“You still have to adapt though, because there’s no disputing any feature here, get over it or don’t ride. So why all the gushing about how different and difficult things are on this side of the pond? It goes back to the purpose of this camp: excellence.”
“On recovery days our rides are always super fun. Today for instance, we had planed to do just an hour of easy riding with some “openers” in the middle to get the legs ready for tomorrow’s Bpost in Baal. We were not even 5 minutes into the ride before there was already some sort of competition going on.”
“I was heading into a long straight away with a lot of speed and could see the next group up the road. And as I turned the next corner, I see that the marshalls had opened the course crossing up, and a lone lady stood right in my path.”
“This was my very first trip to Europe to race. I had been here before to visit my Grandparents in Germany but I hadn’t done any riding while I was here. Today’s race was in Loenhout and it was a very good day for Team USA. We had four riders in the top ten, and the other members had strong rides too.”
“We ride smooth as a group and everyone is socializing. On our way back towards the house we make a mandatory stop at the famous Coffee Mundo, located in the main square of Sittard. Following 9 or 10 lattes, Team USA rolls back to the lovely team house.”
“The World Cup at Zolder was nothing but demanding, particularly the section with two very steep sand run ups followed by an even longer and steeper hill. That alone, could have done my legs in for a weekend, but I know this is why I am over here. To ask more of myself than I ever have.”
“Four hundred meters of full sprint elbow to elbow, bar to bar at 35 mile per hour. I push through small holes trying to get an extra position, any advance at all. Riders yell and swerve, I protect my front wheel.”
“I focus my attention to my starting position, which is quite precarious. I have taken the rightmost spot in the third row, which means virtually nothing in Europe, as the rows blend together, each person half-wheeling the rider in front of them.”
“After getting a face full of cobbles in Namur, I fully realized how crazy a European race start is. A few hundred meters into the course it makes it’s way into a tight S turn. Being Europe and a different style of racing, the Europeans turn on their instincts and dive bomb the corners, which sent me and another American off our bikes.”
” Geoff Proctor gave me the Christmas Day diary entry since I somewhat started the Secret Santa tradition when I bought all the guys underwear from the European dollar store as a junior. I’ve come to cherish these traditions and special times that often seem so small.”
“The group of riders and mechanics that are here currently have decided to get into the spirit as well. It has become a tradition in the past few years of the Christmas block cyclocross camp to create a Secret Santa.”
“Christmas is very big over here, and in the town square of Sittard they had a huge structure that had an ice rink and live music inside. They also had a huge Coca-Cola truck that children could go in to meet Santa, along with about a hundred other people dressed up as Santa.”
Compared with some of the other USA Cycling Cyclocross Development Camp riders we’ve heard from thus far, Eric Brunner is a name you may not be as familiar with. This is his first season racing in Europe. But he’s no stranger to success on course.
For the fifth installment of rider diary entries we hear from Logan Owen. No stranger to Europe, Owen is on his fourth pass through. While he’s not saying with the other Cross Camp riders, he has the group’s full support on race day.
“The burnt yellow lights of the Belgian freeway illuminate the road and flash through the windows of the sprinter while we try and sleep. The drive is quite as most of us sleep or listen to music and get in our own zones.”
“We crossed the line and he was waved into an opening that took him to the podium. As he went through and the gate was slammed shut, I was pointed the other direction where everyone else must go.”
Curtis White, 27th at yesterday’s Namur World Cup, talks about race preparations and mental readiness in this installment of our rider diaries from the USAC Cyclocross Development Camp in Sittard, The Netherlands.
Over the coming days we’re bringing you thoughts and reflections from each of the riders at this season’s Cyclocross Development Camp in Sittard, Netherlands. Today’s installment comes from Elle Anderson.
We’ll be getting daily diary entires from US riders at Cyclocross Development Camp based in Sittard, Netherlands, and sharing those with you. This will present an interesting look at the lives of some known, and perhaps some less familiar, names taking on the world of European cyclocross racing.
Waiting for the 2015 Cyclocross World Championships Junior Men’s Race to start? We are too. While you wait, here’s a short video the features the USA Cycling …
We started each day with early morning strength conditioning—running bleachers, doing plyometric stations with power skips, lateral hops, ab work. Late morning entailed specific cyclocross training on a cyclocross circuit and, in the afternoon, we did some big training rides in the mountains.