Risking. Refining. Investing.

EuroCrossCamp IX is a wrap. What a fantastic group! And some really strong results as well. We haven’t seen consistent top-ten results in the juniors since 2005 and 2006 with Danny Summerhill, Bjorn Selander, and Alex Howes. And now look at those guys–all World Tour or Pro Continental for 2012!

We had our final meeting last Friday night; here is the gist:

Succeeding in bike racing (and life) requires taking calculated risks, constant refinement, and investment.

• Calculated Risks: seeing an opportunity like EuroCrossCamp and taking advantage of it; analyzing the potential benefits of such an experience and deciding to go for it or not; that, often in life, the push away from the comfort zone can result in huge gains in ability, self-confidence, and character growth.

• Constant Refinement: specific examples from Friday’s race in Leuven: encouraging our juniors to get an optimal start prior to the technical single track sections in the woods; Jonathan Page switching to Rhino tires mid-race in effort to gain that 1% more; in making my rounds pre-race, talking to Sven Nys about his plan to go directly to Mallorca after Sunday’s race in his hometown of Baal to make refinements prior to next week’s Belgian championships; directing elite Camp rider Jake Wells, during the race, to only make bike changes in pit 1 because pit 2 meant time loss. Constant refinement. No matter if you’re a first-year junior or Sven Nys, a rider who’s won everything there is to win in this sport (in some cases, several times over).

• Investment: if you want to succeed in bike racing, you have to expose yourself to a level that is better than your current level; you have to “rub shoulders” and “bang bars” with riders like junior phenom Mattieu Van der Poel before you can begin to believe you can beat him; ultimately, you have to invest in the hope that one day, that investment will bear fruit. It takes patience, diligence, and fortitude, but understanding the process of investment is the first step.

I truly feel that each and every rider at the Camp got better in some way during our few weeks together.  Performance, personal, and/or character-wise–we all came together and got the best out of each other. And that, in the end, is what makes the Camp the Camp.

(tomrobertsonphoto.com) (Thanks Tom for all the great Camp shots!)

Happy New Year to all.

And, for those of you selected for the world championships, I will see you back in Izegem in a few short weeks for the big dance on the pedals. I predict 50,000 for the elite men’s race in Koksijde.

Get ready to rock!

Geoff