The General

If you know me, you know I absolutely love cyclocross. Cyclocross is a fringe sport with it's roots in Belgium. Basically take a road bike, put knobby tires on it, and rip it around a multi-surface park for an hour at maximum capacity. Sven Nys is the greatest cyclocross racer that this world has ever seen. This weekend he put on a show in Zolder, absolutely crushing his main rival, World Champion Neils Albert in the laatste ronde (last lap). This is why they call him The General In cyclocross, you ride the same short (2.5-3.5km) course over and over so you have multiple opportunities to master every section. At Zolder, it was raining, so the course conditions were constantly changing (deteriorating). The nastier the conditions, the trickier the sections, the better The General does. Here's a lap by lap breakdown of how he systematically experimented with one particularly dicey section. By the last, most important lap, he's got it dialed in and it's where he makes his break. Oh, and in case you were wondering, this is what happens when you throw a beer cup at The General the day after. You better run, punk.