I found my love for cycling at the age of 7 in Bend, Oregon. I had just moved to Bend in 2008 with my mom and my brother, from Southern California, while my dad continued to commute back and forth from Los Angeles for work. As our family began to settle in, I knew I always loved the outdoors. While my parents continued to work to support our family, I got involved in some local cycling programs to follow my love of the outdoors. Soon after hopping on the mountain bike, I knew that cycling was something I loved and am passionate about. At the age of 10, I began racing cyclocross throughout Oregon.
I found my love for cycling at the age of 7 in Bend, Oregon. I had just moved to Bend in 2008 with my mom and my brother, from Southern California, while my dad continued to commute back and forth from Los Angeles for work. As our family began to settle in, I knew I always loved the outdoors. While my parents continued to work to support our family, I got involved in some local cycling programs to follow my love of the outdoors. Soon after hopping on the mountain bike, I knew that cycling was something I loved and am passionate about. At the age of 10, I began racing cyclocross throughout Oregon.
As I got older and began to improve I started to travel throughout the United States and the Pacific Northwest for cyclocross races. 4 seasons ago I also began to race competitively on the road. During my 8 years of racing I have raced in 3 national championships as well as multiple UCI XCO and CX events throughout the United States. With all of my traveling and racing it is very important to me to keep up my grades and education. I am currently a senior this year in high school where I have taken multiple advanced classes and have a 3.9 GPA.
Continuing my career in cycling, I also discovered cycling was an important way for me to relieve stress and improve my mental health. The simple action of just hopping on my bike and going out for a ride helped me clear my head of anything bothering me. Training and racing continues to excite me every day. I love the skills, speed, determination, focus, and hard work needed to be successful and improve. One of my favorite parts of the sport is being dedicated to your training and seeing your hard work and dedication payoff at races.
In Bend, I rode with the Bend Endurance Academy and Cascadia Junior Cycling for many years. At the age of 15, I began working with Bart Bowen, of Bowen Sports Performance, who has been coaching me up to this cyclocross season.
As a first year U23 rider, the level of competition is extremely high. Racing with the Elite Men is very fast and difficult. Therefore, I am focusing on process goals such as having a proper warmup, learning the course, and riding my very best. I am super excited to be part of the USA Cycling Olympic Development Academy for Cyclocross this year, and I look forward to a full season of UCI CX racing. I cannot wait to see where the 2021/22 season takes me!