It’s the Next Step.
Image by Billy Lebelge at the finish of World Cup Dendermonde
Everything about cyclocross is different in Europe.
Dec 13th - It’s the Monday after US CX National Championships. Chris McGovern and Charlie Backus wake to begin the push to pack up 3 bikes, 7 sets of wheels, spare parts, and tools while trying to do the baggage shuffle and keep the bike bags under 70lbs before checkout at 10:30am. I’m honestly the most thankful for these two because lord knows I would not be able to get all of the equipment packed myself. Charlie dropped Chris and I off at ORD to depart on a redeye for Munich, Germany to begin the EU campaign.
The COVID restrictions to land in Germany were simply just proof of Vaccination. Thankfully Chris and I each had a row to ourselves so we were able to get 4-5 hours of sleep on the plane. We owe a HUGE thank you to the Specialized Factory MTB team and team Director for picking us up from the airport in Munich, and shuttling us to their Service Course to pick up a van that would have a water tank, generator and air compressor inside ready for us. Not to mention, they put on fresh winter tires for us before our arrival. Fully exhausted from the jet lag we crashed in Holtzkirchen, Germany on our first night.
We would wake on Wednesday and begin the route to Limburg, Netherlands - about a 7.5 hour drive.
We arrived in Sittard where we were greeted by a radiant, Maghalie Rochette! Her and her partner, David, had prepped dinner for us so we could settle in with some food and get some much needed 10 hours of sleep to continue to acclimate from the jet-lag.
The stay in Sittard was special. Not only would I team up and room with one of the best cyclocross athletes and World Cup winner, Maghalie Rochette, but fellow American stars: Clara Honsinger, Katie Clouse, Maddie Munro, Caitlin Bernstein were also neighbors. We took full advantage on my first day in Sittard and had a group rollout to do some training in the woods and play a bit in the sand.
The race block kicked off with a double-header World Cup weekend: Rucphen & Namur. Rucphen was a fast course with the unique spiral in the middle of the venue. Namur is one of the most iconic races on the circuit - known most for being the most technical track in the world. Unfortunately, my body was feeling tired the morning of Rucphen as I tried to fake myself out that I would be ready to snap for the race. The legs just did not respond. Shaking if off I figured I would give it a go at Namur but again during warmup I was struggling to get my heart rate up to Threshold, and knew it would be a tough day out there.
I gutted the race out even though I wanted to stop midway through so badly as I could barely make it up the massive climb at the start - my legs were gone. I used this opportunity to work on as much skill practice as I could and bump a few elbows. Not getting down on myself since I knew I was fresh off a huge block of racing and travel after Pan Ams and Nationals.
It was nice to have a week to fully acclimate and do some good riding to lead into World Cup Dendermonde. The Thursday leading up to this race weekend we were able to get a crew of top North American women: Maghalie, Clara and Maddie to head to the local race track to do a proper skills training day. This turned out to be one of the most memorable days of the trip. As competitors, we all came together to make one another better and work on our weaknesses. Maghalie and David were so kind and open to share any and all tips that they could. To me - that is the character of a true champion - the outpouring of support to build one another up is what makes athletes like Maghalie and Clara so special.
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day laughing our asses off: baking cookies (which turned out to be a hilariously epic fail because we decorated the cookies before baking them), playing Cards Against Humanity, and enjoying some really good food alongside photographer, Balint Hamvas, and fellow athlete, Caitlin Bernstein. It was nice to have such good vibes and warm energy on Christmas Day even with being away from family back home. It made the day seriously enjoyable.
World Cup Dendermonde was known for being a slug fest of running from the previous year. The course was a bit faster, but still a lot of running on tap. My goal going into this race was to focus on pushing hard each lap and to stay focused on fighting until the very end. I did not have a great start at this race, but was able to pass about 20 women throughout the race to finish inside the top 30.
After Dendermonde, I continued to train and search to get my legs back to some snap leading up to GP Sven Nys Baal and World Cup Hulst. The New Year’s Day race at Baal was my best race of the block. I had a second row start and lined up right behind Lucinda Brand and managed to hold position through the first sent of turns. Finishing the day in the top 20 despite a few hard crashes. I even had an old Pfizer work pal and his wife come and spectate their first cyclocross race ever! Which was such a treat to see some familiar faces in Belgium!
I had higher hopes for World Cup Hulst, but had a terrible start that pushed me almost in last place and with a course so fast it was nearly impossible to bring back.
Image by Billy Lebelge - World Cup Hulst
How is everything different about ‘cross in Europe? Deeper and stronger fields. No true start grid - everyone jams in any open space. The tracks are much more challenging. Mud - always mud, and the soil has a different texture. True ruts. Venues are nothing like the parking lots of the US scene - you park on town streets sometimes a 5 minute ride to the start line. Infrastructure is different - although we had the absolute best set up possible teaming up with Maghalie and David with a RV and Van setup.
Despite not obtaining the results that I wanted, the time spent is Europe was seriously worthwhile. There’s no other way than to continue to progress in this sport than hopping the pond and fully immersing myself into the culture of it all and soaking in every ounce of experience there that I can. This block served it’s purpose and highlighted the areas that I really need to improve on in the coming weeks before Worlds and into next season.
While over in Europe my Sony camera stopped working for a bit from some water damage so I drove over to Aachen, Germany to find a camera store that would sell me a cheap point and shoot film camera! I had never shot on film before (apart from the disposable camera days when I was in middle school) so figured this would be a fun and unique way to document some of the trip. Below are some of the images I shot on film with a few race images sprinkled in as well.
A huge thank you to Chris McGovern - he gave up his holiday season to spend the time with me in Europe getting dirty and keeping the bikes fully prepped and also being there for me as a coach.
As for Maghalie, David and Mia Dog - This trip would not have been the same without this crew. The Good Vibes Crew was in full force and we had such a blast working alongside them.
Specialized Factory MTB team made this trip feel a little more like a home game with the setup and infrastructure they hooked us up with! We cannot thank them enough for the Specialized hospitality.
Words and photos by: Raylyn Nuss
