Justin Lindine Announces Decision to Step Back from UCI ’Cross Racing in 2019

Earlier this week, Justin Lindine announced to his fans and supporters that changes were on the horizon.

“I’ve decided to take a step back from UCI cyclocross racing this season while putting a little more focus on targeted mountain bike events, playing a larger ambassador role for my sponsors in the coming year, as well as focusing on work outside of bike racing this fall and beyond,” Lindine stated via social media.

While this was a very difficult decision for Lindine, he is not ready to give up cycling altogether. Future plans include continuing to race mountain bikes sponsored by Apex Technology Group, NBX Bikes, Hyperthreads and Van Life.

Lindine’s partnerships with his long-time sponsors will only evolve as he will now be assisting in the design and build process of customized vans as well as teaming up with Apex Technology Group and NBX as a Brand Ambassador at community events.

Justin closed with a heartfelt message that shows his true passion for the sport:

“I’m not going to say I won’t ever line up for a UCI race again, I don’t think I can, nor do I want to, make that promise.  Maybe the call of the mud and the sweat and that metallic “I’m going too hard” taste in your mouth will all prove to be too much to resist.

Even now I can make my heart rate spike by thinking about the last lap of Providence in 2011 when it felt like I was being carried around the course not by my legs, but on the sound of people cheering … like something from a dream.

But for now, I’m going to try out the view from the other side of the course tape, lending my voice to the wall of sound. I love cyclocross, see you all out there in some muddy field. Thank you.”

Lindine had more to say about his decision to step away from racing cyclocross, which you can read below.

Full Statement from Justin Lindine

Ok everybody, settle in because this is a bit of a long post but I’ll lead with the climax for those of you who can’t stick around for the whole essay … I’ve decided to take a step back from UCI ’cross racing this season while putting a little more focus on targeted mountain bike events, playing a larger ambassador role for my sponsors in the coming year, as well as focusing on work outside of bike racing this fall and beyond.

Whew, that was a serious statement to get off my chest and into the open. A statement that I’ve been grappling with for a long time now and not been able to really come to terms with.

I did my first ’cross race in 2004 or 2005, I honestly can’t remember. Crosssresults.com will tell you it was 2006, but I know there was at least one or two before that, one in torrential Nor’easter style rain at a vineyard in CT. Regardless, it was something that pretty quickly had its hooks in me from the get-go, and it’s been the better part of twelve years now that I’ve made racing cyclocross my full-time commitment in the fall and winter; the routines of short intervals and gluing tires as much a harbinger of the season change as the chill in the air and the changing of the leaves.

I’m fortunate enough to have had amazing support in my commitment to cyclocross over the years, and it’s impossible to explain the gratitude I feel for the friendships I’ve made while competing in this brutal and amazing sport.

From the dust of early season to the mud and snow of December and January, ’cross has been the foundation and the backdrop for some of my most memorable experiences over the years. More than maybe anything else in my cycling, or even life in general, cyclocross instilled in me a sense of community and my place in it.  I’ve been privileged to have the opportunity to race in Belgium, China, at least twenty-three states in the US, managed to take the win in thirteen Elite UCI Races, and had complete strangers come up to me and tell me they appreciated my racing.

I have felt most at home between the tape for a long time, and it’s a scary thought to no longer be a part of the traveling circus that is pro cyclocross. Besides, what am I going to do with the fifteen pairs of gloves I love to pack but never wear?

In truth though, I’ve found it harder and harder to pull from the well of motivation each fall in order to be as prepared as you need to be for the all or nothing game that is chasing UCI points. The constant travel and the intensity of focus needed to be competitive at the front of increasingly competitive UCI fields felt like something I couldn’t sustain consistently anymore. I found my desire to race across all disciplines tailing off and coupled with my work outside of racing taking increasing time and energy, the idea of twenty-to-thirty days of high caliber UCI ’cross racing became more and more stressful when I felt I couldn’t hold myself to the standard I felt necessary.

When your life, lifestyle, and personal identity are all so intertwined with a sport like cycling, the idea of just stopping feels like a panic-inducing sentence to vanish into obscurity and irrelevance. Many late nights were spent with my wife Jess hashing through the complex and mixed bag of emotions that surround all this but ultimately the “right” answer can be an elusive and shifting target.  Did I want to stop racing altogether? Did I still love what I was trying to do?

With the rock-solid support of all my sponsors, particularly primary sponsors Apex Technology Group and NBX Bikes, I began to talk about the idea of stepping back from UCI ’cross racing in conjunction with a more targeted, event-based, approach to my mountain bike racing and hopefully a larger ambassador role in projects and programs they have planned.

This fall I’m looking forward to attending some school bike-safety events co-hosted by Apex and NBX as well as other projects still in the works, all while planning out what awesome events I might want to try an tackle next year on the mountain bike. And, I’ll more than likely find myself racing a fair amount of the conveniently close-to-home UTCX races. I’m honestly looking forward to the energy I can bring to the racing events I do choose to race next season without the pressure of having to toe the line week-in and week-out.  That, and at being home for some weekends in the fall for the first time since 2008.

I’m not going to say I won’t ever line up for a UCI race again, I don’t think I can, nor do I want to, make that promise. Maybe the call of the mud and the sweat and that metallic “I’m going too hard” taste in your mouth will all prove to be too much to resist. Even now I can make my heart rate spike by thinking about the last lap of Providence in 2011 when it felt like I was being carried around the course not by my legs, but on the sound of people cheering … like something from a dream.

But for now, I’m going to try out the view from the other side of the course tape, lending my voice to the wall of sound.  I love cyclocross, see you all out there in some muddy field. Thank you.”