Hello, I'm Ryan Bennett—a newcomer to the cycling world who's fallen in love with off-road cycling. I race as a professional, splitting my time between mountain biking and gravel cycling. The allure of professional cycling found me during the pandemic-induced pause of the Colorado ski season in March 2020. A co-worker's suggestion to trade skis for a bike led me to explore the trails in the Colorado Front Range, filling the void left by skiing. Soon after buying my first "nice" bike, I joined a local team in Denver after talking to a coworker about racing mountain bikes. I began to progress faster and push my limits,  just from trying to keep up with Brian Elander and other fast teammates. The next season, in 2021, I entered my first race and placed 3rd in my age category and I was instantly hooked on racing. By the end of the season, I had purchased my first true cross country race bike, placed 7th overall at the Grand Traverse and set my sights on becoming a professional cyclist in the 2022 season. The subsequent winter off-season was a rigorous period of training amidst the bitter cold of Colorado, building my fitness to be competitive in pro fields for the upcoming season. While sharpening my fitness for the pro circuit, the gravel bike became a close companion, delivering prolonged, invigorating aerobic training rides that felt akin to metropolitan adventures around the Denver Metro area. The 2022 season went off without a hitch, and at the end of the season, I applied for a category upgrade and received my designation as a pro from USAC. 

Although my journey in cycling is still young, I've been orchestrating transformative changes in my life to maximize my time on the saddle. This life-altering decision has involved some rather large steps and started with relocating to a region steeped in cycling culture and offering more accessible routes. After this initial step, I started the process of refocusing my career. Prior to unearthing my passion for cycling, I earned a degree from one of the nation's premier Aerospace Engineering programs and embarked on a promising 9-to-5 career, working on satellites. Today, I straddle the roles of a part-time engineer and part-time professional cyclist, driven by a passionate pursuit of converting my cycling enthusiasm into a full-time vocation. While engineering might no longer define my path, the tenacity, innovative spirit, and commitment to continual growth ingrained in me during those years remain steadfast.

Making a career change is never an easy decision, especially when making the risky trade between stability and financial security in exchange for passion and enjoyment. This decision has taught me a lot about what I want to pursue in my lifetime and so far, passion and enjoyment wins everytime. Nowadays, this passion guides me towards exploring new things I would never have seen otherwise while also allowing me to test my physical limits against the best athletes in the country. 

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RYAN'S  STRAVA
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2024
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