Kristian

Originally published in August 2002 at the British Cycling Web site

INTERVIEW: KRISTIAN HOUSE (GREAT BRITAIN)
by Larry Hickmott

Last week, a Great Britain rider called Kristian House was the winner of the Surrey League five day sponsored by Evans Cycles.

Originally published in August 2002 at the British Cycling Web site

INTERVIEW: KRISTIAN HOUSE (GREAT BRITAIN)
by Larry Hickmott

Last week, a Great Britain rider called Kristian House was the winner of the Surrey League five day sponsored by Evans Cycles. The Surrey Five Day is a series of road races (called a stage race or Tour) over five days in the counties of Surrey and Sussex and the rider with the quickest time over the five days being the winner. Stage races like this are also a great "training" events for the riders in the Great Britain endurance team and with the World Championships coming up in October, this was just one of a number of stage races the team will be doing to help build and maintain their endurance levels.

Most stage races the team do are in Europe simply because that is where the stage races are. In the UK, most races are either one or two days long which I expect do not give the training effect the Endurance coach Simon Jones is looking for. Because of this, the GB team do come in for some criticism from some quarters because many people would like to see them race here more often. So what better event than the Surrey League Five Day, the countries longest stage race for them to put in an appearance.

And what a lineup of GB riders there was in Surrey. In the two GB teams were Commonwealth Games medal winners such as Chris Newton, Paul Manning, Bryan Steel, Tony Gibb and Bradley Wiggins (FDJ.com) who was a late replacement for Kieran Page. Phil West, Tim Buckle, Ben Clarke, Owyn Wallace, Steve Cummings and the silver medallist from the national road race championship, Tom Southam was also there. It was a formidable line-up and up against them were a number of regulars from the Premier Calendar Series along with many other hopefuls getting a chance to pit themselves against the GB riders.

SURREY FIVE DAY
The race story was a good one providing you rode for Great Britain but then being full time riders, arguably the best in the country, you would expect them to do well. Chris Newton, a dual medallist in the Commonwealth Games with silver (Team Pursuit) and Bronze (Points) started off by winning stage 1, and then stage 2 was won by one of GB teams younger riders, Kristian House who also took the yellow jersey denoting the leader of the race on time.

Stage 3 and Chris Newton was yet again the victor beating team mate Kristian House and the rest of the field. Stage 3b, and yet another Great Britain victory when double silver medallist from the Games (Team Pursuit, Pursuit), Bradley Wiggins showed his undoubted class to cross the line first.

The GB team continued their winning ways on stage 4 when another of the young talented riders in the GB team, Steve Cummings won alone and on stage 5, the final stage, a rider who impressed many with his great ride in the National Road Race (silver medallist), Tom Southam, was the winner of the hilly stage where Kristian sealed a great victory for himself and the team. In the end, the GB team had won every stage, overall, and the classifications for the Points and the Mountains (latter two for Tom Southam). It had been a very good week for the GB camp but there were questions being asked?

WHO IS KRISTIAN HOUSE?
Like, who was Kristian House for example? All I could tell anyone was that he was a former winner of an Under 23 event here in the UK when he made a rare trip to these shores from Belgium and that he was part of the Endurance squad for GB. Of course, I had to find out more and so on Monday, still unable to drive to races because of an accident I'd had a week before, I made the most of my time and got on the phone to Kristian to find out more.

Talk to Kristian and you could be forgiven for thinking, is he really from Great Britain? This is because it isn't a GB accent you'll hear -- his American accent is still very evident despite a number of seasons abroad. His mum, Deborah, lives in Austin, Texas (USA) and at the start of the Havant International Grand Prix where he rode so well, there were two very proud grand parents at the start telling me how well they thought he was doing.

He isn't well known here because until now, he hasn't really raced here that much. So for all those curious to know more about him, lets start at the very beginning. He was born in Bournemouth in the UK but he wasn't there very long. In fact, a few hours is how Kristian described it (he has such a great memory for someone so young!) before he moved to where his grand parents were in Kent. He lived in that part of the country until he was "8ish" after which he went with his mum and her husband to America, going first to New Jersey and then the capital of Texas, Austin. This is apparently a large city where the computer industry is helping it to grow and become even bigger than it already is. Good for Austin, but perhaps not too good for those looking for a quiet place to train on their bicycles.

Kristian was in the USA until he was 18 but after finishing school, he packed his bags and moved to Belgium, the home of cycle racing. Well, home to part of the cycling world perhaps because the winner of four Tour de France's, a world championship and some classics as well, Lance Armstrong --- actually lives in Austin, the place Kristian was leaving behind.

Austin certainly sounds like a good place to be for a bike rider with Kristian casually talking about the times that he had been out training with Lance quickly clarifying that he wasn't "like a drinking buddy or anything". For most, one training ride would be enough to – he is after all a legend in the sport already having overcome cancer to win the worlds greatest bike race, not once, but four times!

Talking about his days training in Austin, Kristian casually and very innocently drops in the fact that he’d been out to the house that Lance was having built a few years ago and also having trained with other stars from the pro peloton such as Kevin Livingston and Chann Mcrae.

Having such illustrious training partners would obviously help in the motivation department but then Kristian doesn’t need any motivation. "Motivation is not normally my problem.” He explains.

“My problem would be more like over motivation where I want to go out a do too much but its great having people like that to ride with because it is a good feeling to ride with guys like that because if they're going to let you into their group to train with them then they obviously think something of you because not everybody gets invited to ride with them."

As Kristian explained, his riding days in Austin were as a junior where he rode for a number of teams with one, Violet Crown Cycling Team coming in for special praise for the help they gave him. He says "they were unbelievable as a junior team. They helped me out so much -- my first coach came from there and they helped me go all round the country and do all the national series races and all the regional camps."

Their backing certainly helped him and he soon found he was being invited to go to the Olympic training centre, and getting selected to represent the Southern region of the US doing a junior World Cup race as well as training camps with the national team. That is before they realised he wasn't American!

Kristian says of this “They only realised that when I was in Belgium. The national coach emailed me to ask if I wanted to do some racing with him and I said yes, but I'm English. I never heard from him again."

Moving On
After growing up in the States and doing all his junior racing there, as he entered the senior ranks, it was time to move on and go to Belgium. This major move started when he came to do the Tour of Wales as a junior which was the only time he had ever raced in the UK until then.

"I came over for a holiday to see some family and it was a good opportunity to race as well. I met John Barkley who is known for taking riders over to Belgium and he told me if ever I wanted to go, to give him a ring. So right before I flew over here, I gave him a ring. I only planned on coming over for two or three weeks and going to Belgium on the weekends, staying in Youth hotels and so on."

"But the first weekend I was over there, I got introduced to a team there and Jean-Marie the director of that team offered me a spot on the team and a place to live at his house. Kristian rode there for a couple of seasons but as he explained, “it took a while to get going. In fact, it took me over a year to really start to get the hang of the racing but once I got the hang of it, I started to do really well. I think I ended up winning 12 races over there.”

“In the big kermesses and classics, it was completely different to anything I had ever done before. "I didn't win any, but I was getting up there and got some top 10s which was quite good." All this success saw him offered a place on a team run by Michael Pollentier, a pro rider from the days of Freddy Maertens and so on. A team he stayed with until this season where he has been based in the UK -- that's when he's in the UK as the GB team spends much of its time racing abroad.

The switch from racing in Belgium to racing stage races around the world as well as events here in the UK has certainly been different to what he got used to in Belgium. “this year has been a bit weird” he says “since I'm racing here a lot more. I have got to see how different it is from Belgium where you go to a race and there are 20 people that can win it on their own. Where as here, there is a smaller number of people who can win the big races."

As for the riders here, when asked about those who have impressed him, he says “Julian Winn is one of the best guys in the country. I've raced with him a couple of times and he's real strong. Lovatt and Tanner are as well."

Team mate Chris Newton also comes in for some special praise with Kristian saying "he's a great rider. Someone I can definitely learn from. He's very professional about the way he does it. He doesn't jump around and waste energy like a lot of riders do."

His season though was almost wasted when he was run over by a truck in Austin three days before last Christmas. Asked about it he says “I got run over by a truck basically. Just before this, I’d been training with former US Postal and Telekom rider Kevin Livingston and current US Postal rider Chann Mcrae. The accident occurred a few days before Christmas and I broke some bones in my leg and ankle and half the side of my foot was gone but it could have been a lot worse and I'm just happy it be back where I am now."

Like any rider determined not to be beaten by anyone or anything including a wayward truck driver, Kristian was soon back on his bike. When asked when, Kristian politely asks me if I mind waiting while he brings up the info on his laptop. “January 7” he says. “I started by doing one legged sessions on the Computrainer for the aerobic work”.

It wasn’t until March though before the training managed to get back into serious mode on the road – he had lots well over a month and a half. After such a bad accident, it can take time to get the form back. Speaking about that after the Havant GP recently, he explained …

"Its getting better. Its not quite where I would like it to be but its going to come with more racing.”

"ITS GOOD TO WIN AGAIN"
The Surrey League Five Day was his first race after the Havant and although his form may not have improved much, winning a event like this showed that his form was still pretty special. It may not be a UCI ranked event like many of the races Kristian would do, but as he says "its a race like anything else and its good to win it and to get back into that feeling. It’s been a while since I have won a race so its good to have that winning feeling back. Whatever the race, you make it what it is. The course was definitely hard and the competition made it hard. I'm certainly happy to have won it."

With Great Britain finishing with the top four places on the overall, I asked if there was any competition within the team to take that yellow jersey home. Kristian explains that "on the last day we were told it was every man for himself due to the hilly nature of the course so we just raced it. I had a couple of minutes lead but if I'd missed the break then it would have been it Chris (Newton) or Tom (Southam) who could have won it."

Kristian though did win it but at no point was he ever over confident and when asked at what point he felt like he had the race won, he said “Not until I had crossed the line really. There were a few times when there was a break away of 15 or 20 guys up the road five with five or six minutes and I'd feel this could be it. Even on the last day, there was a group away and Chris and I had to cross the gap to it so until you've crossed the line, you haven't won it."

And what of the feeling towards the team. At least one person has gone public about how he felt when GB turned up with two teams, and yet others have spoken a many times about GB not being at races. So how did the riders feel?

“Some people are going to criticise us for putting two teams in but then again if we hadn't put a team in it at all, they would have criticised us. Some people are like that but then there are others like one in the changing room. A guy came up to me and said something like “I think its really good you guys are here because it gives us something to chase.” They can see what we do. I said we weren't doing much more work than if we'd been doing a race in France."

Overall though Kristian said he was “definitely pleased with the win and I'm pretty happy with my form.”

TRACK WORK
Next up for him though is the National Track Titles starting today (Tuesday). Zooming around the Manchester Velodrome is a bit different to the Surrey Five Day. He says of the track titles, “I'm pretty nervous about this week at the nationals (Track Titles). I'm doing the pursuit, the points and the scratch. I think I'll be doing all three but I'm not 100 per cent sure. Definitely the pursuit. I've just never raced on the track before to tell you the truth and its going to be a bit nerve wracking."

Staying with Paul Manning who is recovering from illness, Kristian has been doing some track work but as he says, “its difficult to fit it in with the racing because you need to be fresh to do it. I've just finished my recovery block (after the Surrey Five Day) and now I have got the Nationals so there hasn’t been that much time to do some training."

That will come later because as he says, “the more time you spend on the track, the better you're going to get technique wise and that's where I'm lacking really. I have the power and I need to transfer that to the track."

After the track titles, there’ll be a little time for some recovery work which he describes as “basically its just a few hours easy.” His program does allow for days off but if he feels like riding, he goes for an easy ride which you get the feeling is what he’ll do given the option.

And then after the National Track Titles looms a major stage race in Germany. “I'd like to really do well in that because as far as I know that’s going to be my last race of the year. I might try and go to Belgium and do some kermesses and finish out the year that way but whether I'll be able to do that I don't know."

Despite being 22, he is to old for the Under 23 worlds as his birthday falls in October, the month of the worlds so the goals for this year are running out fast. As for whether he is making a switch to the track, he says "Not a switch -- I'd like to do both to tell you the truth. I really like the pursuit and team pursuit. I like the idea of them. I haven't got involved in the team pursuit yet but sometime I'd like to try. And of course I'll try the Scratch and Points at the nationals."

A WINTER IN ENGLAND
Come the winter, and he’s not sure about returning to Austin although a winter in England may change his mind! “I've been going back very winter because my mother lives there, all my friends from school, and all that kind of stuff but this will be my first year that I don't go back. I don't really feel comfortable going back there after being hit because the traffic has just got so bad.”

Talking about the time after his accident, he says “When I first got on the road again I couldn't tell my mum I was going out on the road because she would have flipped out. I had to go out behind her back and find these small little cycle paths and ride like that."

It’s obviously had an effect on him as these things do. I remember going back to the Gold Coast in Australia and finding that it had changed out of all proportion since I had been there 10 years earlier and it was not a good place to ride a bike. I didn’t fall off but came close thanks to the offensive nature of a small number of motorists. Perhaps I had been spoiled with the lanes in England.

Kristain and I got to talking about the lanes here and in Belgium. When I said that America is probably more like Australia in that it doesn't have the network of lanes that you get in Great Britain and Belgium, Kristian agreed saying they (the lanes) were perfect for cycling. As for what training was like around Stockport where he is now staying, he says, "to tell you the truth, we don't do a lot of training. You're recovering a lot from whatever race you have been to so its not very often that you go out and do a five or six hour ride.”

“Once you're out into the lanes, its really nice although riding down the A6 isn't exactly a lot of fun..."

But life away from Austin isn’t all about riding the bike. Part of his time is spent working on a website as well and when I rang, he was doing more work on it as the planes came in overhead on their way to Manchester. So despite a very poor start to the year, Kristian has managed to salvage some good results from 2002 and 2003 will hopefully, see him take another leap forward to success on the road and the track, in the UK and in Europe. Who knows, he may even end up riding for another team that race Trek bikes… And why not, his connection to Austin Texas demands it. Just don’t forget -- he is British!

END