Implicity

Just finished up UCI Cyclocross Commission meetings in Brussels but had the opportunity to take in some racing at the Ruddervoorde Super Prestige Sunday.

Without having to coach, direct, or work the pits, I had a bit of reflective time to take it all in. What’s impressive about these races here is the level of organizational professionalism. Say what you will about Belgian domination, whine what you want about Belgian start money and the size of the top Euro contracts, but you can’t argue with the production of these races. Success breeds success.

The start/finish straight at Ruddervoorde? Hard fencing the entire stretch. But not just any hard fencing. The primo hard fencing (BetaFence?) which slants backwards from the pavement with no extensions or pads in the course lane. Very time consuming to set up; very heavy and expensive. But impressive as hell.

Pain Corridor

Around the course? VIP tents, huge inflatables, and all manner of giant signage, some in the shape of huge spinnakers. And, the coolest? In strategic sections of the course’s peripheral fencing, 20-30 meter DIGITAL scoreboards, just like on the sidelines of a professional Euro soccer match, with ever-changing advertising zipping across the space throughout the race.

NISSAN—NISSAN–NISSAN–NISSAN–NISSAN–JUPILER–JUPILER–JUPILER–

You get the idea. Amazing.

My other big impression: the level of sophistication and support we’re seeing in these Belgian and Dutch U23 teams. There are only so many top elite riders to go around. And they’re all taken. Nys, Stybar, Wellens, Albert… So, what do you do if you’re an eager sponsor? Find the next generation and hope you land the future big star. Landbouwkrediet, Sunweb-Revor, Telenet-Fidea, Rabobank, BKCP-Powerplus and a few other teams all heavily investing in their prospects. Each has a stable full of riders in the U23 race particularly.

Now I’m the first in line to say we in the U.S. do not have to always do things “the Belgian way.” But when it comes to youth development, I think we could be doing much more for our up-coming-riders. The high level of interest in the camps I direct attests to this.

I counted 41 U23 riders with team support in Ruddervoorde. In the U.S., I’d estimate we have a quarter of that, in terms of “supported” U23 riders. Gradually, I hope that more and more American cyclocross teams will add youth category riders.

Sun Web and Fidea U23's warming up

And the level? Super high and getting higher. As I’ve said before, these U23 guys could probably finish top 15-20 in the elite races if you compare lap times.

Given my commitment to developing American talent, I chatted with Sven Nys for quite awhile about his Landbouwkrediet Development Team and their program for 2011.

So far this year, two training camps: April in Mallorca for road endurance training and September in Mallorca for cyclocross technical training.

Each training camp consisted of training, mental coaching, direction in how to act and perform as a professional e.g. interview/media techniques, nutrition, and stress management. Naturally, there have been some hard lessons and tough moments. Sven said the most difficult aspect is getting the young riders to eat professionally. They weighed them every day and took the data to form a base file. In the September camp, they did the same. He said some guys were crying, but that it was all part of the journey for these young guys.

Some of it is hard to grasp for an American coach. For instance, of the eight U23 riders on Sven’s team, zero are in school. Zero. They are living totally for the bike. For better or worse.

Or how about this: Sven’s team has the budget to bring the same Mallorca mental coach to a race like Ruddervoorde to shadow the young team riders during the race day, noting what kind of interactions with dads, moms, fans, prove most distracting or stressful and which interactions become most beneficial and energizing. No stone left unturned. Most of these guys–except the Sweeck brothers–do not draw a salary from the team, but they have everything else taken care of. Bikes, clothing, camper, support.

A lot of what Sven had to say, however, was affirming. Many of the Landbouwkrediet principles and components I employed this summer at my USAC CX Development Camp in Montana for some of our top 15-17 year olds. Riding steady training tempo in pacelines, letting more fatigued guys sit in the back until they recover, going hard on the climbs, doing technical cyclocross training, doing the morning strength workouts, classroom sessions on planning, tactics, and mental training. All part of both blueprints.

Exposure and modeling.

Recently, I attended a school conference where the speaker talked about the importance of implicit rather than explicit curriculum. That “the students are always watching,” as an incredible educator-mentor of mine, Ted Sizer, wrote in his book by the same title some 25 years ago.

It’s good to be reminded of such concepts.

There’s plenty of implicit curriculum on hand when you watch these top riders and event organizers go about their business.

Stybie warming up

See you at the races,

Geoff