For most of the history of cyclo-cross, races have been an easy drive away for most of the top riders. Mechanics have mobile workshops they drive from race to race, riders have warm motorhomes to change in and everything is familiar. In 2022, the sport has spread further, especially with the UCI's urging, and the Cyclo-cross World Championships are thousands of kilometres outside of the Belgian comfort zone.
While the rural, twisting roads between the tiny Northwest Arkansas airport and the venue in Fayetteville aren't very different from those between, say, Antwerp and Koksijde, getting to them is a logistical nightmare that has cost the Belgian federation over €90,000 for equipment transport alone.
There aren't any direct flights from Brussels to anywhere close to Fayetteville and this has made travel much worse than the last time Worlds went overseas in 2013 to Louisville, Kentucky. The costs have caused a bit of 'sticker shock' for Europeans - the astonishment and dismay felt upon learning how expensive something is.
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According to a report this week in Het Laatste Nieuws, the Belgians shipped 2,431kg of equipment – three bikes for each of the pros, two for other categories – 70 in total, with 175 sets of wheels, enough clothing, food, spare parts, and the essential COVID-19 tests and masks to fill almost 100 crates that had to be flown to Chicago, some 1000km away, then loaded onto two trucks and driven deep into the heart of 'flyover country'. When the racing is done on Sunday, it all goes back in the boxes and back to Europe the same way.
However, as Europeans often find when having to travel through America, even bringing the host country's team to Arkansas costs a small fortune. While most countries are sending much-reduced teams to this year's Worlds because of costs and COVID-19, the US and Canada are sending enormous delegations.
USA Cycling filled every spot they qualified for and paid for transport for many of those riders, plus hotels for athletes and staff, salaries for extra hands and other incidentals. It might not be to the level of Formula 1 or MotoGP but it's a lot of money for a discipline that is not yet an Olympic sport.
USA Cycling coach Jesse Anthony was on the receiving end of those funds in his career and now has a big picture view of what goes into sending a team overseas. "The bottom line is that this sport is expensive," Anthony tells Cyclingnews.
"Most sports are expensive in their own regard. Every time someone raises the issue of the price of sports, I roll my eyes because that's just the world we live in. High-end equipment is expensive in every sport or hobby. Travel is expensive. Food is expensive. Experienced coaches, mechanics, therapists, trainers etc. need to make a competitive wage for their skillset."
Stu Thorne, the manager of the Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld team of Clara Honsinger, Curtis White and Katie Clouse, has been in the business of sending teams to races domestically and abroad and organising races for years and said the first Belgians to race across the Atlantic gained a unique appreciation for what Americans have had to do all along.
"Back in the days of Cross Vegas and Madison [the first US World Cups, ed] when Fidea came over, I spoke with Bart Wellens and Rob Peeters. Both said they had a ton of respect for the US riders now that they had to do a similar trip. You just have to figure it out and it takes time.
"It isn’t easy and, sure, it can be expensive. It’s taken a long time for us to dial things in," Thorne says before giving some tips. "We now keep some equipment over there which keeps costs down. The hardest part is the first trip of what is usually two - the early season trip and then post-Nationals.
"The first trip is bringing bikes and wheels. To keep costs down we pack three bikes with no wheels into a single bike bag. Our wheels are packed into wheel bags that hold six wheels. To do this we take rotors off, remove the axles and bearings. It makes it way easier and there is less risk of wheels getting damaged."
Of course, there is some work involved in disassembling and rebuilding the bikes/wheels but each rider can take a bike bag, personal bag and a wheel bag – at $200 overage fees per person. With three or four riders and two staff travelling, that’s a good amount of gear.
"If World Cups and big events continue to play out in the US, perhaps they too could leave some equipment stateside. It just takes some creativity to make it all happen. Nothing is easy, but it’s doable."
Geoff Proctor, who has long run the EuroCrossAcademy development trips agreed that there are ways to get around the costs but a small team has more flexibility than a federation would.
"With a team, there’s greater room for creativity and flexibility where with fewer riders, mechanics can work in tandem to be super-efficient with, say, packing etc. With a federation dynamic like Jesse’s or, in my case now with EuroCrossAcademy, there are more variables that influence creative opportunities in terms of space, packing, flights, logistics.
"As both Jesse and Stu say, many of these Euro coaches and staff really get a clearer view when Worlds or World Cups are in the US of what we (from this side of the pond) are up against with our Euro-centric discipline. And I think they do earnestly respect how much effort it takes to come together to compete, mostly on European soil."
Anthony sums it up by saying the costs are worth it. "I don't like it, but it's the game we're deciding to play. If we wanted a cheap life we could move somewhere with a low cost of living and sit around and play cards all day. But, we want to compete in a beautiful, exciting sport and explore our maximum potential. We decide to push ourselves and our competitors to be the best. We spend enormous amounts of time, effort, energy, and yes, money, to see how far we can get, and it's awesome."
USA Cycling's cyclo-cross athletes are supported by the MudFund, and the federation announced it would match all donations to the fund up to $40,000. To donate, click here.
