Camp's out for another year

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Tristan Schouten (Planet Bike)(Image credit: www.madcross.org)

Belgium, January 5, 2008

Euro Cross Camp V is in the books. The bike room is empty, the mechanics are gone, the wash station is finally drying out and other than a few of us that are staying the final few weeks until the world championships, the house feels quite empty. Some 16 riders with twice as many bikes and a race schedule to rival a two week stage race, I'm sure most will sleep the entire flight home with no problems at all, while I'll be laying here listening to Ryan Trebon snore for a few more weeks.

This was my first 'Euro Cross Camp' experience and what I have learned in these two weeks of racing, riding, and living in Belgium will be carried through the rest of my career. I have been to Europe for other races, Elite CX Worlds in 2006 and U23 MTB Worlds in 2004, but neither time did I feel comfortable in my situation and for the most part, I felt thrown in to a tank filled with fish way bigger than I.

What this camp allows is for the riders to grow comfortable in a new country where the racing is different, the travel is different, the language is different, the food is different and the list goes on. For me, this camp allowed me to grow comfortable lining up behind the big stars, signing in on the stage with television cameras and 15,000 people watching, figuring out staging and registration protocol in another language, all while racing my heart out for a top 40 result and hoping to finish on the lead lap. This is all valuable experience for the future as each time it just gets more comfortable, until I'm sure there is a time when it's just standard and nothing is knew anymore.

I remember when I first started racing elite class in the United States of America and it was the very same thing. Star struck at the start line, scared of screwing up while racing with them, and riding to my limit while in over my head. Over time I became comfortable with the riders, racing, and speed of the higher class and that is when the confidence grew and the results started to come mostly without notice.

Coming here and experiencing the amount of racing and level of competition that we faced race after race is exactly the motivation and reminder we all need to constantly push the limits and not just let ourselves get comfortable in our own little race environment that we get used to week after week in the US. Racing your heart out for a top 40 is a humbling experience when a top 10 is normal and will quickly put things into an overall perspective of where you are truly at.

Other than racing, I think the juniors come away with some of the best stories of camp as they seem to have way more energy during the day for extracurricular activities, than say, Ryan and I. For instance, one day a few of the guys decided to play a pretty good joke on the people inside a restaurant by ghost riding a bike past the windows a few times for some good laughs as the puzzled customers came to the windows wondering where the riderless bikes were coming from. If I ventured outside the house, it was usually for a walk to the post office where the line was usually out to the door, amazingly, just like in the US.

Every time I travel to Europe there is always one thing that sticks out in my mind as 'totally Euro'. Last year it was seeing my first SmartCar and this year's might top that - outdoor urinals at all the races. Coming from America, we can go to the bathroom in nothing less than a cement building with individual stalls (although cyclists usually do exclude themselves from such inconveniences). So, imagine a race venue with 15,000 people milling around with handfuls of beer and frites in hand. Then imagine a line of port-a-potties lined up with two rather odd shaped ones at the end. Imagine the odd shaped one is a normal port-a-pottie with the center of each of the four walls pushed in to the middle until it meets the other four walls in the middle, forming four inward facing semi-circular stalls with walls only about chest hight with a toilet in the middle.

Many of the riders will be back for worlds in few weeks and by then the experience will have settled in and each of us will have grown that much more. The hard racing and previous experiences at Euro Cross Camp V will no doubt help many to a better result in Treviso, Italy and Geoff Proctor, sponsors, and supporters should know that all his hard work putting the camp together is paying off, now and in the future.

For its fifth consecutive year, the Euro 'Cross Camp will travel to Izegem, Belgium for two weeks from December 20, 2007 to January 3, 2008, with some of America's most promising cyclo-cross talent. Euro 'Cross Camp Director and US National Team Coach Geoff Proctor selected 16 male riders to take on some of the toughest courses and strongest riders abroad and to prepare for the world championships in late January. This year's camp is taking on a more youthful feel with just two elite riders, Ryan Trebon and Tristan Shouten, joined by eight juniors and six espoirs. The riders were selected based on their performances throughout the USGP Series. Coach Proctor and his riders will take turns contributing diary entries.