I grew up surrounded by cycling, my parents are both avid riders and my father is the promoter of the Iceman Cometh Challenge. For some reason, I never really started riding until I was fifteen, but I jumped right into racing, so this will be my fourth season racing and my third with Priority Health. I used to be a very competitive Nordic ski racer in high school, and went to Junior National my sophomore, junior and senior year, but I no longer have time to devote so much time to skiing because of school. I’m going into my sophomore year at Michigan State University where I am dual majoring in International Relations and Arabic.

I spent my first season racing with the Hagerty Cycling Team until I was offered a spot on Priority Health. There are so many different races out there, it’s absolutely impossible to pick one, but the Cherry Roubaix races are definitely up there along with the Priority Health Race for Wishes (Honestly! It was an incredible course and so well organized for its first year). I actually graduated early from high school in order to spend two months out in Colorado training. Unfortunately, I ended up getting severe tendonitis during that and had to take a lot of time off, but that’s part of life and you just have to keep your head up and move on.

Last year, I raced in the UCI Tour de L’Abitibi, in northern Quebec, representing the Midwest Developmental Squad. That was an incredible experience. I raced against 130 other junior riders from all across the world in a six-day stage race.

Tenacious, open-minded and exuberant.

Nutrition is crazy important in everyday life, but especially when it comes to racing! I’m a vegetarian, so the night before the race I always make sure I have something packed with protein, just like everyone else should. The most important thing in regards to nutrition is to just pay attention to what your body is telling you. It knows what it’s missing and sends out signals to tell you, you just have to realize what they are. I really like all Clif products, they seem to be truly committed to being as natural or organic as they can be, I really appreciate that and they seem to be very effective.

Motivation can be very hard to come by at times, everyone has days when they simply don’t want to get out on the bike, go for that run, or swim. Most of the time I imagine my rivals out training and because of that beating me at the next race.

Finishing and knowing I have left every bit of strength in my legs out on the course, regardless of my finish, and I will always finish.

you’re never done learning. You can ride an incredible race and still have so many different things you could have improved on.