Sometimes the riders have to wear an entry bracelet but not for all races. Entry bracelets are to enter the course, then there’s a second bracelet to enter the Materialpost (the pit) for the women and a separate one for the men. We have to head to inscription with our COVID-19 test paperwork where they take your temperature, then Katie collects her race numbers and entry bracelets. We usually arrive between 9:30-9:45am for the 1:30/1:40pm race. Parking in the tight confines of Belgium is always a challenge although arriving in a mobile home it’s much easier to gain access to parking for Elites instead of a van - even if it’s a USA Cycling van. We generally leave the house in the dark since the sun doesn’t rise until around 8:30 and drive to the races which are mostly an hour’s drive when they are in Belgium. What does a typical race day look like for you? Both Dutch World Cup races, Hulst and Hoogerheide (Ed: the latter of which was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns) are very close to the Belgian border. While cyclocross is very big in Belgium, in The Netherlands it remains as a minor sport - which is why you don’t see too many international competitions in the heart of The Netherlands. The average race speeds are up a lot and the number of young Dutch riders that were minutes back in the previous years are now at the front of the races. The speed of the last season has been bit of an eye opener. Largely the prize money and television coverage has improved so much that it’s a completely different sport in Europe. ![]() Some race series would only allow the women to race before the Juniors which mean’t there was no TV coverage and no spectators. In the next few years of racing over here it was rare for any women’s television coverage and when they would show the highlights they went out of their way to show the women crashing and making fun of them. We first arrived over to Belgium in 2008 for World Championships. You’ve been competing in Europe for a number of years now - what differences have you noticed in the 2020/21 season compared to previous ones? Her introduction to the sport was simpler and included a lot of drinking alcohol. She hadn’t done any racing for a couple years so I got her back into the sport. She had done some cyclocross racing locally and was the U-23 National Champion. ![]() We got along really well and after I graduated I moved to Colorado to be with her. While attending Montana I met Katie at World Championships for the Blind in Quebec, Canada where I was the team manager. I created a local mid-week cyclocross racing series that still continues twenty years later. I continued to race locally in the San Francisco Bay area before moving to Missoula, Montana to attend the University of Montana. ![]() I tore my achilles during the race however I was an instant fan and addict. I had always read about about the cyclocross racing so as bit of an adventure I borrowed a friends converted Trek 520 steel touring bike and raced it in Santa Cruz, CA. After I returned from the very rough trip to Belgium where I was racing for KSV Deerlijk I returned to the San Francisco Bay area. I briefly raced on the road in Belgium in 1995 after doing well at some races in Trinidad and Tobago. ![]() When I moved to the US in 1988 I got into some MTB riding and racing in the San Francisco Bay area which was super fun. MTB’s were still a new novelty in NZ and I didn’t have the money to buy one. I grew up in Auckland racing on the road in the 80’s but never did any offroad racing. What’s your CX background? How did you first get involved in the sport?
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