Ed Campbell - Mastering Cross

	Before he headed out West, CXO sat down to talk with Ed Campbell. At this point he had won 2 Masters Nationals CX races, at the time you're reading this, he is celebrating his 3rd win.
Photo: Jon Safka cycling.photos.us.com

CXO:Welcome Ed, Tell us how you got your start racing cross?

Ed Campbell(EC):: Nathan Chown was right into cross for a couple of years before I started and he was putting these rides on in the park.
It was a way to keep fit during the fall. I came from mountain biking years ago - now my kids all left, all grown up and gone, so I decided to get back into racing again. I started doing cross - I do road too, it's a good balance between that and mountain biking.
So yeah - mostly it's been because of Nathan - We train Tuesday and Thursday nights and it's gotten better over the last 4 years. We get up to twenty people out from that area and they're fast - most of them are racing and doing well.

CXO: So, you're a National Champ?

EC: Two times now I've won Nationals - and hopefully again this week. Going at it pretty hard here to get in shape for Kamloops coming up. I think this will be the last time I'll travel - unless Nationals is on the East Coast.

In BC I don't know what kind of turn out they'll get. It's not that it's that hard to get to, but it's the time off from work.

When I went to Nanaimo last year it was much better - it was more direct. Even Nathan came out last year since his mother was out - but he's not going this year. If it was in Nanaimo, he'd probably go again. The guy I've been racing, Ted Ingram, I think he is going. He's pretty strong, but he doesn't race the same category as me, but it'll be good to know someone.

CXO: How are you liking the ability based categories?
EC: Good - It was really hard at first - you have to step it up a notch and it's not just guys from A, it's the guys coming down from senior one. They didn't have it easy either. That first race I didn't know what was going to happen, but after that I settled down a little bit and the fitness came, so it's been good.

CXO: Last year you went to Masters' Worlds in Mol - tell us about that.
EC: It was a really great experience. Getting there was okay, but if I do it again, I'll go a week earlier and try to get a few races first. Some of the guys that did it the year before went and did some races before and it was a big improvement. They race on sand - Mol is just a big sand-pit and it's just like 300 yards of sand and that's where you run and the rest is sand, but you can ride it.

I think you just have to race these guys - they race alot different than they race here. They get really pissed if you do anything they're not used to.

CXO: How easy is it to find a Masters race over there?
EC: A little harder - you have to look to find them. They race between Christmas and New Years twice a day, but not every race has a Masters category, so you have to do some research. But it's every year at Mol - so I know what to expect.

CXO: How was the competition?
EC: Good - I didn't get a very good callup, I was close to the back. It was random, but I think I'd get a better shot at it this time - second row maybe.

Rob Orange was there and he got called up to the front row. It was good to see him there too, always good to see someone from home. All in all it was a good experience. There was a huge wind storm the day before. You might have seen pictures in the paper of the ship that got washed up on shore. The course was trashed, but in one day they got the whole thing cleaned up. It was really good - Belgium is a really nice place for cycling.

I don't know if I'm going back - it's a long ways and a lot of money. There is no funding - as you know there is no funding for anyone - especially for Masters. It was a really good experience and I'd recommend it to everybody if you're into cross.

CXO: What about racing road or mountain bike?

EC: I've been racing on the road for the last 5 years. I rode Mountain bike in the early nineties, then took some time off - I started mountain biking when I came back 5 years ago, but that was just for the first year then I went straight to road cycling.

That turned out really well - the first year was really hard, but it got better with more experience. I'm racing for D'Ornellas.

CXO: Seems to be a few from St. Catherines on D'Ornellas

EC: St. Catherines is a great club, but they're focused on the younger guys as they should be. They don't have a very strong Masters team - lots of Masters racers, but they don't want to race together. With ability based racing this year, we talked to Garnett and Malcolm from D'Ornellas and they ended up taking four of us. We're going to do it again next year and we'll see after that, it seems to be turning out well.

CXO: What's your season been like in preparation like for cross?
EC: Because I was racing for D'Ornellas I wanted to commit to that, but my fitness was great at the beginning of the year as a carry over from cross, then I had to slow down a bit. At the end it started picking up again and that's where I am now.

It's pretty busy right now with cross. I did alot of racing on the road - I'm not burnt out or tired, but I just want to get to Nationals and we'll see from there. I really want to do well at Provincials this year because the last two years I let my fitness go after Nationals and I was beat both times at Provincials.
Next year maybe down into the states. This year no, with work and so much riding trying to keep fit it's just not working out that way.

CXO: Getting to most of the Ontario races this year?

EC: Yeah, I'm going to try and do at least one a weekend. I'll be away for Nationals, but other than that... Like I say - next year I'll try in the States and have some fun. A lot of guys are going - I hear the Masters racing is really good.

CXO: What sort of courses do you like?

EC: More power courses... My bike handling - well, I don't like my mountain bike anymore, so the technical skills are kind of lacking. Wide open, grassy stuff is good. We'll see when we start getting more hills, that can call me out. But I like it alot more open.

Power is where my strong point is I think - and then I just stay with them the rest of the time. And there are some strong guys out there that like that kind of course. Crouch and Ted today. Paul got away on the first race because he was bunny-hopping the barriers -- Not a strong point of mine.

CXO: It's a pretty competetive group at the top of M1.

EC: Yeah, I'm pretty happy about it too. You could have a couple of guys that win every weekend, but now there's 5-6 guys who have a chance of winning every weekend.

CXO: So what about your jersey.

EC: We did an interview last week with one of the local papers which is why the jersey thing came up. One of the local papers came out and they knew I was National champ, and they were taking pictures so I put the jersey on for the race. I wasn't going to wear it other than the Provincials and the UCI races.
Nathan knew I was going to do it. We thought they were going to hang around for pictures - and it turned
out that they didn't.

It's cross, it's pretty laid back, you'd think, but abide by the rules, who knows. If it ends up I can only wear it at Provincials, that's fine, but it would've been nice to wear it at the
home town race.

CXO: Thanks for taking the time out to talk with us and good luck with Nationals. Bring home a 3rd jersey!