Shop PHILOSOPHY: Ride Spicy

To ride spicy means not taking oneself too seriously. We don't define ourselves by our results, or blame a bad race on a start line distraction. Cyclocross is a rad sport. It allows victory to be defined by finding the perfect line to take a corner after washing out on the last lap, or trying to ride the beach even though we're doomed to crashing into the sand.

On the other hand, to ride spicy means taking pride in training as hard as we can. Working on maximizing the Braaaap of a ride is great, but there is more to the sport than technical features. We put in our trainer time, too. Taking an off-camber after work excites us just as equally as sifting through power data and discovering where we get the best return for our efforts.

That's what Jalapeño Cycling and to ride spicy means: tough training but allowing yourself to smile during races. The only thing to worry about is burning so many matches that your stomach feels like it ate a full jar of peppers.

Kathryn Cumming

Photo by Andrew Reimann/Jalapeño Cycling

Photo by Andrew Reimann/Jalapeño Cycling

Kate Cumming has been working with athletes, as well as organizing and leading training classes for a decade. Throughout the year, she races in plenty of cycling disciplines, including criteriums, triatholons, road races, mountain biking, and track. Her favorite discipline is cyclocross, and she is currently the highest ranking cyclocross athlete in New Jersey, and the only cyclist, male or female, to represent the Garden State at the Cyclocross Nationals Elite Race over the last four years.

She has competed in four Cyclocross World Cups, including Koksidje, Belgium; Lignes-en-Berry, France; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Jingle Cross, Iowa, and was the first American woman to podium in China's international Qiansen Trophy race history.

Andrew Reimann

Photo by Daghan Perker

Photo by Daghan Perker

Andrew Reimann began working in bike shops in the Detroit area before managing shops in New York City. He was the Editor in Chief for Cyclocross Magazine, and was the General Manager for Von Hof Cycles in Hoboken, New Jersey.

He has worked in UCI pits as a mechanic since 2010. His mechanic resume includes World Cups, as well as working as a pit mechanic for the Hungarian Federation during the 2013 World Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, where he got the distinction of fixing the first mechanical in the Men's Elite Race in the only Cyclocross World Championship held in the United States.

Andrew has glued more tubular tires than he can remember (likely from the fumes), and knows how important it is to dial in every part of the ride, as he also competes in track, triathlons, criteriums, road races, mountain bike races, and cyclocross.