I caught up with Astana’s Chris Horner at the Merco Cycling Classic races held on the first weekend of March, in Merced, California.
The 36 year old Horner was just sitting on the sidewalk, finishing up his lunch and cheering on the women, including his girlfriend, racing in the criterium when I sat down and we held an impromptu interview.
Horner finished second in the Merco Cycling Classic Men’s criterium after his pulled his two breakaway companions for a few laps so that the trio could lap the field and set up a chaotic sprint. Getting back to crit riding was not a problem for Horner. “I’ve been a crit rider for my whole life more than anything. If you grew up in the States, that’s what you are, if you don’t ride crits then you don’t make a living.”
Lyne Lamoureux (LL): How are you feeling? (note: Chris was sick in Tour of California like a lot of riders)
Chris Horner (CH): Not as sick as I was anyways. Still a little sick, not too bad, doing okay. It’s the same, it’s never got really deep in the lungs, it’s there, coughing up some phlegm but it hasn’t affected the breathing a lot, it just causes a lot of coughing.
LL: So why are you in Merced?
CH: I’ve got a month in between California and Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in Spain so it was better to do another here in California because I knew it was going to be sunny here after the Tour of California so I came here, my girlfriend is racing here then I can race two days too and keep the legs a little bit fresher going into Spain.
LL: How was the form going into Tour of California?
CH: It was good, everything considered. I had a lot of problems, I had a knee issue and it was holding my training up a lot but I was down in San Diego since the first of January before (Tour of) California and the weather was really good up until (Tour of) California anyways. Luckily the last week before Tour of California, we had warm weather in San Diego so the knee pains stop and I was doing a lot of acupuncture and stuff and that seemed to help it. Acupuncture seemed to be doing the trick more than anything.
LL: Is this your first time with knee pains?
CH: No, it happens all the time. At the beginning of the season, it’s so normal. But it was a little more than normal or it lasted longer anyways.
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| Chris Horner - Stage 5, ITT, Tour of California, Photo by Ken Conley |
LL: How do you feel about ASO not allowing Astana in the races?
CH: Its’ the wrong way to do it, it’s politics. So they’re letting politics get involved in sports and certainly there is no drug issue related to this team. This is a completely new team, it’s new management, it’s new riders, this is a sponsor that sponsored a team last year and stopped that sponsorship of that team and started a new one. Because we carry the same name they use that as an excuse but it’s politics.
LL: So what does this mean for you personally? It’s impacting your calendar tremendously.
CH: Absolutely affecting a lot of races. I had Paris-Nice, we shouldn’t even be here doing this interview, I should be home for a couple of days and then be flying to Paris-Nice right now and instead I love Paris-Nice, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne and Tour de France. That’s a big part of my program.
I am affected by this, one of the most. Some of the classics guys lost Paris-Roubaix and that’s a big impact, but that’s one day of racing. I lost 20, 30 plus days of racing or so, yeah that’s a big hole. But there are still a lot of good races, Tour of Suisse, Pays-Basque which is one of the best stage races in Spain and then Romandie and of course I got to do Tour of California too so….
LL: How do you stay motivated with all this going on?
CH: It’s not hard, staying motivated. I’m still doing Tour of Suisse, I’m still doing a bunch of good races. Without a doubt, I’d like to do the Tour again but it is what it is. It’s not too bad of a lifestyle to tell you the truth (chuckles), doing just California, Tour of Suisse, Pays-Basque and stuff like that, it’s a good program to stay motivated for so. But it does change… it does change when I’m flying out and when I’m flying back so it does change a bunch of things that way. So mentally you have to readjust.
LL: So, you’re not a young guy anymore….
CH: Yeah, I’m one of the old dudes (laughs)
LL: So how many more years do you want to keep on doing this?
CH: Two or three in Europe maybe. Maybe some back here in the States. I enjoy racing in the States. It would be nice to come back and race a couple of years back in the States so… I could be pretty far from retiring that’s for certain, but definitely I’m not far from being old (laughs) but I’m still kind of far from retiring but we’ll see.
LL: So age is relative.
CH: Yeah, it’s all relative. It would be nice to get two years in Europe, this year and next year. After that I’m not certain, but two would be good. I’d like to be home too and race in the States, I can keep on racing my bike and see my family more too.
LL: Tell me how hard it was for you to adjust when going to Europe
CH: It was a huge adjustment. Really I try not to adjust, I try to live the same lifest
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