{"id":383968,"date":"2026-01-02T17:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/383968\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T17:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:58:09","slug":"why-haley-smith-is-going-her-own-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/383968\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Haley Smith is going her own way"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Haley Smith signed with Trek Driftless<\/a>, it was big news. The Canadian was hot off two strong years of Life Time Grand Prix racing and the marathon XC national champion and, with the move to a gravel-focused factory team, looked to be at the fore of a growing professionalization of the sport.<\/p>\n

Two years later, Smith is finding new motivation in the opposite direction. She\u2019s going solo and creating her own program again. She\u2019s looking forward to racing more mountain bikes. And she\u2019s back racing with Andrew L\u2019Esperance.<\/p>\n

Hitting the Privateer phase of her career<\/p>\n

Leaving a major team to pursue a privateer program isn\u2019t the normal move in racing. It adds a ton of work for the athlete that would otherwise be done by staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrivateer racing brings different stresses and responsibilities than having a factory ride does, but I feel more at-home when I am driving my own ship and looking after myself a little more,\u201d Smith said over e-mail, adding \u201cI am very, very grateful for my time at Trek and for the support of the brand and program, but I did struggle a little bit in that environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith says part of that struggle comes down to being in a different stage in her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to be less of a cog and more of a driver now that I\u2019m managing grad studies, racing, and life in my 30s! Like I said, I really appreciate having the experiences that I did at Trek, but I am excited to have a bit more freedom and ownership of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith admits she did have doubts about making the leap, especially once she\u2019d committed but hadn\u2019t yet signed any contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very lucky with my sponsorship talks and pretty much everything went smoothly. I have MAAP to thank for a lot of that \u2013 they\u2019ve really helped make my gravel\/endurance career and have been a huge source of stability for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing on some perspective helped keep the stress in check.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried to continually remind myself that this is not something I have to do \u2013 it is something I choose to do. There is no imperative \u2013 it is all for the love and passion of bike racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Smith and L\u2019Esperance winning XCM national championships in 2023.\u00a0John Howland
\nFinding a competitive advantage in going it alone<\/p>\n

There are advantages to going it alone, though. Especially when Smith is trying to balance pro racing, graduate studies, and her generally quite busy life. Leadville, for example, conflicts with here PhD Comps (a major, and intense exam processes within the PhD program). Instead, she\u2019ll race the iconic Downieville Classic in California.<\/p>\n

In general, 2026 will see Smith shift back towards her \u201coff-road roots\u201d with more mountain bike races. The Canadians said in past years she \u201cfelt pressure to prioritize only gravel and the Life Time Grand Prix.\u201d Without that pressure, she\u2019s focusing on XC Marathon nationals and world champs, heading to Downieville and returning to the Cape Epic.<\/p>\n

Even the return to Cape Epic Smith says she expects to be easier on her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten really, really lucky and have been able to hand-pick all of my partners for the coming season. For example, I\u2019ll be racing Cape Epic again this year and the whole thing will just be a bit more seamless, both in terms of logistics and equipment choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s roster of sponsors includes Factor Racing, for gravel and mountain bikes, returning with MAAP clothing as well as Wahoo, Smith, Stan\u2019s, Vittoria, QUOC, Fox Suspension, Enduro Bearings, First Endurance, Red and The Feed.<\/p>\n

Gravel will still play a big part in Smith\u2019s program. Traka 360, Unbound, The Rift and defending her Migration Gravel title are all on the program, as well as Gravel world championships.<\/p>\n

\"Haley<\/a>Haley Smith and Andrew L\u2019Esperance at Sea Otter 2023. Image: Marc Arjol Rodriguez
\nBack to roots, and family<\/p>\n

The advantage Smith keeps coming back to, though, is control over her own destiny. For someone who has accomplished so much in her career, and not always had the easiest road to those results, being able to do what you know works for you (and not do what doesn\u2019t) is important.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing for me is that I can choose my approach\/orientation to competition and structure my immediate environment to bring me the most confidence and self-efficacy. I\u2019ve felt like a bit of a \u201csmall\u201d version of myself for a couple of years, and being my own boss brings a little bit more control over those feelings back into my own hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other big change in leaving a team structure?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all allows you to choose things like your travel buddies. I\u2019ll be back racing and travelling with L\u2019Espy!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trek years were the first since she and now-husband Andrew L\u2019Esperance met that the two were on truly separate race programs. After starting with Norco together, they moved to Maxxis Factory Racing as a team. When that ended, L\u2019Esperance revived Forward Racing with old teammate Sean Fincham. When I talked to Smith after she signed with Trek, both were looking forward to having some distance in an otherwise 24-7 relationship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think L\u2019Espy has really liked getting to travel the world with Sean. That\u2019s been a huge highlight for him for the last couple years,\u201d Smith said recently, after Smith and L\u2019Esperance both raced an eventful Gravel Burn<\/a>. \u201cBut for me, personally, I\u2019ve really struggled to\u00a0thrive in that environment without my best friend that I\u2019ve done this with for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, while Smith will be racing as a privateer, she won\u2019t be racing solo. We\u2019re all looking forward to seeing what the duo can accomplish at the races together this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Haley Smith signed with Trek Driftless, it was big news. The Canadian was hot off two strong…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[113108,49,48,635,117922,117923,163383,62722,82],"class_list":["post-383968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-andrew-lesperance","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-gravel-news","tag-haley-smith","tag-mtb-feat","tag-mtb-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}