Cycling Junior Development Archives - Team Athletic Mentors

The Year I Raced Everything, Everywhere

December 16th, 2024 by JoAnn Cranson

By: Katja Opfer

My second Iceman marks the end of my second year on TAMJD, and I have been taking some time to reflect on everything we accomplished this year. It seems like I raced practically every weekend from April to November, adding up to over thirty races in four different disciplines (mountain bike, gravel, cyclocross, and road).

My season started off strong at Barry Roubaix in April. After winning the 18-mile “Chiller” last year, I moved up to the 36-mile “Thriller” and won first overall female, setting a new course record in the process.

Englewood in mid-May was my first national-level race of the season, where I got to test my strength and skills against girls from all over the country. I had improved enough from last year to place fifth in both XCO and short track, my first national podiums.

These early-season successes reassured me that my winter training was paying off.

My biggest challenge this year was taking on the Marathon MTB National Championship in Auburn, Alabama in mid-June. I went into this race feeling confident about my preparation. The metabolic testing I had done with Athletic Mentors in the spring helped my coach and I determine my hydration and nutrition strategy for this race. The heat and humidity in Alabama had to be considered, but luckily for me, I was used to riding in similar conditions in Michigan. Many racers from out West were forced to DNF during this 40-mile race because they were not used to the high heat and humidity. My USWE pack allowed me to carry a large volume of Skratch mix so that I would not become dehydrated in the heat. Timing was everything; we meticulously planned how much water I needed to drink, and when I would drop my pack and get water bottles or ice socks from my parents at the feed stations. We also took the terrain into account. There were many sharp, loose rocks on the trail, which caused several of my competitors to get flats during the race. I erred on the side of caution by running inserts in my tires, and I carried CO2 and plug tools just in case. I also did not know that my category would be starting with several other women’s age groups, which meant I had to pass many women whom I wasn’t even racing against just to catch up to the other girls in my category.

Marathon Nationals was by far the toughest, most grueling race I’ve ever done. The pace was fast from the start, the weather was far from ideal, and the trail was extremely fatiguing. The last few miles seemed to stretch on forever; every time I glanced down at my Garmin, it seemed I hadn’t covered much distance at all. I had to use 100% of my effort and energy to make it across that finish line, winning my first National Championship in the 15-16 age group. Then I took a long and well-deserved nap! USA Cycling held a nice awards ceremony that evening, and after my podium I was surprised when Hannah Otto, a professional endurance cyclist from California who came in eighth in the Life Time Grand Prix this year, leaned over and congratulated me!

In mid-June, I had the opportunity to race at Tour of America’s Dairyland (ToAD) for the first time, a series of road criterium races in and around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I had only done a few crit races before at Waterford, and I really enjoyed spending the week in Milwaukee sharing a house with all my teammates. Since I was racing in cat 5, my team suggested I race up an age group in 17-18 so I would have more competition, and my coach helped me prepare for the challenge of five consecutive days of crit racing. I won the first race of the junior series in a sprint finish, but every race after that seemed to get more difficult. I lost multiple sprints, but still managed to hold on to the points lead. On the final day, I felt some pressure because I had to finish in front of the second-place girl in the points to win the overall series. The weather decided it had other plans for me and poured on us during my race. I was not used to having so little traction with slick, skinny tires on wet roads. On the final lap I took a turn too wide and slid all the way into the curb. (Turns out that crashing in the rain is not as bad as dry concrete, so the road rash was minimal.) I still managed to finish the race in sixth place, good for second in the overall series. The atmosphere at ToAD felt like a car race; watching the pros whizzing by and having announcers and cash prizes made the whole scene very exciting and professional.

We returned to Bear Creek in Pennsylvania for Mountain Bike Nationals in mid-July. My family had just moved across the state, which was pretty stressful, so I was a little nervous about my preparation for XCO and short track. During my practice I went over-the-bars in the hardest section of the course, which was a little disconcerting. XCO was as brutal as I remembered from the previous year, but I made an effort to save energy for the tech sections so I would feel more confident and less shaky. I was hoping for a top-10 finish, but my 24th starting position was far from ideal. I climbed up through the pack over the course of three laps and finished in 11th place—a little frustrated to be so close to my goal, but in retrospect I am happy with my result. The short track course was longer this year, which played well to my skill set, as it was more technical and had more climbing. I was thrilled to place 6th from a 26th starting position, only one step off the Nationals podium, competing against the very best girls in the country!

My training plan had me take a break in August after racing the Ore to Shore 48-mile Hard Rock for the first time, where I placed third overall on a really fun and beautiful course. I also loved spending some time in Marquette with my family and friends. Then I turned my focus to gravel, as I geared up for Gravel Nationals in Gering, Nebraska in early September. This was the furthest I have ever traveled for a race (15 hours over two days) and the landscape and terrain were very different from anywhere I’ve ever raced. The long drive was worth it, as I won my second national championship of the year on a fast-rolling 58-mile course.

This fall I had another great MiSCA season, riding with my new scholastic team, the Southwest Michigan ThunderCats, and securing my second Varsity State Championship. Our team is very young, and I really enjoyed mentoring the younger kids throughout the season while also exploring the trails around my new home.

I rounded out the season with a couple of fun Michigan cyclocross races and then set my sights on Iceman, where I was seeking redemption after a difficult race last year. This time I was able to hang on with the lead pack of pro women for almost the entire race, when I got dropped on one of the last climbs. I finished 11th, one spot better than last year and still just outside the top 10, but the field was much stronger than last year and I was racing multiple Life Time Grand Prix and international pros, so I am extremely proud of my result.

Finally, I am excited to share that earlier this fall I was offered and accepted a spot on the Donovan Racing National Team for 2025. I see this move as an important transition to support my goals of racing at the national level, and I am really excited to start this next chapter in my cycling career. I am happy to continue working with Athletic Mentors’ coach Terry Ritter and will be able to maintain my relationship with TAMJD. I am extremely grateful for all the opportunities and experience I have gained over the past two years on TAMJD, and while this move is bittersweet, I cannot wait to see where the next year takes me!

Adjusting Expectations: Katja’s First Season with TAMJD

December 27th, 2023 by JoAnn Cranson

By:Katja Opfer

My first season on TAMJD got off to a bit of a rough start when I broke my thumb at my high school ski team’s training camp in early January. While my ski racing season ended before it even began, this meant that I had a lot of time to train and build up base miles in Zwift. Breaking my thumb reinforced my belief that everything happens for a reason, because having all that time to train set me up well going into the cycling season and it paid off. My fitness was better than ever before and I had a great time at the team’s spring training camp in North Carolina, where I got to do some amazing rides. I also had the opportunity to participate in V02 testing at Athletic Mentors headquarters with some of my teammates, which was a great learning experience.

Barry-Roubaix Race

Going into the first race of the season, Barry Roubaix (18-mile), I had fairly low expectations for myself since it was my first gravel race. To my surprise, I won first overall female and set a new female course record on the way to helping TAMJD win the team competition for the third year in a row! My success in this race opened up the world of gravel racing to me and I went on to place second overall female in the Cowpie Classic Short Haul (36-mile) and also won overall female at De Ronde Van Grampian (25-mile). I had never done any gravel riding before this year, but it became an essential part of my training every week and provided something different to change it up.

A lot of my training and preparation this season was focused on the Mountain Bike National Championships in Bear Creek, Pennsylvania. This was my chance to see how I stacked up against girls my age from all over the country. The course was super intimidating with more rocks than I had ever seen on a mountain bike trail in my life, and some pretty nerve-wracking features to tackle. With my limited experience on techy terrain, plus being one of only a few racers on a hardtail, I felt like I was thrown into the deep end. I spent many hours practicing on the course and built up my confidence a ton by the day of the XC race. My result of 28th out of 74 proved to myself that I could compete against these incredibly fast girls and gave me some ideas of what my goals should be for next year.

My last race before MiSCA season was the Ore 2 Shore Soft Rock, which was one of the most fun and challenging races I did all year. The 28-mile course located in the U.P. was beautiful and had a fair amount of long climbs and fun descents on many types of terrain. This race was very competitive, and I really left everything I had out on the course with a sprint finish to win first place overall female. This win was a big achievement for me given that it was such a close race.

MiSCA season felt a lot different this year because I went from only racing the 6 MiSCA races last year to doing over 20 races this year. Winning all 6 races as a sophomore in my first Varsity season, after sweeping JV last year as a freshman, was pretty unreal. This year MiSCA was really about the atmosphere and the friendships. It’s not very common that you are friends with all your competitors. Even though we are on different scholastic teams, many of us are on TAMJD together and we invited the other Varsity girls to hang out with us after the races too. This dynamic made the races a lot more enjoyable because I was cheering on my friends and teammates.

Iceman Race

My last race of the season was the Iceman Cometh Challenge in Traverse City. Being the indecisive person that I am, I waited until practically the last minute to switch to the Pro category. After careful consideration of my season so far, and placing 2nd overall in Pro women at Peak 2 Peak two weeks before, I decided to switch to Pro at Iceman. Even though it was my first time racing Iceman, I felt confident that I could race in the Pro category after pre-riding the course. I had a great start but unfortunately I was involved in a crash around mile 4, which most likely took me out of the running for top ten. I gave everything I had to bridge up to the lead group, but couldn’t stay with them and got dropped halfway through the race. I was still able to finish 12th in a stacked field of 26 Pro women. I saw this race as a chance to prove myself and was really frustrated that it didn’t work out the way I wanted, but what can you do? I’ll be back next year, that’s for sure.

In summary, I view my first year beyond the horizons of MiSCA to have been very successful. Having a structured training plan provided by my Athletic Mentors coach Terry Ritter definitely helped me train productively to accomplish my goals. Next year I am setting my sights on more national-level races, possibly including gravel and marathon Nationals, and hopefully I can break into the top 20 at MTB Nationals. I also plan on doing some longer gravel and MTB endurance races after doing so well in the shorter versions, including Barry Roubaix, Cowpie, and Ore 2 Shore. I am excited for my second year with TAMJD and am looking forward to all the racing in 2024!

Catching up with Team Athletic Mentors Cycling Junior Development

November 2nd, 2023 by JoAnn Cranson

An interview with program director: Terry Ritter

What were some highlights of year four for the program?

We were able to win a number of local road races in the Elite class, on both the west and the east side of the state (Waterford and Grattan), with multiple juniors. 3 of them did the 2022 Iceman in the PRO class, with Jonathan Meyer getting 13th overall. Jon also raced in his first PRO criterium field at Tour of America’s Dairyland (ToAD). Charlotte raced up a junior class at ToAD and took 2nd in the 17-18 field for the 5 day omnium. Jack Kozlowski took 3rd in his Cat. 4 omnium as well. We also took a few wins in the Elite field for a couple of gravel events in Michigan, and had a few of our juniors score top 10 overalls. Katja Opfer (10th grade) won the MiSCA Varsity girls series, netting all 6 wins, while Charlotte Rosinski (10th) was 2nd and Lauren Schultz (12th) was 3rd in the series. James Meyer (11th grade) won a race and finished 2nd in the MiSCA Varsity boys series. And we had a split squad for Barry Roubaix, with 8 of our kids doing the Fayetteville USAC MTB National. The remaining 2 boys and 5 girls were able to win the team competition at Barry for a 3rd straight year and win the boys and girls overall. We also won the 15-18 Junior State Cyclocross Championships with Eli and Charlotte. Finally, Jonathan got 17th overall in the Hard Rock, 48 miler at Ore to Shore while Katja won the overall at the Short Rock event

How was this year’s team ambitions different from last seasons?

This was the first year we graduated a significant group from the program as September came, as we had 5 seniors in our 15 riders. Watching them progress from just a few years ago (and one of them from 4 years ago) was rewarding to see. This older group helped set the tone and we attended 2 National MTB USAC events as well as USAC MTB National Championships in PA. We also took 9 kids to ToAD, which was awesome. The seniors took a lot more responsibility in some areas which is part of what they experience on TAMJD. They left a good expectation for the younger riders.

Any news on the success of TAMJD alumni?

Three of our seniors, Jonathan, Hunter Post and Spencer Blaz, got cycling scholarships and are attending Fort Lewis College in CO, Kings College in TN and Lees McRae in NC, respectively. Elizabeth DeFauw, a past rider of ours, went to Bissell and is attending Marion College in IN this season. The fact they are competing in MTB and road while at school makes us all proud in the program. But the big news was Kellen Caldwell, who graduated from TAMJD 3 years ago, winning the College National Road Championships! I coached him the whole year until his performance there and a 5th at Green Mountain Stage Race caught the attention of a national level development team. Kellen is chasing his dream of being a General Classification rider for a professional team someday.

What are some changes you plan to implement for the coming season?

This off season we plan to have a monthly ZOOM meeting with the parents/kids to share some important information about various topics, like nutrition and sports psychology. We feel this will help the riders prepare for more success in 2024 and also keep them engaged throughout the downtime. We are also going to do some VO2 testing on most of the same subjects from last year this winter to see what growth they have made and get a better grasp regarding changes seen with the junior physiology. We are always tweaking the coaching offering and will also get a more detailed schedule for the season out that will help parent’s plan and also allow more group rides, which the kids enjoy. We’ll also be looking at maybe doing MTB Marathon Nationals and Gravel Nationals.

If you could dispel one myth about the program, what would it be?

Many coaches that I talk to from MiSCA teams feel our success at TAMJD is due to all our kids training together. That’s an important part when it happens, but is also pretty rare. The fact they are offered personal coaching through Athletic Mentors, which most take advantage of, is really where the secret sauce is, I’d say. The other thing is that we set a bar and do our best to keep the kids on task so that they can learn about meeting expectations they agree to. All of this is wrapped in an environment where we get them to feel comfortable trying new things in cycling (road, gravel, CX), and that keeps it fun and gives us more options as a team. Many people within MiSCA are surprised at how well our kids do on things other than MTB racing.

What are you most proud of looking back on the past four years?

We’ve had juniors here and there that we’ve worked with in TAM for a long time, but putting together a dedicated junior development program has been a challenge. MiSCA changed that by offering a lot of young MTBers, but we still had to work to do what we felt would make them most successful and also keep it fun. That was selling the values of personal coaching and trying different cycling disciplines. Both of those things have shown to be very beneficial for the kids goals and their enjoyment. To see that you’ve provided them with an opportunity no one else has makes management feel all the work we dedicate to the program is worth it.