I first got into cycling in 2017 during my sophomore year in high school after I suffered an injury while running on the cross country team. I was already interested in cycling after watching GCN videos on YouTube and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to try out cycling while I recovered from my injury. Not long after, I entered my first race and I was hooked. I spent the remainder of my junior seasons racing for the Lionhearts Junior Racing team in as many cyclocross, road and mountain bike races I could enter. After a season of consistent improvement, I was given the opportunity to race in multiple cyclocross races in Europe through Geoff Proctor’s EuroCrossCamp. Eight riders and I traveled to Belgium during the Kerstperiode, which is a series of elite cyclocross races in Europe, that occur every year around Christmas. We spent a total of two weeks racing, training, and living together. It was my first time racing in Europe and the amount I learned from being a part of a team of athletes, who had similar goals to my own, was unmatched. Not only was this a period of growth, but I had some of the most fun I had ever had with cycling. Since that trip I have been longing to travel and race in a similar team environment. I wanted to continue my cycling career into college and after an extensive search, I committed to Marian University, in Indianapolis, where I am pursuing a dual degree in Biology and Biomedical Engineering. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I devoted all of my newfound time into becoming a student of the sport. I have really enjoyed learning about how I can work to improve all aspects of my training. Whether it was from cleaning up my diet, practicing skills on the bike or changes to my training plan, they have all contributed to reaching the next level in my development. With that being said, my most recent developments have not all been positive. After a month into my first semester at Marian University, I had an accident on the bike and fractured my clavicle into three separate pieces. Thanks to my great teammates and coaches, I was able to get the care I needed and within a week I had surgery, gained a few new pieces of hardware on my clavicle, and was back to riding...sort of. Spending months of my training on the trainer in a sling gave me a new perspective on how lucky I am to be able to spend every day riding my bike and working towards becoming a faster and overall more complete athlete. My passion for mountain biking has also increased over the past couple of seasons. There has not been a day where I didn’t want to go out and ride my mountain bike on the trails. I am aware that the road to where I want to go is long and unpredictable, but I have the will and determination and am very excited for the challenge.