Colby Simmons is winding down a third season with the Visma-Lease a Bike Development team, still in pursuit of an elusive first victory as a U23 rider. The Durango, Colorado native has been in the winner’s circle before, earning the stars-and-stripes jersey as the men’s junior road champion in 2021 and winning a stage that same year at Grand Prix Rüebliland in Switzerland.
That difficult-to-catch top result might just be found in a non-traditional way, like the US Gravel National Championships. Simmons will compete Sunday in the men’s elite field in Gering, Nebraska, where he’ll line up against defending champion Keegan Swenson and 47 other experienced off-road racers.
“I expect myself to do well, but obviously, it’s a bit different than road racing. It’s exciting to do something a little different for sure,” Simmons told Cyclingnews this week.
“No, I have never done a gravel race. I have a gravel bike I ride a good bit, a Cervelo, but I’ve never raced. I’m pretty interested to see how it will go.”
So when the bulk of his 2024 road season wrapped up with a pause of several weeks before the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich, September 21-29, he decided to travel back to Colorado for a do-it-yourself altitude camp and mix in a race, which just happens to be gravel.
“The real reason I came home was just for the altitude because then I'll race the Road World Championships, U23, in Zurich at the end of this month. So just basically doing an altitude camp here, and it worked out well to get one hard race in before then,” Simmons shared with Cyclingews. “So that was the decision to do Gravel Nationals. It's not super far away from here. It'll be good to get a long, hard race in the legs before Worlds.
“So basically, I had a pretty big block of no racing. I asked the team if I could come home to Durango and basically do an altitude camp at home. So that was a big part of them letting me come back [to Colorado], because I had not a ton of racing [in September].”
At just 20 years of age, Simmons is in his third season with the Visma-Lease a Bike Development team, while his older brother Quinn Simmons races for Lidl-Trek. The younger Simmons has put in 40 days of racing with his Continental squad in Europe this season, finishing second overall at Tour Alsace in July. He returned to the US in May to compete at US Pro Road Nationals, earning the bronze in the U23 men’s road race and also taking top 10s in the U23 time trial and elite road race.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve had a standout year, it’s been OK, nothing too special. I was going quite good at the National Championships in the US. I didn’t win, but I showed my fitness level by racing aggressively,” Simmons said, adding that he was proud of his performance at Tour Alsace.
The 131.5km course for US gravel nationals will be the same as the inaugural edition last year, with 90% of the surface a combination of dirt and gravel roads and close to 5,600 feet of elevation gain. The start and finish is in Gering, a small town in the far western part of Nebraska across the border from Colorado.
He admitted, “I have no idea,” when asked if he was familiar with the course at all and had thought much about equipment choices. He said he’s watched some YouTube videos from the event last year to help make the desicions on tyres, in particular, and didn’t hesitate to ask for advice, seeking input from 2023 US champion Keegan.
“I also asked Keegan [Swenson] for personal advice on what he would recommend running. He gave me an idea of what would be good, because I believe the course, at least last year, was somewhat sandy, but still pretty fast so you can run somewhat of a slick. I’ll ride the course the day before and then decide what tyre to run and what wheels to run,” he said about being self-sufficient in his first gravel race.
“You don’t have a team car there, so that makes a big difference. It’s more on you, but I’m more than capable of fixing a flat if I need to. I mean, my fitness is definitely good. Yeah, to be there racing at the front, if I don’t have any problems, I can do quite well.”
Simmons’ biggest focus in September remains the UCI Road World Championships, and he expects to help fill one of five spots allotted to Team USA for the U23 men’s road race. It will be his third trip as a U23 team member, last year finishing alongside Luke Lamperti in 16th.
“I feel the course in Zurich suits me quite well. And of course, being here at altitude and having a good race in the legs before then, I can be good there,” Simmons confirmed.
