The American Cycling Report

VBR Twenty28 and USA Cycling's Anna Hicks

Anna Hicks | Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY28 | Road & Track Anna Hicks is a 26-year-old pro cyclist from Placerville, California — raised in the Sierra Nevada foothills as a 4H kid — now based in Boulder, Colorado, and one of the fastest-rising names in U.S. women's cycling. The backstory Anna's athletic gifts showed up early. One season of high school cross-country was enough to earn her a Division 1 scholarship. She attended Cal Poly SLO, then turned her focus to the bike after college. Teamtwenty28 [https://www.teamtwenty28.com/team-bios/anna-hicks] Road breakout In her first elite road season (2023), she finished 8th at the Pro Road National Championship, then crossed disciplines to finish 3rd at Big Sugar Gravel. Endurance Sportswire [https://www.endurancesportswire.com/virginias-blue-ridge-twenty24-welcomes-rising-star-anna-hicks/] The track explosion This is the part that stops people: Hicks raced on a track for the first time at a local event in June 2025. Less than nine months later, she won gold at the Pan American Track Championships in the Points Race — beating reigning World Champion Yareli Acevedo. USA Cycling [https://usacycling.org/article/team-usa-recap-americans-score-20-medals-across-pan-am-para-pan-am-track-championships] Team & program She rides for Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY28, a program built specifically as a pipeline to the Olympics. Off the bike, Anna is a certified sports nutritionist and coach. Endurance Sportswire [https://www.endurancesportswire.com/virginias-blue-ridge-twenty24-welcomes-rising-star-anna-hicks/]Teamtwenty28 [https://www.teamtwenty28.com/team-bios/anna-hicks] Olympic trajectory She was named to the 2026 Pan American Track Championships squad in the Points Race — and the LA 2028 Olympics are squarely in view.

Durango Devo's Chad "The Chainsaw" Cheeney

In American cycling, there are builders — people who don't just show up to the sport, they construct it from the ground up. Chad Cheeney is one of those people. Known as "The Chainsaw," Chad has spent years turning Durango, Colorado into one of the most remarkable youth cycling ecosystems in the country. Through Durango Devo, he's put thousands of kids on bikes — not just handing them helmets, but genuinely changing the trajectory of young lives through two wheels. Durango is no ordinary backdrop. This is a town where elite pros train on the same roads and trails where kids are learning to clip in for the first time. Cycling isn't a niche here — it's a culture — and programs like Devo are a huge reason why. People like Chad don't happen by accident. They show up, they grind, they care — and they refuse to let the next generation figure it out alone. Every kid who found confidence on a bike instead of losing it somewhere else — that's Chad's fingerprint on American cycling. Welcome to the show — Chad "The Chainsaw" Cheeney.

Olympian and World Champion Taylor Phinney

There are cycling careers, and then there is the Taylor Phinney story — and no one has lived it quite like him. He was born into it. His mother, Connie Carpenter-Phinney, won the first ever gold medal in the women's road race at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. His father, Davis Phinney, won two stages of the Tour de France and took bronze in the team time trial at those same 1984 Games. Cycling wasn't just something Taylor grew up around — it was in his blood, his identity, the very air he breathed growing up in Boulder, Colorado. And then he went out and made his own legend. He made his Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008 at just 18 years old, placing seventh in the individual pursuit on the track. He went on to take back-to-back world titles in the individual pursuit in 2009 and 2010. In 2012, he won the opening time trial of the Giro d'Italia, becoming the third American ever to lead that Grand Tour, and later that same year earned silver at the World Time Trial Championships. He was the future of American cycling, full stop.  Then came the crash that changed everything. At the 2014 US Nationals, a catastrophic leg injury derailed a career that had been on an upward trajectory most riders only dream about. The road back was long, painful, and deeply uncertain. He fought his way back to the peloton — racing the Tour de France in 2017 and 2018 — but the sport had taken its toll. In 2019, he called time on a nine-year professional career with BMC, Cannondale, and EF Education First. He stepped away, turned to painting, to music, to life beyond the bike.  But the story wasn't over. Not even close. What Taylor is now calling "Comeback 3000" started simply enough — a return to gravel racing — before, in his own words, it "delicately snowballed into a full-on Olympic dream." He has returned to training on the track, targeting a spot on the USA men's team pursuit squad for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics — the very same city where his parents made history 44 years ago. The idea was planted by USA Cycling's Allen Lim. His wife, 2024 Tour de France Femmes champion Kasia Niewiadoma, pushed it from concept to reality.  This is one of the greatest stories in American cycling — a legacy built across three generations, a career defined as much by resilience as by brilliance, and a final chapter that nobody saw coming. Taylor Phinney sits down with American Cycling Report for a conversation about all of it. Don't miss this one.

Boulder Junior Cyclings 's Pete Webber

Welcome back to The American Cycling Report. This episode is one that gets at the foundation of the sport—how we grow it, who gets access to it, and what the future actually looks like on the ground. Today’s guest is Pete Webber, a former professional cyclist who’s now helping lead Boulder Junior Cycling, one of the top development programs in the country and a Platinum-level USA Cycling Center of Excellence. But this conversation goes beyond results and performance—it’s about building pathways into cycling that are open, sustainable, and inclusive. If you care about where American cycling is headed, this is worth your time. We get into the real barriers that keep kids out of the sport—cost, access, awareness—and what programs like Pete’s are doing to break those down. There’s insight here for parents, coaches, and anyone invested in the next generation, but also a broader look at what cycling needs to do to stay relevant and grow. It’s a practical, honest conversation about development, opportunity, and how to make this sport something more kids can realistically be part of.   You can learn more about Boulder Junior Cycling's programs at www.boulderjuniorcycling.org   Thanks to Kuhl for the support, visit them at www.kuhl.com

American Cycling Legend: Pete Stetina "The Exit Interview"

This week on The American Cycling Report—we’re going big. Because when you talk about the modern era of American cycling—road, gravel, the whole evolution of the sport—you cannot tell that story without Pete Stetina. This is a guy who raced at the absolute highest level of the sport, lining up in the biggest races in the world, doing the work, earning the respect, and living the full WorldTour grind. But what makes Pete different isn’t just what he did there—it’s what he did after. Because when everything changed—when the crash, the setbacks, and the questions hit—Pete didn’t fade out. He reinvented. He helped define what gravel racing could look like in the U.S.—not just as a competitor, but as a builder, a connector, and a guy shaping the culture in real time. And now, it’s another turning point. Pete is stepping into a new phase—pulling back from elite competition, doubling down on community, on events like Stetina’s Paydirt, and on what impact in this sport really means when the racing days start to shift. So this is not just a career retrospective. This is a conversation about longevity, about identity, about risk, reinvention—and ultimately, legacy. Strap in—this is a big one. Pete Stetina, right here on The American Cycling Report.