FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Mountain Biker Ashley Carelock Returns to Amy D. Foundation
Amy D. Foundation (ADF) is happy to have mountain biker Ashley Carelock “riding like Amy D” for another season with the foundation.
Amy D. Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created in memory of Amy Dombroski. As Dombroski’s legacy, the foundation encourages and supports young women through cycling.
This is Ashley Carelock’s second full season with Amy D. Foundation and only her fourth as a racer.
In the world of mountain bike racing, Carelock is still a bit of a “newbie” to the sport. She started mountain biking in October of 2013 and began racing in 2015.
Carelock is at the point in her career when she might begin to send her resume to professional teams, yet she made a deliberate decision to delay that for now and stay with ADF: “Put simply, I decided to stay on because I’m still a developing racer. The majority of women I race against have ten years racing experience beyond my riding experience. And, as any cyclist knows, experience counts for a ton!”
NICA, junior development programs, and collegiate cycling form the U.S. development pathway for mountain biking. Yet, riders who start riding as an adult, as Carelock did, find themselves outside of this pathway. Amy D. Foundation provides Carelock with critical financial, logistical and mentorship support towards her rider development.
Carelock explains, “I felt like I wanted to stay another year with a team that is essentially a development program. Also, I love what the Foundation stands for. ‘Inspiring the celebration of healthy challenge and empowering the confident pursuit of lofty dreams.’ This is in our mission statement, and it just rings true with me.”
Carelock’s entry point into the sport was an unusual one: she started via ultra endurance events. During her early years as a racer, Carelock’s race program consisted almost solely of ultra endurance and marathon races.
In 2018, with the foundation’s support, Carelock began to diversity her racing. She raced a variety of distances from traditional cross-country to multi-day. Some highlights include winning the Fat Bike World Championships in February 2018, earning silver in USA Cycling Fat Bike nationals and taking third at 24 Hours of Old Pueblo.
Carelock also won and set a new course record at the multi-day Colorado Trail Race, an event notable for its 500 miles and 70,000′ of climbing!
“I continued to do well in endurance events, but also found myself doing reasonably well in some shorter events,” says Carelock.
As Carelock seeks to further discover her potential, she’s focusing on marathon racing this year, but also throwing some USA Cycling Pro XCT races into the mix. She explains, “I want to see how I will do at these more competitive events without wearing myself down (or out) by racing a couple of ultra endurance events during the season. Marathon races of 40-50 miles are still short compared to some of my past events!”
Carelock’s season begins in earnest in late April. Her calendar is below:
Whiskey 50 —April 26-28
USA Cycling Marathon MTB Nationals —May 11
Grand Junction Off Road—May 17-19
Yeti Beti Bike Bash—June 2
Carson City Off Road—June 28-30
USA Cycling Mountain Bike Nationals—July 23-28
Breck Epic—August 11-17
Oz Trails Off Road —October 11-13
Carelock’s objective goals are a top-ten in an Epic Rides event and a top-ten at USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals. Amy D. Foundation is proud of the efforts she has put in thus far and looks forward to watching her develop as a rider!
To follow Carelock’s season, like/follow Amy D. Foundation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Carelock’s blog posts will be linked to the foundation’s webpage at https://amydfoundation.org/blog/mountain-bike/. Carelock is on Facebook (Ashley Carelock), Instagram (ashcarelock), and Twitter (Ashcarelock1).
Contact:
Amy D. Foundation
amydfoundation@amydfoundation.org