I've always been into fitness. In high school it was powerlifting and football. Then I got into rock climbing during college at the University of Arkansas. It wasn't until a grad school semester in Beijing that I rediscovered my love of cycling. I got a bike for transportation and practicality, but ended up falling in love. Riding brought back that feeling of freedom: taking my bike out after middle school and meeting up with my friends. My bike could take me anywhere I wanted.
Cycling is the ultimate sport for me because I can combine my competitive nature, that feeling of freedom, and the camraderie of shared experience. I've been fortunate enough to land in Austin, Texas and found a place in the bike racing community. It really is a community bonded by a shared passion. I've met some of my closest friends through cycling.
Racing on the road now for about 5 years, I've made it from a category 5 beginner to category 2 elite. Each step is progressively more competitive requiring more training. As a category 2 racer, I've found that racing solo is not enough. You need a strong team around you in order to make it to a category 1, and I couldn't be more excited to be racing with a great group of guys in 2019.
In addition to racing, I love exploring new places by bike with my wife, April. Over the passed few years we have been fortunate enough to be able to ride in some incredible places. From Teide in Tenerife to the California Coast, England, Colorado, Arkansas, West Texas, Virginia, and many others. I think Hemmingway said it best:
"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle."