For most of cyclocross history, races were within easy driving distance for top riders. Mechanics had mobile workshops to move from race to race, riders had warm motorhomes to change into, and everything was familiar. 2022, at the urging of the UCI in particular, the sport has expanded even further, with the World Cyclocross Championships now taking place thousands of kilometers from Belgium's now held thousands of kilometers away from the comfort zone.

While the winding country roads from the small airport in Northwest Arkansas to the venue in Fayetteville are not much different from those from, say, Antwerp to Coxeide, getting there is a logistical nightmare, with the Belgian Federation spending over 90,000 euros on equipment transport alone

Brussels is a logistical nightmare.

There are no direct flights from Brussels to anywhere near Fayetteville, making travel much more inconvenient than it was in 2013 when World made an overseas trip to Louisville, Kentucky. The expense has caused a bit of "sticker shock" for Europeans, that is, the surprise and disappointment they feel when they realize how expensive something is.

According to a report in this week's Het Laatste Nieuws, the Belgian had to pay for 2,431 kg of equipment (three for each professional and two for the other categories, for a total of 70), 175 sets of wheels, enough clothing, food, spare parts, and the essential COVID-19 test and masks were packed in about 100 crates and flown to Chicago, about 1,000 km away. When the race was over on Sunday, everything was put back in the boxes and returned to Europe the same way.

However, as is often the case when Europeans travel to the U.S., just getting the host country's team to Arkansas can be quite expensive. While most countries are drastically reducing the number of teams they send to this year's World Championships due to cost and COVID-19, the USA and Canada are sending huge delegations.

USA Cycling has paid for all the qualifiers, transportation for many riders, hotels for riders and staff, salaries for extra personnel, and other incidental expenses; it may not be on the level of F1 or MotoGP, but it is big money for an event that is not yet an Olympic sport.

USA Cycling coach Jesse Anthony has been a recipient of such funds during his career. The bottom line is that this sport costs money," Anthony tells Cycling News.

"Most sports cost a certain amount of money. Every time someone raises the issue of the price of a sport, I roll my eyes. High-end equipment in any sport or hobby is expensive. Travel is expensive. Food is expensive. Experienced coaches, mechanics, therapists, trainers, etc. need to earn competitive wages commensurate with their skills.

Stu Thorne, manager of the Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld team of Clara Honsinger, Curtis White, and Katie Crews, has been in the business of sending teams to national and international races and organizing races for years. He said that being the first Belgian to race across the Atlantic gave him a unique understanding of what the Americans had to do all along.

"When Fidea came over around the time of Cross Vegas and Madison (America's first World Cup, ed.), I spoke with Bert Wellens and Rob Peters. Both said they had great respect for the American riders now that they had to make a similar journey. You just have to figure it out, and that takes time.

"It's not easy and it certainly costs money. It took us a long time to dial things in," Thorne says before giving some tips. 'Now we keep our equipment over there and keep costs down. The hardest part is the first of two trips, one early in the season and one after the national championships."

"The first trip is to bring bikes and wheels. To keep costs down, we pack three bikes without wheels in one bike bag. The wheels are packed in a wheel bag that holds six wheels. To do that, we remove the rotors, then the axles and bearings. It's much easier that way, and there's less risk of damage to the wheel."

Of course, disassembling and reassembling the bike/wheel requires some work, but each rider can take a bike bag, a personal bag, and a wheel bag; traveling with three or four riders and two staff members, that's a fair amount of luggage.

"If the World Cup and big events continue to be held in the US, perhaps they can leave their equipment in the US too. But it will take some creativity to make it happen. It won't be easy, but it can be done."

Jeff Proctor, who has run Eurocross Academy development trips for years, agreed that there are ways around the cost, but that smaller teams have more flexibility than federations. [With fewer riders, mechanics can work together to do super-efficient packing, etc. In a federation like Jesse's, or my current Eurocross academy, there are more variables that affect creative opportunities, such as space, packing, flight, and logistics. [As both Jesse and Stu have said, many of the Euro coaches and staff will have a clearer idea of what our (from this side of the pond) Euro-centric discipline will look like when the Worlds and World Cup are held in the US. And I think they seriously respect how much effort it takes to compete on primarily European soil."

Anthony sums up that the cost is worth it. 'I don't like it, but this is the game we decided to play. If we wanted to live cheap, we could move to a less expensive place and sit around all day playing cards. But we want to compete in a beautiful and exciting sport and reach our full potential. We are determined to push ourselves and our competitors to be the best. We spend enormous amounts of time, effort, energy, and yes, money, to see how far we can reach.

USA Cycling's cyclocross athletes are supported by the MudFund, and the federation has announced that it will match donations to the fund up to $40,000. Click here to donate (opens in new tab).