Allen Krughoff on the seventh lap at World Championships. © Pim Nijland / Peloton Photos
Allen Krughoff made waves in US ’cross when he took fifth place at Nationals and joined the US Worlds team heading to Hoogerheide. Now, he’s in the offseason and making some serious plans for 2014’s ’cross season. We caught up with him to see what he’s been up to.
Cyclocross Magazine: How is the offseason going? Racing at all?
Allen Krughoff: The offseason is over! I’m racing road races, criteriums, cross country and marathon MTB races and even enduros during the summer to get ready for the ’cross season. This past weekend, I jumped into a road omnium and did a criterium followed by a road race the next day, riding to both events from my house. The road race day ended up a hair over 100 miles and 7,000 feet of climbing. I’m working on building a nice foundation of fitness and skills for September through February.
CXM: Still on Raleigh for next season?
AK: Ah ha! Good question. Actually that’s up in the air right now. I’d love to stay with Raleigh Clement—the staff and riders are awesome and have become friends of mine. The support I’ve received these past two seasons has enabled me to grow as a professional rider immensely. However, just because I’ve grown, doesn’t mean the appropriate space for that growth has also been created within the existing program. I’m speaking with a couple other programs that may have a position for my contributions on and off the bike and am excited for what that brings.
CXM: After Nationals, what are your hopes for next season?
AK: Landing a top five at Nationals last season was a great way to cap off another consecutive year of improved results. I often found myself coming in seventh at the national races and I want to change that to placing between fifth and third, which I think is possible. I’m still in that exponential learning curve of racing ’cross and, in every full season of doing the full calendar, I add a lot to my quiver of tricks. So, let’s have some podiums!
CXM: After Worlds, are you thinking about Europe at all for 2014?
AK: Definitely. I don’t need to spend a ton of time over there but a couple World Cup trips and Worlds would be perfect. I don’t expect to crush it on the international level, but it’s like taking an intensive continuing education course—and improving my racing here in the US tremendously. Additionally, it’s an opportunity to showcase the sponsors’ equipment at the highest level of competition, which is pretty awesome.
Hands down, I want to make the Worlds team again.
CXM: Have you started thinking about training for ’cross season? If so, what are you doing this time of year?
AK: I think about a week after Worlds in February I started thinking about training for the next season because I was so amped on it! Granted, I took a few weeks away from the bike and got some incredible ski touring in before getting back to it. My coach, Neal Henderson, got me back on the regimen pretty quickly afterwards with strength training, running and plyometrics, Nordic skiing and slowly tacking on hours on the bike with some hiking when the weather was poor. At this point, I’m doing regular weeks on the bike with strength twice per week and racing every other weekend—I think last week was something around 17 hours of training.
Looking at races coming up, I have the Gowdy Grinder XC MTB next week in Wyoming, the Scott Enduro Cup in Utah in July, the Steamboat Stinger 50 mile MTB in August and a healthy smattering of road races between here and Cross Vegas—as well as anything the program I end up with wants me to attend, of course.
Stay tuned for more ’crosser offseason interviews!
