Few bike racers exude energy like Jeremy Powers. He's constantly moving, smiling, cracking jokes, working feverishly on projects like his developmental programme the JAM Fund, starring in and directing behind the scenes videos, playing deejay, and his latest project, producing a calendar for the JAM fund. But the 32-year-old insists that none of these extracurricular activities distract him from his focus on being a top cyclo-cross racer. Quite the opposite - he sees his own personal aspirations and his desire to make the sport of 'cross grow as inextricably linked.
The three-time national champion came out swinging this year, with six straight victories including the Pan American Championships on home soil after a strong sixth place in the opening UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Las Vegas. His luck ran out in Louisville at the Derby City Cup, where he was twice defeated by his protege Stephen Hyde earlier this month. With a heavy schedule in December and January, Powers opted to skip the Koksijde World Cup in order to balance his recovery and training efforts.
"I have a lot of ambition for these upcoming races," Powers says of the upcoming World Cups, and National and World Championships. "Missing [Koksijde was] a hard and a big decision that I didn't take lightly, but I also know what I need and I don't have any interest in over-traveling, over-racing and potentially under-performing because of spreading myself too thin - which is a cycle I've been in before and felt I could get into again if I were to do this trip."
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Though Powers has carefully controlled his racing in recent years, he continues to stay busy while off the bike with the JAM Fund and other projects, but rather than rob him of energy, he says these endeavours do the opposite. "This is like my oxygen. It has always been that way - whether it's Behind the Barriers or partnership stuff. I need to stay busy or else I get bored. [The JAM Fund] is something I love and enjoy and it makes me feel great to do it. I put energy and money into it, but if anyone looked at my record it's not monetarily motivated. I feel good doing it. Most of what I do is because I want to do it, or because it's fun."
Powers works with partners Alec Donahue and Mukunda Feldman on the programme which helps to make racing more affordable for young 'cross racers with grants, and to develop athletes who will help contribute to the growth of the sport.
"I want to leave a legacy, to leave cyclo-cross in a better state than when I came in," Powers says. "My dream is that we have a couple riders racing internationally and doing well - being competitive in Europe and making a living. That's my dream."
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