Stephanie Smith-World Championships

She did it! Stephanie Smith has qualified for the 2016 Gran Fondo World Championships! On September 1st and 4th she will compete in Perth, Australia for the World Champion title.

To qualify, Stephanie achieved placement in the top 25% of her age group. World wide.

At the USA Cycling National Championship in May (the event that sealed the deal to AU) she came in 1st place in the time trial, beating her competition by 24 seconds.

Stephanie has put in countless hours on the bike preparing for this moment. Now, it’s our turn.

Cycling community, family and friends lets join together to show this world champion hopeful our support by helping fund her trip to Australia.

Every contribution, no matter the size, helps her realize her dream.

Your contribution helps fund her flight, hotel, transportation to the hotel and race, much needed race fuel and the shipping of her bike.

So, go ahead and hit that “Donate Now” button and let’s get Stephanie to AU! After that, be sure to spread the word.

Thank you, for your support!

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Stephanie’s Story

I swam in college and missed competing so I started doing triathlons. Biking was the hardest part for me and I hated it! I swam distance freestyle so I was all upper body. I would get so tired biking. I kept working at it and soon cycling became my favorite part of the triathlon. I was so burnt out with swimming and was never a fan of running.

You would think it was a no brainer to switch to cycling, but it took me a while. I would borrow someones road bike to compete in a few cycling races here and there, but still kept training for triathlons. Last year, I finally decided to just cycle and see where it went. I told myself, I can always to go back to triathlons if I don't like it. I got a lot of flak for not doing triathlons anymore, but ultimately it was my decision. This is what makes me happy.

A friend helped me with coaching, I got my own road bike, and I got hooked. I decided this is what I want to do! So, in October 2015 I sent Jed Darby an email asking if he was interested in coaching. (I heard he was the best!) He agreed!


I was, and still am, kind of clueless about power numbers - that is why I have a coach. When I first started with Jed he had me do some tests to see where I was. My first test was a 20 minute power test. I did the workout and thought I failed! I remember thinking it was horrible, Jed isn't going to want to work with me anymore, how can I do better. A real pity party. I download my workout and then I got a phone call. It was Jed. Great here goes the bad news. Well I was wrong! Apparently, I did great! Jed told me to put the Master's National Championships on my list along with a title. I was in shock and just said ok. I think I even laughed. I didn't believe it, but I went along with it.

Fast forward to Nationals, and I won! The whole ride back to the hotel I just kept saying, "I did it, I really did it!" I just didn't believe it.


Then I got an email saying I qualified for the World Master's Championship in Australia! I didn't even know that existed. I forwarded the email to Jed and called Jeff thinking that is a great accomplishment to maybe consider for next year. Jeff said let's figure out how to do this! Jed said let's do this! Now the World Championships is my goal! That is so crazy!

Throughout the years I have had setbacks, injuries, life stuff, but the worst was the loss of my younger brother almost seven years ago. We were best friends and each other’s biggest sports fans. He was a professional ultimate fighter. After that, a lot changed for me in a good way. I definitely race for me, but a part of me does it for him. I have a tattoo with his initials in it on my wrist, so whenever I get tired I can see it and push harder cause I know he is watching.