Easthampton cyclist Jeremy Powers has looked over his shoulder at Stephen Hyde for years.

The mentor, a four-time national champion, watched his mentee grow through the JAM Fund program into one of the top cyclocross riders in the country.

Hyde pursued Powers, pulling closer to his fellow Easthampton resident every year. Hyde didn’t finish his first national championship race in 2013, when Powers was sixth. Hyde crossed the line 5 minutes, 33 seconds behind Powers in 16th in 2014 and was 2:12 back in sixth in 2015.

Hyde closed the gap to 10 seconds and second place last January in North Carolina, where Powers captured his third consecutive national title.

Then Hyde initially surpassed him at the 2016 world championships in Belgium, finishing 23rd while Powers was 40th.

Powers pulled back in front with an 18th-place finish at a World Cup series race in Las Vegas, but the rest of 2016 belonged to Hyde. He has seven wins this season, including a continental championship in late October.

“My season absolutely hit the top end of expectations and what I was hoping for,” Hyde said. “It’s just been a lot of hard work. It’s been a lot of patience, and step by step I’ve seen the results of that. Nothing new really, it’s all coming together.

Powers fought through rib and back injuries after winning in Rochester, New York, to start the season. But he’s seen the back of Hyde’s jersey and his rear wheel looking forward instead of his face looking backward.

“It’s been my worst season so far,” he said. “I’ve had some nice results, and I won’t discount that.”

Powers took some time off from racing to recover in Boulder, Colorado, and New Mexico with an eye toward returning for this weekend’s USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in Hartford, Connecticut.

Hyde returns to New England following a three-month stint in Europe, where he finished in the top 20 of multiple World Cup races.

“He’s been the most dominant rider on the circuit this year from the United States,” Powers said.

That’s coming from someone who views Hyde as a competitor and a close friend. They live near each other in Easthampton and often go on training rides, especially when they just run into each other on the road. Powers has watched Hyde morph from a BMX and mountain bike rider to the cyclocross force he’s become.

“Our relationship is unique. No question we have a ton of respect for each other, that’s not going to go anywhere,” Powers said. “If he called me up and said, ‘hey I need to see you or I need to jam with you,’ I’m there. We’re just competitors right now.”

And Hyde, who races for Cannondale P/B Cyclocrossworld.com, has been the better competitor so far this season.

“It’s not easy for him to get beaten by anyone, let alone someone who he mentored; however, I know, personally, that it brings him a lot of satisfaction to see that,” Hyde said. “But losing is losing. No one likes doing that.”

Whoever wins, or loses, they keep those emotions on the course. There’s a grace period after the race to feel elation or agony about results, then they go back to “business as usual,” as Hyde called it.

“We’re both gunning for the same thing. We have a lot in common,” Hyde said. “We have a lot to fight against each other for. We also have a sport and an industry that we want to fight for, too. We’re united in that.”

Their latest proving ground is Riverside Park, just north of Hartford, starting at 3 p.m. Sunday. The course features sharp early climbs, swooping undulation and hillside traversals.

USA Cycling “made use of a lot of the area features. It’s definitely a nationals course, for sure,” Hyde said. “It’s a very New England course.”

The national championships haven’t been in New England since Providence, Rhode Island, hosted the event in 2006. Powers, who grew up in Connecticut, relishes the chance to race for a fourth consecutive national title at home.

“It’s going to be a special day for me,” he said. “I have to balance the ambition and the nervous energy I have with the race with the elation to have all those people there. They all want to see me do well, so that’s what I’m focused on.”

He’ll just have to beat Hyde for the first time in a while to do it, and Hyde understands what he’s up against.

“The guy knows how to win a national championship,” Hyde said. “Win or lose, I’m really happy to be able to fight for a national championship so close to home. I am 100 percent committed to showing up and racing to win it.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.

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