Capital Bicycle Racing Club

Weekend Roll: Toad Strangler Gravel Grinder — To Be Determined Journal Images from the 2023 Toad Strangler Gravel Grinder in New York State

17 year old Maya Healey of Niskayuna has been racing cyclocross since she was nine years old. Many years and bikes later, she is a high school senior balancing AP Chemistry, AP Spanish, spring mountain biking, a paying job, and a hybrid high school instruction program that has her spending part of every day in a hospital learning the medical field.

Maya is a fierce competitor on a MTB, being a key part of the Niskayuna Mohawk Mountain Goats, the NYS Champion NICA team for 2 years running.

Born in Rochester, Maya has a younger brother James who can also be seen on the CX and MTB courses. She likes Taylor Swift, driving any car, and will take a gap year after high school to see the world on a bike if all goes well.

10 year old Chase O'Donnell from Delmar is obsessed with riding bikes.....and that's a good thing.

Chase loved riding all kinds of bikes. Following his sister, Chase started racing cyclocross as soon as he was old enough.

Chase's first cyclocross race was the Nomad CX Time Trial in 2020. Last year Chase raced the CBRCX Series with some regional races mixed in. This year Chase has raced 19 times so far all around the Northeast.

After watching the pros bunny hop the barriers at Noho last year, Chase was determined to teach himself how to do it. He rode his bike non-stop the following weekend at Really Rad practicing on the kids-course barriers. For Christmas, his grandfather made him a set of break-away barriers that could be set at different heights- all the way up to the 40 cm regulation height.

Most days after school Chase recruits the neighborhood kids to come ride bikes, do jumps and hop barriers. A major goal of his was to hop the barriers at Noho this year. He did it! And keeps on hopping at every race he can.

Chase loves to draw and stack cards, building structures as tall as he can (before Larry the Labrador knocks it over).