The 2025 Season Begins
The 2025 season is rolling!
It's always a bit of a shock to the system when preparation and goal setting becomes execution on the road, between the tape, and in new places!
This week included a dinner with Accel Cycling (a junior program out of Utah), celebrations, photo shoots, and some crazy fast bike racing.
Last week, Isabella and Jeremy joined Samuel in St. George, UT for a bit of pre-race training in the desert. From there, the team traveled to the first round of the US Cup in Temecula, CA! Jeremy and Samuel have seen a good few renditions of this course since their first races here in the UCI Elite in 2019. This year, the course saw some incredible upgrades featuring flyovers, new jumps, and some great rock gardens to compliment the signature highway-speed singletrack.
Generally, HART Cycling gets an early local race or two in before racing at the top level. This year, however, due to changes in the national calendar, HART went straight to racing Olympians, World Cup winners, and World Champions in the internationally ranked US Cup at Vail Lake. Nothing like racing against the fastest athletes in the world to remember what a bike race is!
The whole team at the 2025 Season Opener.
Winter training is done, the race season is here!
Race weekend kicked off with Short Track where Isabella finished 19th in Elite Women and got the legs properly opened up for the following day's XCO race.
In Elite Men, Samuel got caught behind a crash at the start and came into the first lap dead last. He chased his way to 26th in an awesome display of early season fitness! Jeremy got a clean start and led the chase group just behind the lead pack to finish 17th.
With the cobwebs blown out, Isabella rode a strong race to finish 12th in the Elite Women's race behind a heated battle of five of the fastest ladies in the world. Unfortunately, Isabella's battles with the athletes in her sights were cut short by an error on the race organizer's part. She was pulled out of the race well before the 80% mark as her competitors remained on course.
While we would have loved to see Isabella pass her competitors on the following laps, we're proud of the ride she put in for her first race of 2025.
In the Elite Men's race, Samuel and Jeremy both got off the line without incident, Jeremy plowing ahead with the lead group and Samuel chasing close behind. The pace was incredibly high and gaps between riders opened quickly. Jeremy and Samuel found each other and worked together to pick off rider after rider until Samuel eventually outpaced Jeremy on the steep climbs. Samuel rode to 13th place, within the points, with Jeremy chasing behind in 16th.
We're excited to see Samuel back to his normal strength and speed after sickness and injury plagued his early season last year!
Outside of the race tape, HART Cycling had a busy week of good things. We spent some time in front of the camera to show off our 2025 Pearl Izumi race kits including some really cool team cargo bibs. We're looking forward to testing the full snack carrying capacity of those!
We also have new helmets and glasses from Sweet Protection to show off! High quality equipment is always fun to share.
Preceding the race, Accel Cycling hosted HART at their campsite for a pasta fueling session and a Q&A with our riders. We answered some insightful questions from their junior riders around our thoughts on training, career progression, positive self talk, crash recovery, and some other really cool subjects.
We had hoped for a course preview with the juniors, but rain during the week threw a wrench in that plan. Raincheck for Arkansas!
Continuing HART's existing relationship with Ciclismo Racing in Fort Collins, CO and with the scattered athletes coached by Isabella, Samuel, and Jeremy across the nation, HART is very excited to also partner with Utah's Accel Cycling program through Samuel. We love riding with the next generation of racers and riders, passing on what knowledge and wisdom we've gained, finding new fast lines on race courses, and building a long lasting, uplifting community on two wheels. This is the thriving spirit of mountain bike.
Next up on the race calendar, HART Cycling heads out to Fayetteville, Arkansas March 19th-23rd for the next round of the US Cup MTB series with a UCI C1, a C3 short track, and an HC! We will be at the venue in the new HART Cycling team tent, thanks to Ramplify Marketing in Fort Collins who also created our updated team trading cards!
We're starting this season with a lot of excitement, a lot of plans, a lot of fitness, and a good amount of momentum! Stoked to share the next update after the US Cup in Arkansas.
Be sure to follow along on our Instagram and come say hi if you're at the races!
Until next time,
