Justin Lindine in second spot on Sunday at Nittany. © Cyclocross Magazine
by Molly Hurford
After a rough start to the season with Saturday’s race, which saw Justin Lindine go from front row, to last place, to a 12th place finish, Sunday’s race was redemption, and he took second, narrowly losing the finishing sprint to Todd Wells. We caught up with our CXM columnist after the race, though our first attempts at an interview were sadly lost due to technical difficulties.
“Remember that time we did that interview and I had all these witty things to say?” he started with a wry laugh.
To recap: “Saturday was a disaster. Crash in the start, spent most of the race battling back from last place to 12th. But pedaling was OK once I got going. I was motivated to use that fitness that I think I have to be at the front of the race instead of chasing through it. I did that today for the most part, in the lead group with Stephen Hyde and Todd Wells. Pretty incident free, had a minor embarrassing bunny-hop crash over the log but no major crises. Lost the two-up sprint to Todd, but he doesn’t suck too hard. So I’ll take it. I guess he has a few National Championship jerseys in his closet.”
“I think it bodes pretty well,” he finished, Saturday’s race safely behind him.
A recent Utah transplant, he’s back to his home state of New York to bounce between the big East Coast races.In addition to Vermont next weekend, “I’ll definitely race Gloucester, Night Weasels and Providence. I’m three-time defending champ of Night Weasels. I love it! It’s dark and muddy. Some year it won’t be muddy but that hasn’t happened yet.”
Lindine isn’t just staying East Coast for a while, he’s staying far East. “I’m going to go up, do Catamount and then next week fly to Beijing for the UCI race over there, which should be exciting. I don’t know exactly what to expect over there but it’ll be an adventure.” He joked that digging a hole from his family’s home in Windham, New York, could land him right near the race course.
After Holy Week in New England though, it’s time for the Honey Badger to leave New England for nearly two months. “Then I’ll drive back out west, be home a couple weeks, then do some Midwest ’cross racing, maybe Cincy3, Louisville and Jingle Cross. Then Utah, then back to the East Coast for Warwick and the NBX race, then Nationals.”
And the big question for the ’crosser/MTBer: Will he be making the switch to discs this year? “I’m due to be on discs as soon as they’re available. Should have Di2 as well. Best braking and shifting, fantabulous.”
Any interview that ends on “fantabulous” is a winner in my book.
Watch the full interview here:
