Paxson at Fort Collins. Photo courtesy of Spencer Paxson
by Molly Hurford
When a US-based mountain biker comes close to making the Olympic team, then turns to cyclocross and starts lighting up the season in the Pacific Northwest, namely Seattle, we at Cyclocross Magazine sit up and take notice. Of course, he also came across our radar back in June during MTB season, for a slightly more offbeat reason (listen to the interview to find out!), but whatever the impetus, Kona racer Spencer Paxson was on our “dying to interview” list. With teammates like Helen Wyman, British National Champion, and legendary cyclocrosser and MTBer Barry Wicks, as well as a support staff of some seriously zany mechanics, stopping by the Kona tent for the atmosphere alone is a must-do at any race they attend. So when we had the chance to catch up with him at the USGP Derby City Cup in Louisville, Kentucky, last weekend, we were psyched to get to know Paxson a bit better: how he got into cyclocross, how MTB compares and whether or not cyclocross should be an Olympic sport were just a couple of the topics that we covered. We elected to delete the footage of the Kona crew shooting off fireworks to distract us, to avoid any potential legal issues for the miscreants. Check out the full interview below!
