Trebon takes the barriers at the Raleigh cyclocross race at Sea Otter. © Cyclocross Magazine
Tim Johnson may not have raced cyclocross at Sea Otter, but he was more than happy to jump on the microphone to help out with announcing and heckling duties, and when Ryan Trebon was setting up to sprint Troy Wells for second place in the race, Johnson’s booming voice could be heard all over the course as he dryly stated: “Well, I’ve beaten Ryan in a sprint before. And I can count the number of people I’ve beaten on one hand.”
And Johnson’s prediction was right: Trebon lost the sprint by inches, but was able to laugh it off minutes later. When I started our interview with, “So, you lost the sprint,” he smiled and spoke over my question, already explaining it.
“I did. I tried a pretty big gear.”
He later elaborated, saying, “I had horrible legs today. I think I was the only one who did the cross country today, everyone else was sandbagging it. I felt pretty horrible during the cross country and I didn’t feel so great warming up but sometimes you can fake it.”
Trebon is a tough guy to interview sometimes (and not just because our height difference is so great that my shoulder actually aches holding the camera high enough), and our line of questioning starts like so:
CXM: How was the race?
RT: It was OK.
CXM: What did you think of the course?
RT: It was good for what it is.
But then once the basics are over with, his dry wit kicks in and his laconic answering style becomes a lot funnier. Which race did he like best this weekend? Trebon raced the short track, cross country and cyclocross: a long two days in the dry heat of Monterey. “This is the only one I didn’t completely suck in, so I’d say this one,” he said. “It’s fun to just come out though.”
What’s up next for Tree Farm? “More MTB events. The Pro XT series and Nationals.”
And as far as racing cyclocross in the off-season, he thinks it’s OK, but he gets why both Page and Duke suffered serious barrier mishaps during their races. “It’s fun to do every once in a while but I don’t want to do it more than twice in the off-season. There’s a 20 MPH barrier section and you go in thinking, ‘I’ve done this recently but I’m a little rusty.’ Everyone’s a little rusty and your timing is off…”
Watch the full interview here:
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