One good thing...

The one good thing that has happened this year in cycling, as far as I can tell, is the fact that one Katie Compton is kicking ass on the cyclocross circuit across the pond in Europe and all. She has now started 3 big time races over there, and she has won 2 of them, and came 2nd in the other. In other words, as I said before, kicking ass. For me, this is a plus for USA cycling in general. There is a very good chance that the US might bring home a gold medal from World Championships this year. And they really haven't done that, at least on the elite level, for cyclocross at least. Sure we had a junior champion, one Matt Kelly who then, I think for the most part, disappeared after his big win, but he did get a bike named after his win, the Lemond Poprad, which you can still purchase. Actually, I saw a new one this weekend, and they look quite nice. But I digress. Ms. Compton is taking it to the big time European women over there, and I for one, am quite proud to see her kicking ass and taking names. Can she keep this up? I think so, judging by performances that she's had before, and the track that her cross career has taken, she's got the right stuff, and she's just damn tough. Really tough. 

A couple of years ago, she sort of burst onto the cyclocross scene in a big way. She turned up at National Championships, lined up in the back of the field, and then smoked everyone. Since she was a pilot for a blind woman on a tandem, and she was competing in the paralympics, she couldn't race a whole season, and gain UCI points, because then she couldn't be the tandem pilot for her stoker. I do remember her first national championship, because the women that she beat down that day, well, were kind of mad and angry about it. The common theme I seemed to remember were her fellow competitors going off on a, "Who does she think that she is not racing against us all season, and then winning the national championships???" As much as I hate to write this, women's racing can sometimes be really, well, "catty" is the best, and nicest word I can use to describe it. Not being a woman, I don't know for sure, but I remember hearing some stories from some women friends of mine who started racing in NC a short while back after living somewhere else for awhile, and when she showed up, she started winning, and well, the locals didn't take kindly to that happening. 

Fast forward a couple of years later, and Ms. Compton came back to the national championships, and since she once again, didn't really race the entire year on the national circuit, she had to start at the back of the field, even though she was the reigning national champ. Well, lo and behold, the gun went off, and she went almost straight to the front of the women, and again, blew everyone away. I'm thinking that pretty much from that point onward, nobody was ever going to underestimate her again on a cross bike. Good fo

r her I say.

And now, she's waging a cross campaign overseas for the first time, and well, as mentioned before, not really taking any prisoners as she rides her European competition into the mud, and soup that is Belgium, and the Netherlands in the late fall, and early winter. I wish her well, and hope to keep seeing her do great things on the bike. I've met her a couple of times, back in the day when she was an aspiring mountain biker in the mid Atlantic region of the US, and she seemed like a super nice person, and she was riding really fast then as well. She has only gotten faster. She claims that it comes from riding races against the boys, but I think she's just got talent. I haven't seen someone dominate cross like this since the days gone past of Allison Dunlap riding away from the women on a weekly basis across the country during cross season. She seems to have it like that. And as I wrote before, there has been so much going bad for cycling lately, I like a feel good story, and it also gives me someone to cheer for, who is most likely drug free, and just enjoying herself out there on the bike. I think the chances of women cheating are far less than for the men. Why? Well, for one thing, unfortunately, women's racing doesn't get the exposure, or the salaries that the men get, so really, there is less incentive for the women to cheat, there's no money in it for them unfortunately. Should it be different? Probably so, and maybe women like Katie Compton can bring some sort of change like that for her sport in general. I know that there are some promoters out there offering the same prize money for women's races that they are for the men's races, but I think it's hard for promoters to do that. Basically, because I have been at races where the men's field is maxed out at 100 guys in 4 or possibly 5 different categories, while all the women's categories combined might bring 30 women to the start line. Then we run into the issue of, how do you get women into this male dominated sport? I don't have a good answer for that one myself, but I can look at teams like Vello Bella who do an outstanding job of exposing all sorts of different women to different facets of cycling in general. Not just racing, but everything. Riding, advocacy, and many other routes of exposure. To them, I give a tip of the hat, they do good word, no doubt about it.

Anyway, keep your eye on Katie Compton romping across Europe, and keep your eyes on the top step of the World Championship podium this year. We might just see her on top of it, and hear the Star Spangled Banner being played as she receives her gold medal.