Hey there Cyclismasses! Bill, here, from In The Crosshairs, to introduce a little video series we produce. It’s called #SVENNESS and in it we break down the week’s Euro-pro cyclocross races to give you some play-by-play of key moments. We also know that many #SVENNESS viewers are racers, too, so we sprinkle in some tips and techniques to help you in your own cyclocross battles. In a nutshell, #SVENNESS is a mix of ESPN’s Primetime (that was a show about a ball sport, cycling friends) and VH1’s Pop Up Video.

Sounds great, Bill, but why is it called SVENNESS? Good question. It’s named after arguably the best cyclocross racer of our time, Sven Nys. To my ears, when the broadcasters on Sporza pronounce his name it sounds like Svenness. He has one of those names that you must always say the first and last together. At least it sounds better that way. So #SVENNESS became this way of describing the sublime in cyclocross. Clinical tactics, a beautiful pass, when done masterfully, it was #SVENNESS.

Oh, here’s a fun takeaway for you: the series could easily have been called “A moment of Sven” or even “Everything Sven,” but #SVENNESS, for whatever reason, stuck. I think we made the right call.

Thanks for watching.

#SVENNESS 2.14 from In The Crosshairs on Vimeo.

In episode 2.14, SVENNESS visits Loenhout, Belgium for Azencross, the fifth round of the Bpost Bank Trofee series. The race took place on friday, December 27, in rainy conditions. The course is covered in a slick mud that gets deeper as the rain and race progresses. Zdeněk Štybar is back and has plenty of opportunities to get rad on this course. Niels Albert does his best to not get caught out at the start like he did at Zolder. Thijs van Amerongen continues to show his face at the front of the race, and Sven is being Sven.

This race was tactical from the start with lots of looking around and regrouping. But in the end, the final selection included the usual suspects.

This episode is presented by Skills Drills and Bellyaches: A Cyclocross Primer, which is available for sale at www.cyclocrossbook.com. Your racing season may have ended, but it’s never too early to start preparing for next year. Skills Drills and Bellyaches will help you do just that.

The episode is also presented by CrossVegas. Find out more about the United States’ biggest cyclocross race at www.crossvegas.com.

Finally, there is still time left to pre-order the new SVENNESS t-shirt. Check it out at www.svenness.com.

Footage for SVENNESS 2.14 is via Sporza: http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/veldrijden

Music:

No, I Can’t~Pebaluna: http://pebaluna.bandcamp.com/track/no-i-cant

Subtle Romance (Don’t Fall In Love)~The Wallies: http://thewalliesusa.bandcamp.com/track/subtle-romance-dont-fall-in-love

Black is Good~Young Rival: http://youngrival.bandcamp.com/track/black-is-good

Miss American Bookworm~PAWS: http://wehavepaws.bandcamp.com/track/miss-american-bookworm

We Were Kids~Turtle Giant: http://we.turtlegiant.com/track/we-were-kids

Red Light Green Light~Dune Rats: http://dunerats.bandcamp.com/track/red-light-green-light

Thanks for watching.

SVENNESS and the #SVENNESS hashtag are © 2014 CXHairs LLC