Ora Trails Fest
Since National Championships last month, HART Cycling has been busy with fun rides, reengaging with local cycling communities, racing local races, reaching out to 2026 sponsors and parters, and most of all, life!
First off in this list of adventures, please join us in a warm congratulations to Samuel and Samantha on their wedding! Samantha is a nurse at the hospital in St. George and enjoys hiking and exploring the beautiful surrounding desert.
After arriving home and resting up after National Championships, Sam and Sam made it official in the beautiful western desert and became Sam^2. We’ve always suspected there is more to life than just going fast on bikes, and we are thrilled for Sam^2 for finding part of that together!
In Colorado: Jeremy and his wife, Hannah, tackled her first 14er, Mr. Bierstadt. After 3100ft of natural stairs, Hannah crushed her goal, and they enjoyed a lovely picnic at 14,000ft overlooking the San Juan mountains and the shoulders of Mt. Blue Sky.
Hannah and Jeremy were also selected for NoCo Style’s 30 under 30, an annual feature highlighting young entrepenures, leaders, and people of interest in Northern Colorado.
Hannah was honored as the founder and executive director of Arboretum Coffee, a non-profit coffee shop providing jobs and educational programs for refugees and immigrants in Northern Colorado. Between her meetings, paperwork, hearing and telling the stories of these incredible refugees and immigrants, and slinging coffee behind the bar in Fort Collins, she enjoys riding her gravel bike to cafes and ice cream shops as well as hiking, backpacking, climbing, and kayaking!
Jeremy was honored as athlete/founder/owner of HART Cycling, coach for Ignition Coach Co., and coach for local junior cycling program, Ciclismo Racing. It was really incredible for Jeremy and Hannah to be featured alongside each other as the only married couple in this years’ lineup. Check out their features here: Jeremy - Hannah
In Arkansas, Isabella took an unstructured training week to rest, reset, and be with family before getting back to a good rhythm. She took her time at home to take a good few QOMs on her local trails and hop in some fast group rides!
Isabella’s time at home also allowed her more time to cuddle with her puppies (pictured: World’s Goodest dog and dashing young gentleman, Choco Robles) and dial in her banana bread recipe!
Getting back on the bike after Nationals, Jeremy threw down at Emerald Mt. Epic, a 50mi mountain bike race in Steamboat, CO. This course is smooth, flowy, quintessential high-mountain single track winding through pine and aspen groves and completing almost 7000ft of elevation gain over two 25mi loops. First lap, Jeremy hopped in the front group and slowly started turning the screw to start dropping people off the back. By the top of the climb it was just Jeremy and David, also a local and also a Norris (no relation we know of…). Jeremy was getting gaps on descents and David was rejoining on climbs so Jeremy kept the throttle open waiting for David to break. Second lap, David launched a scorching attack and Jeremy couldn’t follow. Starting to cramp, Jeremy settled into his own pace. By the top of the main climb, both legs locked, arms cramped, back cramped, face cramped, and Jeremy limped the second climb just focused on keeping some momentum. He finished 6th after setting the fastest lap time, beating last year’s fastest lap by 0.2 seconds. Jeremy learned after the race that David Norris has quite a few palmeres in XC skiing and Skimo racing including several national titles. He was not about to break on those high altitude climbs. Colorado races bring out some incredible athletes!
The following day, Jeremy rolled up to the Longmont Crit for some nice and relaxed road bike racing. With several of the USA Criterium teams in town for the Gold Rush Omnium, the pace stayed high as teams tried to get a break up the road. Jeremy stayed near the front and went up in groups every few laps with no luck in staying away. Eventually a strong group got up the road with enough names for the larger teams to shut down chasers. Not quite recovered from Saturday’s cramps, Jeremy was unable to bridge up to the group. He stayed near the front of the race and contested the pack sprint more than ready for a good nap.
Jeremy’s last adventure between Nationals and Ora Trails Fest was working a feed zone at the Leadville 100 MTB for a friend and fellow Ignition Coach Co. coach, Blane Maddox.
Next, the HART squad reconvened in La Crosse, Wisconsin for the Ora Trails Fest and the UCI C2 there. With World Cups off the table this fall, Ora Trails Fest is the last UCI race and the last team event for HART Cycling in 2025. After racing at the top level in 8 international events since March, HART cycling is looking forward to dialing it back, taking a rest, getting in some fun rides and rides with high school teams, and dreaming and preparing for an even bigger year in 2026! We have several exciting plans for next season which require a lot of leg work, literally and figuratively. We will be sharing those updates shortly as we gather a few more pieces these next few weeks!
The course at Lacrosse sits on bluffs surrounding the Mississippi River making for varied terrain with classic rocks and roots of the midwest, some solid climbs, and some high speed ripping trail. This course has been part of the vibrant WORS series for some time but is new to the UCI calendar.
The team gathered in Minneapolis on Wednesday before being picked up by Team Dad, Brandt, and heading to La Crosse. On Thursday, HART checked out the course with Jeremy’s U23 athlete, Odin. The team arrived before the course was marked and, as a result, spent a couple hours riding several fun trails but failing to ride about half the course. This is what Jeremy calls a “pre-vibe” where riders get a general feel of the local terrain and trail personality and sort out the details later.
This race was supported in part by Adapt Sports Therapy in Fort Collins, CO! When Jeremy strained his quad in May, he asked around the Fort Collins Cycling community and quickly recognized Shawn Small who had ripped Jeremy’s legs off at several early season Saturday group rides. Jeremy went into Adapt sports therapy where Shawn worked Jeremy’s pervasive tight hips and back which were the trigger for the quad strain. With a list of exercises to crank out at home and pre-ride warmups assigned, Jeremy was back to full training later that week and back to racing at full power just two weeks after the strain! In continuing to work with Shawn, Jeremy has noticed increased stability and strength on the bike, feeling stable in the gym, less tightness especially in his hips and back, and no repeated issues with the strained quad! Jeremy is extremely grateful to have Shawn in his corner for training and preparation going forward and HART is grateful for Adapt Sports Therapy stepping in to help us get to one more team UCI race for the season! Thank you Adapt Sports Therapy!
Friday’s short track was a wide open loop on the prairie on top of a bluff above the Mississippi River. A small field for the Mens race made for a tactical race with several attempts by riders to get away from the lead group, ultimately being brought back. Samuel and Jeremy were straight to the front trading punches with the competition. After a few laps, Jeremy got to the front and twisted the throttle to thin the group. Two laps to go, Samuel launched a flyer, getting clear of the pack be a couple hundred yards and forcing everyone else to turn themselves inside out to chase. The front group shattered, but Samuel was caught on the last lap. Having used his energy for the flyer, Samuel finished 4th with Jeremy winning his sprint for 5th just behind.
Two riders on the podium in short track was a great opener to the race weekend for HART Cycling!
Isabella was the only Elite Woman to register for short track. Ora trails fest being a lower UCI classification after national championships meant the race would be less attractive, but HART was sad to see only one Elite Woman registered for the race. Isabella’s race was combined with other categories, and she spent her race trading attacks with HART support crew, Brandt Elson. Of course, Isabella walked away with the UCI points and prize money for first place in Elite Women.
Weather for Saturday’s XC race was a question mark all week with major thunderstorms blowing through the area and threatening to unleash on the venue in the hours leading up to the race. Some rain fell the night before the race but, by the 4pm start of the Elite Women’s XC, any moister had tried or been ridden out by preceding categories. Three elite women lined up to battle in the tight Wisconsin woods. Isabella stuck with her plan, leading into the single track and taking control of the race for the first two laps. She battled hard with friend Holly, dropping third place and ultimately landing second to the experienced midwest racer. Isabella feels she learned some valuable lessons as well as walking away with yet another podium and prize.
One more UCI podium to round out the 2025 season for Isabella!
Jeremy and Samuel scheming on the start line. With tight single track and few places to pass, Samuel and Jeremy knew they wanted to be in the right place at the right time.
At 6pm, Samuel and Jeremy again got straight to the front of the Elite Mens race, going into the woods in 3rd and 5th for an insanely fast first lap. Jeremy suffered some bad luck early on catching a surprise root on the first lap and hitting the ground at high speed. He, and his bike, were uninjured, and he got back on to chase from 9th place. Meanwhile, Samuel was locked in a tight battle with a select front group testing the speed limit on the tight course. Riders cracked and fell back from the leaders, and Samuel hung in and kept the pressure on. Jeremy had his work cut out for him. He caught a group and rode into 6th where he battled with a local ripper to ultimately finish 7th mere seconds behind the podium group. In a last lap attack, Samuel got ahead of 3rd and 4th to try and bridge back to 1st who had ridden away.
Unfortunately, Samuel caught a rock in the waning light and punctured his rear tire. He aired up with a CO2 and got back to chasing, but the tire continued to leak. It didn’t slow him down much as he emptied the tank to finish 5th, holding onto the last place on the podium.
Following the race week, Isabella got the opportunity to hang out at the Elson house and explore Minnesota trails and even got to drop in a high school team practice! So good to see such a strong group of the next generation of mid-west rippers!
Now HART returns to their respective home trails. Samuel is preparing for Cheq40, one of the Lifetime Gran Prix events next on his calendar, Jeremy is back in Fort Collins to wind down and work on a few exciting advancements to HART, coach the local high school MTB program, and gear up for a season of local cyclocross. Isabella is preparing for a stacked fall of Arkansas gravel, cyclocross, and enduro!
We are excited to share these race updates as they happen and our exciting updates as we are ready! Keep an eye on this blog and our social media.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our YouTube Channel for the next project dropping tomorrow, 8/21!
As always, thank you for reading and following along with HART Cycling’s racing adventures. Until next time,
- Jeremy Norris - racer/owner - HART Cycling
