What a season for TJ and the Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com boys. Tim Johnson has really been my favorite America cross racer forevah. I love his style of riding. Love that he is so tough. Love that is sooo down to earth and cool. I became an even bigger fan about two years ago when my friend Eli and I flew out to the USGP finals at PDX on the same plane as Stu and the boys. We arrived into PDX late and exhausted. TJ was with Stu and Lynne and Georgia Gould and a whole entourage. We were all waiting in the baggage claim for our bike boxes, etc. TJ was sooo normal. Just easy to talk with. Once he heard we were from Boston he livened up a bit and was just super cool to us. That made a big impression and solidified my superfan admiration.
Suffice it to say I was soo stoked when he won Natz in Bend. His twitter feed kept promising good things for his stars and stripes kit that Stu was cooking up. But frankly the US National Championship kit has become a bit of a freak show of late. Don't know if its the USAC factor. Has to be. But come on people! We have some good stuff to work with here you just have to put your heart into it! Well when Lyne's & Andrew's pictures trickled out of Santa Cruz from the Aptos surf city race I was so stoked! Yes that is how you do it! Send Captain America over the pond to represent! We don't need some Tommy Hilfiger wannabe getup. We want Superheroes!
It brought back so many memories as well. Aptos is a crazy cross course. One year I did it it was so muddy you literally had to crawl up one of the runnups. I think I had one gear the whole race but it was the one and only time I ever beat my arch rival Evan Adams. That was also the first time I ever realized being a mudder was a good thing. And that being a mudder on a heavy day meant one thing-Payback for all the beatings those fast skinny roadies gave you all season long!
This last weekend as I was checking twitter I noticed all these weird tweets about a superfan rider card contest. I so almost didn't participate as I figured there is no way I could win. But it was TJ and JPow I had to at least give it a shot. Lyne from Podium Insight has a really great thing going right now. Lyne did hands down one of the best interviews ever of Adam Myerson a while back. She is a fantastic photographer and a great journalist. Didn't take much to prompt me to follow her twitter feed and frankly it was a really savvy viral marketing idea. So I signed up for the contest with about zero confidence in my chance to win. Well. I won! Holy crap! My shrine to cross just got kicked up to 11! TJ and Jpows cards will join my 2 Molly Cameron cards and my 2 Adam Myerson cards in my altar to all things cross. I am so pumped that we have such an elite group going to Tabor. Its hard to imagine how they will do. But who knows maybe Jpow, Driscoll and TJ can work together and do some damage. Either way this year we are sending some Superheroes to World's and I am stoked!
Andrew of CXmagazine took this great photo of Tim Johnson running the barriers at Aptos!
Post World's party at Cyclocrossworld.com world HQ? Oh yes Hup will be attending this in black tie affair. Hopefully we will be celebrating either way we'll be lifting our glasses high in the air for a fight well fought!
If TJ were a super hero, he'd no doubt be Wolverine from the X Men. There are times when he's out there riding his heart out, with that look of grim determination on his face...he looks like he could sprout claws. SNIKT!
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