USA: My Crazy Cousin, or My Thoughts on the UCI World Championships in Richmond

Joy here...Okay, I haven't blogged all summer, and we're well into fall, so instead of trying to fill in some of the gaps from the last few months, I'll just leave those as gaps and pick up where I am right now.

That's one of the lessons I've learned from training: When you miss a workout, don't try to start layering in all the missed workouts on top of new workouts, but just leave them incomplete and begin anew.

So that's what I'm doing now.  Beginning anew.

And I've decided to begin with a recap of the weekend of September 27th when The Man, myself, and a few friends headed to Richmond, Virginia to watch the UCI World Cycling Championships. Not only was it a great opportunity for those of us North Americans to get a chance to see some of the world's very best cyclists up close (a bonus that many Europeans can simply take for granted that is still a big deal to those of us on this side of the pond); but also, our friend (who just signed a World Tour Contract for next year with Canondale-Garmin - yay Mike!) was going to be racing for Team Canada.

So we bought our flights using my aeroplan points, booked a place to say using Airbnb, and headed to the States.

Rockin' the 90s LA style.

Now as a Canadian I've travelled to the US, but not as extensively as I've travelled throughout Canada or other parts of the world. I mean, I've done the typical Disney World family vacations; in my twenties I took a work trip to LA with my uncle when we both worked for the family business (and was totally weirded out that people were quicker to assume us a couple than an uncle & niece travelling together); I did a girls' holiday to Scottsdale with my besties in our twenties (where we hung out by the pool and pretended we were in a Reality TV Show, and that premise got funnier and funnier the more margaritas we drank); as an adult I've done trips to Boston and NYC to be all grown up and sophisticated and stuff; and my sister and I think it's a great idea to start doing sister trips to Miami in November to escape the "Winter is Coming" feeling in Canada.

So that's just to say that I've been to the States before.

And every time I go I am struck by a weird sense of ostranenie (остранение), the sense of defamiliarization of the familiar. Basically presenting familiar things in a way that makes them seem unfamiliar.

And that, my friends, in a nutshell is what a Canadian often feels in the USA.

UCI World Championships in Richmond

(And I suspect that Americans feel this same thing when they live, work, and travel in Canada.)

It's a strange sense of thinking that things should be familiar (except that they spell centre wrong and get rid of the letter "u" from words and things like that), but amidst all the familiarity of language and culture, I am always struck by the fact that things are not as similar as I might unthinkingly assume.

Here is a random list of some of my observations about how USA differs:

Cause, you know, not all schools are
"drug-free school zones," only the
ones with signs.

• When people say something is "urban" they don't mean "hip" or "busy," they mean "ghetto" or "crime-ridden";
• Walking as a mode of transportation engenders pity;
• Poverty and homelessness seem closely linked to race;
• Gun violence is a real thing to worry about;
• Taxis are non-existent or inefficient, but Uber is awesome;
• People can be super friendly and welcoming or super scary and frightening depending on which neighbourhood (or neighborhood) you find yourself in;
• It is a given that the way things are done in the States is the best. Period;
• Basic technological things - like mobile credit card payment and PIN machines - are surprisingly behind the times more often than not (like you still have to sign credit card slips in restaurants!);
• Public transportation is a place where crime happens;
• People really say things like "y'all" in regular conversation; and
• Obesity is real.

But given all that which seems odd, despite being familiar, there is also a charming "American-ness" that can create beautiful and genuine moments - moments of laughter and celebration, moments of connection, moments of discussion and conversation etc. - and while in Virginia for the UCI race, I was able to experience a moment of community like I had never before experienced.

USA! USA! USA!

For a large part of the race, Ben King, a local racer from Virginia was leading the race as part of a small breakaway.  We were standing on a hilly, cobbled stretch of road watching, amidst thousands upon thousands of spectators crowded by the roadsides rows thick. As the leaders of the race came into sight, these thousands of spectators began to chant:  "USA! USA! USA!"

Now normally I'd scoff at the blatant (and frightening) nationalism, or I would cynically wonder "what do they have to cheer about?" but amidst crowds of sports-loving fans under a sunny September sky cheering for a hometown boy, I couldn't help but feel a swell of emotion in my chest, a sense of warmth and earnestness, a sense of community that was uplifting and positive, and in that moment, I felt something quite wonderful about my crazy but loveable cousins to the south.

Here's to you, USA!

Over and out,

Joy