I started 2023 with aspirations of building my race experience and skills to qualify for the 2024 XCM World Championship at Snowshoe, WV. Never did I imagine that I’d have the opportunity to race at the 2023 XCM World Championship in Glentress, Scotland… or for that matter, the Pan American XCM Championship in Colombia.

By the numbers:

In 2023, I raced in three continents and nine states.

I drove 6,930 miles and made four round-trip flights for races.

I competed in six disciplines: two stage races, seven cross-country olympic races, three short-track races, two gravel events, eight cross-country marathon races, one cyclocross race, and five enduro races. 29 events in total.

Fourteen people helped take care of Kweli while I traveled.

I spent a cumulative 78 days traveling for races and rode more than 730 hours, 5,600 miles, and 547,000 feet of climbing over the course of the year.

I won seven races across three disciplines (XCM, XCO, & Enduro) and raced in one State Championship, two National Championships, one Pan-American Championship, and one World Championship this year.

Highlights & Lowlights:

Progress is not linear, and this, more than anything else, seems to be the theme of my 2023 race season. While in many ways, I had a standout season, with some massive wins & accomplishments, I also crashed harder and more frequently than ever before. I ripped my knee open to the tendons twice in six weeks, sprained ribs and wrists, dislocated fingers, and bruised all the things.

My foray into enduro this season was accompanied by repeated exercises in overcoming fear while learning new skills and pushing the edges of my ability and confidence. At the same time, I have fallen in love with the format: of riding with all of my friends between stages, then ripping downhill through the race stage as fast as possible, then regrouping at the bottom to ride together to the next stage. I’ve made new friends, challenged myself, and grown into a more well-rounded and confident rider–and even surprised myself with a win at Slatyfork Enduro mid-season!

I didn’t do as much singlespeed racing as I had originally hoped this season, but did at least try it a few times and found it to be just as hard as one might think–and twice as much fun! The simplicity of riding and racing singlespeed has an infectious quality to it that I found I really enjoy, though perhaps not quite as much as riding big bikes with friends. =D

The other new “discipline” I tried this year was stage racing. I eased into it with a two-day stage race at Uwharrie Forest in North Carolina in March, then went full-send at the Transylvania MTB Epic Stage Race in Pennsylvania in May. Though I was still mid-recovery from my first knee injury and not back up to full power, I had an absolute blast riding for five days through central Pennsylvania rocks with friends. There’s a reason that race is called #singletracksummercamp! Like enduro, stage racing is definitely something I want to do more of in the future!

On the XCM end of the spectrum, I am incredibly grateful for the amazing places that racing has taken me this year. From Arizona to Colombia to Scotland to West Virginia and everywhere in-between, I’ve had the opportunity to train and race on some absolutely stellar trails–and with the best riders in the world. The course for the XCM World Championship in Scotland stands out as a highlight of the season just in the beauty, diversity, and quality of the riding. Then, two months later, getting to race an XCM World Cup at Snowshoe, with friends on course to support and cheer me on, was equally fantastic.

That being said, the number one highlight of my season was a race that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do, and one I came into more exhausted than I have ever been. The XCO World Cup at Snowshoe came on the heels of both the XCM National Championship and the XCM World Cup, and, even at my best form, would be a course and a field to challenge me. Still, when I lined up and saw the hundreds of people lining the course to cheer me and the other racers on, I couldn’t help but be stoked to be there. Being the “local pro” in a race like the Snowshoe XCO World Cup is truly an experience that can’t be overstated. I could care less that I only rode 1.5 laps before getting pulled, or that I got hung up behind a crash at the start: I nailed a perfect run through the most technical sections of the course surrounded by the screams of all my homies. So rad.

Thank you

None of this would have been possible without the generosity of those fourteen people who helped with my pup while I traveled, the flexibility of Cardinal Bicycle, the mechanical prowess of Kyle (and others) who kept my bikes running flawlessly all year, and the many sponsors who supported me this season.

2023 Sponsors:
– Cardinal Bicycle
– Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge
– CarboRocket
– DeFeet
– Black Ox Sealant
– Spring Energy
– GoPro
– ESI Grips
– EverAthlete
– SaltStick
– Nittany Mountain Works
– Handup Gloves
– CrankBrothers
– Smith Optics
– Chamois Butt’r

Thank you too to the friends & family who supported & encouraged me this year. Your hugs, words of encouragement, and helping hands did not go unnoticed. I love you all.