When Haley Smith signed with Trek Driftless, it was big news. The Canadian was hot off two strong years of Life Time Grand Prix racing and the marathon XC national champion and, with the move to a gravel-focused factory team, looked to be at the fore of a growing professionalization of the sport.
Two years later, Smith is finding new motivation in the opposite direction. She’s going solo and creating her own program again. She’s looking forward to racing more mountain bikes. And she’s back racing with Andrew L’Esperance.
Hitting the Privateer phase of her career
Leaving a major team to pursue a privateer program isn’t the normal move in racing. It adds a ton of work for the athlete that would otherwise be done by staff.
“Privateer racing brings different stresses and responsibilities than having a factory ride does, but I feel more at-home when I am driving my own ship and looking after myself a little more,” Smith said over e-mail, adding “I am very, very grateful for my time at Trek and for the support of the brand and program, but I did struggle a little bit in that environment.”
Smith says part of that struggle comes down to being in a different stage in her career.
“I need to be less of a cog and more of a driver now that I’m managing grad studies, racing, and life in my 30s! Like I said, I really appreciate having the experiences that I did at Trek, but I am excited to have a bit more freedom and ownership of myself.”
Smith admits she did have doubts about making the leap, especially once she’d committed but hadn’t yet signed any contracts.
“I was very lucky with my sponsorship talks and pretty much everything went smoothly. I have MAAP to thank for a lot of that – they’ve really helped make my gravel/endurance career and have been a huge source of stability for me.”
Focusing on some perspective helped keep the stress in check.
“I’ve tried to continually remind myself that this is not something I have to do – it is something I choose to do. There is no imperative – it is all for the love and passion of bike racing.”
Finding a competitive advantage in going it alone
There are advantages to going it alone, though. Especially when Smith is trying to balance pro racing, graduate studies, and her generally quite busy life. Leadville, for example, conflicts with here PhD Comps (a major, and intense exam processes within…
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