Liz Reap Carlson has been on a roll all her life. Now, she’s
getting international attention for it.

The Smethport native is part of the USA Cycling’s Talent Pool.
Reap-Carlson explained that USA Cycling, the governing body for the
sport, uses certain criteria to classify athletes worthy of sending
to international competition.

“As a member of the talent pool, it means that I’ve made the cut
and will be called upon – at the discretion of the coaches and
administrators -ðto represent the U.S. at World Cup competitions,
or possibility the Pan American games or the world championships –
if I continue to improve and perform at this level.”

The Smethport Area High School graduate said she started last
year with the goal of placing top 3 in the spring events at elite
nationals and winning a national championship jersey.

“So this wasn’t specifically on my radar,” she said. “But in
order to reach those goals, I had to compete at the best
sprint-focused events I could find last summer.

“Being named to the Talent Pool is the end result of racing and
performing well at those events.”

Competing on the international level is “pretty cool being on
the same infield with the Brits, Aussies, Germans and
Ukrainians.”

But for the girl who used to decorate her bike to ride down Main
Street, Smethport, on Memorial Day, there’s something even more
special.

“I think it’s even cooler to be racing in a United States
uniform,” she said. “That’s probably the newest feeling I’m getting
used to. There’s a responsibility to wearing that uniform that I
haven’t felt before.

“I have a lot to learn to be truly competitive at this level.
But it’s sure nice to be at the party.”

Last month, Reap-Carlson competed in her first World Cup event
in Los Angeles. She rolled away with two eighth place finishes, the
sprint team got the bronze medal finish against Cuba and she road
personal bests in all of her events.

“My goal going out to L.A. was to rise to the occasion of the
racing at the World Cup level. With the help of my training
partner, Jennie Reed, I did that. It was exciting to learn I
deserve to be there.”

Reap-Carlson, who now lives in Jim Thorpe, has been cycling in
one form or another “for as long as I can remember.”

And growing up in Smethport helped foster her love for
cycling.

“When I was a kid, we always used our bikes to get around town.
We’d ride to the pool, baseball games, over to our friends’
house.”

It wasn’t until 1994, though, when Reap-Carlson got into racing
mountain bikes after a group of co-workers used to ride trails
behind their office after work. At the end of summer, they dared
each other to enter a local race, The Doe Mountain Classic.

“It was my first race, and I won the beginner class.”

She was on a roll.

But once she was hooked on racing, she realized she didn’t know
how to train for the sport.

“I wanted to improve, so I joined a group called the American
Cycling Academy.”

There, she trained indoors and did “epic 70 mile rides on the
weekend.”

She found this group, which included Olympic Gold medalist Marty
Nothstein, knowledgeable on how to train for cycling.

“It was a great bunch of people to learn the ropes from.”

In the cycling world, there are two basic types of races – the
endurance and sprint. Reap-Carlson discovered she’s a sprinter.

“Most of the athletes in the academy were track-focused,” she
said. “After the off-season, I got a track bike so I could keep
doing interval work with them; and I learned I was made for short,
quick bursts versus long, grinding hills.

“I also like the strategy of track racing as well. Bottom like,
I’m more built for the track.”

Reap-Carlson trains – including weight training, riding on the
road, interval work on the track or biomechanic work like leg speed
drills, yoga or stretching – every day, sometimes two times a
day.

“I really love what I’m doing, so I don’t think of it as being
hard. There are days that are more difficult than others.

“Over time, the stress you put on your body and mind through
builds up. You can only take so much. It was much harder to stay on
top of my training when I was working full-time.

She said the support she’s gotten from her husband, Lath, has
been invaluable.

“Both of us really wanted to see where I could go in the sport
if I took a year and focused on it,” she said. “He thought I
deserved the chance to do that after watching me try to fit it in
between publication schedules and deadlines.”

Reap-Carlson just learned she’s been named to the U.S. Team
that’s going to England to compete at the Manchester World Cup Feb.
23-25.

“It’s pretty demanding to compete at this level; almost as
demanding it is to run your own photography business. This is all
pretty new to me (training to compete at the world class level). It
takes everything to do it right; you have to dial in your training,
mental picture, food and nutrition and rest.

“For years I’ve wondered how far I can go in the sport if I had
the chance to focus on it full time. So, for know, we’ve decided to
prioritize racing over my photography and editing career.”