Jr development mountain biking Archives

Getting to Know New TAMJD Rider Nathan LaGest

February 13th, 2025 by JoAnn Cranson

My name is Nathan LaGest. I live in Ortonville Michigan, I’m 15 years old, and a sophomore at Oxford High School. I enjoy school and I do well with over a 4.0 GPA. I have been in competitive cycling for 8 years and started because I was looking for a new sport after participating in motorcycle racing, soccer, and baseball. I love the sport, the fun technical features, the beautiful scenery, constantly pushing my limits, and being out in nature. I raced and rode as an independent rider in MiSCA for the first two years of cycling. I then joined the Lake Orion Dragon Cycling Team when I was in fifth grade which I have been on for 6 years. I raced JV 9-10 this past season, finishing fifth overall, and I plan to move up to Varsity in the coming season.

This will be my first year as a TAMJD rider. I joined because I wanted to grow and push myself as a racer as well as expand my cycling disciplines. This past season’s races were extremely successful and I improved drastically. This team will definitely help me to grow and expand on those successes. I have exclusively been mountain bike racing and I wanted to try new types of racing such as gravel and road.

This team will give me a great opportunity to expand into these types of racing and see what types of other cycling opportunities are out there. Some of my goals this year are to try new varieties of cycling and find some that I enjoy and hopefully perform well in. I also want to improve and grow in mountain bike races as well. I want to be a top 10 Varsity rider in the MiSCA race series and get a podium in Peak to Peak as well as a sub-two-hour time in the Iceman.

Some of my favorite places to ride are new and unique trails that are different from what you would normally ride on and push you out of your comfort zone a little bit. I loved all of the trails in Pisgah, North Carolina because they were so different and unique from where I had been in Michigan with lots of elevation and beautiful scenery.

The same goes for races as I just love new trails and terrain. My favorite race this year was the first MiSCA race which was Merrell Trail because it has a wide variety of fun and flowy stuff with some good climbs and an awesome mangy and rocky section called Sawtooth towards the end of each lap.

One of my favorite group rides I have done was going to Mohican with some of my friends on the Lake Orion team and riding the trail. I like it just because it’s a really fun trail with lots of elevation and some fun sections that get rocky and challenging.

One of my favorite things about cycling is that you can see all the work that you have put in throughout the season and see how it pays off. Also, I love how it is a great environment to really push yourself and see what areas you can improve on to change your weaknesses into your strengths. Lastly, I love being outdoors and getting to experience nature while getting in a good workout and having a good time. One of the
biggest things that I’ve learned about myself while racing is that goals that seem unfeasible or far away at the time are by no means impossible and that if you put in the work and do your best you can achieve whatever you set your mind to.

The only other sport I do outside of cycling is diving. I compete and train throughout the winter and I love it. It is really fun and you learn to push past your fears and limits as you improve over time. Last year as a freshman I received my Varsity letter and rookie of the year award and plan to make it into State Finals this coming year. I also participated in the school marching band for a year and had a great time.

In addition to sports, I am a member of the Oakwood Student Ministries youth group and have been involved in the program since I started middle school. Through this group, I have been able to go on missions trips to Chicago and Kentucky where I have had an amazing time helping others and sharing my faith.

I am really excited for this coming year as an athlete on TAMJD and I look forward to all of the opportunities and challenges that I will face and hope I will be able to push myself to new heights and achieve my goals.

Catching Up with New JD Rider – Donald Smith

February 23rd, 2024 by JoAnn Cranson

By: Donald Smith

Hello, my name is Donald Smith from Brighton, MI. I am 13 years old and am in 8th grade. I am currently homeschooled and go to a co-op for electives and other classes. I like homeschooling because it allows me the freedom to ride outside whenever I want. I live right across from Island Lake State Park, so I can ride there from my house. The addiction of cycling hit me when I was 5 years old and my dad had to constantly take me mountain biking, riding a short loop on blue over and over again. My dad has been riding forever and it is something we like to do together…and honestly, I did not enjoy playing other sports as much as I did cycling.

For the past three years I have been racing for the Wheels in Motion MiSCA team and took 2nd place this year in the Advance Middle School category. This will be my first year on TAMJD. As I was researching junior development teams last year, I thought TAMJD would be the best fit for me. This is because through MiSCA, I found that I knew many junior racers on TAMJD. The team is also local which means I can ride and train with them more often. Having a team to travel to races with locally and outside of Michigan appeals to me as well. I look forward to being on an organized team to help me continue to develop as a person both on and off the bike.

My favorite place to ride is in North Carolina when I go to visit my grandparents. The views are absolutely gorgeous at the top of a mountain. My favorite race is the Lumberjack 100. The people there are so nice and supportive. What I like best about racing is suffering with friends! The main new thing I look forward to this year is doing more national level races.

Since so many people have helped me to become the cyclist I am today, I try to give back to my community. This year I worked with the Poto chapter on several weekends to complete trail maintenance. For the last three years, I have volunteered as a coach for the Lexus Velodrome’s summer camps. I was able to help kids learn how to ride bikes. When the velodrome deflated in 2021, I worked for many hours breaking and shoveling ice off the dome so it could be reinflated. The inside of the dome was a mess, and I spent a day helping to repaint the track.

Track cycling gave me the opportunity to go to Track Nationals in 2021 and 2022. I took 5th overall in 2021 and 3rd overall in 2022. My mountain bike and cyclocross skills came in handy when there was a crash in front of me at the 2022 Track Nationals. I was able to bunny hop over a rider that was taken out in the crash. Track and road cycling have helped me to learn to ride safely in a group. I have not competed in many gravel races, but it is how I like to train when I cannot ride on trails. I do plan on racing in more gravel races this coming year. Cyclocross is probably my 2nd favorite discipline. I really enjoy all the features the courses include. Going over flyovers, barriers, and stairs makes the race interesting. Cyclocross is definitely not a boring sport.

Some of my race goals for 2024 are to complete the Lumberjack 100 in 8 hours and compete at the Varsity level for MiSCA. I like the longer distance for Varsity and will try to get at least one top 10. Another goal I have is to do more national level races like Englewood. I will also be training to place in the top 3 for the 9-14 Iceman this year.

The main thing I have learned about myself is that I like mountain biking best out of the other disciplines I have competed in (road, track, gravel, cyclocross). Riding in the woods is my favorite. I hope to compete in Mountain Bike Nationals this coming year. Participating in all the different cycling disciplines has helped me become a better overall cyclist.