 category.

Also racing in the 55-59 category, Kreiss exclaimed“I would love to win worlds. That being said I expect to finish on the podium. Everyone here most likely would say the same about their finish desires, and there are some very good riders here.”

“My goals are to be able to reach the top five.” said Coats who is racing in the Masters Men 45-49 category. “Going to be tough but anything can happen. I would also like to keep from hitting the deck too much.” he added with a laugh.

Myall will also be racing in the Masters Men 45-49 while Robinson will be in the Masters Men 35-39 race.

The venue for the first cyclocross world championship event to be held outside Europe is the Eva Bandman Park which features one of the first permanent cyclocross facilities in a major U.S. city. The course sits next to the Ohio River and challenges competitors with a variety of terrain, including sand pits, run-ups, flyovers and off-camber technical sections.

Winter has struck hard in Louisville bringing cold, rain and snow which has changed the course conditions dramatically.

“The course has gone from dry to super muddy and then has totally frozen over. That has left us with a super rutted frozen coarse that is at sometimes dangerous. It’s become very hard to control the bike. It’s going to be interesting race.” said Coats who just won the bronze medal at the USA Cyclocross National Championships.

Racing began on Thursday, January 12, with preliminary heats with all the Berries moving on to their respective finals.

Overend, who finished third in his preliminary heat described the conditions as “sketch”. He explained, “The course this morning consisted mainly of frozen ruts. I crashed hard once and managed to get a foot out to save it a least twenty times. There were not many places to pedal hard, it was a lot of pedal hard for a few strokes and then gingerly pedaling across a frozen rut field. After getting a few laps in, I am feeling more relaxed and looking forward to my category final on Sunday.”

Robinson, who claimed a top 5 finish at USA Cyclocross National Championships last weekend, is enjoying the conditions. “The course is great, frozen run ups, frozen puddles, frozen ruts….frozen fingers, frozen toes, frozen nuts. Everything a cross race should be.”

The World championship title races for Masters Men 45-49 will be held Saturday at 1pm, Masters Men 35-39, Saturday at 3pm and Masters Men 55-59, Sunday 1pm, all times ET.

“It’s been an awesome season.” said Stetson-Lee who was happy to see her form get better as the season went on.

“I would have loved to have finish by squeaking into that third or second spot but I’m really happy with the way my form is come together towards the end of the season. It’s a big confidence booster for where I’m going to go in the future, I feel like I have quite a few years ahead of me so I’m pretty excited.”

With a second row start, Stetson-Lee found herself chasing the front of the race early on on sunny and relatively warm day in Madison, Wisconsin.

“I started behind Nicole because she’s always a fire cracker off the line which was good but really the first half of the lap, I was trying to get to where the race was happening and by the time I got up there, it was already getting strung out.” she explained.

After an overnight freeze, the icy ruts and mud were starting to thaw out in certain spots for the late morning race, making the course greasier.

“It didn’t soften up enough to be any smooth lines out there at all, so every lap you’d come through and the lines were getting mixed up and they were just shooting you all over the place.” Stetson-Lee said of the technical sections. “There was never a clear defined path to take, and it stayed hard but slightly soft the whole race so it wasn’t very easy to navigate through there but it was fun. You just had to be smart and be on your toes, be willing to put a leg down if you needed to.”

Three riders were ahead of her, eventual winner Katie Compton (Rabobank Giant) was off the front and on her way to win her eighth National Championship in a row. But, closer were teammates Nicole Duke and Kaitie Antonneau (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com).

“I could see Kaitie and Nicole and I was just chasing them down for a long and they were just out of reach.” said Stetson-Lee who made contact with Duke more than halfway through the race while Antonneau had taken off.

“I finally passed Nicole on the climb, and I was like ‘alright I got here, I’m feeling strong’. And I was able to maintain that for that second to last lap. “ said Stetson-Lee. “Then on that final lap, my quad started cramping up on the climbs, I didn’t have enough left in the tank as I thought I would, and she did. She was super smart, she just picked me off and opened the gap right in the techie stuff where she was super strong.”

Stetson-Lee held on for fourth. Teammate Meredith Miller finished sixth.

In the final race of the 2012 National Championships, silver-medalist in the U23 category Cody Kaiser put on another strong ride to claim 14th in the elite men’s race. Justin Robinson was 31st.

After taking the holeshot in the Under23 Men’s race, Kaiser was quickly off the front with one other rider, eventual winner Zach McDonald (Rapha-Focus).

“I felt good.” Kaiser said. “I did what I could do, I put in all my work into it and, this is where Zach is at his best and I’m glad I got to race in his best conditions. That’s how you can tell if you’re really the best so he was the best.”

Unable to match the final acceleration, Kaiser raced solo for three of the laps to deliver a very strong and solid second-place.

“I figured that it was going to be a 1-2 race.” he continued. “I definitely eased up out there but it was definitely a well-fought battle I’d say, he was way ahead but I was fighting hard.”

Ortenblad also took the holeshot in the Men’s Junior 17/18 contest. The chase group shuffled again and again while eventual winner Logan Owen (Team Redline) was off the front from the first lap.

“The first lap was just the group trying to play each other and see what happens.” explained Ortenblad who moved up to second spot two laps into the race. He rode solo for two and a half laps until another rider, Cypress Gorry (Whole Athlete) made contact on the final lap.

“I saw he was close and I knew on the hill that he’s passed me so I just let him pass me. Sat on his wheel, waited for the sprint. We were just in Belgium together, doing town sprints so I knew I could get him.” he laughed.

Ortenblad won the sprint for second place. “I’m stoked. The World Championships would be amazing and I think I have a good shot at going now, that’s the next big thing.”

Later that afternoon, the men’s 35-39 contest, Justin Robinson claimed fifth place as the course was getting tackier and faster after the morning’s slippery fest.

“I got the holeshot and then started pedaling squares shortly thereafter and that was my whole race. That was it. I just didn’t have it, I couldn’t pedal today.” Robinson said. “I was pretty comfortable but just comfortable in my cruising speed. I didn’t have any attack so better luck next weekend I hope.”

Robinson will be racing at the UCI Cyclocross Masters World Championships next weekend in Louisville, Kentucky.

In the first race of the day, with the muddy ruts still frozen, James Coats and Greg Ferguson took third and fifth place into Masters Men 45-49 won by 1996 Olympian Don Myrah.

“I had a last row start so I was very concerned about being able to move through the field, so my goal was to try to get to the front as soon as possible.” Hall said minutes after winning the Masters women’s 45-49 title.

“There was a couple of crashes so that helped me to move up and then I found myself on the front and decided to attack and just go for it because I didn’t know how my fitness compared to everybody else so I wanted to get a gap as soon as possible. And then that seemed to work out for me, I love the slippery downhills so I think that played into my skills.”

One lap into the 40-minute race, Hall was solo off the front using her skills on the course that had slippery mud in some corners and hard-packed surface on others and non-stop ups and down.

“You need fitness but you also need finesse because of the turns where you can fall down easily so if you put too much power into a corner you’ll go down so you definitely need fitness but you can’t just power this whole thing.” Hall said of the course.

Though a lone chaser was slightly closing in on her, Hall had the lead with the jersey in her grasp but she didn’t let up.

“Until I cross the finish line, I never let it get to my head that it’s done because you can always fall. I’ve done that many times where I thought that I had a race in the bag and then you’ve lost it on the last lap so I just kept trying to push it but be careful on the corners.”

So on a sunny and relatively warm day in Wisconsin, Hall claimed her second national title.

“It keeps me motivated to ride and to race.” Hall concluded. “CalGiant has been super supportive, and so I’m really grateful for their support in getting me here and keeping me on my bike and fit.”

A couple of hours after her race, Hall was running all over the course cheering on her husband Norman Kreiss who was battling at the front of the Masters Men 55-59 race.

“I think we were just fighting for position, everybody wanted Curley’s wheel.” Kreiss said of legend Paul Curley. “Jim came up and batted me round a little bit, he stumbled in front of me and then Paul got a little gap right there. I had to bring him back. Then with two to go, a couple of guys got in between Paul and I and fell down in front of me and Paul got a gap on me.

Kreiss gave chase but ultimately finished second behind Curley who won his 25th national championship of his career.”I got close for a little bit but it took a lot out of me. He’s fit, he’s really fit this year and he’s riding really well.”

After his race, Kreiss quipped with a laugh, “I got to cook dinner now for a year until next Nationals given that Gina won.”

“I have never raced in Europe this will be my first.” Ortenblad said. “In fifth grade I went to Italy and France with my dad’s theater company, I totally loved it! Going to race should be an awesome experience.”

For two weeks, the riders will be immersed in the life of a Belgian cyclocross racer. The schedule includes the iconic Christmas-time races in Zolder, Diegem and Loenhout, as well as some smaller national races in tiny Flandrian hamlets like Lichtervelde, Maldegem and Balagem.

The 17-year old rider continued, “My goal for racing on this trip is definitely to get a podium or two. I have no clue what the talent is over there but I’m assuming its going to be pretty fast. Besides racing I really just want to learn as much as possible from some of the pros and learn about the european racing scene in general.”

EuroCrossCamp has been at the forefront of rider development in the United States. Some of the biggest names in U.S. cross racing, such as Jeremy Powers, Ryan Trebon, Jamey Driscoll, Danny Summerhill, and more, have come through the program. At ECXC this year, the biggest group of junior racers, 14 in total, yet will tackle the wintry cross scene in Belgium. A great opportunity for Ortenblad in his third year of racing cross.

“I got into racing when I got out of PE in middle school to race with the local high school mountain bike team. Before that I refused to ride uphill,” laughed Ortenblad, “all I did before was downhill and dirt jumping which has been a great background to have for technical skill and bike handling in races.”

Recommendations were given by teammates and friends. “The first thing I was told by most people was bring warm clothes for riding and being casual. Another big one was warm gloves.”

Ortenblad concluded, “The last two were learn all you can and just keep a good attitude and have fun.”

His first European races will be in Lichtervelde and Namur this weekend.