Diary – Coming to a close by Drew Dillman

When you walk into the Team USA House on any given evening, the first thing you notice are the enticing smells lofting from the kitchen and the small TV blaring a mix of Euro music sounds to a group of riders.  There’s a certain anticipation hovering in the group as dinner nears.  These are the mainstays of the house along with racing and riding.  Drew Dillman gives us his perspective on what’s new and what’s the same at the House in another EuroCrossCamp Diary Entry on Cyclingnews.com :  “Since last year, a lot of things have changed at the Team USA House in Izegem, Belgium. This year there are 14 juniors instead of only 8 and only 4 U23 instead of 8. I’m staying in a room I’ve never stayed in and the Camp seems like it meshes a lot better this year with most of us being the same age. Some things have also remained the same: Els’ FANTASTIC cooking every night, JIM music videos on every TV in the house and the awesome racing we get to experience while here.”

The racing has indeed been awesome, but partly due to the fact that riders like Dillman have been lighting things up with good performances:  “My best race was at Zolder where I fought my way up to 3rd place and about 15 seconds after I caught and passed 3rd place I flipped on a downhill section and had to pit twice. I chased the whole race and caught a group on the last lap but just died in the last few moments of the race, but I felt really good and was proud of the effort I gave.”

ECXC IX is Dillman’s second time race at Camp.  He was here last year for the first time at ECXC VIII.  Drew hails from Fairdale, Kentucky and rides for Bob’s Redmill Cyclocross Team.  You can read the entire Diary Entry on Cyclingnews.com.