CX Holiday Continues Through the Iconic Kerstperiode.
The team began trickling into Europe soon after Nationals. Our Sunday celebration was immediately followed by a hectic day of packing to gear us all for the leap across the pond.
What does it look like for a U.S. team traveling abroad to take on a full race block?
Our Mechanic staff has an intense job of organizing and packing:
9 team edition Trek “Electric Banana” Boones
6 sets of ZIPP 303 Firecrests with Challenge Limus tires
6 sets ZIPP 303 Firecrests with Challenge Grifo tires
1 pair of ZIPP 303 Firecrests with Challenge Dune tires (more Dune tires were later glued before Zonhoven)
2 sets of ZIPP 303 Firecrests with Challenge Baby Limus tires.
4 sets of ZIPP Tubeless training wheel sets
Consumables: Chains, bearings, bottom brackets, brake pads, bar tape
Bleed Kit - 4 sets of hydraulic hoses
Spare parts you hope you never need: x2 complete sets of shifters, brake levers that are bleed, spare saddle for every rider, spare stem for every rider, rotors, cassettes, tires, cranks, chainrings, and random small stuff like bolts, etc.
Tubular glue and a heap of brushes
Pressure washer guns
A huge thank you to our partners who helped us make the leap for a dialed infrastructure! This sport takes a community lift to make trips like this happen.
Pas Normal Studios: provided us with their “Destination Everywhere” van, tents, A-Frame, tables, extension cords, coffee machine! This was massive to have for races to carry all of our team equipment, and do it in style.
Trek lined us up with support from Trek Factory Racing - they provided us with Feedback work stands, A-Frames, pressure washer, and a spare set of Shoes and Helmet for Raylyn when her luggage did not arrive with her.
USA Cycling provided us with - water tank, generator, and air compressor.
Hear from our Athletes on their Kerstperiode experiences.
A Kierstperiod Blog from Raylyn Nuss:
It was such a pleasure to travel to Europe on such a high note coming off of an epic Nationals weekend. I set off for Europe the Tuesday after Nationals to land in Copenhagen on Wednesday December 14th. The plan was to hang with Pas Normal Studios (PAS) for their annual Christmas party, and get to meet everyone at the brand HQ.
I was picked up by a super warm and smiling energy, Jannik Frank Christ, the EU marketing manager for Pas Normal. The positive energy was well received as I landed in CPH with only my very tiny carry on backpack that contained my computer, camera, toothbrush, and face wash. Not a single person from the full flight from London to Copenhagen received their checked luggage upon arrival. (Apparently a staffing shortage with British Airways due to strikes was the cause of the mess.) *Insert picture of hundreds of upset people in line at the baggage claim info booth here.*
PAS really went above and beyond to keep me rolling without any of my gear. They have a stellar trainer studio/gym, and I was able to borrow a bike and shoes from a few employees! Everyone at the brand was so kind to let me borrow anything I needed. Pas Normal gives off the family energy as you can tell they genuinely care about anyone that walks into their doors.
I road-tripped with the Destination Everywhere crew from Copenhagen to Berlin for a fun group ride with a shop on our way down to Sittard, NL. We took a ferry from Denmark to Germany which offered breathtaking views and a moment for us to take a nap and relax a bit before continuing the drive. Berlin was a fun city, but a massive cold front rolled through Europe as we made the journey so it was difficult to fully sightsee the city in 20 degree F temps. (I’ll also note that Pas Normal makes some very stellar winter gear - I only needed one of their thermal long sleeve windproof base layers, winter thermal jacket and thermal gloves to get some quality rides in the frigid environment.) At midnight on Tuesday, December 20, I finally received one of my bags from London! - At last I had my toiletries and clothes! It felt so nice to be able to put my contacts in for the first time in a week.
Tuesday rolled around as I settled into our home at Watersley in Sittard, NL. It was nice to get settled before the first race of the block. Luggage update: I still had not received my bike and cycling equipment from London.
25 Dec // Christmas: This is now my 3rd Christmas away from home. This year, Curtis, Mark and Katlyn (Curtis’s fiancé) had put up a Christmas tree for us so it really felt like a proper holiday. We had morning pastries while jamming to classic Christmas tunes, and went out on a nice easy spin to get ready for World Cup Gavere. It felt a little more like a proper holiday this year.
26 Dec // World Cup Gavere: WOOF. Talk about a way to break yourself into European cyclocross. The venue was placed on an epic hill so you were either going up or going down. The ups were mostly unrideable so they became LONG runs, and the downs were just reprieves from the runs. It was also extremely refreshing to see crowds absolutely pouring into the venue again after the COVID years. I wasn’t the most stoked on my performance, but was happy to get the ball rolling on the EU block of racing.
Luggage Update: FINALLY on Dec 29 (15 days later) I received my bike and cycling equipment from London.
30 Dec // Exact Cross Loenhoet: This was a fun one! A mostly flat, but technical course. The course changed drastically from pre-ride to race time. We started on Challenge Grifos, and as we were about to get on the trainer to warm up for the race - it started to rain pretty heavily. The call was made to start on Limus. This was one of my better races in Europe racing in the Top 15, but losing the sprint finish ending in 16th.
01 Jan // GP Sven Nys Baal: This is always a fun way to break in the new year. I do enjoy this race - it has a good mix of technical bits, gut punchy hills, and THICCK mud. My legs weren’t happy with me on this race day. I could start to feel the trip weighing on me as I had no snap or fight in me. I still managed to finish 16th. A result I wasn’t stoked about to be honest. The big takeaway was being able to smoothly ride some sections I struggled with in prior years. Reminding myself that there is solid progression happening even though I wasn’t happy with the result.
03 Jan // Herenthals: The most American-esque course we raced on in Belgium. It was a Challenge Grifo tire day - which means fast! The only muddy section was the first corner off of the start, and it was thick enough everyone had to run. This was also a course that went up and down the back side of a ski hill. Yes, an actual ski hill in Belgium. I definitely felt a little exposed as I had the strength to move through the course quickly, but always found myself falling off the pace climbing the very steep hill over the roots and switch back. (Need a little more off-season mountain biking in my life.) This course ended up being one of my favorites of the period.
My Birthday - I celebrated my bday over the period, and went for a fun day outing in Cologne, Germany! Cologne is only an hour drive from Sittard. We went to the iconic Kölner Dom, and the Ludwig art museum that has one of the worlds 3rd largest Picasso exhibits. We topped the day trip with a German Brewery. It was pretty fantastic.
08 Jan // World Cup Zonhoven: Iconic. It was a Challenge Dune tire day. This was hands down one of the more challenging tacks I’ve ever raced on. Nothing in America can prepare you for the “De Kuil”. An incredibly steep, thick, sandy, descent followed by another incredibly steep, thick, sandy, off camber descent. I went over the bars down descent #1 during pre-ride trying a new line in preparation for the start. I quickly worked to get that fall out of my head and ready for the race. On lap 2 I went over the bars again and hit hard enough to have the wind knocked out of me. I tried to carry on, but knew after another half lap that I needed to call it. Nothing broken on myself or my bike, but a solid set of whiplash and ego smash was enough to fuel the fire for the remainder of the time in Europe. Although my race was certainly not up to standard it was still a really neat experience at Zonhoven. 40,000 people in attendance, and finally some Belgian frites and curry ketchup made for a fun experience, nonetheless.
Cyclocross racing in Europe is like a totally different sport. Everything is different: the soil, the tracks are more challenging, the fields are much deeper, and even the small bits like figuring out where to park and where to pick up your number. I love it! The sport is so elevated over here in Europe. Overall, my racing wasn’t quite where I was hoping it would be this season. I have majorly progressed on the skillset front so I’m taking the positives where I can. This is such a tough period of racing that now after a couple years under my belt I hope to have a solid game plan moving into next season. I’m relentless on where I want to be in this sport over the next few years. It really is such a pleasure to immerse myself into the European racing scene… I have so much respect for it. Now for a sunny reset in Spain to gear up for the final three races of the season.
A Kierstperiod Blog from Curtis White:
After coming off the high of winning the US Cyclocross National Championships, I had a lot of motivation to represent my new Stars & Stripes jersey over in Europe for the remainder of the season. This is my 11th season racing in Europe. I have my routines down. I know what to expect at the races. But this was the first time coming over as national champion.
My first race of the block was the World Cup in Gavere. With it being my first race effort off the plane, I didn’t feel like I had the spark I normally have when I’m at my best. This is normal when dealing with jetlag. What didn’t feel normal were the cheers and encouragement I heard going around the track. Fans screamed, “USA! USA! USA!” in my ears for an entire hour. Some knew my name, some didn’t. I even heard a few folks yell “Go Jeremy Powers!” jokingly. The feeling was surreal and I took an immense amount of pride in representing the red, white, and blue in the motherland of cyclocross.
I started to catch my stride at the Azencross in Loenhout. The course is typically a mostly flat, heavy track with some technical features, flyovers, ditches, and pumps. Coming into the day, I reminisced of when I was lucky enough to share the podium with Mathieu van der Poel as a junior back in 2013. Ten seasons later, I am returning to this same muddy field with new motivation as national champion. After 60 minutes of what turned out to be one of the most exciting races of the year with “The Big Three”, I was very happy to finish the day in 13th. Loenhout, like most Belgian crosses, is a tricky beast for Americans to master. Jeremy Powers shared my placing with 13th in 2008, and Jonathan Page notched an American male best of 9th in 2010. This result gave me confidence in knowing that I am on the right trajectory, and that I have much more to give and improve.
Through the Kerstperiode, I maintained solid momentum and hit the top-15 in three of the seven races, one of them being 10th in the Superprestige round in Gullegem. These moments of success in Europe are sweet, and they don’t come as easy as success in the US. The level is so high here, and one mistake can set you back twenty wheels. We often use the metaphor “threading the needle” when it comes to piecing together a season-defining result. It only takes a momentary lapse of concentration to make a mistake. That’s why every race is a lesson.
After taking the start seven times in two weeks, my teammates and I flew down to Calpe, Spain for training camp leading into our final goals of the season.
A Kierstperiod Blog from Lizzy Gunsalus:
Racing in Europe during the infamous Kerstperiode is a feeling that I find difficult to put into words. Racing an intensely filled week of cyclocross racing amongst the best athletes in the world day after day, was only something I could have dreamed of as a young girl. I've been blessed enough to be able to compete in this week of cyclocross three times now and this year I truly saw this trip from a very different perspective.
With my new team, winter break from university, and plenty of races ahead, I had the perfect combo to come into this block with the right mindset, environment, and confidence that I needed to prove myself within the deep fields of women racers. This was the first year that race after race I felt present and like I truly belonged. With each of the six races, I put my best foot forward on the line and fought for each position until the finish line. Since I no longer felt overwhelmed with the environment of Europe, I had so much extra energy to remain calm and truly reflect on the learning experiences I had everywhere that I turned.
From pre-riding one of the most intimidating courses I've ever seen in Zonhoven to navigating the chaos of a European pit on a muddy race, this was the first time that I realized the beauty behind these moments. Not only am I proud of my efforts put forth, but I realized the number of lessons I was able to take away from this racing block. Within these lessons, I realized the potential that my future has within the sport of cyclocross.
I have carried all of this positive energy over to Calpe, Spain for a solid block of training in the sun. This is my first time over here and I can't help how in awe I am of the views over here. Super pumped to give it a send into the last leg of the season with my two teammates :)
All Race Images by: Fellusch
