Canuck Crosscast

The term of the eternal 2019 Cyclocross National Champions has come to an end... Jenn chats with Michael as he prepares to defend his title on Vancouver Island this weekend along with reigning women's CX champ, Maghalie Rochette, about the upcoming races.

We (Jenn Jackson and Michael van den Ham) sit down with fellow NA CXer Brannan Fix to chat all things CX, why he almost didn’t race this year, what North American CX could (or should) do to become more engaging for spectators, and why everyone overthinks start position and UCI points. Plus we have fun.

Rebooted for 2022, we dive into the early season USCX races where Michael has been chasing podiums, and Jenn hits the local Cross on the Rock event for her first cyclocross'ing since the 2019 season. Now in the swing of things, cross and the podcast chats are very much BACK™

That’s Podium-Overalls for those not in the know. Jenn and Michael finally catch up about the last month of racing, talk about Enduros. And then Jenn goes and gets a podium at said Enduro and the Podcast moves to 2/2 for pre-hyping big Jenn results. 

No longer just waxing theory of being fast, Michael and Jenn actually capitalized on some good form and tactical racing to land podium finishes at Paris to Ancaster and the cross country US Cups in Fayetteville. 

Fresh off the first round of the cross country mountain bike World Cup in Petropolis Brazil, Jenn and Michael break things down: tactics, race mindset, conditions, the course, and optimizing equipment setup for the track. We also discuss Michael's Sea Otter XC(?) race and bike choice, look ahead to yet another competition in Fayetteville Arkansas, and contemplate our social media strategies as pro athletes. 

We set out with the best intentions of talking all about Worlds, Jenn’s new team in a big, hour long episode. But sometimes you talk for an hour before you start recording and run out of time. That sometimes was this time. Still, we had a great chat with Gosse about Worlds, National Teams (and whether we should race in trade team kits) and do really terrible job talking about Jenn’s move to the Canyon MTB team. 

North American cyclocross friend Bill Schieken (@CXHairs) joins us to talk about Canadians crushing it in Europe, why it seems to be "clicking" for more young riders, some predictions for the Fayetteville World Championships and lots of anticipation about the battles to come and the course itself, and the weather (because we're Canadian). We also dub Michael eternal CX National Champion.

We catch up to talk about the first chunk of Kersteperiode, the best races so far, why the Dutch and Belgians are so dang good at Cyclocross, and answer a few mailbag questions. Enjoy!

This we talk about lots of things! From Michael’s crazy adventure to get to the Pan Am Championships to how to train for something (like Canadian CX Nats) when you live in a less than ideal climate. Check it out!