Sepp Kuss - Dishing and Ditching the Dirt

American climber Sepp Kuss is a quietly humble rider who is clearly capable of great things. His cycling origins were planted in the dirt of Colorado. Here’s a grab from a chat I had with him earlier this year, before his Tour de France Stage win.

ST; When did you get started with cycling?

SK: I was mountainbiking from when I was quite young – but I didn’t really start road biking until I was at university in Boulder.

Before that I was just doing mountainbike races in Colorado and some World Cup (U23) races in Europe.

ST: There’s a very different atmosphere and demographic between mountainbiking and road racing, what made you switch to the road?

SK; I loved the atmosphere on the mountainbike, it was very relaxed. Everybody was friendly and there wasn’t quite as much pressure.

But, at the end of the day I wasn’t as good at mountainbike racing. After a while, when you’re racing World Cup’s and fighting for 20th place or something in every race, you think maybe it’s not worth it. I thought okay; maybe I can try road riding. 

It was something that had always attracted me, and when I tried it and found that I had more of a talent for it, and then it was an easy decision to completely switch focus.