Brady Gets His Upgrade, The Team Rejoices

Can I take a moment to share how grateful I am for having the opportunity to race for The Harvest Racing team? (ed note: “yes”)

Our team, as presented by the Midwest Cycling Community, came together this inaugural season through the efforts several people. Kent McNeill (Owner, Trek Bicycles Stores) and Ryan Atkinson (Owner and founder, Harvest Retail Marketing) are the two big poles of the tent as our title sponsors. Lucas Marshall (Harvest Retail Marketing) and Paul Webb (Harvest Retail Marketing) also did a tremendous amount of grunt work behind the scene to get the team rolling in the off season. Mark Savery (Trek Bicycle Stores) also used several connections to secure equipment from other sponsors Bontrager and SRAM, as well as acting as the team coach. I could list all of the efforts team members have made to get this team going, but let’s just say that it took a lot from many to get us where we are. 

To be clear, the Harvest Racing team is the Midwest Cycling Community’s elite team, where elite means being a cat 1/2 racer. Until recently, that has meant that I have been unable to contribute to several races that the team has entered, since I am cat 3 racer. Instead, I’ve been free-lancing the cat 3 and Masters events in an effort to attain enough points to upgrade to a cat 2 so I can join them. 

While working on my upgrade, the team has supported me in several ways, including clothing me in a professionally designed kit from Capo cycling apparel, hydrating me with Skratch Labs products, and putting me on the fastest wheels in the industry: Bontrager’s Aeolus carbon tubulars. Most importantly, I had their confidence, even in cases when mine was questionable. In retrospect, this is the biggest factor for the successes I’ve enjoyed in the first half of the season. While it’s nice to look and feel like a professional (which I am most certainly not), it’s another thing entirely to have the confidence of one.

Harvest has been all of that and more for me. 

Now it’s my turn to give back. With my cat 2 upgrade recently approved, I am happy to announce that I’ll be pinning on a number as a fully qualified member of the team at this weekend’s Tour of Lawrence cat 1/2 race. 

I am super excited to be a cat 2 racer, and even more so, to represent the Midwest Cycling Community and Harvest Racing as a fully qualified member of the team. 

Tour of Lawrence Harvest Racing squad:

Thanks for following Harvest Racing and wish us luck this weekend.