An interview with Katie Compton, March 20, 2006 (Cyclingnews.com)
(By: Steve Medcroft, photo: Keli Medcroft, Cyclingnews.com) :: Coming from virtually nowhere to win both the 2004 and 2005 US national Cyclocross championships, Katie Compton remains quite an enigma for US cycling fans. Cyclingnews' Steve Medcroft spoke with Compton after her second national championships win last December and found out a little more about this talented rider.
In 2004 Katie Compton surprised the elite women's field at Cyclo-cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. She had no UCI points and started at the back of the grid, and as she hadn't raced a US Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross race, media and competitors who had been facing each other all year in top-level ‘cross knew little about her. It wasn't until she stomped to the front of the race, opened a defiant gap on the field and took the championship jersey without a challenge that we learned a little more.
In an interview with Cyclingnews after that race, her Carmichael Training Systems elite coach told us that she avoided UCI races because they would have affected her eligibility to compete as the sighted pilot to a blind stoker on a Paralympics track tandem team; that team won gold in Athens in 2004. We also learned that she had trained for nationals by quietly competing in men's races in Colorado.
In 2005, the odds were stacked against Compton repeating as champion. Again she had no UCI points to her credit and was relegated to the rear of the field; the 2005 crop of elite women ‘crossers now knew Compton by sight and could anticipate her tactics, making life even tougher. All they needed to do was work together to guard the front of the race and keep Compton buried in traffic. Compton defied the odds, however, by taking the lead after just half of the first lap and winning a second consecutive national championship by a comfortable margin.
Compton says she had planned the repeat as soon as she finished the 2004 race. “I knew I wanted to come back to nationals; 2005 is an off year for Paralympics so I knew I wouldn't have much that travel and training. I knew I'd be home and able to train and rest a little bit more,” she says. Compton prepared herself the same way she did for the 2004 race - racing with the men in American Cycling Association (ACA) sanctioned races in her home state. “I raced Cat 3 in Colorado; two races a weekend, sometimes three depending on how I felt," explains Compton. "My first race wasn't until the last weekend in October.”
Compton says that even though she didn't face many of the elite racers she finally would compete against in the national championship, she knew the competition in Colorado was tough enough to prepare her for any challenger. “The competition in Colorado is pretty strong so I didn't feel like I was missing anything,” she says. “When I raced against the men, I don't win every week; top five was a good finish for me and I felt like that was competition enough to prepare me. I faced women in Colorado too, and although they didn't necessarily go to nationals, they were strong. The racing in Colorado is totally competitive, we just don't get the media attention."
On December 11 in snowy Providence, Compton once again started deep in the pack. “I hadn't done any UCI races during the year and if that was the way it was going to be then that was fine,” says Compton. “I knew going in it was going to happen - I accepted it.”
Unbelievably, Compton erased the deficit within the first half lap. “The start in Providence was easier than Portland,” she explains, before adding, “[The start/finish straight in] Portland may have been as wide [as Providence] but there were only one or two lines you wanted to take. In Rhode Island, it was pretty much all the same all the way across; muddy, snowy and slick. I tried to get through the group as quick as possible and get to the front.”
Being in front meant she would able to pick her own lines and not worry so much about losing traction. “I loved the course,” she says. “It was technical and slippery but fun. At the start, I was nervous and wasn't sure what was going to happen at the back, and that kind of put me off a little bit. As soon as I got to the front though, I felt good and strong and just wanted to stay consistent. The goal was to keep the gap open in case I got a mechanical or crashed or something.” She maintained that gap to win by 1:32 over Ann Knapp (Kona) to secure back-to-back titles under a myriad of trying conditions.
Compton's success in ‘cross offers her the temptation to turn away from her single-minded focus on Paralympics but she says she'll resist. “Paralympics is what I love to do,” she says. “It's just so different than able-bodied racing. It's still super-competitive but everyone is a lot more supportive. It's fun and a great thing to do. I love ‘cross too, but for me, Para's come first.”
But Para's won't come first forever, Compton says; after the next Paralympics (held two weeks after the regular Olympics in Beijing in 2008), she's committed to shifting her focus to cyclo-cross full time, but adds, “As long as I'm healthy and still riding well.”
In 2004 Katie Compton surprised the elite women's field at Cyclo-cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. She had no UCI points and started at the back of the grid, and as she hadn't raced a US Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross race, media and competitors who had been facing each other all year in top-level ‘cross knew little about her. It wasn't until she stomped to the front of the race, opened a defiant gap on the field and took the championship jersey without a challenge that we learned a little more.
In an interview with Cyclingnews after that race, her Carmichael Training Systems elite coach told us that she avoided UCI races because they would have affected her eligibility to compete as the sighted pilot to a blind stoker on a Paralympics track tandem team; that team won gold in Athens in 2004. We also learned that she had trained for nationals by quietly competing in men's races in Colorado.
In 2005, the odds were stacked against Compton repeating as champion. Again she had no UCI points to her credit and was relegated to the rear of the field; the 2005 crop of elite women ‘crossers now knew Compton by sight and could anticipate her tactics, making life even tougher. All they needed to do was work together to guard the front of the race and keep Compton buried in traffic. Compton defied the odds, however, by taking the lead after just half of the first lap and winning a second consecutive national championship by a comfortable margin.
Compton says she had planned the repeat as soon as she finished the 2004 race. “I knew I wanted to come back to nationals; 2005 is an off year for Paralympics so I knew I wouldn't have much that travel and training. I knew I'd be home and able to train and rest a little bit more,” she says. Compton prepared herself the same way she did for the 2004 race - racing with the men in American Cycling Association (ACA) sanctioned races in her home state. “I raced Cat 3 in Colorado; two races a weekend, sometimes three depending on how I felt," explains Compton. "My first race wasn't until the last weekend in October.”
Compton says that even though she didn't face many of the elite racers she finally would compete against in the national championship, she knew the competition in Colorado was tough enough to prepare her for any challenger. “The competition in Colorado is pretty strong so I didn't feel like I was missing anything,” she says. “When I raced against the men, I don't win every week; top five was a good finish for me and I felt like that was competition enough to prepare me. I faced women in Colorado too, and although they didn't necessarily go to nationals, they were strong. The racing in Colorado is totally competitive, we just don't get the media attention."
On December 11 in snowy Providence, Compton once again started deep in the pack. “I hadn't done any UCI races during the year and if that was the way it was going to be then that was fine,” says Compton. “I knew going in it was going to happen - I accepted it.”
Unbelievably, Compton erased the deficit within the first half lap. “The start in Providence was easier than Portland,” she explains, before adding, “[The start/finish straight in] Portland may have been as wide [as Providence] but there were only one or two lines you wanted to take. In Rhode Island, it was pretty much all the same all the way across; muddy, snowy and slick. I tried to get through the group as quick as possible and get to the front.”
Being in front meant she would able to pick her own lines and not worry so much about losing traction. “I loved the course,” she says. “It was technical and slippery but fun. At the start, I was nervous and wasn't sure what was going to happen at the back, and that kind of put me off a little bit. As soon as I got to the front though, I felt good and strong and just wanted to stay consistent. The goal was to keep the gap open in case I got a mechanical or crashed or something.” She maintained that gap to win by 1:32 over Ann Knapp (Kona) to secure back-to-back titles under a myriad of trying conditions.
Compton's success in ‘cross offers her the temptation to turn away from her single-minded focus on Paralympics but she says she'll resist. “Paralympics is what I love to do,” she says. “It's just so different than able-bodied racing. It's still super-competitive but everyone is a lot more supportive. It's fun and a great thing to do. I love ‘cross too, but for me, Para's come first.”
But Para's won't come first forever, Compton says; after the next Paralympics (held two weeks after the regular Olympics in Beijing in 2008), she's committed to shifting her focus to cyclo-cross full time, but adds, “As long as I'm healthy and still riding well.”
posted by Ryan Amirault at Monday, March 20, 2006
