Photo Courtesy of Rapha

Dear Jeremy “J-POW” Powers,

Let me start by saying how much we like you. The new Rapha kit you’re wearing is super stylish and we absolutely love it. Pink is the new awesome. Your choice to ride a quality German bicycle ist sehr gut. Look at that picture up there. You don’t look like you’re going over a barrier. You look like you’re striding over Mount Olympus. Needless to say, your equipment and appeal for this years cross season is definitely to our liking. Plus, during the road season you ride for Jelly Belly. They have over 50 flavors of deliciousness. And may I suggest that someone talks to them about a J-POW line of Sport Beans. It’s about time.

When it comes to the whole Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com situation, we’ve got your back. Clearly TJ cheated at the Rapha Circulus Cross Clash. We know you’re the better rider on the road, track and, of course, cross. Not to mention that hotel robe that he “borrowed” for the weigh-in – he could clearly use some fashion tips from the guys at Rapha. And did anyone else notice how they replaced you with the oldest guy in pro cross? They claim that he has “age and experience,” but the real truth is TJ wants to feel young again. I heard that next season they’re going to replace Jamey Driscoll with Chris Horner.

And we must mention your Emmy Award-winning Behind the Barriers series. It’s the best American-based cyclocross internet reality series in the Universe. We’ve watched every episode at least once and cannot get enough of it. I’ve already contacted IMDb about credit for my non speaking role in the first episode of season two.

Seriously though, we’ve been a fan of yours for years. Do you remember your first major cross victory? We do. It was the 2007 Derby City Cup #1 in Louisville, KY. Isn’t there a big event there in a few years? Just saying. How about last year? It was your best season ever. You won 10 races and were the top ranked American in UCI points. You won the USGP and the NACT, the latter of which disappeared this year. Probably because you were so dominant that they figured no one else would show up.

Naturally, we couldn’t believe what happened at Nationals last year. Third place is nothing to be upset about, but we know you had that race won. We have nothing against Wells, or Specialized, but they’ve been unbeatable for the past 12 months. Clearly this was not your fault – Mike Sinyard must have paid off the cycling gods big time.

Because of how awesome you are – you’re clearly the most dominant CX rider in North America, and the only thing faster than you in the holeshot is Adam Myerson’s Twitter account  – we expected you to start the season off with a raft of victories, but it seems you’ve had a rough go of it over the past few weeks. So, how did we get to this point?

You’ve had a long start to your season and that may have finally caught up with you. As we pointed out in our 9/26 edition of This Week in Cyclocross, you’ve traveled over 7,000mi for 6 UCI races. That’s a lot of travel (although the frequent fliermiles must already be paying off. If you want to throw a few our way, we won’t complain), especially at the beginning of a long season. Right now, fifth in the Power Rankings is where you belong. 

We know that you’ve won two races this year – in fact, you’re the only American to win a UCI race East of the Mississippi this year. Unfortunately, those wins came against fields that weren’t as strong as the other races you have done this year. We know you’re capable of a marquee victory early in the season. Gloucester may not be a bad place to start.

Obviously, you will pick up steam as the season goes on and the big victories will come, we’re not denying that. And who knows, perhaps this is that little motivation you need to stick it to the field at New England Worlds this weekend.

Best of luck,

Pavé Staff