Beau Guenther Wins a JAM Grant

Vermont Teen Inspired by Tour is Awarded JAM Fund Grant

Beau Guenther started riding a bike when he was six years old while growing up in Putney, Vermont.

“I got obsessed with it after I watched the Tour de France with my friend Darius Parker,” Guenther said. “From then on I looked for a small road bike that I could race and ride.”

Now 12, Guenther is certain about his future.

“I want to be a professional cyclocross racer,” he said. “I want to race for Jeremy Powers’ team.”

Guenther is one of 13 dedicated cyclists who are receiving a JAM Fund Grant award—financial or equipment assistance to help defray the expenses related to competitive cyclocross.

“I’m very happy about the grant,” he said. “I race as hard as I could basically, and that’s why I think I got it.”

Beau Guenther sports his Tour de France team kit that he got as a birthday present in June.

Guenther started racing when he was eight. His first cross race was local event by the West Hill Bike Shop.

“It was quite awesome, one of the funnest races I’ve ever done,” he said. “I got the Vermont State Championship and that was my first medal. There were 20 people in my race. It’s pretty fun. You go through a bunch of cornfields and gnarly run ups and crazy barriers and obstacles.”

His other favorite races are the Northampton Cycle-Smart International and Providence KMC. This fall, he plans to do those again and more.

“I want to do some night races like the Night Weasels and Fitchburg.”

Guenther is in the 7th grade at Putney Central School. He’s learning science and studying genetics about the characteristics and traits of ancestors. After class, he often rides bikes with his friends Darius Parker and Liza Bell.

“I ride a few times a week with my core group of riding friends Darious, Liza and a couple other kids,” he said. “We do a 20-mile ride every Wednesday with this guy who leads it.”

Guenther races for the West Hill Thunderbolts, a team made up of young kids like himself.

“Our team helped put on a mountain bike race last summer called the Cider House Classic, which goes around the Putney High School campus,” he said. “I helped make the course.”

In addition to being a little ripper on the bike, Guenther is serious about cross-country skiing.

“This winter, I raced 4 and 5k classic and skate all over the place in the White Mountains,” he said. “I’m pretty hard core into it. Sometimes when the snow gets hard and icy, I go out in the field and ride around on it on my mountain bike.”

Guenther also likes to play around on the skateboard and ride BMX.  He played trombone when he was in 4th grade.

“I played it for two years and kinda stopped,” he said. “It’s a little heavy.”

But of all his hobbies, he says cross is the best.

“Cyclocross is my favorite because it’s a mix of mountain biking and road and you’re riding on dirt and roots and harder obstacles and stuff,” he said.

Guenther’s dad rides cross too and supports his son’s passion.

“It’s great and I think he has realistic view of it,” Pete Guenther said. “It keeps him on a bike and off the couch and keeps him fast. If he becomes a pro cyclocross racer, that would be great. I’ll go cheer for him and even be his team mechanic.”

Beau is excited for the fall cross season to start.

“I’m just going to do as many races as I can and place well so I’m more noticed,” he said. “Also the JAM Fund will be good thing for that.”

Beau Guenther catching air while playing around on his cross bike in France. Photo by Greg Guenther.

The grant that Beau Guenther received is largely funded by the JAM Fund's biggest fundraiser, the Grand Fundo, a one-day scenic ride through Western Massachusetts. This year's ride is on July 16, where grant recipients will receive their award. The public is invited to the ride the Grand Fundo and attend the post-ride barbecue and awards ceremony. Registration is at bikereg.com.

A list of current and past JAM Fund grant winners is at http://www.jamcycling.org/grant-recipients/.

Erik Carlson Wins a JAM Grant

Rhode Island Teen is Selected for JAM Fund Grant Award

Above photo by Alice Johannen

Erik Carlson dreams of becoming a rocket scientist. This summer, the 17 year old from Greenwich, Rhode Island started basic training at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs where he will study aerospace engineering. As part of his acceptance into the Academy, Carlson is required to play a sport. But when he first applied, he wasn’t sure if the Academy would accept cyclocross.

“The Academy weighs your application on whether you played a sport in high school like football,” Carlson said. “It was in the middle of cross season, and I told them I really want to race cross. I want to make something more of bike riding. It is the best sport ever, and if it was going to jeopardize my entrance into the Academy, I said, heck with it.”

Fortunately, the Academy agreed to accept cyclocross as a sport. JAM Fund is pleased to help support Carlson’s passion by awarding him a JAM Fund Grant. He is one of 13 grant recipients to receive the award of financial or equipment assistance.

“This spring I applied to JAM Fund, and I got the grant, which is amazing,” he said.

Carlson started riding bicycles when he was 3 years old.

“Cycling was a family activity where we’d go out every weekend and ride around the pond by Big River Management Area,” he said. “I started riding every day three or four years ago.”

By the time he was in high school, he started racing mountain bikes, but he also played football and hockey.

“I was goalie and not as good as other goalies,” he said.

Erik Carlson played goalie for his high school hockey team, but gave it up for cycling.

Carlson competed in his first cyclocross race in winter 2014, as he was finishing his junior year in high school. But he didn’t have a cross bike.

“I went to my first race at the Battle of Burlingame and I was riding a 26” hardtail that I bought on Craigslist," he said. "And that was my do-everything bike."

And so, he rode the mountain bike at his first-ever cross race, the NBX of Cross.

“I hadn’t heard of cross before and didn’t know anyone, so I was getting into it blindly," he said. "I saw Matt, the owner of NBX, and he said I could race this on a mountain bike. I decided I was going to try it, and I loved it. It was the last race of the year, so I didn’t do any other cross races that season.”

Carlson raced in the men’s Category 4/5.

“It was a massive field with 100-some riders,” he said. “I was in the back of the pack, and it was my first time ever experiencing cross. I didn’t finish poorly, I got like 80th. It wasn’t anything to write home about, none of my results are, but I wanted to see what this sport was. When I do poorly at a race, it makes me more motivated, and I want to strive to be so much better at it.”

Last year, Carlson was at the NBX race again, and this time he noticed JAM Fund.

“I remember seeing the truck. It was my first time there,” he said. “And then I remember learning about Ellen Noble and realizing she rode for JAM Fund. And it clicked- oh wow, cyclocross in New England is huge.”

Carlson raced a lot last season and had hoped to go to Cyclocross National Championships in Asheville, North Carolina, but it was the same week as his midterm exams. So he watched the races on his laptop.

“I watched nationals while I was doing my AP Chemistry homework,” he said. “I watched a race and then went back to homework and then watched more of the race and back and forth it took me five hours to do my homework that night.”

Carlson took Advanced Placement Chemistry, Physics and Calculus at East Greenwich High School, where he graduated last month. He played football and hockey but gave up both of those sports for his real love, cycling.

Carlson is not only a rider but a cycling advocate. He helped start the New England High School Cycling Association at his school.

“I was the only student in my school who enjoyed mountain biking, and I wanted to see more juniors in mountain biking and cross,” he said. “My biology teacher Christopher Wren was a mountain biker who got me into mountain biking, and he and I held assemblies and showed kids in the high school what mountain biking is. We got about 20 kids in our school to sign up for the league. And sometimes I had to talk to their parents and tell them it’s not as dangerous as you think. My biggest contribution was that I was able to get kids out on bikes who would not normally give it a try.”

The grant that Carlson received is largely funded by supporters and the JAM Fund’s biggest fundraiser, the Grand Fundo, which is a one-day scenic ride in Western Massachusetts. This year’s ride is on July 16, where grant recipients will find out details of their award. The public is invited to join the Grand Fundo and attend the post-ride barbecue and awards ceremony. Registration is at bikereg.com. 

A full list of current and past JAM Fund grant winners is at http://www.jamcycling.org/grant-recipients/.

Jaden Wise Wins a JAM Grant

Belchertown teen is awarded JAM Fund Grant to support his cyclocross racing

Above photo: Jaden Wise lines up at the start of the NEXC Bar Finals in Fitchburg, Mass. on 11/29/15, where he got 3rd in the junior boys 12-14.

Jaden Wise wants to be a pro cyclist. The 12 year old from Belchertown, Massachusetts is certainly on the right path. He started riding bikes four years ago and began racing cyclocross soon afterward.

“I went to the races with my dad and I saw the juniors racing and what fun they were having, and I wanted to do it too,” he said.

Wise races for the Northampton Cycling Club, and last year he competed in 14 cross events. While watching his dad Greg race at Providence, Wise met JAM Fund Coach Alec Donahue.

“Al said I could send a letter and apply for a grant,” Wise said. “He said that once I’m older that might turn into a spot on the team.”

So Wise applied for a grant, and this year he got it. Wise is one of 13 grant recipients to receive the JAM Fund Grant to help support their cyclocross racing.

“I’m going to use it on a new kit and for race fees,” Wise said.

“I’m really excited about the grant and so proud of him,” said his mom Jessica. “So much of cycling is teaching him about life, about how to work harder, be a team player and how to deal with defeat.”

Wise is dedicated to his training. When he gets home from school, he rides his trainer in the basement for an hour and a half or rides with his dad outside.

“We have trails in the backyard and I ride with him there to gain confidence on the barriers,” he said. “In winter, we zip around when he gets home from work.”

Wise also rides with his friend Michael.

“I’ll go over Michael’s house and we’ll do jumps in his backyard,” Wise said. “So I’ll go over after I ride the trainer.”

Jaden Wise on a leisurely mountain bike ride. Photo by Greg Wise.

Wise is in the 8th grade at Jabish Brook Middle School where he plays soccer on Mondays and Thursdays.

“I play midfield offense and defense,” he said. “There’s a lot of running and sometimes after I ride and have a game I’m tired, but I do it to get better at cross.”

Wise says his favorite sport is still cycling. His favorite race is the Grand Prix of Gloucester where he got 7th and 8th place in the junior 9-14.

“The start was hard to get into a good spot for the first turn,” he said. “I started in the second row and I was behind the leader. I followed him and had a good start. Some spots were steep, and you have to make sure you’re in the right gear and take the right line in the ruts or you’d slip and someone would catch up. I had a pretty clean race.”

Wise rides five days a week. This week, he was working on long miles on the trainer.

“I did two endurance rides this week of one to two hours at 18 mph, so that’s 150 watts for me,” he said.

On the weekends, Wise and his dad enjoy riding a two-hour loop through nearby towns.

“Every time we do it, seems we’re getting faster and faster,” he said. “It goes through South Hadley, Granby and Amherst. There’s a decent amount of hills. Best part is where you can go super fast down a hill. We’ll go 35 mph, and my dad will say I’ll meet you at the bottom, and we’ll sprint down and meet up again.”

And once in a while, he rides with his mom too.

“The reason I get on the bike is to maintain a relationship with my son,” Jessica Wise said. “Some of my favorite time with Jaden is when I’m on the bike.”

Jaden Wise hopes to be successful like his favorite three pro riders.

“Jeremy Powers, Stephen Hyde and Scott Smith… those are the guys I look up to,” he said.

Jaden’s mom is smitten.

“Cycling has connected him with a lot of positive peers,” she said. “There is a fire he displays when he is on the bike that he doesn’t display with other things. But he’s humble. He’s not a kid to brag. He didn’t even tell his friend Michael that he won the JAM Grant.”

Wise will formally receive his JAM Fund Grant on July 16 at the non-profit organization’s biggest fundraiser, the Grand Fundo, a scenic bike ride through Western Massachusetts. The public is invited to ride the Fundo and attend the post-ride barbecue and awards ceremony. Registration is at bikereg.com.

A full list of current and past JAM Fund grant winners is at http://www.jamcycling.org/grant-recipients/.

For media inquiries, contact Vicky Sama, JAM Fund Media Coordinator at (707) 362-1420.

Katherine Johnson Wins a JAM Grant

Katherine Johnson, 14, of Kittery, Maine tootled around on a bicycle as a little kid, but it wasn’t until a year ago that she really fell in love with cycling. She started riding mountain bikes in May 2015 and by last October she competed in her first cyclocross race at Orchard Cross in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire.

“It’s super cool and they put on such a great race,” she said. “There were so many people. The race goes through the apple orchard and the apples fall on you and good friends throw apples at you. It’s so much fun.”

Although she’s new to cyclocross, Johnson was selected this summer for a JAM Fund Grant. She is one of thirteen grant award winners who will receive financial or equipment assistance from the non-profit cycling development program.

“I’m over-the-moon-so-crazy thankful,” she said. “The JAM Fund is so cool that they recognize the younger generation’s passion for cycling and believe in us and are willing to help us out, because it’s certainly not easy to afford everything.”

Katherine Johnson jumps the barriers on a borrowed bike at Orchard Cross on Oct. 25, 2015.

This fall, Johnson will enter her sophomore year at Traip Academy, where classes start at 7:30 a.m.

“I get off school at 2:15, so I grab something to eat at the grocery store and head to work until 7,” she said. “I do homework before dinner, then ride the trainer for about an hour and take a shower. On a good day, I’d get to bed around 10:30, if I didn’t have too much homework.”

During the summer, Johnson is working four days a week as a sales associate at the Colonial Bicycle Company.

“Right now trying to learn more mechanics about bikes,” she said. “It’s not really my strong suit but I’m trying to learn more.”

Johnson is becoming more structured with her training and even got a coach.

“I’m working with Ellen Noble,” Johnson said. “She is really kind and so supportive, and I always looked up to her. She reached out one day and a few weeks later we met for coffee and a few weeks later she was my coach. We started working together about a month ago. It started slow, just getting base miles, and now we’re focusing on nutrition.”

Noble, the U23 National Cyclocross Champion and JAM Fund graduate, shares some similarities with Johnson. They’re both from Maine, worked with the same mechanic and are passionate about cross.

“I saw her race at my very first mountain bike race at Weeping Willow Kenda Cup,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know who she was at the time, but I thought, wow, she’s riding really fast. And then I saw her again at Bear Brook. We talked and she said we should meet up and she was really generous and gave me a lot of equipment. I told her I was looking for a coach and a couple of weeks later she offered, and I couldn’t say no.”

Johnson was in serious need of some guidance after breaking her femur in an April skiing accident at Cannon Mountain in Franconia—part of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

“I was skiing down with my friend and I caught an edge and that was that,” she said. “It was the last day and the last five minutes of ski season. But I am great now and back to normal. I’ve pretty much forgotten about it.”

Johnson had surgery the day after breaking her left femur. Doctors repaired the bone with a four-inch titanium plate and 12 screws. After a month of complete rest, she started riding the trainer.

“The first two weeks back on my bike, my leg was really swollen and I had to break up the scar tissue by riding the trainer outside,” she said. “I pedaled one side at a time and get the motion going. After a while I was able to clip in, and right now I’m working on rebuilding that muscle.”

Johnson is riding and doing well. She says she’ll be racing a full cross schedule this fall, with some mountain biking during the week.

“I’ll do the high school mountain bike league for a bit of fun and some cross training,” she said. “That’s about six mountain bike races and 20 cross races including nationals. I’m focused on getting my A-game back.”

Johnson turns 15 at the end of July. She hopes to get her Cat 3 upgrade this fall and finish strong at Cyclocross National Championships in Hartford, Connecticut in January.

“I would like to continue pursuing cycling and working hard and see where that takes me,” she said. “I want to go to college and fulfill my dream of living in the Vermont mountains. That’s my ideal place to live, where I can go skiing and riding all the time.”

The grant that Johnson received is largely funded by supporters and the JAM Fund’s biggest fundraiser, the Grand Fundo, a one-day scenic ride in Western Massachusetts. This year’s ride is on July 16, where grant recipients will find out details of their award. The public is invited to join the Grand Fundo ride and barbecue by registering at bikereg.com. 

For media inquiries, email JAM Fund Media Coordinator Vicky Sama at jamcycling@gmail.com.

Anna Savage Wins a JAM Grant

Westborough Teen is Awarded Grant to Support her Cyclocross Racing

Photo by Janice Checchio

Anna Savage of Westborough, Massachusetts is an active 15 year old. She plays volleyball and softball, does gymnastics, is member of the Girl Scouts and races cyclocross.

“My parents raced a lot when I was younger,” Savage said. “I learned to ride when I was little and started racing when I was eight.”

This month, Savage was awarded a JAM Fund Grant. She is one of 13 grant recipients who will receive financial or equipment assistance to help support them in racing cyclocross this year.

“My dad called me after I finished a final and told me that I won the grant,” she said.  “I didn’t believe it for the first half hour, and someone said it was on Facebook. I looked and saw my name, and then I knew it was true!”

She says her favorite cross race was last year’s Cycle-Smart International, where she won the Verge New England Cyclocross Series overall ranking for junior women 15 to 18 year olds.

“I just love that race and the Verge jersey,” she said. “It’s officially the first time I had it and it was cool. Ellen Noble had given me one of her Verge jerseys when I was younger, maybe my first year racing. I’ve known her for a while. Our dads went to high school together.”

Anna Savage with her mentor, U23 Cyclocross National Champion Ellen Noble at the Verge New England Cycle-Smart International in November 2015. 

When she first started racing in 2010, Savage raced on the same team as her dad, the Minutemen Road Club. But riding for a team named for men didn’t satisfy her. So she eventually did something about it.

“I made a team called Girls First to encourage girls to ride,” she said. “I raced with them for two years, and then one of the other girls won a national championship and I got an offer to join the Cannondale team. And now I’m here.”

Savage raced for Girls First p/b Milton Cat from 2012 to 2104. She joined Cannondale Sports New England last year and raced for it at Cyclocross National Championships in Asheville, North Carolina in January. She says the JAM Grant will help her achieve her goals this coming cross season.

“I’m going to do a lot more training this year than I’ve done in the past because I want to be competitive at nationals,” she said. “I’m also going to do all the Verge races this year and hopefully upgrade to Cat. 2.”

Savage is in the 10th grade at Westborough High School. This past year she took Honors Algebra, Honors Biology, English, History and Spanish.

“I got mostly A’s but foreign language and English I struggle a little bit,” she said.

All that, and she still manages to enjoy her favorite sport.

“What I like about cycling is I get to play with my friends,” she said.

The grant that Savage received is largely funded by supporters and the JAM Fund’s biggest fundraiser, the Grand Fundo, which is a one-day scenic ride in Western Massachusetts. This year’s ride is on July 16, where grant recipients will find out details of their award. The public is invited to join the Grand Fundo ride and barbecue by registering at bikereg.com. 

For media inquiries, email JAM Fund Media Coordinator Vicky Sama at jamcycling@gmail.com.

Jonathan Hills Wins a JAM Fund Grant

New Hampshire Teen Selected for Grant Award

Photo by Kent Baumgardt

Twelve-year-old Jonathan Hills grew up in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio watching Jeremy Powers race in the Cincy3 cyclocross events. Ever since he started racing cross when he was eight, Hills would compete in the junior races and then cheer on Powers, the U.S. Cyclocross National Champion and co-founder of JAM Fund. When Powers won the Pan Am Championships last November in Covington, Kentucky, Hills went to his tent.

“I asked him for an autograph, and he asked me how long I’d been racing,” Hills said. “I got an autograph and water bottle. He told me about JAM, and then I looked it up.”

Hills applied for a JAM Fund Grant, and this month he received word that he won. He is one of thirteen grant recipients who will receive financial or equipment assistance from the JAM Fund this year.

“I’m young and I’ve raced 50 races,” he said. “I love riding and competing in cross is fun.”

In November, Hills moved with his family to Westmoreland, New Hampshire. His mom Tiffanie, dad Peter and 9-year-old sister Alexis all race cyclocross. Hills says his favorite race was winning the 2014 Cap City Cross Finale in a combined field of juniors and women.

“I raced against my mom and beat her by a fair amount,” he said.

Hills keeps a busy race schedule. He competed in 15 cross races last year and then competed in his first Cyclocross Nationals in Asheville, North Carolina in January.

“I felt good and it was a hard race, “ he said. “I got 57th out of 74, and I learned a lot. The hardest part was the big run up. It was really steep.”

Hills will enter 7th grade at Westmoreland Middle School this fall. And like a well-prepared student, he has already planned his race calendar.

“I have 17 races scheduled but that might change if I need to rest or have other things going on,” he said. “I hope to have 15 races and finish in the top ten. I want to have fun and do well.”

The grant that Hills received is largely funded by supporters and the JAM Fund’s biggest fundraiser, the Grand Fundo, which is a one-day scenic ride in Western Massachusetts. This year’s ride is on July 16, where grant recipients will find out details of their award. The public is invited to join the Grand Fundo ride and barbecue by registering at bikereg.com. 

For media inquiries, contact JAM Fund Media Coordinator Vicky Sama at jamcycling@gmail.com.

Natalie Tapias: Dancing Ballet to Pedals

Story by Vicky Sama

Above Photo by Tim Willis

Natalie Tapias is racing the Longsjo Classic this weekend—three days of pro criteriums in three different cities in Massachusetts. She’ll be wearing the kit of her road team Velo Classic p/b Stans No Tubes, but starting this fall, Tapias will be racing for the JAM Fund's Elite Cyclocross Team.

“I was very excited to be selected for JAM," Tapias said. "This is crazy. The support network and people who give their time and people who live in that area seem really amazing.”

Tapias is moving from Brooklyn to Western Massachusetts to live, train and race with JAM.

“It’s going to be a way for me to change my life,” she said. “This will allow me to become the best cross racer I can and achieve things I could not do on my own. I’m a driven person and want to succeed."

Natalie Tapias racing in the Downtown White Plains Criterium on June 5. Photo by Nin Lei.

Tapias, 26, is a legal coordinator at CBS in New York, protecting the network from copyright and trademark infringements and sending out cease and desist letters. But there’s no stopping Tapias now. She’s determined to pursue her passion for cycling. She and her boyfriend Tim will move next month, and racing Longsjo gets her closer to the new digs.

“When I came to New York, I thought I would be passionate about my career, but cycling is what keeps me sane,” she said.

Tapias is racing in the pro fields, and it might be surprising to hear that her first long bike ride was only two years ago.

“April 2014 was my first real long ride,” she said. “I was so enthralled by the experience of riding through the city that I wasn’t looking on the ground. My boyfriend pointed out a beautiful theater that I had never seen before and I hit a pothole and flew over the handlebars. I skinned my shoulder and elbow. And you know what? I kept going. I got back on the bike and rode all the way from Brooklyn through Manhattan up to the George Washington Bridge, across into New Jersey and up to Piermont. Round trip it was about 50 to 60 miles. I was ‘all in’ immediately, and I started riding different distances over the bridge every weekend.”

Tapias was hooked on cycling, joined a club and started racing.

“I wanted to challenge myself and grow,” she said. “So I got a new road bike and road so much and started racing immediately. I did Tour of the Catskills and stage races and got tan lines and all new friends. It was amazing.”

By the end of that summer 2014, her teammates introduced her to cyclocross. She rented a cross bike and raced at Gloucester and Providence.

“Never before would I have taken myself riding in the rain and mud,” she said. “It was freezing and a new experience. It was so much fun, so I raced every weekend. I don’t think I had a weekend off.”

Last fall, Tapias raced cross in New England, California and Washington, D.C. She upgraded to Cat 2 in October and got her UCI license. Then she went to Cyclocross National Championships in Asheville in January.

“It was really eye opening,” she said. “On race day, the course was extremely technical and very different from what I had pre-ridden, so I was pulled at two laps. Katie Compton and Elle Anderson passed me. It was insane. I can’t believe I was going down that shoot! I went to nationals hoping I would have a great performance, but I didn’t have the best. But it was interesting to see that level and what I have to do to be a part of that race. It’s so great. Glad I went.”

A 14-year-old Natalie Tapias pictured as the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker at the Vancouver Dance Theater in December 2002.  

Tapias may not have a long history in cycling, but she has always been a serious athlete. She grew up as a ballet dancer in Vancouver, Washington. She started dancing when she was six. By the time she was 14, Tapias was traveling five hours from Vancouver to Portland six days a week for dance practice.

“I went Monday through Saturday for class at the Oregon Ballet Theater,” she said. “I would leave school early to rehearse with the pro ballet company. I loved dancing and music. There was something about the discipline that I was attracted to it.”

When she was 18, Tapias gave up ballet to attend the University of Washington in Seattle.

“It came to a point where there was a fork in the road,” she said. “There were women who were going to become professional dancers, and I wasn’t, so I refocused and went to college.”

During sophomore year, Tapias took her brother’s bike to campus, despite her mother’s concerns.

“She was uncomfortable with that and told me she didn’t want me to ride in the streets with cars,” Tapias said. “I was defiant. I took the bike anyway. I met a group of people who rode bikes and that was my first interaction with cycling.”

Tapias used the bike for commuting and road it casually. She graduated and moved to Brooklyn three years ago with a steel Brittoni that she bought from a neighbor for $50.

“My boyfriend fixed it up with cruiser bars and a nice saddle,” she said. “I brought that bike with me to New York. A year goes by and I don’t have much going on. Change is good, but nothing I’m doing was like ballet was for me. I lived and breathed that life and I didn’t have anything to fill that void. I’m a really stubborn person, I got to the point that whatever I did had to be my idea. I told my boyfriend I want to go on a 60-mile ride some day, so I trained for that.”

And hence, her maiden ride across the GW Bridge.

Now, Tapias is racing the road in preparation for her first cross season with the JAM Fund. She raced a series of criteriums at Speed Week in May and tonight she will be racing in the Twilight Criterium in Leonminster. Her race will be online live at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

“It’s been two years and I’ve traveled so much and I raced nationals with an Olympian,” she said. “I never thought I’d be expressing myself in this manner. Bikes change the world. They changed my life.”

You can ride bikes with JAM Fund’s new elite team rider Natalie Tapias and the rest of the JAM crew at the Grand Fundo on July 16 in Southampton, Massachusetts.

JAM Fund Announces Grant Recipients

THIRTEEN CYCLISTS WIN 2016 JAM FUND GRANT AWARD

The JAM Fund is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s JAM Fund Grants. Thirteen cyclists from Western Massachusetts and New England were selected to receive the annual grant award. JAM Fund provides the grants to developing riders who demonstrate a commitment to cycling through racing and serving the racing community. This year’s grants go to the following nine men and four women:

Erik Carlson, 17, of East Greenwich, Rhode Island

Patrick Collins, 21, of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

Mira Fowler, 13, of Florence, Massachusetts

Beau Guenther, 13, of Putney, Vermont

Jonathan Hills, 12, of Westmoreland, New Hampshire

Ben Jankowski, 20, of Mansfield, Massachusetts

Katherine Johnson, 14, of Kittery, Maine

Aiden Mapel, 14, of Southwick, Massachusetts

Chris Norvold, 17, of Berlin, Massachusetts

Anna Savage, 15, of Westborough, Massachusetts

Daniel Vaughn, 17, of Horseheads, New York

Kale Wenczel, 18, of Leverett, Massachusetts

Jaden Wise, 12, of Belchertown, Massachusetts

The grants provide financial and/or equipment assistance that best serves the goals of the recipient, and also includes mentoring by the members of the program. Riders are encouraged to join the Northampton Cycling Club (NCC) if they don’t currently have a supporting club. The NCC and JAM work collectively to develop riders. See more details here.

“The JAM Grant helped me out tremendously,” said Trent Blackburn, who received the grant last year. “I used a large part of it for race fees and to pay for my cycling license.”

Full details of the 2016 grants will be announced at the JAM Fund’s Grand Fundo on July 16 at Black Birch Vineyard in Southampton. Grant recipients will be present at the Grand Fundo, the organization’s biggest annual fundraiser, where hundreds of cyclists gather to ride bikes through the Pioneer Valley. Afterward, everyone celebrates the day with a scrumptious barbecue, raffle and the coveted grant awards presentation.

The JAM Fund was created in 2003 by U.S. National Cyclocross Champion Jeremy Powers, Coach Alec Donahue and Mukunda Feldman, good friends brought together with a passion for cycling. The JAM Fund helps young, motivated cyclists achieve success both on and off the bike.

Registration for the July 16 Grand Fundo is open now.

For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Vicky Sama, jamcycling@gmail.com

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Ian Gielar

Photo by Ted Anderton

On Sunday, Ian Gielar finished third in the pro XC race at the Pats Peak Mountain Bike Festival in Henniker, New Hampshire. The two-hour race was part of the Root 66 Series and a state championship event.

“I got a good start and went into the woods in 6th or 7th,” Gielar said. “It was a really tough course—a little slick with technical climbing and descending. I was super surprised with how consistent my lap times were. I felt strong and felt like I could save a little bit for the harder obstacles. The training that Al helps me with is paying off.”

Gielar, 23, is one of the newest members of the JAM Fund development team. He lives with his dad in rural Gilsum, New Hampshire and says there’s not much around. But the town is home to Badger Balm, the company that makes lip balm, sunscreen and insect repellant.

“It’s really desolate,” he said. “I don’t understand why they’re here. It’s in the woods, and they’re shipping all this stuff.”

In those woods, Gielar found mountain biking. When he was a senior in high school, his younger brother Cody showed him one of those Red Bull downhill videos.

“We thought it was so awesome,” he said. “We had bikes with knobby tires and we started riding them in the woods and thought that was like downhill. We would build jumps out of doors. It was free. It was fun. Looking back, it was pretty crazy to do it on a bike with flat pedals and no suspension.”

Gielar got serious about cycling when he entered college at Rochester Institute of Technology.

“I grew up in a low income family, so I couldn’t do much stuff,” Gielar said. “So when I got to college, so much opened up for me. I worked as a tutor so I could race.”

Gielar became president of the school’s cycling club and ran it for three years. But he needed a better bike than the one he had in high school.

“I got scholarships to college, some of them were small and they send you a check,” he said. “I figured I would need a campus bike, so I bought another mountain bike with the scholarship money, which was pretty awesome.”

Then he discovered cyclocross.

“There were kids on the RIT team into cross and they were pretty good Cat 2’s racing elite,” he said. “So I built up a cross bike and raced it on the road in the spring. I thought it was the best bang for my buck so I could race cross in the fall.”

Gielar raced road, cyclocross and mountain bikes for RIT. His first foray at a national championship came in 2013 at the Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships at Beech Mountain, North Carolina.

“I got eliminated,” he said. “I couldn’t come close to those guys. But the next year, I got 13th and this year I got top five.”

He competed in Collegiate Road and Cyclocross National Championships as well. But his collegiate racing days are over for now. In May, Gielar graduated from RIT with a B.S. in mechanical engineering.

Gielar’s passion for mountain biking grew in the summer 2011, after his father took him to a World Cup mountain bike race in Windham, New York.

“There were real racers, and it was cool,” he said. “And they said I should try racing. For some reason I was interested in cross-country, maybe because the Norco guys were cross-country racers. I thought it was cool under your own power you had to be fit and a good bike handler without taking lifts. It was kind of like a dream of mine to race the World Cup there some day”

And that dream soon came true. In August 2014, Gielar was selected to race with the U.S. National Team at the Windham World Cup.

“I had some good results in collegiate mountain bike nationals, so I petitioned to USA Cycling’s Mark Gullickson who puts together the off-road national team,” Gielar said. “And so you fill out this form and put results on there and hope for the best. And he emailed me right away and said he had a spot for Windham. So I raced it and got eaten alive.”

At the time, Gielar did not have a coach.

“I couldn’t possibly afford to pay someone, but I was really interested in training,” he said. “I would ask people what they did for training and was so confused because everyone did different things. As far as trying to figure it out, I just went as hard as I could all the time. It was kinda dumb. But now with Al at JAM, the time I put into cycling is way more effective.”

Last summer, Gielar was awarded a JAM Fund Grant.

“That was a huge help,” he said. “I was racing elite for cross and each weekend would be 100 dollars, so it was great to have that money.”

Gielar says he was interested in JAM ever since meeting the team three years ago.

“I was so interested in JAM ever since 2013 at the Cycle-Smart International where I saw Jeremy Durrin race, and he was on JAM,” Gielar said. “And it was cool to see all the stuff they were doing, and Jeremy Powers’ Behind the Barriers. I started talking to Al at races and he emailed me in July about the grant, and I was excited.”

Gielar raced last winter in Cycle-Smart International, Cobbs Hill, the NBX Grand Prix and Cross Nationals, but his early season riding was sidelined by illness.

“I was swimming with my dog and I woke up the next day and couldn’t walk, my leg was so painful,” he said. “I went to school because I had to and drove to Rochester. The campus medical center sent me to the hospital emergency room, and I ended up with some weird staff infection. It kept coming back. I had to spend two days in the hospital and they gave me IV antibiotics. But the antibiotics had a big effect on me. I had to take them for a couple months, and I was slower. They were able to treat it, but it effected my racing a lot. It wasn’t a good time.”

Gielar recovered enough to finish out cross season, but this year, he says he’s even more focused.

“I’m excited to switch to cross in August. I really enjoy cross racing. I’m pretty light and don’t make a ton of power, but I’m going to work on that and be as good as I can for cross this year.”

In May, Gielar was selected to the JAM Fund development team.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better for my level of racing,” he said. “It’s hard to find anything like this level of support. Being able to travel to races like Canada Cup, it’s cool to have people who are interested in the same thing and we ride the course together and I learn a lot from everybody.”

Gielar and Trent Blackburn are the two new additions to the JAM Fund development team this year. Chris Neisen and Case Butler are also on that squad. The elite team racers are Scott Smith, Jack Kisseberth, Rhys May and Natalie Tapias.

You can ride with all of the JAM Fund team members at the Grand Fundo on July 16.

For more information

contact Vicky Sama, JAM Media Coordinator

Rhys May Wins Marathon MTB Nationals

JAM Fund has a new national champion.

Just one month after joining the JAM Fund elite team, Rhys May won the Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships in the women's 19-29 category on Saturday. The 60-mile race in Columbia County, Georgia was even more of a challenge due to the 95-degree heat and sweltering humidity. May won the race in 6:06:29, beating the second place rider by sixteen minutes.

"It was a hot day so pacing was all-important, and dialing back after a hard start worked out well," May said. "I moved into first after about four hours of racing, and kept it together for another two hours to pull off the win in my category. It definitely didn't feel real until I had the jersey on, and I'm celebrating with an epic burrito."

Immediately after the race, May posted the following message on her Instagram:

"I destroyed myself racing some very badass ladies today, and I get to go home with this stripey shirt and I can't stop smiling."

May competed against defending 19-29 champion Elizabeth Lee, one of her longtime friends, who ended up in third place.

"I got to line up with my cyclocross friend of several years Elizabeth Lee, the defending 19-29 champ!" May said. "She's been racing with me since I was off the back of the cat 4 CX races."

19-29 Marathon Mountain Bike National Champion Rhys May and her friend Elizabeth Lee celebrate after their podium finishes on Saturday. 

Meet Rhys May

One of the newest members of the JAM Fund elite team will be racing at the Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships near Augusta, Georgia on Saturday. Rhys May was selected for the JAM Fund team last month, and since then, she’s been revving up for cross season by racing on her mountain bike.

“My goal is to make noticeable jumps in every area, which JAM will help me with,” she said. “I built up my athletic base and handling and know how to use equipment, but I can improve in all of those things.”

May made strides by racing a lot this past season. In January, she competed in just about every event she could at Cyclocross National Championships in Asheville. She finished fifth in the non-championship race despite flatting and pitting.

Rhys May (far right), on the podium at Cyclocross National Championships in the non-championship 23-34 race on January 5 in Ashevlle, North Carolina.

“I reached a level of cracked that I had never felt before,” she said. “I got on the podium in fifth, which I refer to as the bronzer-er medal.”

After that, she raced the singlespeed and industry races and the team relay, where her group came in sixth.

“It was really, really cool,” May said. “I got off that course and lined up for the next race. It was pretty crazy. I was so cracked to race in front of all those people. I was grinning the whole time.”

And finally, she tackled the seriously fun donut race.

“There’s debate as to who won that race,” she laughs.  “I ate six donuts and did four laps.”

May fell in love with cross six years ago while living in Athens, Georgia. She immediately started racing because she wasn’t afraid of a new challenge.

“It’s accessible. I wasn’t scared to show up not knowing anything,” she said. “I like doing laps. Even long laps. I like to plan attack spots, know the good places to put my butt on my rear tire and slide down a little bit. I have a lot to learn about race tactics, but I like the purity of everyone going hard the whole time.”

Her first steed was a steel singlespeed Univega.

“Someone gave me the bike for free and I took it to Sunshine Cycles and said, ‘Hey, these gears don’t work and it’s really heavy, can we remove them?’” she said. “It was when singlespeed was cool.”

So for the next two years, May commuted and raced on that bike. She moved from Athens to Atlanta and conducted a jewelry business out of Loose Nuts Cycles. In 2014, she started a grassroots cycling team named after the shop.

Rhys May in her former team kit during the Georgia CX Series on December 17, 2014. Photo by Ali Whittier.

“Our kits were camo and orange,” she said. “People would say they are ugly, and I’d say, ‘but you noticed us!’”

The team started out small with May and three guys.

“We were all Cat 3, and three of the four of us got state CX championship jerseys that year. We had a ridiculous amount of fun,” she said.

That same year, May met Cycle-Smart Coach Adam Myerson at the Athens Twilight Criterium. It was a chance encounter that changed her cycling career.

“I was excited to race my bike and get better at cyclocross,” she said.  “And Adam said, ‘you have all this passion and you don’t know what to do with it. You’re doing it wrong.’ And he set me off on this awesome path.”

So that summer in 2014, May went to the Cycle-Smart Cyclocross Camp in Southampton, Massachusetts, which also happens to be the area where she was born.

“I put cross camp and a plane ticket on a credit card and made it happen,” she said. “I got a big bag and told Delta that it was tradeshow display so that I could fly with my bike for $25.”

Last summer, May drove up to cross camp again. Only this time, she stayed longer and was invited to go for a ride with the JAM'ers.

“It was me, Ellen Noble, Jeremy Powers, Anthony Clark and Scott Smith, and I was like, wow, how do I stay out of everyone’s way,” May said. “We went to a crazy sand dunes place and rode a bunch of sand. And I was riding behind Ellen and watching her handle her bike, and that was really cool. And [Stephen] Hyde was on that ride, and I was bloody and bruised by the end of it. I did a move that Al refers to as a ‘turtle.’ I fell over in the sand with my feet still clipped in and couldn’t get back up, and I was sliding down a dune and Jeremy’s trying to train and I’m trying to wiggle on my back and get out of his way. I was like, oh boy. Here it goes.”

May, who is now 26, stands out in a crowd with her contagious smile, pixie dark hair and tattoos.

“I have tattoos of cogs from my left hip up to my shoulder blade. They’re all different sized cogs but all have the same number of teeth: 14, which is wrong. I was 20. I rode a fixed gear all the time. What did I know about the number of teeth on a cog back then? I just knew I loved bikes.”

Rhys May poses with some of the jewelry she makes out of metal. Photo by Forrest Aguar.

May is a medalsmith with talent that reflects her love of cycling. She designs and creates brass and silver jewelry and other items with bicycle themes. Her company is called Rhys May Jewelry.

“I made awards for the Georgia CX Series and Grant Park races and I make custom head badges,” she said. “Anthony [Clark] got me in touch with Squid Bikes, so I’m making badges for them of a squid roasting marshmallows and another one of a squid eating pizza and donuts. So those are my two worlds coming together.”

In April, May got an offer from JAM Fund asking her if she’d like to join the team and relocate from Georgia to Massachusetts.

“I got an email that said we have a spot open for you on JAM if you’re interested,” May said. “And I’m crying, jumping up and down, and of course I’m interested. They asked if I can make the move, and I said, see you soon!”

Rhys May finished third at the Canada Cup Series mountain bike race at Mt. Tremblant, Quebec on May 22. It was her first race representing the JAM Fund team.

Other new members of the JAM Fund Team include Natalie Tapias of Brooklyn, New York, who will join May on the elite team with Scott Smith and Jack Kisseberth. JAM also has two new members on its development team; Ian Gielar and Trent Blackburn will be racing alongside Chris Niesen and Case Butler who continue on the development team for a second year.

After competing at Mountain Bike Nationals this weekend, May will load up her 1997 teal-colored Volvo she has named Ingrid and move to Easthampton, home to the JAM Fund family of riders.

“I’m very mentally willing to work hard,” she said. “I’m weird. I like doing intervals. They looked at my numbers to know whether I’m physiologically able to keep up with what I want to do. I sort of passed the test.”

JAM Fund Announces 2016 Team Roster

New riders named to elite and development teams

JAM Fund is excited to name two new riders to its elite cyclocross team. Rhys May of Athens, Georgia and Natalie Tapias of Brooklyn, New York are relocating to Western Massachusetts to train and race for the JAM Fund.

May was born in JAM’s backyard in Northampton, Massachusetts but has lived in Georgia since she was ten. She started racing cross four years ago on a singlespeed steel Univega. Since then, she started her own small grassroots cycling team got a coach and drove around the country racing cross. She participated in Cycle-Smart Cyclocross Camp for the past two summers where she met JAM Fund members. Now she returns to her birthplace to race for the JAM Fund elite team.

“I got an email that said we have a spot open for you on JAM if you’re interested,” May said. “And I’m crying, jumping up and down, and of course I’m interested. They asked if I can make the move, and I said, see you soon!”

Tapias has a unique athletic history as a highly disciplined ballet dancer who made the switch to cycling two years ago. She fell in love with cross while watching Cross Vegas and raced almost every weekend this past season. She also races on the road and just competed at Speed Week, a series of pro criteriums in the Southeast, when JAM made her the offer to join the team.

“This will change my life,” Tapias said. “Being with JAM Fund will help me become the best cross racer I can be and achieve things I don’t think I could do on my own.”

JAM Fund Coach Al Donahue says May and Tapias show a lot of promise.

“Both of them are newer to elite racing and we are going to take a multi-year view on their progression,” Donahue said. “The main reason they were selected is the willingness to immerse themselves in the team environment. This means moving to Easthampton and expressing intentions of making CX their primary focus for the next two years. I would say these riders will give us an idea of how much of an environmental factor the program has on turning ambition into performance.”

May and Tapias join Scott Smith and Jack Kisseberth who continue to represent JAM’s elite squad. Three-time U.S. National Cyclocross Champion Ellen Noble, who raced for JAM for the past two years, has graduated to the pro ranks and will be racing along with four-time National Cyclocross Champion Jeremy Powers on his team, Aspire Racing.

JAM Fund is also adding two new riders to its development team. Trent Blackburn of Wilmington, North Carolina and Ian Gielar of Keene, New Hampshire are relocating to Western Massachusetts to train and compete in road and mountain bike races this summer. Blackburn and Gielar received JAM Fund Grants last year. Chris Niesen and Case Butler continue racing on the development squad for a second year with Niesen showing especially good improvement at Ontario, Canada’s Paris to Ancaster gravel road race last month.

In addition to the four new team members, JAM Fund has made a new partnership with Kask helmets for the 2016 cross season. JAM Fund continues its longtime partnership with the Northampton Cycling Club. Riders interested in joining future JAM Fund development teams are encouraged to join NCC and volunteer in its events.

“The idea is to have people race for the club first and then come race for JAM,” Donahue said.

JAM Fund is a non-profit cycling development program founded by Powers, Donahue and Mukunda Feldman. Their purpose is to create the next generation of cyclocross pros and good ambassadors of the sport. The organization’s biggest fundraiser is the Grand Fundo, a challenging scenic ride through the Pioneer Valley, on Saturday, July 16. Register for the event and ride your bike with the new JAM Fund cyclists, alumni and friends.

JAM Fund will have more in-depth profiles on the new riders out in the coming weeks.

Above: Natalie Tapias (courtesy Tim Willis); Rhys May; Trent Blackburn; and Ian Gielar (courtesy Alan Thomas).

Jammin' with Aiden Mapel

Story by Vicky Sama, JAM Fund Media Coordinator

Photo above courtesy Sergio Garabito Photography

It was a wet, fall afternoon when 13-year-old Aiden Mapel and JAM elite team rider Scott Smith rode their cyclocross bikes to Robinson State Park in Agwam, Massachusetts. Smith was riding slightly ahead and stopped to wait for Mapel where the trail turns a corner.

“I heard something and looked back and he’s lying in the woods with his bike somewhere else,” Smith said.  “And I was like, ‘Aiden, what are you doing?’”

“It was super slippery with the wet leaves covering the ground,” Mapel said. “I hit a root and I went into a tree. That was a short ride.”

Mapel scratched his face but was otherwise okay. He shook it off and the two rode to Smith’s parent’s house nearby.

“I was worried because his parents were busy and he fell on his face and I was thinking I’m going to be in so much trouble,” Smith said. “But his parents were really understanding and said, ‘Oh, it happens.’”

Despite that fall, Mapel knows how to handle his bike. He’s been riding since he was two years old. When he was three, he started racing BMX and is three-time state BMX champion in his age category. Four years ago he started racing cyclocross. Last year, he dropped BMX to focus on road and cross, and showed up on the start line at 26 races, winning Sucker Brook Cross and Keene Pumpkincross.

“He left BMX behind, as sad as that is,” said his dad Chris.

“But he had a successful cross season,” added his mom Cindy.

Last year, Mapel received a $250 grant from the JAM Fund.

“I used the money to buy a Giro helmet and for race fees,” he said.

Mapel is one of about 25 young cyclists who have received a grant since the JAM Fund started its grant awards program five years ago. His enthusiasm for the sport and his commitment to the cross community made him a shoe-in to win one.

“Aiden has been a part of the Northampton Cycling Club youth program, races BMX as well as cross and volunteers at club events,” said JAM Fund Co-Founder and Coach Al Donahue. “He and his dad have always helped out with events, which is really important in my eyes.”

Aiden Mapel at the Quabbin Reservoir on Sept. 20, 2015. Photo courtesy Turkey Hill Photography.

Mapel is in the 8th grade at Southwick Regional. On half-days, he rides his bike to school about three miles from home. During the spring, he runs with the track team, competing in the 100 and 200-meter sprints and long jump. In summer, he races his road bike and lifts weights at the gym. In the fall, he races cyclocross. In winter, he races skis in downhill and giant slalom. And in between, he volunteers at numerous events including leading the junior cyclocross clinics at Look Park. Oh, and he keeps up with his studies.

“Every day after school I’d come home and do homework,” Mapel said. “Usually around five when dad got home, we’d go on ride or ride rollers until it was dark.”

Now with more daylight, he runs and rides.

“I’ll run five days a week and sometimes Saturday, and ride my bike like three or four days,” he said.

“He’s young and shy but motivated to train, which is weird for a young kid to want to train so much,” Smith said. “When I was his age, I was riding around for fun not thinking about bike racing. If he sticks with this trajectory and having this much fun, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be riding for JAM in the future.”

Smith has become a mentor to Mapel. They live only a few miles apart in neighboring towns and have been on some fun rides together, like the time Smith invited Mapel to a hill climb challenge on Route 66—a playful inter-team competition between U23 Cyclocross National Champion Ellen Noble and JAM/NCC/Vittoria development team rider Chris Niesen. It was dubbed the Ellen v. Cheddar Hill Climb. And it was really cold and miserable.

“I invited him to come along and he didn’t have a rain jacket,” Smith said. “So I lent him one of mine. It was really cold and gross and raining, and he never complained once. He drove to the hill in the van and we hung out and watched the race and rode our bikes home.”

“This is the perfect example of how we want the program to create community,” Donahue said. “I know both Scott and Aiden get a lot out of riding together.”

Mapel’s goals this year are to improve his race fitness and compete at next January's Cross Nationals in Hartford, Connecticut, which is only 20 minutes from his house. He also plans to volunteer and ride the July 16 Grand Fundo. That’s where the JAM Fund will announce its next crop of grant recipients.

“We want to help out kids 10 to 16 years old who just love the sport and want to try races for fun,” Donahue said. “If they want to race and be a part of the community by volunteering at a few events, then that’s all they need to apply. More is expected from grant applicants 17 and up. From this group we are looking for a bigger commitment to training and volunteering with their primary focus on cross."

Cyclists aged 10 to 25 interested in a JAM Fund Grant may apply at http://www.jamcycling.org/what-is-a-jam-grant/.

And don’t forget to register for the July 16 Grand Fundo.

Noble Signs With Aspire Racing

Ellen Noble signed on with Aspire Racing, the cyclocross team owned by JAM Co-Founder and four-time U.S. National Cyclocross Champion Jeremy Powers. While racing for JAM/NCC/Vittoria this past season, Noble won the U23 National and Pan American Championships. She also won four UCI races, had 12 podium finishes and represented the United States at the World Championships in Zolder, Belgium, getting 6th place in the U23, the best placed American there. Read today's official announcement of Noble's move to the professional ranks.

The Silent B

Story by Vicky Sama, JAM Fund Media Coordinator

Above photo from 2015 Grand Fundo by Meg McMahon

Brad Huff stacks cement block after cement block to build a makeshift outdoor grill on the hillside of Black Birch Vineyards in Southampton, Massachusetts. His sun drenched farm boy muscles bulge from his cutoff t-shirt. He wears a bandana around his neck to wipe the sweat from his forehead before lifting a dozen more cinderblocks. It's not the kind of summer afternoon expected of a pro cyclist in the midst of race season.

"We put a 400-pound piece of metal on top," Huff says. "It's a lot of heavy lifting."

Huff is setting up for the JAM Fund's biggest fundraiser, the Grand Fundo, an event that includes an epic bike ride through the Pioneer Valley followed by a giant pig roast and barbecue. He's volunteered at every one since the first in 2010.

"When something needs to be done, he doesn't ask me questions he just does it," says four-time Cyclocross National Champion and JAM Fund co-founder Jeremy Powers. "He marks the course, carries things, does day to day stuff that makes things happen."

Powers and JAM Fund co-founders Mukunda Feldman and Alec Donahue agree that Huff is more than a brick slayer for the Fundo. He's the Silent B in JAM. (Think lamb.)

"For Jeremy, the B stands for accountability. For JAM, it stands for Brad," Huff says. "I’m like the big brother who likes to impose his knowledge on the guys."

"From counting steaks to doing laundry, he's full gas all week, often at the expense of his legs and training," Feldman says. "He goes above and beyond to support the kids and the people who turn out to raise money for the Fundo."

"Mukunda and I built the grill for a couple years now," Huff says. "Usually it's Mukunda and I build it while Jeremy acts like he's helping. Every year it's got better and better and we get the Fund kids to help out so Mukunda isn't working himself to the bone, like he always does."

In the week leading up to the Fundo, it's all hands on deck. Huff takes on chores as if he was back at home in Springfield, Missouri.

"I grew up on a small farm and we raised Holstein heifers," Huff said. "I'd brush hog, milk a cow by hand, bring in feed and do what had to be done, and that really helped create the work ethic that I carry into my athletic career."

The day before the Fundo, Huff, Powers and a few of the younger riders in the JAM clan made a reconnaissance ride of the course and marked it with spray paint and arrows. The small posse of cyclists with stakes and spray cans raised the eyebrows of one of the hill town residents when they stopped at his driveway to fix a flat. But Huff's midwest charm was irresistible.

"This guy comes out of the house and yells to us, 'What are you doing out there?'" Powers says. "And Huff said back to him, 'Well, we’re changing a tire and marking the road for our charity event tomorrow. What are you doing there with those bales you got rolling on that machine? The wire you're using is too light to tie 'em up.' And the guy in the driveway realizes we got a farmer in the group, and he yells back, 'If you want to take off your sissy pants and help me...' and they had a conversation in farmer talk. And ever since that day that guy waves to us."

On the day of the Fundo, Huff is out on course riding with the slower cyclists and bringing up the rear to make sure everyone reaches the finish at the vineyard.

"Brad literally does laps of riding, pushing somebody up Kings Highway and turning back and going to the bottom and pushing someone else up and doing that all day," Feldman says. "He’s the last to get back from the ride despite being one of the fastest guys out there. And every year there is a story from some recreational rider carrying a few extra pounds who says, 'All of a sudden I found an extra hand pushing my back and he pushed me for ten miles, and oh my God, he went to get someone else.' He’s amazing."

Welcome to Hazzard County

Brad Huff in his "Daisy Dukes" and Jeremy Powers set up for the 2013 Grand Fundo. Courtesy Brad Huff.

About 400 cyclists rode the Fundo last July. Huff was easy to pick out from the crowd in his former Optum team jersey and bright orange helmet, bandana and socks. While he's setting up though, he looks like something out of The Dukes of Hazzard.

"Every single time he shows up to the Fundo with the Daisy Dukes, you know, those short shorts," Powers giggles. "Sometimes they’re pinstripes or cutoff jeans up to his crotch. I’ve never seen Huff at a Fundo without them."

Huff posing in his Rally Cycling Team kit recently. Courtesy Brad Huff.

Outdoing himself, Huff is now sporting the All-American look in stars 'n stripes lycra tights with his new team Rally Cycling. And his season is off to a good start. He won the stage one circuit race at the Chico Stage Race in Redding, California in February, and put his teammate on the top of the podium in the overall classification. He's still going strong entering his 38th year. But no matter where Huff is in his road or track racing schedule, he always makes time for JAM Fund.

Big Brother Brad

In 2012, Huff helped Stephen Hyde, then racing for JAM Fund and now representing Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld, from debilitating knee pain. Hyde was in the middle of cross season and suffering from patellar tendinitis, although at the time, no one could figure out what was wrong. Huff used his own frequent flyer miles to fly Hyde to Missouri, got him a free place to stay and brought him to his physical training specialists Jim Raynor and Karen Rakowski at Mercy Hospital.

"He said he had an injury and couldn't figure it out," Huff says. "I talked to Al and Jeremy and said if I could get him to Springfield, I think we can help him."

Huff then called Hyde at home in Easthampton, and by the time they hung up, Hyde had a ticket to Missouri.

"I couldn't bend my knee. I couldn't pedal. I could hardly walk. Brad had been through almost the exact same situation before, and these are the specialists that put him back together and saved his career," Hyde says. "After six weeks of trying everything, it took only one day at Mercy with the doctors to get movement and momentum to move forward. At last progress! I was moved to tears as I left the building without pain."

And then Huff drove Hyde to The Bike Surgeon in Shiloh, Illinois.

"Chris Norrington worked on his fit, his pedals, his cleats and got him dialed," Huff says. "Within a week, Hyde went from not being able to ride and think clearly as an athlete, to boom, a whole new world! And within a year he turned pro on the road and his performances outweighed anything he thought possible during his injury period. That was one of my feel-good moments; to help a rider on the JAM Fund. That solidified my commitment to JAM and everyone knew I meant serious business to helping JAM, not just with the Fundo, but with more than that."

"He cashed in a lot of favors and did a fair amount of coffee making to make it happen for me-- a guy he hardly knew," Hyde says. "He spent time away from his life to help a friend of a friend because he has such a large amount of compassion for people. I am forever grateful and proud to call Huff a friend."

Now in his eleventh year as a pro cyclist, Huff has been a mentor not only to Hyde but to other JAM Fund graduates such as Jeremy Durrin (Neon Velo) and Anthony Clark (Squid), all now on a pro cycling career path of their own.

"When we go to races, it’s Missouri tough love," Powers says. "When Durrin and Clark were at team camp or a crit in the middle of the country, Huff would tell them what they should and shouldn’t be doing. It’s mentorship. The Silent B is from consistent participation in JAM. He’s reached out to the riders and helped them. He’s personally taken time to make those relationships happen. And that’s always valuable about Huff. He’ll send them text messages. Like before Nationals he sent a message to Hyde and myself and said go as hard as you can, and you’ll still be friends. He's able to call out the elephant in the room and say go out there and give it 110%."

"We're a functional family, we support each other" Huff says. "I wouldn't have my life any other way than to be a part of the JAM Fund."

Beginnings of the Bromance

Huff and Powers raced together on the road for the Jelly Belly Cycling Team during 2008 to 2013.

Huff's connection to JAM blossomed out of his bromance with Powers. The two became good friends more than a decade ago while teammates for Jelly Belly Cycling. Powers remembers it wasn't necessarily love at first sight.

"The first time I met Brad was at Crit Nationals in 2006," Powers says. "He was on Slipstream, and I remember he rolled up and he had a mullet. He was loud and a bit obnoxious. He reminded me of Slayer and he had an aura. Everyone would say, 'Oh that’s Brad Huff, he’s just crazy, he’s like Young Blood.' Everyone was talking about how wild and fearless this guy was. I didn’t talk to him that day. But when I became teammates with him I found out he was extremely friendly. But I remember I had a feeling about Brad, that he was crazy, like he must go to sleep listening to Metallica. That’s my first impression of the Huffster."

Powers has numerous stories of their days on the road, particularly one about a steep road race in the Tibetan Highlands of China.

"We’re both suffering through this race," Powers says. "I was looking at Huff and he was looking at me and our faces were bright red because it was so hard, and he said, 'I’m going to die.' And I said, 'No, I’m going to die.' And he said, 'No, I’m going to die.' We won a lot of races together but we also suffered a lot together. He would say get your head out of your ass, you can do this. And we built a bond through helping each other out. We’ll be friends forever. He’ll be the friend that hangs out with me on the porch when I’m 60."

"We have a mutual respect for each other," Huff says. "And I support him, like when I showed up half naked at the 2008 Cross Nationals in a Daisy Duke outfit and rainbow wig in freezing cold weather. And at Kansas City National Championships, I was there to support him. We’ll pretty much do anything for each other. I drove with two friends down to World Championships in Louisville and got to go behind the scenes and give him a big hug before the race started. Every fan dreams of going up to Jeremy at a cross race and giving him a hug, but I actually do that. It’s a pretty neat, having your best friend be the top ten in the world in his discipline. It makes you become better too and want more for yourself."

The Chicken Thing

Huff shares a bro moment in Mukunda Feldman's bathroom the week of the 2015 Grand Fundo.

Huff wants the best for everyone, and he's a perfectionist. Having graduated with a dietetics degree from Missouri State University, he considers himself an expert on food safety and claims he saved everyone from food poisoning at the first Fundo.

"I was the critical control guy for food in the danger zone," Huff says. "They had chicken out everywhere, and I have a picture I can text you where I cleaned out the refrigerator and put the chicken in there."

"That was not true. Fully false. No one is in danger of getting sick at the Fundo," Feldman says. "Brad and I have an ongoing battle over adequate refrigeration ever since the first year when we were tying to fit everything in my refrigerator the night before. So that’s an ongoing battle... the battle about ice and temperatures that Brad and I have every year, which is a lot of fun."

For the record, the chicken has since been stored in an industrial refrigerator at Feldman's Tart Baking Company in Northampton.

This year, the Grand Fundo is July 16. Huff hopes to be there for the seventh year in a row.

"Every year, it's up in the air, but so far, I'm the only person besides Jeremy, Al and Mukunda and their significant others who have been at the Fundo every year," Huff says.

"He’s such a staple that I can’t imagine if he can’t come," Powers says.  "We’re not even talking about it."

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Photos of the 2014 Grand Fundo by Meg McMahon.

The Book of Cross: Chapter 3

The third and final chapter of The Book of Cross is a glowing reminder of the devotion and dedication Jeremy Powers has put into his JAM Fund program. The JAM/NCC/Vittoria team is honored to be featured in this latest video and even more honored to ride the tails of JPow's star.

This is the third and final chapter of The Book of Cross that follows Jeremy Powers from the U.S. National Championships in Asheville, N.C. to the World Championships in Zolder, Belgium. Video produced by Motofish.

Some scenes from The Book of Cross Chapter 3

Scott Smith Finds Fans, Weird Food and Jesus in Europe

Scott Smith is back in the U.S. following his nearly month-long tour racing cyclocross in Europe. 

"It's cold!" Smith said from his Western Massachusetts home where it was 20 degrees and snowing on Thursday. "It was 40 the past few weeks in Belgium."

About a week after finishing 4th in the U23 Cyclocross National Championships in Asheville, North Carolina, Smith flew across the pond and competed in five races in Belgium and the Netherlands. It was his first time racing on the European circuit.

"It was really cool, like going to the major leagues" Smith said. "I was tired from the long cross season, and after nationals, I was pretty smoked. I knew the racing was going to be really hard, and it was."

His first Euro race was on January 24 in Hoogerheide, Netherlands, where Smith finished 41st, but he achieved his goal of finishing on the lead lap.

"I really liked Hoogerheide because it was super slippery and had fun drop-ins," he said.

The following weekend, Smith was in the fifth row at the start of the U23 World Championships in Zolder, Belgium.

"The start was great, I got up as far as I could get" he said. "I had a clean race and rode most everything except for the steep run-up in sand. I slid out on one of the transitions from the drop-in to the pavement. I hit my handlebars on the ground and the tape unraveled, so I had to pit. But the pit was pretty close. It went well for what I had to work with. I was super tired and ran out of gas, but I stayed and finished on the lead lap."

Smith represented Team USA at the World Championships. He stayed at the USA Cycling house in Sittard, Netherlands with other American riders. Renting a USA team van, he got back and forth to races that were about two hours from his European home base.

"Adapting to that lifestyle was easy," he said. "I ate the same stuff as I do here, and you can get some weirder food at the stores if you want."

Scott Smith racing at Bpost Bank Trofee in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium on Feb. 6. Photo by Josef Cooreman.

The World Championships are the grand finale of cyclocross, but there was still some racing in the weeks that followed for those seeking experience and perhaps UCI ranking points. For Smith, the experience was most valuable at this point in his cycling career. Three days after Worlds, he raced with the elite men's field at Parkcross in Maldegem, where he showed off his technical skills by hopping the barriers. Then he raced U23 at Sint-Niklaas and Hoogstraten, where he had one of his best finishes of the trip, getting 23rd. The attention fans gave to his long golden locks made him feel like a rockstar.

"People are paying to watch these races and asking for rider cards, autographs and to take pictures with you," Smith said. "They wanted me to take off my helmet and glasses and they took pictures of my face and hair."

The challenges Smith faced racing overseas were slightly different than in the United States. Belgian cross is well known for the thick, heavy mud, which Smith likened to doing "tractor pulls." Parkcross had four sand pits, which he also said were "super hard." And Smith says it took time getting used to the course markers.

"They use orange wooden stakes and rope to tie off courses, so if you fall anywhere you hurt yourself," he said. "There’s a lot of drop-ins and ruts that if you hit it wrong, you hit a pole or medal fence not one of those flimsy stakes. I wasn’t really ready for that. It adds a level of danger to it. You have to pay attention more and pick your lines exactly."

One of the best parts of his experience overseas was exploring places he's never been.

"I liked getting lost on my training rides and seeing new things," he said. "When we rode around we found weird stuff like a small hut where people pray and there would be Jesus statues and stuff. You never know what you're going to find."

Thinking ahead, Smith says he would do a few things differently next year.

"I would take a better mid-season brake and maybe not race as much," he said. "I would do the big races and make them count and go over for Worlds and stay. And if I go back, I would make sure I'm running faster, because they run pretty fast."

Smith plans on racing the road this summer in preparation for next fall's cross season. He will always have the great memory of his first European cross tour.

"The racing was cool," he said. "To see what it’s like at the highest level of the sport and to see what they do differently, it was amazing."

Story by Vicky Sama

Header photo by Kurt Van Hout

Images from World Championships

U.S. Cyclocross National Champion Ellen Noble and Scott Smith both accomplished some firsts during their trip to the Cyclocross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium on January 30 and 31. Noble raced in the inaugural women's U23 World Championships-- an event created this year separate from the elite women's race. That allowed 40 more women to compete at World Championships than in previous years, according to UCI officials.

Scott Smith competed in his first-ever World Championships after having a strong cross season and finishing 4th at Nationals in Asheville, North Carolina, three weeks ago. That helped him qualify for Zolder. Both JAM/NCC/Vittoria elite team riders raced for Team USA at Worlds with 28 other cyclists from the United States. Noble's 6th place finish in the women's U23 was the top placed finish of all the Americans.

Ellen Noble blasted off the start line in the first-ever U23 women's Cyclocross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium on Jan. 30. Photo by Mike Albright. 

Noble rode in second place during the first part of the women's U23 race before slipping back. She recovered and finished 6th, becoming the best-placed American finisher at World Championships. Photo by Phillippe Thys.

This image from the live broadcast reveals the torrential downpour in the early part of the women's U23 race.

Noble's control on the technical descents helped her regain seconds on other riders. This particular part of the course had some of the most slippery mud and deep ruts. Photo by Marc Deceuninck.

Noble crosses the finish line in 43:16 for 6th place, 1:38 behind winner Evie Richards of Great Britain.

Exhausted but pleased at the end of the race. "I'm extremely happy for this hard-fought result on such a demanding and soaking wet course," Noble said. Photo by Meg McMahon.

Scott Smith (looking off to the right), got a fourth row start in the men's U23 race on Jan. 31. UCI image. 

Fifty-two riders staged for the U23 men's competition. UCI image.

Smith said the race was hard but clearly was having a good time at World Championships. Photo by Pieter Van Hoorebeke.

"This really is the major leagues," Smith said about his first time in the World Championships. Photo by Marshall Kappell.

Thanks to the photographers above who endure the cold and mud, who stand on their feet for countless hours, get pushed and shoved through crowds to get the perfect shot and help record the history of our favorite sport. We so appreciate your work and devotion.

2016 Grand Fundo Registration Opens

You've seen what JAM riders did in Europe, now ride with us at the Grand Fundo!

Registration is now open for this year's JAM Fund Grand Fundo, the annual bike ride in Western Massachusetts with four-time Cyclocross National Champion Jeremy Powers and friends. The event is Saturday, July 16 at Black Birch Vineyards in Southampton. Last year 400 riders participated and the cutoff this year will be 500, so save your place by registering now!

In addition to pedaling with Powers, you'll ride with JAM/NCC/Vittoria elite cyclists who have just completed a fantastic few weeks racing in Europe. U23 Cyclocross National Champion Ellen Noble and Scott Smith represented Team USA at the World Cup in Hoogerheide, Netherlands and World Championships in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. Noble had the best finish of all 30 Americans in the season's grand finale, getting 6th in the first-ever women's U23 World Championships on Jan. 30. Smith got his taste of the challenging Belgian mud in the men's U23 race on Jan. 31. In addition to Noble and Smith, JAM Fund was proud to have three of its alumni in the elite field of men at Worlds. Stephen Hyde (Canondale/Cyclocrossworld.com), Jeremy Durrin (Neon Velo) and Anthony Clark (Squid Bikes) raced on Sunday along with Powers.

The Grand Fundo is JAM Fund's biggest fundraiser, and it's how we get the team to races such as National and World Championships. When you register for the Grand Fundo, your money goes toward the JAM Fund development cycling program that helps make our riders' dreams come true.

This year's Grand Fundo offers the same three ride options: the 38-mile Mini Fundo, 68-mile Grand Fundo and 88-mile Grand Hundo. We'll have the famous ice cream truck, fully stocked rest stops, support vehicles, post-ride barbecue and world famous raffle where you can win incredible prizes and gifts from JAM Fund partners. If you haven't experienced the Grand Fundo, don't miss it this year. It's going to be another great ride! Register or buy raffle tickets now.

Photos by Meg McMahon.

Noble is Top American on the Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Vicky Sama, JAM Fund Media Coordinator

HEUSDEN-ZOLDER, BELGIUM: U.S. Cyclocross National Champion Ellen Noble had a blistering fast start in today's World Championships in Zolder, Belgium. As the rain poured down making it nearly impossible to see, Noble furiously sprinted ahead with an Italian rider. The two opened a gap immediately stringing out the 40 others in the first-ever women's U23 World Championships. Noble looked strong, holding onto second place during the first half lap. But on one of the 180-degree, off-camber turns Noble slipped back to ninth. She fought valiantly over the remaining three laps and moved up to finish 6th.

"I'm extremely happy for this hard-fought result on such a demanding and soaking wet course," Noble said.

The downpour made it difficult to see and most riders had to ditch their glasses.

Evie Richards of Great Britain won the women's U23 race, creating history in the inaugural Cyclocross World Championships for women under 23 years old. Previously, women of all ages had to race together in the elite women's field.

Early in the race, Ellen Noble was riding in 2nd place. She eventually finished 6th.

Noble from Kennebunkport, Maine was the top American finisher of the day. Other Team U.S.A. riders in the women's U23 race were Hannah Arensman (27th/Rutherford College, North Carolina) and her sister Allison Arensman (29th), Emma Swartz (32nd/Madison, Wisconsin) and Laurel Rathburn (35th/Monument, Colorado). Katie Antonneau (Racine, Wisconsin) got 8th in the elite women's race, and Gage Hecht (Parker, Colorado) got 12th in the junior men's race.

On Sunday, JAM/NCC/Vittoria's Scott Smith races with the U23 men in his first-ever World Championships. His race starts at 5 a.m. ET. 

U.S. Cyclocross National Champion and JAM Fund co-founder Jeremy Powers leads the list of Americans who will compete in the elite men's race including former JAM Fund riders Stephen Hyde, Jeremy Durrin and Anthony Clark, all of Western Massachusetts. The elite men's race is the final event on Sunday and starts at 9 a.m. ET.

Highlights of the Under 23 Women's Race at the 2016 Cyclo-cross World Championships from Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.