Cecily Decker’s (PAS Racing) return to The Traka 200 this Saturday was in query final weekend, when a crash on a moist filth part of The Growler course at Levi’s GranFondo street race had her search medical consideration for an injured proper elbow.
The cloud of doubt was changed with disappointment when after a protracted delay to have the injuries on her arm and elbow cleaned, she continued to journey, however missed an opportunity at enhancing from seventh place from a yr in the past.
„Blissful to report no damaged bones and I used to be capable of make it onto my flight to Spain the subsequent day,“ Decker posted to Instagram on Tuesday.
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For an athlete who moved to gravel racing simply two years due to a knee damage from alpine ski racing, and began 2025 on crutches final spring, soreness and a missed end result will be rapidly overcome.
„Ten years in the past, even 5 years in the past, I did not even know what Unbound Gravel was. I used to be not interested by racing Leadville. In order early as I began really racing, the Life Time Grand Prix was one thing on my radar. Now I feel [Unbound] is the race that’s most fun to me,“ Decker advised Cyclingnews previous to the beginning of her 2026 season, and a 3rd time within the Grand Prix.
„I’m doing the Traka 200 [again]. Final yr I did it as a result of it was a extra aggressive race, it was a stacked area. I positively need to race a aggressive race, if I am going all the best way to Europe. I really benefit from the repetition of going again to the identical locations.“
Two years in the past Decker started her biking profession with prime 10s at a string of Belgian Waffle Rides within the US – Arizona, Utah and California. She made the choice within the Life Time Grand Prix, constant outcomes inserting her sixth total. However it was a victory at The Rift, a former cease on the Gravel World Sequence, the place she made her first assertion.
Then Decker ignited her gravel profession final season when she strung collectively a number of key performances – third at Sea Otter Gravel, fourth at The Traka 200 after which survived from a breakaway to go second at Unbound Gravel 200. The 27-year-old added third total at Leadville and would end second total within the Life Time Grand Prix. Although file books mirror no wins, these races have been ‚wins‘ for a rider who needed to depart the US ski crew behind.
„I’ve all the time had expectations of myself, however now different folks even have these expectations of me,“ she stated.
„I used to be on the US Ski Staff for a number of years, after which had a extremely unhealthy knee damage, and that is type of what obtained me into driving extra. It was extra of a persistent factor, the knee. My meniscus was torn, however in such a approach that the fluid from the within of my knee was type of increase. On the bike, it was really not that unhealthy. However I just about might barely stroll in the direction of the tip of 2023.“
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She had surgical procedure earlier than her 2025 season started, off the bike and on crutches for six weeks, after which shocked herself with stable type for spring races.
„Truthfully, going to Sea Otter [last year] my expectation was to have a tough begin. I shocked myself. I got here into that with expectations far beneath what I used to be capable of do. After which Leadville can be my second [best memory] as a result of it is not likely a race that fits me. I put lots of work into it and I used to be simply tremendous, tremendous pleased with how that turned out.“
Decker grew up in Saranac Lake, New York, went to varsity at Montana State College and now lives at elevation in New Mexico. The journey for gravel is just like her earlier ardour for powder. As soon as she sizes up competitors at The Traka, she’ll return to the US for Grand Prix occasions.
„I feel I need to goal Leadville just a little bit extra this yr,“ she stated. „I view the race itself as the final word problem: the course profile, the elevation, and the space make it one of many hardest races on the market.“
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