Danny Summerhill (REIGN Storm Racing) has had an erratic profession of racing success and private challenges – generally turbulent, generally mercurial, all the time entertaining. In 2023, he had what he referred to as a “fairy-tale season” and gained the lads’s particular person and dash titles on the American Criterium Cup, a sequence of 10 one-day races throughout the US.
His success final yr additionally helped his American Biking Group squad win the very best total staff classification within the ACC. Professional bicycle owner turned movie maker, Angus Morton, joined the staff on 5 race weekends to seize the ethos of a bunch of riders experiencing the US criterium life and, because it turned out a metamorphosis of Summerhill, in ‘Crit Goals’.
This yr, the staff races below the REIGN Storm Racing model, nonetheless led by chief sports activities director and former professional Thomas Craven, whom Summerhill calls “the glue.” REIGN Storm has already swept staff prizes at two spring sequence—the six-race USA Crits and eight-race USA Velocity Week. The staff had seven podiums throughout USA Crits, with Summerhill ending third total behind total winner and teammate Alfredo Rodriguez.
“I say it doesn’t truly matter who wins for us. The a lot bigger goal is that we win. This yr, I do not care. In different years, I might completely have a distinct reply for you. I’ve a concentrate on simply being a part of the very best staff and exhibiting that we’re the very best,” Summerhill advised Cyclingnews throughout the staff’s cease on the Athens Twilight Criterium, a part of USA Crits and USA Velocity Week, the place he completed second.
Having turned 35 in February, Summerhill confirmed no indicators of slowing down, utilizing his legs in a dash or along with his vocal cords in a dialog about sprinting. His biking profession goes again to 2004 when he raced a number of disciplines, together with US cyclocross titles as a junior and U23 athlete, plus a silver medal as a junior on the 2007 Cyclocross World Championships. It wasn’t till Craven signed the Coloradoan to the Greatest Buddies Workforce in 2021 that Summerhill refocused on criterium racing and thought of himself not a ‘bridesmaid’.
“I’ve numerous pleasure for the ACC, clearly. It has a particular place in my coronary heart, simply because of the people who I met by means of the group who give their blood, sweat and tears for that occasion. And never that USA Crits doesn’t do the identical, however I simply have a particular vested curiosity within the ACC as a consequence of the truth that I gained each competitions final yr. And naturally, like anybody would wish to win it once more,” Summerhill advised Cyclingnews.
“I might like to win it [American Criterium Cup] once more, after all, or or not it’s gained by somebody on REIGN Storm – me or Alfredo [Rodriguez] or [Bryan] Gomez. Whether or not it finally ends up being my goal to win ACC once more, or that of the staff’s, so long as I’m serving to contribute in both of these two, it’s the identical.”
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The 2024 ACC started June 7 at Tulsa Powerful, REIGN Storm taking the lead within the staff rankings with Bryan Gomez and Alfredo Rodriguez ending within the high 5 and Summerhill setting the mark because the dash chief.
The second cease of the sequence will happen this Saturday at Tour of America’s Dairyland on the Downer’s Traditional. And it was at ToAD final yr that the ‘Crit Goals’ story took form.
“I’ve all the time been a bridesmaid. I’m proud of that, [but 2023] moved me away from being a lead-out rider, and I’ve been completely satisfied I’ve been capable of have this success…a fairy-tale season,” Summerhill mentioned within the movie.
The unexplainable fairy story
Morton’s movie, with assist from BMC, follows the second half of the 2023 ACC, which included racing close to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for ToAD. Craven mentioned again in his day of US racing this was the “holy grail’ of criterium racing and outlined a lifestyle.
Utilizing behind-the-scenes footage, private interviews and race highlights, ‘Crit Goals’ tells the story of the hunt for this holy grail, which Craven mentioned was “for the group. You wish to do loopy issues to placed on a present”.
From varied suburban host homes with massive plates of pasta on riders’ laps to staff conferences utilizing a pc to translate audio to Spanish for a number of riders, the American Biking Group squad labored to win the staff and particular person titles final summer season in what they referred to as “David versus Goliath” as a small staff in opposition to the groups with large budgets.
Summerhill recounted his main profession setbacks alongside the best way, admitting “the world thought I used to be a ‘Loony Toon’” after he was let go in 2017 by the extremely profitable UnitedHealthcare street staff. He resigned after expenses of ‘disorderly conduct, discharging a weapon in a public place and reckless endangerment’ associated to firing a gun right into a hillside whereas on a coaching trip in a rural space exterior Denver. It turned out to be a snowball impact of profession begins and stops.
“He offers a shit,” was how Craven summed up his staff chief. “He cares in regards to the race. He cares about folks. He’s tremendous compassionate, sensible. He may most likely make more cash with a much bigger staff, doing different varieties of races, however he’s content material with the staff setup, a really cohesive setup.”
Earlier than driving for Craven, Summerhill was invited by USA Biking to participate on the lads’s Workforce Pursuit squad in 2019, which he referred to as ‘a present’ and made an try to earn a spot on the Tokyo Olympic Video games. Whereas he helped the squad win a number of lead-up races, the US didn’t qualify sufficient spots for staff occasion and he mentioned he obtained burned out from the monitor expertise. He began taking anti-depressants, which led to a one-year suspension for failing to acquire the right Therapeutic Use Exemption for Adderall, a medicine used to deal with ADD.
That was additionally in regards to the time Summerhill’s father was recognized with Alzheimer’s illness, and he grew to become the primary caregiver for the household.
“I’m nervous for the day that he forgets my title,” Summerhill managed to say as he obtained choked up speaking about his father, Ed, within the movie. His father succumbed to the illness this spring, and the movie pays tribute to Ed Summerhill within the credit.
“I’m chaotic sufficient, and with ADD, there’s no method that I’d be capable to hold biking. I do know all the things occurs for a purpose, and it’s troublesome understanding what these causes are generally. I’m completely satisfied for all of the situations in my life which have introduced me right here,” he would summarise on the finish.
