Background light, cyclocross style. Now on the return from a quick trip to Belgium. Doing the legwork for EuroCrossCamp, some networking for UCI CX Commission, and gaining some closure on my book. While the real show doesn’t start for another month, there’s plenty going on, even in August.

Had a great visit with newly retired 3x World Champ Erwin Vervecken. Always interesting to see how pros handle their training/racing workload stoppage. Erwin is quite happily busy with his young family and, as I gradually learned, now a key cog in the whole pro cyclocross structure. Working for the Golazo empire (Golazo owns big Belgian cx races, and much more), Erwin is now their advisor for cyclocross start money, as well as a sort of technical director for several big events. When you put it all together, you see exactly how things work “in the business”, shall we say.

Got a quick call in to Lars Boom, racing in the Hamburg classic and then on to north Holland for Eneco Tour start where he was on the leader board for a long time before eventually finishing 3rd in the Prologue. Living the ProTour life. And, he said he was going to race some ‘cross in December, from early December through Dutch Nationals. It will be great to have him back for a few races.

Spent time in Izegem working on EuroCrossCamp logistics. For everything to go smoothly come December, quite a few logistical details require dedicated time and energy. Pretty excited about Camp #8–the number of riders hungry for international cyclocross and their level seem to increase each season. Obviously, with Louisville 2013, we need to ratchet up everything. We need to be ready.

Always informative to pay a visit to Sven Nys too. This time, he showed me around his newly finished home, complete with BMX track for 8 yr old Thibau in the back yard. Pretty nice digs to say the least. Exercise room. Equipment room. You get the picture. And what is Sven doing for “background lighting” before MTB Worlds in Canada in early September followed by the competitive cyclocross circus?

Aug 7: Ride 5 hrs; Aug 8: Ride 1 hr; Aug 9: 5 hrs; Aug 10: Run 40 min; Ride 3 hrs; Aug 11: 1.5 hr CX; 2.5 hr MTB; Aug 12: Ride 3 hrs; Aug 13: Ride 2 hrs; Aug 14: Ride 1.5 hrs; Aug 15: Race 200 km.

We talked about hearing that Stybar was doing big hours in St. Moritz (one day the Zd-Man climbed the Stelvio twice!). Sven says he’s banking on more intensity and less big hourage as he preps for this season.

For cyclocrossers, August can seem a bit of a lull. But, if you look in the background, you’ll see plenty of legwork.

Look for an update on EuroCrossCamp selection etc. soon.

Onward.

GP

Junior World CX Champs, Zolder, Belgium, 2002. Where are they now?

1. Kevin Pauwels

3. Zdenek Stybar

18. Sebastian Langeveld

28. Lukas Fluckiger

35. Andy Schleck

38. Lars Boom

40. Brent Bookwalter

In each meeting, I’ve been impressed with the workability and chemistry within our group. Lots of  good discussion, both concentrated and free-wheeling, on the sport, its rules, vision and character. Having the UCI’s database to study stats from World Cups is another plus. You get a good sense of context when you have the opportunity to view the simulations and information. The final step in the process is approval by the UCI Management Board in June.

And, yes, for you inquiring race fans out there, I did witness an historic rarity during the late Saturday afternoon portion of our meetings. Shortly before 5 pm we took a coffee break to watch the end of Milan-San Remo. During the action, I looked across the table and there it was–Sven eating a piece of cake. Not to worry. He told me–with a wink– it was the final weekend of his three weeks vacation away from the bike. Part of that he spent in Austria skiing with his family. But he told me the honeymoon was over. Training started again this week, Monday morning, 0900.

Next up in April–the USAC Cyclocross Summit in Colorada Springs. Should be good with organizers and USAC staff going through all issues pertinent to building the sport in the US. In conjunction, I’ll provide a general report of the UCI meeting as well.

UCI Cyclocross Commission 2010 (l to r): Jan Prop (NED), Geoff Proctor (USA), Sven Nys (BEL), Peter VandenAbeele (UCI Director), Simon Burney (GBR), Brian Cookson (President-GBR).

Cyclocross never sleeps. –Neil Young

As usual, I’m wasted.

This year, maybe moreso. Seems like we had more adversity than other years. Weather, mechanicals, crashes, logistical challenges etc.

To get us through, as always, I called on a few reliable sources of inspiration to rally the troops: books and heroes.

During one tough moment at a team meeting after our race in Baal, I found myself quoting Bill Simmons in his fresh and fascinating first chapter from The Book of Basketball.  With a nod to the source, Isiah Thomas, Simmons encapsulates The Secret.

That the secret to basketball is that it’s not about basketball.

Having spent each and every day of the Camp emphasizing a trait of character, I seemed to put my own spin on the Simmons/Thomas nugget.

It felt like an epiphany at the time–theory conjoining with reality.

That the secret to cyclocross is that it’s not about cyclocross.

That it’s much larger than that. Much broader.

Leadership, Perseverance, Making Good Choices, Discipline and so forth.

One each day.

These are the traits that, when correctly applied, make all the difference.

I told the guys that in muddy races like Baal, even the top guys are making three and four mistakes per lap.

That, in the end, it’s these character traits that enable these guys to minimize their mistakes and control their outcomes.

And, for affirmation, I had to look no further than Sven’s post-race commentary from Baal.

There’s something special about reading a top rider’s comments in the newspaper, next day. So full of color, RESONANCE, idiomatic cultuur.

Prose Poem:

TheBattle of Balenberg

“It was all about character.

Who was the freshest cadaver.

Super hard lap.

Slippery bikes, weighing thirty kilos.

And due to the repeated racing days,

This end-of-the-year period with cold, snow, mud,

Everybody at the limit.

In the race, we [Stybi and me], we could never close the tap.

[The faucet] always going full.

It was like we were in slow motion.

Lots of mistakes.

Never stable on the bike.

My spool of thread pretty much done.

Thank goodness I had a little bit of thread left.”

The line breaks and enjambment are mine. The words, of course, are boss.

From the boss of ‘cross.

The freshest cadaver.

If that doesn’t keep you motivated through the winter, then there’s no hope for you.

Sven-Baal-2010; 5th win out of 8 races in 14 days (photo by Nathan Phillips)

Thank you to all EuroCrossCamp coaches, sponsors, teams, parents, industry, and supporters, and to all the riders.

You guys were Character. Keep up the good work. Keep up the vision. Keep some thread on your spools.

Until next time,

GP

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

Pre-Rainbow Treviso 2008