Interesting to follow the Belgian media’s intrigue-bordering-on-pestering of Lars Boom’s decision to commit fully to the road. Just a few weekends ago (during the Nommay World Cup), they again put the same questions to him, seemingly clutching for some sort of miraculous reversal.

Lars is a gracious guy. He figures prominently in the book I’ve been working on for the past 3 years and hope to finish soon. He’s not one to be impolite or beat around the bush. He tends to call them as he sees them.

In the press that weekend, he talked about how road racing is where it’s at and that cyclocross is a small world. He’s right and I, for one, don’t fault him for it. Nor am I critical of the countless other examples of strong cyclocross riders who’ve shifted their focus to the worlds of road or mountain bike competition. Yes, it smarts to “lose” such riders, especially a guy like Lars who would be in the mix with the big three of this season–Niels, Zdenek and Sven. For sure, Lars would be there.

But he’s not. Bigger fish to fry. The Ronde. Paris-Roubaix. The Tour. So be it. For those of us who are part of this small world of cyclocross, we should be proud that Lars made cyclocross part of his early development (as in junior gold, U-23 gold, elite gold) in the grand cycling ecosystem.

I do, however, find some silver linings in such stories. Because, for every assertion about cyclocross being a small world, a distant cousin to the more global disciplines, a colloquial/provincial world if you will, there is a small dose of redemption inherent in the discourse.

Lars made the comment that Niels is on top of the world right now. Again, the implication being it’s a small one. Lars also asserts the important point that being at the top of such a small world is no less pressurized. In fact, the inference is that it’s even more stressful to be the top dog in a compressed, magnified little world than it is to be top dog in a sport like road racing where there are so many events on the calendar, with so many different riders, across such a range of terrains and types. In terms of fire in the kitchen, top level cyclocross is like the finale of a Tour climbing stage.

Every single race.

Right now, Albert, Stybar, and Nys have to be up there. Everyone is watching. Katie C, she has to be up there. For Erwin or Jonathan P, they need to be up there. I write about this concept in my book. That there is nowhere to hide in cyclocross.

Which is probably one reason why the sport attracts the intense-ists, the a bloc-ists, the non-noodle-ists.

Do-ers.

Giv ‘ers.

Read Zack Vestal’s At the Back column in the latest VeloNews. It’s entitled “Enough with all the ‘Cross”. You get the picture.

If there’s one thing I came away with in Nommay a few weeks ago–as the statuesque Peugeot factories cast their long shadows at the end of the day–it’s that lack of grey that defines cyclocross. None of this oh-I’m-a-sprinter, the-course-doesn’t-suit-me stuff. None of this oh-I’m-aiming for the polka-dot this year. None of this I’m-peaking-for-later-in-the-season phoney-baloney.

No matter what day, what course, what riders–cyclocross is everything.

Climb, power, time trial, drive, run, sprint, hammer.

Such that–

You’re either at the front.

Or you’re not.

Pure and simple.

Pared and essential.

It is this simplicity that I trust will make our “small” world grow bigger.

Lars or no Lars.

Or even more recently, Niels or no Niels.

There will be others.

How much courage you got?

GP

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