Evan McNeely on the Canada Cup, the Rio 2016 Olympics and his crusade against knee warmers

STATS
Age: 23
Hometown: Kingston, Ont.
Team: Norco Factory Team
Bikes: Norco Revolver FS 29″, Norco Revolver HT 29″, two Norco Threshold, Nishiki singlespeed commuter

Evan McNeely doesn’t like knee warmers. In September 2014, he posted a photo of the gap of skin between socks and knee warmers on Twitter with the line, “This is why I don’t understand knee warmers.” Soon after, he started a Change.org petiton asking cyclists to stop wearing the garments in favour of leg warmers. The petition got 19 supporters before it closed.

Since then, McNeely has had some notable accomplishments on the bike. In August, he won the Canada Cup series overall in cross country. In September, he raced his first cyclocross World Cup event in Las Vegas and finished on the lead lap even though he suffered a busted wheel. This December, he plans to graduate from Carleton University with a degree in mechanical engineering. Then it’s back to training.

You won the Canada Cup series overall in cross country. What’s the significance of that?
I was happy to get that. I didn’t just go to Whistler [the final stop in the series] for the cool Crankworx atmosphere. I definitely went to secure that jersey. I’d never really been in contention for the Canada Cup series before. So, being competitive in that series and having that consistency over all those races were important to me. The consistency was definitely important because I haven’t been consistent at races in the past. I’ve either been very good or very bad. Now, I’m hoping that jersey can help push me to the next level, which would be a US Cup or World Cup.

How will the 2016 Rio Olympics affect your upcoming season?
Because of the Olympics, many events are pushed forward. Worlds is usually in September, but it will be at the end of June and beginning of July. I usually start my training in January, but I’m going to try to start in December. I want to be ready for the big races in March in California. The World Cups are all earlier, so it’s important to be faster earlier. After graduation, I plan to go to the national training centre at Bear Mountain near Victoria

What do you think your chances are for going to the Olympics?
I would rank my own chances of going to Rio as a long shot. But long shots sometimes pay off really big. I have Rio in the back of my mind. All I can do it try to be as fast as I can early. Then I’ll see how I’m doing after that.

You’re about to graduate with an engineering degree. Two of your fellow Norco teammates, Andrew L’Esperance and Peter Disera, have an engineering background, too. What’s with cyclists and that discipline?
It seem bike riders are either in kinesiology or engineering. One studies the way the body works on the bike, the other studies the way the bike works beneath you. Cycling means an interest in either of those things.
Engineering is all puzzles and problem solving. And I’ve always been interested in the way things work.

OK. Tell me about knee warmers. Why don’t you like them?
When you wear knee warmers, they tend to always get bunched up around your knees. The lower band never sits properly on your calf. Socks with an 6″ cuff come so close to knee warmers, it seems pointless to have that 1 cm of skin showing. I just don’t think it looks very professional.
In late September, I posted a picture on Instagram and I was wearing leg warmers. I hashtagged it #saynotokneewarmers. [Norco Factory teammate] Andrew Watson threatened to unfollow me.

So, you don’t wear knee warmers at all?
I can’t wear them now since I started my campaign more than one year ago. It’s an ideology. We’ll call it that. It’s an ideology. And I’m a crusader.

How’s the crusade going?
I get a lot of comments about it, even in the summer. More people seem to be in support of knee warmers. But feel the leg-warmer people who support me have yet to speak up.