Good to see everyone in Vegas. Between teaching classes on Wednesday and Parents Open House on Thursday night, I got in 14 hours in Strip City. Bike show, meetings, the race.

Offering a hand to old friend Stu Thorne, quite by coincidence, I ended up fingering Jaime Driscoll’s spare in the pit for the duration of his opportunistic win. Jaime’s an esteemed cross camp alum and it was an honor to be giving him the word on this side of the Atlantic after so many apprenticing campaigns on the euro side.

Katie looked super, as did the horsepower in the men’s chase group. Good September signs.

In the beginning, in the end, it’s still all about the energy. For the riders, the personnel, the supporters.

As the Euro Cross Camp website takes 2009-2010 shape, I want to iterate camp selection details to all those in the asking mode:

1. Races. November UCI races with highest priority going to NACT Boulder weekend and USGP Mercer weekend. Other UCI races. Then regional, local non-UCI races. Roster firm by Thanksgiving.

2. Communication. Keep the lines open. Keep me abreast of your intentions, results, situations, injuries. I would like to again take 16-18 riders with a mixture of juniors, U-23’s and elites. Elite Men should be in the top 100 on the most current UCI ranking. Again, no set/predetermined number for any one category.

3. Key Camp 7 Dates

18-25 November Camp Roster Finalized
04 December Kalmthout WC Entry Deadline (for Elites)
11 December Zolder WC Entry Deadline
12,13 December US Nationals
16, 17, 18 December Option 1 Departure Days from US to Belgium
19 December Local Race
20 December WC Kalmthout (Elite WC only; but probably a non-WC race for Juniors, U-23 also; or local race)
22 December Option 2 Departure Day from US to Belgium
26 December Zolder WC
27 December Diegem SuperPrestige
29 December Loenhout GVA
1 January Baal GVA
1 January Roubaix WC Entry Deadline
2 January St Niklaas
3 January Option 1 Departure Day from Belgium to US
3 January Tervuren or St Michelgestel
4 January Option 2 Departure Day from Belgium to US
8 January Hoogerheide WC Entry Deadline

4. Note: USAC 2010 World Championship Document up at USAC website.

Volition,

GP

Was reading Gail Collins’s column in the International Herald Tribune today. She spoke of her sister-in-law who just got back from the Lollapalooza Concert in Chicago.  Her sister-in-law related that “at any point you could look around and 50 percent of the people were texting or reading a text.” Certainly the bike racing scene is no different. When is news actually news anymore? World connectivity renders the very concept of “news” seemingly obsolete.

Say you’re at a junior 15, 16 bike race in the tiny hamlet of Ooike, West Flanders as I was yesterday. And say you’ve got a wonderful network of USA support crew spread across Europe at the ready.  Well, presto, in the space of an hour, not only are our strong results pinned about (national junior 15, 16 champ David Kessler finishing 3rd), but streaming in is “news” that USA House alum Tyler Farrar has just won in Hamburg, that USA U-23 Danny Holloway is 2nd in the final stage of Zamora Tour in Spain, and junior Nathan Brown is 3rd in a one-day outside of Antwerp.  Takes a bit of suspense out of the dinner talk once we’re back at the House.  Thank goodness for time zones. They’re about the only thing keeping things fresh anymore.  We can’t know that another alum John Murphy takes the US Pro Crit until it happens. Which, if you’re in Europe, is after dinner.

CX-related, I took the guys to look-see the Waregem City Challenge urban mountain bike race on the way home from Ooike.   Erwin V had extended the invitation the night before on the phone, if we had time. Well, we had a half hour and it was on the way home, so we checked it.  You got to hand it to the Belgies. 1.2 km circuit smack in the middle of the square.   Pavement, sections through wood chips, gravel, a tank of water, a whupped fly-over, the inside of a trailer truck, and around the church. Leffes and Jupiler flowing freely. Very sizable crowd.  We weren’t able to stay for the finale, but Erwin took the 20 minute race over teammate Ben Berden.  Good legs, he told me. Erwin heads to Germany for training camp on Wednesday. Fidea are currently at altitude in Saint Moritz.  Sven is at the Tour of Limousin and Niels has been tearing it up all summer.  I recently asked Christian Heule how much road racing he’d done this summer.  His answer: 35 races with 4 stage races. The homework is being done.

Both Christian and Erwin will be state-side in September.  And the game will be on. Which it pretty much is year-round here in Flanders.  Check these numbers out.  For the weekend that just ended, Belgium saw separate venues for 17 U-23/Elite races; 8 junior races; 16 nieuwelingen (15-16 yr old) races, 5 aspirant races (10-14).  Oh and they had their national time trial championships on Saturday as well.  Junior ‘cross stud Sean De Bie was 3rd in the junior national time trial Saturday and won a kermesse on Sunday.  Last Sunday, he was 6th at the World Junior RR in Moscow.  Rumor has it he’s done with ‘cross.  Too much at stake on the road now.  No matter.  Rumor also has it that his younger brother, Mike, is better.  We shall see.

The Eneco Tour comes practically to our doorstep on Tuesday and Wednesday, just north in Ardooie. We’re hoping to say hey to Tyler Farrar and the Garmin crew.  More than a few of those guys have been through the USA U-23 program.

Connectivity.

Winter gives way to spring. Cyclocrossers take a break, then begin their spring campaigns on the road, trails, and track. Come summer, the form is there and the results follow.

That’s the scene I witnessed–with pride–this week (July 29-August 2, 2009) at the USA National Road Championships in Bend, OR. Being able to watch, witness, and visit with so many good young riders whom I’ve had a chance to work with in cyclocross is extremely rewarding. Hearing announcer Dave Towle mention over and over the word “cyclocross” in his commentating is a coup for all of us who believe in the power of  the discipline of cyclocross in the overall development of young American bike racers.

Have a look at what some Euro Cross Camp and World CX Team riders did this week in Bend:

U-23 RR: 1. Alex Howes (Garmin); 8. Bjorn Selander (Livestrong); 15. Danny Summerhill (Garmin); 18. Toby Marzot (Mtn Khakis).
U-23 TT: 2. Bjorn Selander (Livestrong); 22. Will Dugan (CCB); 44. Danny Summerhill (Garmin); 56. Andrew Llewellyn (Texas Roadhouse).
U-23 Crit: 1. Alex Howes (Garmin); 3. Bjorn Selander (Livestrong); Danny Summerhill (Garmin); Will Dugan (CCB).

Jr RR: 17. Chris Wallace (Mercy Cycling); 20. Morgan Ryan (Major Motion); 41. Luke Keough (CL Noonan); 46. Ian Terry (Hagens Berman).
Jr TT: 8. Luke Keough (CL Noonan); 10. Chris Wallace (Mercy Cycling); 42. Morgan Ryan (Major Motion).
Jr. Crit: 2. Morgan Ryan (Major Motion); 4. Luke Keough (CL Noonan); 21. Ian Terry (Hagens Berman); 22. Chris Wallace (Mercy Cycling).

And, though not all the Euros were there, both Zach McDonald (Classic Cycles) and Eric Emsky (Rad Racing) rode strongly in the two MTB World Cups in Canada this past week as well.

And how about Gavin Mannion (Hottubes) named to the junior worlds road team headed to Moscow this week? Did you catch his result today in Liege la Gleize stage race? 13th overall I think.

What “seasons” these “cyclocross” guys are having? Can you see the edges blurring? For the younger guys who haven’t yet “chosen” one discipline over another–it’s all good.

It’s really a pleasure to be able to visit with these young riders I know well from another part of the season. To share that bond, to talk to them about their plans and hopes. To see a guy like Will Dugan trying to bring back the break in the crit today, you see that same fire, that same focus. After all, it’s all bike racing.

Finally, while I didn’t get the opportunity to have old friend and Nationals Promoter Brad Ross himself give me the tour, USAC’s Events Director Tom Vinson was kind enough to walk me through the upcoming 2009 Nationals CX parcours. Brad’s got a corker of a course laid out. It’s going to have plenty of dimension and pop. It’s gonna be good. But isn’t it always? Make your reservations now.

All right. Enough said. I depart tomorrow with this year’s Junior 15, 16 Team to Izegem for indoctrination into the rhythms of Belgian road racing. I did the same the summer of 2007 and those kids are rocking the roads now as juniors with two in Moscow this week for junior worlds–Jacob Rathe and Ian Boswell.

It goes and it comes.

Keep it tuned here for some pre-season euro cyclocross scuttle.
GP

Camp 6 is done and most of the camp riders are enroute back to the U.S. I’m beat but feeling good about the camp.

An incredible campaign with some super good results. Especially in the juniors. Yesterday in Sint Nikaas, watching Cody the Kaiser ride to 2nd, Gavin Mannion to 4th, and Eric tearing up to 6th, I thought to myself, geesh…if our guys could spend a season here, learning better the riders and the nuances to the racing here, they could be a dominant force. Nonetheless, yesterday’s results and seeing Zach McD up on the podium in Baal the day before are nice endnotes to the camp. It was also cool to see yesterday 12 American riders in the elite/U-23 field in Sint Niklaas (Trebon, Powers, Driscoll, Baker, Shriver, Matter, Llewellyn, Ferguson, Summerhill, Hackworthy, Dugan, and Cameron).

We had a great restaurant steak and frites dinner last night (a camp tradition) and I thanked all the riders and staff for being “on it” for two great weeks. We were very fortunate to have no injuries (especially with the super fast, frozen tracks during this year’s camp) or illnesses. Success.

Time for rest and recovery and then the final run-up to Worlds in Hoogerheide. If you have a spare minute, have a quick read of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. The chapter “10,000 hours” speaks well of a concept I’ve been chewing on for many years. Doing time.

Thanks for following along for the ride,
Geoff

It is fascinating to see the array of machines all lined before a race.  Here’s where you see the bleeding edge of  ’Cross technology.  Cody Kaiser, Cal Giant Strawberries/Specialized, got to poking around the Team buses and found these prized steeds all blinged out and ready go for the race.  The pair of Colnago’s belong to none other than Sven Nys.  The Ridley is all ready to go for Erwin Vervecken.  You may also notice the personalized RV just behind the bikes.  The bigger name riders live in style at the races.  

A sweet pair of Colnago Cross Bikes waiting to go to battle with Sven Nys.  Photo Courtesy of Cody Kaiser.

Vervecken’s mount for the day all shined up and ready to go.  Photo Courtesy of Cody Kaiser.  

Just finished up the evening meeting with the guys. Everyone in good spirits. We’ve had some strong results and ample fresh experience thus far at Camp 6. Someone asked me in an email what we talk about at a team meeting. Here’s tonight’s agenda:

1. Tallying up which riders still need to pay their camp dues. Most folks over here are shocked that the riders themselves must pay for their racing here. My goal remains: finding sponsorship for a US Cyclocross Development Program.

2. Which riders I need to enter for the Roubaix World Cup in mid-January. The deadline for entry through USAC is the end of this week.

3. The logistical schedule (short version) to tomorrow’s race in Loenhout:
6:00 Mechanics depart to race
6:00 Juniors rise
6:45 Juniors depart to race
7:00 U-23 rise
7:45 U-23 depart to race
8:45 Juniors Sign In
9:00 Elites rise
9:15-10:00 Juniors Training on course
9:45 U-23 Sign In
10:00 Elites depart to race
10:30-11:00 U-23 Training on course
11:00 Juniors Start
12:00 U-23 Start
12:00 Elites Sign In
12:15 Juniors return to Izegem
13:00-13:30 Elite Training on course
13:30 U-23 return to Izegem
15:00 Elite Start
16:30 Elites return to Izegem
18:30 Dinner
20:00 Team Meeting to go over the day and preface the next day’s plan

4. Some specifics about the Loenhout circuit tomorrow. (Most of the guys have already watched last year’s race on dvd earlier in the afternoon). How the race (and all Gazet Van Antwerpen series races-GVA is the big Antwerp daily newspaper and series sponsor) starts with a traffic light going RED-YELLOW-GREEN. The bridges, mounds, whuups, and ditches. And the challenges of the non-equidistant (time between pit 1 and pit 2 is not the same as time between pit 2 and pit 1) double pit with 9 juniors racing and 7 U-23. We break it down this way:
Pit 1
Box closer to front:
Juniors: Cox, Dombrowski, Emsky, Kaiser
U-23: Weighall, Ferguson, Llewellyn
Box closer to back:
Juniors: McDonald, Mannion, Goguen, Ryan, Wallace
U-23: Hackworthy, Dugan, Summerhill, Selander
Pit 2
Box closer to front:
Juniors: McDonald, Mannion, Goguen, Ryan, Wallace
U-23: Hackworthy, Dugan, Summerhill, Selander
Box closer to back:
Juniors: Cox, Dombrowski, Emsky, Kaiser
U-23: Weighall, Ferguson, Llewellyn

5. A reminder about the importance of everyone doing his chores. Later in the evening I will rotate the jobs so the same guys don’t get stuck with the dreaded duty of “pots and pans”.

6. A final kudo to how well things are going and how proud I am of the guys for keeping their heads yesterday when we got royally flicked with the start call ups in Deigem. I’m quite sure I’ve been black listed for my contentious “discussion” with the UCI commissaires before each category race yesterday. I’ve since taken corrective measures with the powers that be, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow in Loenhout. Bottom-line, one of the most important tasks for a coach over here is to advocate for his riders. Otherwise, it’s a full on Belgie steamroll.

Tot ziens!
Geoff

Christmas Quiz: What do the following four recent anecdotes have in common?  

1. Talked to my old friend Erly Beeuwsaert the other day. He stopped by the House on a ride. He runs cycling clinics for West Flanders youth riders and we worked together with junior US riders when I was here two summers ago. Really good coach and friend. He was excited to tell me about the huge popularity of his weekend cyclocross clinics this fall. Each Belgian province has the same program for road, cross, track. In this case, essentially Cyclocross Little League. Here are the stats: every two weeks; 8-11 years olds and then 12-14 year olds (aspirants); skills and technique; 1.5 hours each weekend day; free of charge as the instruction comes from the 75 euro Belgian license fee and Erly is paid by the government; roughly 30-40 kids each weekend in this province alone; assisted by Eric Van Lanker (an old Panasonic road pro); because they are not allowed to have an official race during the clinics, they have them ride “free tempo” at the end of the clinic. Erly says the track (as in velodrome) is dipping, but that cyclocross, with 30 races are live on Belgian tv, is blooming.     

2. Caught up by phone with Erwin (as in 3-time World CX Champ Vervecken) last night. He told me he’d be in Zolder this morning for special private Belgian National Team training on the Zolder WC circuit. No other teams get the same benefit. Granted, it’s the same when a WC is in Czech or France or wherever. The home country gets special, unfettered time in on the circuit.     

 3. Another comment from Erwin. With Lars Boom’s recent smack about “playing with the other riders” on his way to victory in Nommay last Sunday, Erwin said two things: first, that such talk tends to unite the Belgian juggernaut more than usual and, second, that already the war of nerve spin has begun and will climax at worlds in Holland (Boom’s turf) in just over a month’s time.   

4. Took the guys for a nice diversionary trip today, driving the car up a few of the classic Tour of Flanders climbs and then hiking up the granddaddy–the Koppenberg. After that hors d’oeuvre, we headed to the Tour of Flanders Museum in Oudenaarde. After the motivating 20 minute overview film, as we were passing into the next part of the museum, U-23 rider Will Dugan said “Well, I guess the Tour of Flanders is is the only race I have to win because it’s the only race that matters in Belgium.”  A museum dedicated to one bike race. Hmm.  

Answer: Support.  

The many facets of support. 

When you come from the sport’s cradle.    

Vrolijke Kerstmis,   

Geoff  

The first batch is done, a few more to go. 

Camp VI has begun in earnest with our first race in Uitbergen–a small “national” ‘cross–in that most Belgian of Belgian milieux, a cow pasture. Ride down a bit of asphalt; turn “into the field” literally; ride around some bumpy green grass strewn with cow dung; make a few turns to complete a sporadic rectangle; finish back up with some pavement. No garnish of hurdles, vertical, or running.  Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes (13 laps for the juniors, something like 18 for the elites/u-23’s) or until crispy. Let cool on the rack. Stick a fork in it. 

 A food staple of a circuit. Something tells you this is the way to nourish cyclocross talent. Ride around in a field for an hour. See who can go the fastest.  The Flemish have a synonym for such efforts. They call it “free tempo”.  

Our guys raced well. I was pleased with some of our rides and noted some areas for improvement. 

Juniors (26 starters)
4. Chris Wallace
6. Eric Emsky
8. Cody Kaiser
9. Joe Dombrowski
12. Manny Goguen  

Elite/U-23 (32 starters)
7. Danny Summerhill
17. Nick Weighall
19. Jeremy Ferguson
25. Andrew Llewellyn 

The camp is off to a rousing start. Everyone is here now with most of the missing bikes to arrive tomorrow. And four days to prepare for the first big one, the WC in Zolder. The details to moving this small army around and keeping everything even-keel make my head spin. But the solace comes in the smiles on their faces and the banter around the dinner table. These kids are racing their bikes in Europe. Good stories. Good copy. Good film.  

I’m sure I’ve pitted at least 100 Euro ‘crosses. Still, I see something new every race. Today, two separate pits. But the second one–curiously, oddly–only maybe 30 seconds from the first and that much farther from the vans for the mechanics to chuff bikes to. Plodding along on a practice lap, I finally solve the conundrum. Equidistant between the two bright yellow beginning and end pit flags, a huge porcelain water trough. Giant white bath tub amidst vast pasture of lush-for-winter green cow grass. I can hear the thinking of the organizers now: “Hey, a water source! Let’s put another pit here”. 

Livestock. Crossstock. Same difference.  

Will try to write again tomorrow,
GP     

  Bjorn Selander pushing through the Euro mud earlier this year.  Photo ©: Cycling-pics.be  

Congratulations guys!  Somewhere I read a Svein Tuft quote I really liked. It goes something like this:”How much are willing to give?”

2008-2009 Roster

Juniors

Zach McDonald USA19910213

Gavin Mannion USA19910824

Eric Emsky USA19910621

Cody Kaiser USA19920527

Chris Wallace USA19920320

Cody Cox USA19910119

Joe Dombroski USA19910512

Manny Goguen USA19910502

Morgan Ryan USA 19910612 

U-23

Bjorn Selander USA19880128

Nick Weighall USA19870607

Danny Summerhill USA19890213

Will Dugan USA19870115

David Hackworthy USA19891110

Jeremy Ferguson USA19900616

Andrew Llewellyn USA19900726

Elite

Troy Wells USA19840619

Matt Shriver USA19800526

Brian Matter USA19780704

Colder now. Darker earlier.

Your doubts seem bigger at night–in the wee hours when you get up to take a leak. You’re not sure if you can do it. When you get up early for school, for work, for training…the stars are still out. Orion marching across the dawn sky. Chasing that target.

It would seem so easy to be thinking about base for next season, like a lot of your riding buddies. You know, go for an easy mtb or road ride. It would be so easy to just chill over the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas; just hang with the family, eat too much, watch some football.

Your mind wanders. Stressing over the money, the hotels, the air travel, staying healthy.

But then you come back. To the center. To the core jubilation you get when you ride a cyclocross bike well. In big races. In December and January.

And you remember your focus. Your plan. Your drive. This is your time.

Camp News: Euro Cross Camp VI selections are gradually coming together. I’m awaiting some final confirmations and then I’ll name the roster. I’m still weeks ahead of when I’ve named the camp roster in the past, but I had hoped to get it out this week. I should have it pegged by Thanksgiving Day.

The euro news is the sense that euro ‘cross is getting higher and higher level-wise. A top 10 is way tougher than it was 5 years ago. While not at the competitive level of ‘euro road racing, some experts are saying that the level is higher-deeper than comparative measures on the track or mtb. And they’re saying this is true at the U-23 and junior levels as well.

Which makes every aspect of cx preparation that much more important. Overall plan, race frequency, equipment, training, resting, the ability to fight for position, travel. Everything.

The international cyclocross sandbox has gotten more crowded. It’s not as easy to fill your bucket anymore.

One guarantee though: we’ll be fighting every shovel full of the way starting Dec 21.

See you there. GP