Adam Craig has opened up to BDN Maine about his recent retirement from the EWS, citing the risk factor as a major reason.
Craig is a 19-time USA national champion who represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics for cross country and moved over to enduro at its inception in 2013. In the first season he finished ninth in the overall – the result he looks back on most proudly in his career – but it seems the growing danger of being competitive has pushed him out.
He said: “Enduro’s more dangerous and it’s not an old man’s game, at least not this old man’s game.
“To be competitive at that requires a pretty serious risk-taking mentality that I’ve never really had. I’ve acknowledged that humans are pretty fragile, so I feel fortunate to have gotten out of that career without any major injuries.
“The racing has gotten more competitive and as people have gotten more familiar with it the risk has gone up. It’s awesome and inspiring to watch, but I didn’t want any part of it.”
Craig also cited his age as a factor for his retirement. Apparently 35 was the point he’d always felt he would step aside.
He said: “It has become pretty apparent to me in the last couple of years that my competitive drive has dissipated a little bit between the work of training all the time and then traveling around and doing competitions. It definitely starts to wear on you. You don’t get any better as you get older, typically, and I’d stopped getting better at it as other people have continued.”
Craig may be turning his back on the EWS but he will continue to ride as an ambassador and help with product development for Giant and hopes to volunteer for the U.S Forest Service. He leaves competitive full-time competitive racing as one of America’s greatest ever mountain bikers.
