Interview: Chris McGovern on the New Cervelo / Orange Living U25 Team
The new U25 team seeks to provide opportunities for young riders once they graduate from the Junior category
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North American cyclocross has seen the level of talent grow at the Junior level in recent years, but as we have seen over and over, it can be difficult for young riders to find opportunities to stay in the sport.
Chris McGovern has been around the sport since his childhood and remembers benefitting from opportunities provided to him. His newest effort in the sport is a new U25 program called Cervelo / Orange Living that seeks to provide opportunities for young riders once they age out of the Junior ranks.
The new program came together fortuitously after a conversation at Fayetteville Worlds, when McGovern connected with a Cervelo rep after Marianne Vos won the World Championships back in early 2022. Now, almost two years later, the new program is ready to get going with Sidney McGill, Jules van Kempen, and Kaya Musgrave as its three riders for the new season.
I caught up with McGovern for a few minutes while he was working on bikes and the program’s new travel setup.
Interview: Chris McGovern on the new Cervelo / Orange Living Team
Zach Schuster: You're getting back in the game? You're running a team this year? What are you up to this coming season?
Chris McGovern: I've been working for Steve Tilford Foundation Racing for the last couple of years. I helped them get that piece moving. I wanted to incorporate some development, so I connected with the Bear team last year, which was awesome. It was a lot of work, and I was like, 'I'm making the same amount of money working for 12 riders and managing more people than I was when I just had 1 rider.' I started thinking about how I could make a bit more money while creating opportunities for all these Juniors to go once they're not Juniors anymore.
I came up with this idea of starting an Under 25 program but also starting a service team. The service team will manage the logistics and mechanical work for Bear and my new Cervelo team. This season, we have a van and trailer, and we'll be moving all the equipment and tents and stuff for the Bear team and also for Maghalie Rochette and then the Cervelo team. We have a group of mechanics who will be operating out of the same vehicle for all three groups.
Zach Schuster: This sounds a bit like a return to the big operations from the heyday of American cyclocross. I don't know, it sounds pretty neat.
Chris McGovern: I hope so! It's not going to work out for us to work for the Steve Tilford team again this year, but I think it will still be good. I hope I don't die from all the work and stress. Someone once told me that cyclocross is both a sickness and a disease, and apparently I have both.
Zach Schuster: That is always one of my questions. We look around the landscape of cycling and see all the money and whatever from the industry going to gravel, and they've decided the rest of bike racing doesn't exist, so why cyclocross? Why have you stayed involved? I bet you could make some good money in gravel.
Chris McGovern: I love 'cross first and foremost. I've been racing cyclocross my whole life. I started racing 'cross when I was 13 years old. I was on a road bike that hose-clamped cantilever bosses.
Zach Schuster: Legit.
Chris McGovern: I was the National Team coach for a while there. We had four or five trips to Europe each year. We were competitive across the board. I still believe we should be building off of that time, and not backing off that time. We have such good Junior talent, but it just disappears because there are no opportunities for them.
I am committed to trying to create opportunities for those riders and collaborate with whomever to make it happen. Whether it’s a grassroots team, an Elite program, a hodgepodge of people in Europe, we're just going to get it done.
Zach Schuster: What does your team look like in terms of riders this year?
Chris McGovern: Our team is Called Cervelo / Orange Living. Orange Living is an import company for modern and contemporary furniture, so we have a little non-endemic money coming in. We've got Jules Van Kempen, U23 last year. Kaya Musgrave was Junior National Champion last year and will be a first-year U23 this year. And then Sidney McGill will be on the team as well.
Zach Schuster: That's a good group of riders. Sidney was really one of the breakout riders last year. Jules has been coming into his own, and Kaya obviously stood out at the Junior level. You've got to be pretty excited about that group of kids.
Chris McGovern: Sidney's ambitions are kind of beyond the scope of this program the way it’s curently conceived. The opportunity to have her in the program from an environmental standpoint was a really great idea. For Jules and Kaya, it's about giving them space to grow into what they can be, instead of being like, "You have to be this great yesterday and this good tomorrow."
Zach Schuster: Your background has been in building bikes and running programs. What is your role going to be?
Chris McGovern: I kind of put this whole thing together and have been managing every aspect of it. The sponsorship stuff. Hiring staff. Jules has been helping me with logistics; booking AirBnBs, coordinating information in one spot. Kaya has been helping out with spreadsheets of info and travel agendas. People have been helping me with that kind of stuff.
I've got some good mechanics we've worked with in the past who are committed to the program. We'll also be adding mechanics as needed because our rider numbers will fluctuate based on the number of riders Bear has races.
So managing the team. Coaching Kaya and Jules. I'll be wrenching some. I would like to be out of the pit a little bit more to give some on-course cajoling, but we'll see if that happens.
Zach Schuster: Ah yes, the Stu Thorne and Sven approach of being all over the course coaching during races.
Chris McGovern: I worked with Rad Racing for like a million years when 'cross was still big in the west. We would have like 30 kids at 'cross races. I had an approach of walking the course backward. As soon as they said go, I would start walking the course backward because you could see the whole race coming at you. I would be coaching out on the course from the sidelines.
Zach Schuster: The coaching you'll be doing; Sidney is a smidge older and the other two are younger. But it's not necessarily Junior development. What's that like and what kind of stuff are you focusing on with that age group?
Chris McGovern: There is a huge, total pun intended, gap to bridge with the U23 category. As soon as these kids aren't Juniors, there is a lot of pressure for these kids to go to school, become doctors, engineers, you know, bike racing was cute. There aren't many opportunities. There is little support. There is Collegiate cycling for some athletes, but there's no safe place for athletes to get to the Elite level.
If you're great when you're super young, you'll probably have more opportunities, but if you're not at the highest level as a Junior, you're going to face a hard time getting support to get to the Elite level. And even if you do, there are like two spots a year maybe.
Right now, it's like we've gotten kids on bikes. We have a lot of kids in NICA. We have depth in the Junior ranks, whether it's road, mountain, or 'cross. We need to find a way to keep them in the sport and give them room to grow into it without feeling a ridiculous amount of pressure out of the gate.
Zach Schuster: Bill's said there's never been a better time to be a devo rider, but the second you turn 19, good luck.
Chris McGovern: I've tried this a couple of times before. With the Rad Racing program, we had a program called the Rad Grad program that Kona put a little bit into, but it didn't really go anywhere. I had Top Club, which was a Junior / U23 program. We did really great, but we couldn't find the sponsors to keep it going. But I'm still here trying.
Zach Schuster: In terms of equipment, I think the Bulletin crowd is more about the racing—I'm always amazed when I do bike profiles and no one really cares that much when at Cyclocross Magazine like two-thirds of our traffic was from tech stuff—but you're a bike builder and you're riding on Cervelo bikes. What's the motivation to not build bikes for all your riders?
Chris McGovern: There isn't enough money in my pockets or enough time in the day to actually pull that off. That's a big endeavor for a one-man band. But how we partnered with Cervelo is quite interesting.
I was at Fayetteville Worlds where I worked with USA Cycling. I think I had six athletes I coach racing there. I left on a pretty high high from Fayetteville. It was a good experience. Marianne Vos had just won the World Championships and she was in the zone immediately adjacent to us, so I got to see the new CX-5 'cross bike, and I was like, "I wonder if Cervelo is really making that thing," because Cervelo has never been involved in 'cross before.
I saw Brian Bernard, who is the head of marketing at Cervelo and a friend of mine from the Santa Cruz days. Jokingly, I said, "Hey, what are your plans for marketing that 'cross bike. I doubt you guys have any good stories to tell." I was joking because they had literally just won the World Championships. And he said, "Actually, we haven't even thought about it. We don't have anything planned. Do you have any ideas?"
My off-the-cuff remark was, "Let's start a team." And Brian just said, "Let's do it. What do you need?" I was like, "Holy shit." I've had this conversation a million times and nothing comes of it. Brian was like, "Tell me what you think you need," so I sent him some wish lists. He said, "We can totally do this, but here's the two catches. We can't do anything in 2022/23 because we don't have bikes. And the smallest bike we have is a 52cm."
Zach Schuster: That's cool. Everyone remembers Louisville, and I think there was a lot of excitement coming out of that. Going into Fayetteville, there was a lot of negative talk around the event, and all of us in the Media Pit were blown away by what an amazing event it was. You would have liked to see more energy come out of it, but it's awesome to hear you were able to make a connection and build something that's pretty cool for three athletes we all want to see stay in the sport.
It was a great event and the vibes were so good.
Chris McGovern: I also feel like USA Cycling did a great job at that event. Great staff and full teams. I didn't feel like there was any of the normal bullshit, to be perfectly honest. It was like, "Yeah, we're going to work 18 hours a day while we're here and we're going to do it with a smile on our face. If you want your saddle put on backward, I am going to put your saddle on backward for you." We focused on what the riders needed to do.
Now, it's like no one wants to help anyone. "Oh, I only make so much a day, so I'm going to stand here in my puffy jacket and do nothing. Go get your own bike."
It was nice and really refreshing. I told anyone who would listen to me that was a good experience.
Zach Schuster: What's your team's plan for the season? I assume the USCX will be a part of it. What are the goals you're looking at for the season?
Chris McGovern: USCX is a big part of it. We're still trying to figure out the Waterloo World Cup thing. The petition and selection criteria from USA Cycling aren't out, so I'm not sure if we're going to Waterloo but we'd like to go. We want to put an emphasis on the Pan-American Championships and of course Nationals.
Tentatively we're going to do a World Cup block in November in France and Ireland. And then we're looking at plans for building toward Worlds. Sidney will be going to Europe right after the Pan-American Championships. I'm trying to convince her to race Canadian Nationals because we're currently courting a Canadian sponsor for next year. I'm hoping she'll stick around for a little bit longer after Nationals.
Zach Schuster: We're obviously biased toward the domestic season, but for these kids getting that experience in Europe is also very important. How do you see striking that balance for a program like yours? Is there some value to be drawn from racing in America and how does that relate to Europe?
Chris McGovern: It's interesting because I feel like it's almost a different sport. If you break it down, it's like European basketball versus American basketball. They're different things. At one point, there was a conception that American basketball players are, by far, better than all the other players in the world. But if you watch European basketball, it's very good. You see the fundamentals are there. But then you watch the NBA, and it's not like what you learned in eighth grade. It's a different sport.
That's kind of how I see cyclocross. It's a different sport in America. But I think in America, there are different challenges. The travel distances are greater in the U.S. I think you can kind of hone your skills on how to create the environment you need to do well in Europe. I don't think the model of taking kids to Europe and trying to make them Belgian cyclocross racers works. It's never worked and it's not going to work. I think that's something we need to consider when we go over there.
What do our unique individuals, collectively as a team need? What space? What environment? What things do they need that are maybe different from a Belgian kid might need? Let's try to create that for them and support them through that.
I don't necessarily think we need to go from Nationals straight to Europe dead tired after trying to peak for Nationals. To then go to Europe and try to race the Kerstperiode. That doesn't make any sense to me.
Zach Schuster: Interesting. Because that's been the model forever, right?
Chris McGovern: To me, it's like peak for Nationals. Recover from Nationals. Maybe go somewhere warm. Go to Europe, get over the time change, and go to Spain for a training camp. Race the last few Kerstperiode races, do the Spain World Cup, the Dutch World Cup, and then race Worlds. Maybe that's a better model.
Zach Schuster: I think we saw a good emphasis on the November block last year. The CXHairs Devo team went over, USA Cycling sent some riders over, and we go results! Strohmeyer had a great result. AJ August won the Koppenbergcross. To your point, that's kind of the build to Nationals, and that might make more sense than sending riders over after Nationals.
Chris McGovern: On the toughest courses, during Christmas. It's a whole thing. In 2016/17, I was the interim USA Cycling Coach, and we did an October trip, we did a November trip, we did a December trip, and we did a World Championships trip. I want to say 40-plus unique individuals were involved in those trips.
I took Lane Maher to a Wednesday Poldercross race at which he almost beat Tom Pidcock. He was like seventh at Valkenburg the following weekend. Ben Gomez Villafane won a mid-week in Holland. He won weekend races in Holland. And if it wasn't too muddy, he was top ten. Caleb Swartz, Alex Morton, these kids were doing great in October, in November, in December, and at Worlds.
Zach Schuster: Do you feel there's a skills gap we need to fill? Like how do you fill that portion for racing on the crazy hard courses in Europe?
Chris McGovern: You look at kids like Miles Mattern, that kid has better skills than a lot of the European riders his age. Dan English. All those kids. They're just rippers on their bikes because they play on their bikes. They've been playing on their 'cross bikes since they were nine years old, so it's natural to them.
I think the difference is the application of it. If you watch a Junior World Cup race, you see the speed through two 40cm barriers. The time between the entrance and the exit to the barriers, it is crazy fast. Our Juniors are clean, proficient, and fast, but they're not Euro-fast. You take something technical like hopping doubles, we need to figure out a way to increase our speed through that. As far as crazy sections of the race course, I feel like our kids are good at that.
Maybe if you think of the race overall, we look at it as one effort. I started hard, I went hard, I skilled hard, and now I'm spent at the finish. We need to start finding the places where we're resting every lap and the places where we're hitting out every lap. You see it every weekend; the first lap is mayhem, but then someone who didn't make the lead group in the first lap is in the front group later on. They're finding their rest places, their attack places. It's a different rhythm.
Zach Schuster: I think that's an underrated thing about racing in the U.S. Back when Nationals were in January, I never put much stock in the European races before Nats where it was like, "Oh, this person finished 12th and this other person finished 18th, so they're the favorite." It's a completely different effort, you're just going out and burying yourself. What I like about American racing is we get to see all the Americans and Canadians race their bikes. It feels like a different skill set.
Chris McGovern: I don't think there's a huge differential in fitness or riding skills, I think it's just the application of those skills is different.
Zach Schuster: That's a very good point. I guess the question is how do you create the opportunities to bridge that gap when they're healthy. I think your point about taking athletes to Europe when they're on good fitness is a good one. If you're not on good fitness, you're not going to learn anything anyway.
Chris McGovern: If you look at the Euro calendar, the Kerstperiode is there to get fit for the National Championships and get selected for Worlds. It's the final bit of their training block before their Nationals. We're coming off of our Nationals, which is arguably a different sport, and we're trying to take on the Kerstperiode then.
Zach Schuster: You've been involved in 'cross forever. Bill and I were talking about this season, and I think there are some very good riders in the Elite Men's field. The Elite Women is very top-heavy. But it seems like an exciting opportunity for young kids to step in. I'm curious to hear your take on the state of American cyclocross and how you're feeling about it right now.
Chris McGovern: I'm excited about it. I'm also excited about it. Probably because I am so close to it. I work with Juniors. I work with U23s. I work with Elites. I'm always excited because people are punching in every day and chasing their dreams, and that's fun to be a part of.
There is a new Junior program out here in the Pacific Northwest called Booger Cycling. They had 40 kids at a cyclocross practice last week. That's huge. That's exciting to me. We need to find a way to convert. We need to create systems for them to be able to go from the Juniors to the U23s to the Elites. I guess that's what keeps me coming back. Someone did it for me.
Zach Schuster: It seems like there are some good opportunities for some kids to step up and be the next generation.
Chris McGovern: Yeah it starts with building something without limitations. If they start believing that anything is possible. Look at what the Holmgrens have done. I would love to just spend a week at their house. I was standing at Worlds last year among the shitshow that was USA Cycling and watching Canada. On the day before the team relay event, it was like, "Dang, they're having so much fun." Everyone was having a good time. Those Junior kids were inspiring the Elite athletes.
Zach Schuster: Canada has always seemed like they have done it right. Now they have a ton of talent and they're seeing the fruits across cyclocross and mountain biking. They always seem like they're having fun.
I think there is an opportunity to make things better. I see these kids and they're all friends. I know everyone was just devastated when Magnus was killed, and that speaks to the relationships those kids have built. They seem to have really good vibes with one another, and it's on us to make opportunities that foster good vibes.
Chris McGovern: There are a good group of folks involved with devo stuff right now. Chris Merriam (of CXHairs Devo), Tyler Samson (of Comp Edge), Pete Webber (Boulder Junior Cycling), Grant Hollicky (WTB / Pivot), Geoff Proctor (EuroCross Academy), Roger Aspholm (FinKraft Junior Cycling Team) we're dedicated to getting kids across the pond. Helping each other out too. Tyler's setup in the U.S. is good, but his setup in Europe is just as good. He's willing to collaborate with everyone on that stuff.
We just have to get it done. Collectively, we have emails back and forth all the time. We had a Zoom call with eight or nine of us last week. We're going to attempt to get it done.
Zach Schuster: Ok, you have me excited for the season.
Chris McGovern: I hope everything comes together and everything works out and we have a good season domestically and internationally.
Zach Schuster: You have to get back to work. I appreciate your time.
Chris McGovern: Thanks!
This reminds me that making financial donations to the non-profits that are supporting growth and access to cycling is so important. If a lot of us want this type of thing, we can help make it happen. Thanks for the interview.
Great interview at the start of new CX season. What Chris McGovern is proposing is sorely needed and he offers such a well thought out and clear perspective of our National CX scene. The gravel scene has taken the sponsors cash, and many of the nonprofessional riders who pay the bills with their entry fees. But the core Crossers are still around as I was fortunate enough to experience at DCCX and Falkorsburg this past weekend. Without industry financial backing It seems to me some crowd sourcing is in order for these programs operating on a shoestring budget, and that this effort should come from us participating old timers. Chris and the others of his ilk are donating enormous amounts of time for next to no money, and have their hands full. I encourage all to donate some cash to the local program of your choice. As an aside, I still have a Top Club CX tshirt which I cherish for its great design… thanks for your efforts Chris, and of course Zach and Bill as well for this fine newsletter.