I am a former US junior national champion, multi-time state champion and current, elite-level cyclist in both road and cyclocross. Most recently, I headed RISD Cycling with co-captain, Lizzie Wright (RISD ID '18).
I started out by riding mountain bikes when I was seven years old in Keystone, Colorado, where my family had a second home. I only wanted to ride downhill mountain bikes (a discipline where riders will take a chairlift to the top of the mountain in order to descend). When I asked my dad if I could ride downhill, he made a deal with me that I could only ride down what I first rode up. After several years of recreational mountain biking, I started racing downhill and cross-country mountain bikes for Mojo Wheels when I was twelve.
Everything changed, however, when I rode a road bike for the first time. "I can go fast ALL the time," I remember thinking. At 14, I entered my first road bike race, the junior state championship criterium. Having no idea how to race a road bike but knowing that the race was only thirty minutes, I decided to go as I hard as I could from the start. I won the race and lapped most of the field. I quickly became obsessed by road cycling and hung up the mountain bike to focus on the road. Within the year, I upgraded to Cat 3. and became the Cat 3. Colorado state road race champion.
For the following year, 2009, I joined Slipstream Sports' development program, Team 5280, and started training with coach, Neal Henderson, and racing alongside now longtime friend Yannick Eckmann. That summer, I won the junior national championship road race in Bend, Oregon, and traveled to Europe to race on the US national team. In December, I returned to Europe for EuroCrossCamp to race cyclocross in Belgium and the Netherlands.
In 2010, I was invited back to Europe in early Spring to race junior stage race Liège - La Gleize and the junior Paris - Roubaix. That summer, I raced alongside Lachlan Morton, helping him win both the Longsjo Classic in Fitchburg, MA and Tour of l'Abitibi, in Quebec, Canada. I returned to race in Europe for a final time in August 2010 to race for an elite, Belgian junior team owned by Johan Museeuw. I unfortunately experienced burnout at the end of the season and took some time off the bike.
In 2012, I resumed racing. The following year, I joined the Colorado-based, elite team, Team Rio Grande. I had a relatively successful year learning the ropes of professional racing at the domestic level. I won my first Pro road race, wore the green jersey at Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont and finished the season placing 8th at the UCI 1.2 Tour of Tobago. I joined California Giant / Specialized Bicycles ("Cal Giant") in 2014. During the first race weekend, my father suffered an unexpected, life-changing brain injury that led me to complete the season and quit the NRC circuit to focus on finishing college.
During my time at Rhode Island School of Design, I led RISD CYCLING and raced in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) in the mens A category. My racing achievements include being the Rhode Island elite state cyclocross champion, winning the Men's A cyclocross conference and championship cyclocross race, winning the Men's A championship road race and placing 5th at the US collegiate national time trial championships in Grand Junction, Colorado. While racing collegiate, I also raced on Connecticut-based, elite team, Team ERRACE: a team that raises money to fight cancer.
I still loves riding / racing road, mountain and 'cross and feel lucky to be a part of Providence's tight-knit, cycling community.
