Throughout my career in sport I’ve found consistent and steady improvement. Then, in 2019, I really found my confidence and it took my racing to the next level. Now I’m more motivated than ever to continue this upward trend with the goal of it taking me to the Olympic Games.
Despite a timeline of races, I’ve always viewed this journey as a race against myself. I get to challenge myself and compete against myself each and every day that I put my leg over my bike. Being determined to find personal improvement each and every day has been one of the most valuable parts of this process.
2012 XTERRA World Championship - I began my racing career as a triathlete. When I won the XTERRA Overall amateur World Championship for the 1st time in 2012, I was recruited onto the LUNA Pro Team. After 3 years of competing for them as a triathlete, I dedicated my athletic endeavors entirely to mountain biking.
2014 NICA California State Championship - When I competed in NICA, I was still a triathlete and I used the NICA races as ‘training’ for triathlon. It was NICA, though, that inspired me to find a college with a cycling team.
2015 Collegiate National Championship - In 2015 I won my first individual collegiate cycling national champion title. Crossing that finish line in first was the first time that I truly viewed myself as a cyclist and no longer as a triathlete. I went on to win a total of 5 individual collegiate cycling national champion titles.
2015 Mont St. Anne World Cup - The 2015 Mont St. Anne World Cup was my first U23 World Cup race. It was a huge eye opener. I was intimidated by the features and felt like I was in way over my head. I crashed more than a dozen times pre-riding, but it motivated me and showed me exactly what I needed to be able to do if I wanted to race at the highest level.
2016 Defining Moment - During my first two years in college, I swam on the swim team, ran for the cross-country team, and competed for the cycling team. My junior year, I committed to the bike 100%, thus declining my NCAA running scholarship to focus solely on cycling. I was all in.
2018 BC Bike Race - Camping for a week while simultaneously racing at the highest level taught me that everything doesn’t have to be perfect in order to have the most perfect race. This race also upped my technical abilities by riding technical BC terrain blind for seven days in a row.
2019 Breck Epic - The Breck Epic in 2019 was a break through race for me. I placed 2nd in the General Classification for the stage race and winning Stage 6 was the first time I have crossed the line first in a UCI Race.
2019 Mont St. Anne World Cup - Coming back to the same course that completely intimidated me 5 years earlier, it was an honor to line up with confidence and represent my country at the Elite World Championship. On this same course, I qualified as a part of the Olympic Long Team!
2020 Midsouth - As the first and only race I have been able to race in 2020, the Midsouth started my year off with a win! I raced for my new team, The Orange Seal Off-Road Team. I’m so excited to have this team by my side as we set our eyes on the goal of Tokyo!
Follow Hannah on her #RideToTokyo - @hannah_finchamp
