This junior rider from Toronto is set for big results in 2024
Ashlin Barry has already made a name for himself in cycling at a young age, and the future looks bright
Photo by:
Michel Guillemette
Finally, Toronto’s Ashlin Barry is a junior. Believe it or not, during the past few years when he’s been riding (and beating) adults, he wasn’t even under-19 yet. In 2023, he signed up with Jonathan Vaughters’s EF Education-ONTO junior team, and became teammates with riders like Enzo Hincapie, son of George, who raced with Ashlin’s father, former WorldTour pro, Michael. His mother, Dede is a former junior world champion, and Olympic silver medallist.
He already has some impressive results. In 2022 and 2023, despite being not yet under-19, he took the overall win at the Green Mountain stage race, and raced in the Pro/1 category at the Intelligentsia Cup crit races in Chicago. Now that he’s a proper junior, what is he looking forward to?
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“My biggest goal is to learn as much as possible in all the races and take opportunities to get results where I can,” he said. “I have a great race schedule lined up for the year which I’m really excited about and I’m looking forward to taking advantage of all the chances I get to learn and win races.”
Quick on the road, quick on the track
Barry is an accomplished track rider, and has some impressive speed on the boards. He is often seen at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre, zipping around on the indoor velodrome. Despite being under-17, he had special permission to race with the under-19 category at the track nationals. At the 2023 event, he took gold in the elimination, the madison, the team pursuit, along with a silver in the individual pursuit, keirin, and points race.
As well as racing in Milton, ON, he returned to the Next Generation Track Meet in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, where he was second in the individual pursuit and points race, and first in the scratch, tempo and elimination. He was leading the madison along with another Enzo–this time, Edmonds, until a puncture ruined their race.
“I’ve been keeping busy racing on the track, training hard and in school,” the 16-year-old said. “Over the last month I had a couple of training camps on the road bike and I also had the opportunity to race in Apeldoorn, which was super fun and a great opportunity to race against a lot of the top European riders in January.”
Education first
School is important to Ashlin, and the challenge of training and studying takes some good planning. Currently, he’s enrolled at Upper Canada College in Toronto.
“For me, I would say being as organized as possible and working ahead of schedule on things has made a big difference for me. I realized if I wanted to make things work, I could, I just had to work hard and give up most of my free time. I have a slightly reduced school schedule this term which has made it a lot easier to manage, but during the fall all I can remember is riding, racing, or doing school at any given time for two months straight,” he explained.
“That wore me down which made me realize the importance of finding balance, even when it felt like I should be working on something any opportunity I have. It’s taken time for me to figure it out, but I’ve found it’s all about balancing my priorities and managing my time as best I can.”
Swapping a Canadian for an American licence
In 2024, Ashlin will be racing with an American licence. Previously, he’s done so with a Canadian one. He was born in Spain and his family moved to Toronto when he began school. He’s always had dual citizenship since Dede is American and Michael is Canadian.
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“Before moving to Toronto, my family lived between Girona and Boulder so I feel pretty at home in either place,” he said. “There were a lot of factors that went into making the decision to race for the U.S. but it came down mostly to where I feel I’m really supported and have the opportunity to best develop and succeed at a top level.
Ashlin said that USA Cycling has a very supportive junior program in place with a lot of racing, and he is excited about the upcoming season.
2024 plans
“I’m hoping to go on a spring trip with the national team which includes two stage races in France and the Netherlands and finishes with Junior Paris-Roubaix. After that, there’s a couple of other race blocks in Europe I hope to do, one which I’ll do with my team, EF Education-ONTO and hopefully some more I will do with the national team,” Ashlin said. “A big goal is to qualify for the junior road and track world championships towards the end of the season.”
Both his parents still ride, and his father can be seen racing with him in local races in the area, such as Hell of The North, which Ashlin has won several times. But with his increased schedule, the chances to train with them aren’t quite as frequent.
“Unfortunately, I don’t get to ride with them as often as I used to,” he said. “I’ve been traveling a lot more the last year but I can definitely say they’ve both stayed in pretty good shape since retiring.
Despite warm temps, still lots of trainer rides
Although it’s been unseasonably warm in Toronto this winter, he still alternates his training between inside and outside.
“I do ride a lot on the trainer. This year has been a bit easier than years past to get out on the road, as it’s been unusually warm here and I’ve been to training camps and racing a lot on the track. I try to mix things up as much as possible,” Barry said. “It’s perfect having the Mattamy Velodrome in Milton close by as I train and race there all winter. I’m typically training there up to a few times per week which means I can get some quality intensity in. The track has been a great place for me to develop as there are some really experienced coaches who have helped me a lot over the last three years. Besides that, I try to ride outside as much as possible, run, and Nordic ski on the weekends.”
Mixing up training
In the fall, he was running three times a week, as well as gym work, but now that the season is near there’s less of that. But he does think it’s important to not just limit his training to on the bike.
“Although I rarely do anything heavy, the goal is to build some durability and to avoid the effects that just riding a bike all the time can have on your body. It becomes challenging to run or do strength work with a busy racing schedule but I try to do both when I can as I know it’s important to be well-rounded especially while I’m still young,” he said. “I was really active in a lot of different sports growing up so it’s always been a goal to try and maintain the benefits that moving my body in different ways has while I’ve focused more and more on racing my bike.”
The not-too-distant future?
Although it’s still a few years away, he does hope to follow in his parent’s footsteps and race in the big leagues.
“For sure I want to try and race pro,” he said. “Although I haven’t thought super long-term, I want to see what I can do this year and I think that will give me a better idea of what the future holds.”
