Words: Courtenay McFadden

Photos: Drew Coleman and Bruce Buckley

When I tell people about the sport of cyclocross, they usually give me a funny look, and say “that sounds intense,” my response consists of “it is.” Add in the fact that I also run a professional cyclocross team and I can see the wheels spinning in their heads.

Historically, I've always run my own independent program but last year we formed a team, which I co-ran with another athlete. This year, I took the project on myself. This meant signing two young athletes whose ambitions run high.  I spent most of spring and summer getting the team organized and running team camp at my house; all while training and focusing on my own racing!  But here’s the secret - I wouldn’t have it any other way. This has become my baby, and while at times I feel somewhat like a Team Mom™, watching the other riders have their own success is far more rewarding than my own successes! Watching the mechanics work seamlessly together and seeing how cohesive the team is puts a BIG smile on my face. Racing can be rewarding but watching a project unfold just as you imagined far exceeds any rewards racing has given me thus far. 

As a team, we planned our Fall UCI schedule with big eyes on the first block of racing. When mapping out a UCI calendar, I find it best to look at the season in blocks - it helps keep your head on straight and body moving forward. For those aware of the UCI calendar in North America, you know it starts a-swinging with 2 C1 races and 2 World Cups, all packed into three weeks of racing.  All of us had our own goals to accomplish and while we may have come up a bit short on some of those goals, I would say we all happily walked away from the 3 weeks of racing. 

The past two years I’ve struggled coming into the season after my hip surgeries so this year was all about moving forward and putting those behind me. This year was about a new me, and I feel like a new athlete, a new person on the race course.  After a summer of mountain bike racing, vacations, and training, I was itching to race. The first weekend was a good one to get the legs moving before the World Cups. I walked away with 2 Top Tens, happy with my performances.  Both Grant and Ruby dusted off the cobwebs and dialed in their bikes just a wee bit more.

Moving into the Iowa City World Cup I didn’t know quite what to expect. What I do know is we as North Americans have to take advantage of having World Cups on home turf. We have to take advantage of the Europeans feeling displaced, jet-lagged, and “off” for a change.

Grant started the weekend on Friday night in the C2, finishing top North American in 6^th, gaining valuable UCI points and working his way towards the podium - two of his goals for the season. Ruby fought hard during the World Cup, burying herself deeper than she’s ever dug, and finished with a World Cup personal best in 19^th, a small peek into what we know she’s capable of.

Myself? I found myself right back where I left off in 2014 pre-hip pain, pre-hip surgeries: smashing the pedals, finding the only thing holding me back is my lungs and my heart and NOT my physical body causing me pain. It’s been a long time since I can say my physical self wasn’t the limiting factor, and my future is bright. The C1 left us all hungry for more. More focus, more training, and more racing.

The Waterloo World Cup gave both Ruby and myself a shot at another battle.  Finishing just outside the top ten in Iowa left me craving entry to that inner circle.  The last time I finished top ten in a North American World Cup was 2016 in Vegas. Ruby was looking to build on her success from Iowa, and both of us where stoked to wake up Sunday morning to a river of water flowing down the street of our host house. Two inches of rain later and the Waterloo course looked more like a European CX race than a North American one in September, giving me flashbacks of Nationals in Louisville. I don’t think I’ve ever been so muddy in my life as I was after that World Cup and I live in the PNW. From soup to peanut butter, we saw all kinds mud out there. Puddles that splashed up your legs drenching your chamois, mud flinging into your eyeballs, blinding you for a few seconds. 

If you didn’t make a mistake this race, you weren’t racing hard enough. Every single racer out there slid, fumbled, and crawled their way through the race while trying to remain smooth whenever possible. The first lap I watched Jolanda Neff try to ride the steep off-camber only to find herself on the ground pretty quickly.  When some of the best bike handlers out there are struggling to keep it upright in these conditions, you know the conditions are challenging. The name of the game was “hopefully you brought your running legs today.” Mine showed up for about half the race, meanwhile I learned little Ruby is a RUNNER!  She showed up to the World Cup’s with a goal to podium in the U23 field. On Sunday in Waterloo she stomped that by finishing 2^nd U23 women, topping her best WC result in Iowa, rolling in just behind me (I finished another 11^th).

While I might have come up 1 spot short of my goal in Waterloo, I finished the race with jello legs, and was ecstatic for Ruby to stand on the U23 World Cup podium. To be there as she checked off one of her season goals nearly brought tears to my eyes and helped confirm that all the hours and hard work I put in to run this program is worth it. To be there and watch a young athlete develop into the skillful and talented rider I know they’re capable of can’t compare to any joy that my own success can bring. Am I beyond happy with my results from the last 3 weekends of racing? Absolutely! I see not only growth happening in the young athletes on the team, but also within myself.

Growth happens at any age, any skill level, and any depth of sport. The minute you fight that is the day you’ll stop growing. I’m always looking to develop myself, to learn, to continue my own personal growth within racing, and these young kids I know will be there to help me. 

 As a team we're looking towards the next block of racing in October and November. Grant looks to race in his hometown in Boulder, hoping to stand on the podium in front of a hometown crowd. We all look towards the next big C1 at the end of the month. Ruby is hoping to defend her U23 National Champion jersey, and all of us will fight at Continental Championships mid-November where the last three years I’ve finished 4^th - the podium is calling my name. Until then, we have a lot training, resting, and focusing to do. 

Words: Courtenay McFadden

Photos: Drew Coleman and Bruce Buckley

When I tell people about the sport of cyclocross, they usually give me a funny look, and say “that sounds intense,” my response consists of “it is.” Add in the fact that I also run a professional cyclocross team and I can see the wheels spinning in their heads.

Historically, I've always run my own independent program but last year we formed a team, which I co-ran with another athlete. This year, I took the project on myself. This meant signing two young athletes whose ambitions run high.  I spent most of spring and summer getting the team organized and running team camp at my house; all while training and focusing on my own racing!  But here’s the secret - I wouldn’t have it any other way. This has become my baby, and while at times I feel somewhat like a Team Mom™, watching the other riders have their own success is far more rewarding than my own successes! Watching the mechanics work seamlessly together and seeing how cohesive the team is puts a BIG smile on my face. Racing can be rewarding but watching a project unfold just as you imagined far exceeds any rewards racing has given me thus far. 

As a team, we planned our Fall UCI schedule with big eyes on the first block of racing. When mapping out a UCI calendar, I find it best to look at the season in blocks - it helps keep your head on straight and body moving forward. For those aware of the UCI calendar in North America, you know it starts a-swinging with 2 C1 races and 2 World Cups, all packed into three weeks of racing.  All of us had our own goals to accomplish and while we may have come up a bit short on some of those goals, I would say we all happily walked away from the 3 weeks of racing. 

The past two years I’ve struggled coming into the season after my hip surgeries so this year was all about moving forward and putting those behind me. This year was about a new me, and I feel like a new athlete, a new person on the race course.  After a summer of mountain bike racing, vacations, and training, I was itching to race. The first weekend was a good one to get the legs moving before the World Cups. I walked away with 2 Top Tens, happy with my performances.  Both Grant and Ruby dusted off the cobwebs and dialed in their bikes just a wee bit more.

Moving into the Iowa City World Cup I didn’t know quite what to expect. What I do know is we as North Americans have to take advantage of having World Cups on home turf. We have to take advantage of the Europeans feeling displaced, jet-lagged, and “off” for a change.

Grant started the weekend on Friday night in the C2, finishing top North American in 6^th, gaining valuable UCI points and working his way towards the podium - two of his goals for the season. Ruby fought hard during the World Cup, burying herself deeper than she’s ever dug, and finished with a World Cup personal best in 19^th, a small peek into what we know she’s capable of.

Myself? I found myself right back where I left off in 2014 pre-hip pain, pre-hip surgeries: smashing the pedals, finding the only thing holding me back is my lungs and my heart and NOT my physical body causing me pain. It’s been a long time since I can say my physical self wasn’t the limiting factor, and my future is bright. The C1 left us all hungry for more. More focus, more training, and more racing.

The Waterloo World Cup gave both Ruby and myself a shot at another battle.  Finishing just outside the top ten in Iowa left me craving entry to that inner circle.  The last time I finished top ten in a North American World Cup was 2016 in Vegas. Ruby was looking to build on her success from Iowa, and both of us where stoked to wake up Sunday morning to a river of water flowing down the street of our host house. Two inches of rain later and the Waterloo course looked more like a European CX race than a North American one in September, giving me flashbacks of Nationals in Louisville. I don’t think I’ve ever been so muddy in my life as I was after that World Cup and I live in the PNW. From soup to peanut butter, we saw all kinds mud out there. Puddles that splashed up your legs drenching your chamois, mud flinging into your eyeballs, blinding you for a few seconds. 

If you didn’t make a mistake this race, you weren’t racing hard enough. Every single racer out there slid, fumbled, and crawled their way through the race while trying to remain smooth whenever possible. The first lap I watched Jolanda Neff try to ride the steep off-camber only to find herself on the ground pretty quickly.  When some of the best bike handlers out there are struggling to keep it upright in these conditions, you know the conditions are challenging. The name of the game was “hopefully you brought your running legs today.” Mine showed up for about half the race, meanwhile I learned little Ruby is a RUNNER!  She showed up to the World Cup’s with a goal to podium in the U23 field. On Sunday in Waterloo she stomped that by finishing 2^nd U23 women, topping her best WC result in Iowa, rolling in just behind me (I finished another 11^th).

While I might have come up 1 spot short of my goal in Waterloo, I finished the race with jello legs, and was ecstatic for Ruby to stand on the U23 World Cup podium. To be there as she checked off one of her season goals nearly brought tears to my eyes and helped confirm that all the hours and hard work I put in to run this program is worth it. To be there and watch a young athlete develop into the skillful and talented rider I know they’re capable of can’t compare to any joy that my own success can bring. Am I beyond happy with my results from the last 3 weekends of racing? Absolutely! I see not only growth happening in the young athletes on the team, but also within myself.

Growth happens at any age, any skill level, and any depth of sport. The minute you fight that is the day you’ll stop growing. I’m always looking to develop myself, to learn, to continue my own personal growth within racing, and these young kids I know will be there to help me. 

 As a team we're looking towards the next block of racing in October and November. Grant looks to race in his hometown in Boulder, hoping to stand on the podium in front of a hometown crowd. We all look towards the next big C1 at the end of the month. Ruby is hoping to defend her U23 National Champion jersey, and all of us will fight at Continental Championships mid-November where the last three years I’ve finished 4^th - the podium is calling my name. Until then, we have a lot training, resting, and focusing to do.