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We are thrilled to welcome our ambassador Joshua Strong to Quench'd! Joshua is a photographer, cyclocross racer and such a passionate person! They're a member of the Green Mountain CX team- led by our good friends Kim and Ben in Vermont!

The whole Bivo team loved working with Joshua back in September when they came to Vermont and led our fall photoshoot. Joshua is determined, creative, and has brought an amazing story today about embracing duality in many aspects of their life. Enjoy this piece!

I find the most joy when I play or exist inside of spaces “in-between” and cross sections of defined bounds. Life is so much fun when you embrace duality. 

I love cyclocross, the cross between road and mountain biking. I am non-binary, the androgynous space between man and woman. I am biracial, both Black and White. I exist in the cycling industry as both an athlete and a photographer. My favorite form of art is mixed media. Just to name a few ways that concept shows up for me. 

I fell in love with Cyclocross years ago when I worked for a bike shop in North Dakota that put on some weekly CX races in the fall. This was also the first time in my life that I truly embraced mountain biking on proper single track. A lot of people might be surprised to know that the riverbanks in Bismarck, ND are home to some well maintained and intentionally designed singletrack. It was here that I started to embrace dirt over road and the in-between. The rest is history. 

Fast forward to 2023. I am living in Colorado now and riding my bike more than ever, primarily MTB. Racing here and there, but aggressively pursuing my career as a cycling and endurance sport photographer. I love experiencing both sides of the sport, these experiences inspire each other. Every time I photograph a race I am inspired by the incredible people I am documenting accomplish great feats, which leads me to want to race. Oppositely, I have many moments completing a race where I think “wow, I wish I was behind the camera instead right now”, and I leave those experiences refreshed to pick up the camera again. I love this cycle, my love for the bike and my love for the camera almost cannot exist without dancing with each other. 

Eventually I decided to go big with my on-the-bike pursuits and attempt a race I have been obsessed with, the Leadville 100 MTB. After a failed attempt at the 2023 edition, I started to question what it is I want to do within the sport, on the bike. As fall approached I browsed available events only to be reminded that CX was coming. A sharp grin rallied across my face. 

The tail quarter of 2023 was filled with cyclocross. I set the goal to race at the USA Cyclocross Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. I set a few races in Colorado on my calendar to ramp up fitness and skills. What proceeded was a saga of terrible luck and results: mechanicals, wipe outs, and missing a start… whoops. However, that did not stop me from toeing the line in Louisville. Neither stopped the poor luck, I dropped my chain during the race, lost my lead, and finished second. At first, the result was hard to process, putting to test the duality of "success" and “failure”. Upon reflection, I remembered that my “why” is bigger than the sport and transcends those two polar outlooks. 

I want to diversify the sport. I passionately believe there is a place for everyone here. I am proud to represent myself as BIPOC and Non-Binary, and I hope to inspire like-people and other members of underrepresented communities to pursue their sport passions. Sports, especially most that don’t involve some sort of ball, and the outdoors have been dominated by the powers that be for ages. It is time that the space is shared equitably. 

It is that passion that fueled me to set the goal to challenge for the 2024 National Championship. This time with a spot on the Green Mountain Cyclocross Team, based in Vermont. Kim and Ben, the founders of the team, helped me at Nationals in 2023 and I was ever-so grateful for both their support and their unyielding mutual passion to elevate diversity in the sport. When they offered me a spot on the team for 2024, I was beside myself with joy and gratitude. I knew the 2024 season was going to be one to remember. 

I opened the season with the Green Mountain CX team’s home-hosted race, known as Green Mountain CX, hah. I came away with a win in the non-binary category, my first ever cyclocross win. I can’t fully envelope the feeling with words, it was so special to win, but especially special among “enby” comrades and at my team’s home event. 

I proceeded to race some cyclocross races in Colorado, which proved to be especially challenging as ever. I did not string together any spectacular results, but opposite to 2023, I did manage to get my bike across the finish line consistently. I then headed east, home of “proper” New England cyclocross, to race NoHo CX in Northampton, Massachusetts. I managed to win both of the non-binary category races, a day apart, against formidable opposition who kept me very honest. It was here that I felt my confidence grow: “Maybe I can win Nationals…”

The time comes, it’s Nationals week, I am overwhelmed with nerves. The slight obsession over the result slips into my mindset again. I want to win. 

I toe the line. Proud once more of my fellow non-binary racers for us to be together and compete at this level. Amongst the grief that trans women, due to policies in place at the top levels of the sport, can not say the same. 

The race feels like both the longest 45 minutes of my life, but also gone in the blink of an eye. So too was any of my hopes of winning the race, when Robin Cummings took the whole shot, the first bike to enter the first corner of the course. I tried to hang on, but Robin is skilled and strong, eventually gone and out of sight. I spent a good majority of the 45 minutes grieving my dream of winning. 

I love the spaces in-between. Yet once more, I stood on the second step of the podium, grieving the duality of the two results I gave myself, win or lose. It took a little time, and external support from my partner and friends, to come to terms and believe that all the work of the season was not in vain. I remembered my mission, one that is not defined by the dualities of winning or losing, but by the concept of showing up and joy activism. 

Of course I do want to win, and I do want to continue my mission outside of that, a duality itself. One that I will embrace for years to come. I have big ambitions, both competitively, and within the inclusivity initiatives I want to lead.

This is far from over.