1 of 2
Photos by Sarah Finnegan.
Vestavia Hills High School student William Seitz carries his bike over a small retaining wall at Wald Park on Sept. 25.
2 of 2
Photos by Sarah Finnegan.
Vestavia Hills High School student William Seitz dismounts his bike at Wald Park on Sept. 25.
Fifteen-year-old William Seitz only recently obtained his driver’s permit, but he has long been acquainted with the road.
The Vestavia Hills High School sophomore is a two-wheel standout who competes in road cycling, mountain biking and cyclocross — a discipline that merges the two and includes aspects of cross-country running.
This month, Seitz will travel to Louisville, Kentucky, to ride in the Pan-American Continental Championships for cyclocross. Over the course of an hour, he will test himself against other top riders from North, Central and South America, along with the Caribbean.
“The hardest part is when you get in a rhythm, and then you have to get off the bike and you lose that rhythm,” Seitz said. “Then, you have to find it again immediately.”
Cyclocross races feature a variety of terrain and challenge riders with obstacles that require frequent dismounting and remounting. Some courses, for instance, include stairs that mandate competitors pick up their bikes and run with them hanging over their shoulders.
But even without hopping off the saddle, course composition can be brutal. The track at Louisville boasts an 80-yard stretch of pure sand.
“One of the secrets, I guess, is the ability to suffer,” said Bill Seitz, William’s father, “because to be fast, you’ve got to put up with pain.”
The younger Seitz is no stranger to pushing his limits on two wheels. He has been racing since age 5, when his father introduced him to BMX. Bill Seitz had been cycling on the roads since the late 1980s, and he knew he wanted to give his son an opportunity to test the sport.
William Seitz made great strides — quickly.
Competing in 35- to 40-second races on hilly, M-shaped tracks, he often pulled away from his fellow riders. By the time he turned 11, he already had represented the United States twice at the world junior championships. He raced in Denmark at age 9 and England at age 10. Once, he finished in the top 32.
”It actually puts you in competition mode, and you race your age that year,” said his mother, Judy Seitz, “so you learn sportsmanship, you learn to better yourself until you’re 10.”
That’s when William Seitz began making the transition to cyclocross, road cycling and mountain biking. Cyclocross is primarily a winter sport, while road cycling and mountain biking races are peppered throughout the year.
“It’s split into a season where I’m able to do all three in succession,” William Seitz said, “but I try to peak for cyclocross.”
That is not the case for many up-and-coming cyclists. Bill Seitz said the majority of elite teenage riders choose to specialize in either road cycling or mountain biking. It is uncommon, he said, for a rider of his son’s caliber to devote time to all three.
But William Seitz has juggled them seamlessly.
He finished 29th in his age group at this year’s mountain bike national championship, and he is ranked among the top 50 or 60 nationally in cyclocross and road cycling.
“There are very, very few people who compete in all three disciplines because they are so different,” Bill Seitz said, “so for him to basically be ranked top 50 in each of them is quite rare.”
It’s also rare for a 15-year-old to be classified as a Category 3 racer, but that’s what William Seitz is. USA Cycling assigns categories to riders based on their skill level, with tiers spanning 1 to 5. Entry-level riders are classified in the fifth tier, while the most elite fall in the first tier.
William Seitz leveled up about a year and a half ago, and he now races seasoned adults almost exclusively. The only exception is at national championship competitions.
“William has always made a decision that he wants to upgrade to tougher competition early to challenge him to improve,” Bill Seitz said.
To prepare for those races, William Seitz typically trains three to four days per week on the roads around metro Birmingham. Mondays are for recovery rides, while Tuesdays normally consist of fast sessions with a group of local adults. Schoolwork dictates the rest of his training schedule, but weekends are frequently reserved for races.
William Seitz is on a road cycling team based in Atlanta and a mountain bike junior development team based in Birmingham. The local team is sponsored by Mugshots, Cahaba Cycles and military veteran Noah Galloway.
Due to his involvement with both teams, William Seitz had crossed 40 finish lines in 2017 as of late September.
“It’s balancing passion with not being too passionate to where you overdo your training,” William Seitz said, “because a lot of kids ride twice as much as I do and they get burned out.”
Bill Seitz said that most youth riders competing at his son’s level log around 10,000 miles per year. William Seitz, however, will complete less than half of that amount — and still fare exceptionally well in races.
Seitz’s parents credit his BMX background for his success.
“That’s really played into where he is now,” Judy Seitz said. “The reason he’s able to compete with somebody riding three times as much as he is is because of his technical skill set.”
