This is the final installment in a four-part series about a few of our outstanding Seattle-area junior bicycle racers. According to coach David Richter, Snohomish High School senior Thorsten Askervold has significant potential to develop into an elite-level cyclist: “He’s the best of all of them right now…Thorsten possesses the drive that championship athletes have. His natural instinct is to win.”
Age: 17
Nickname: Thor
Education: Senior at Snohomish High school
Place of Birth: Kirkland
Favorite subjects in school: Biology, sports med, sci-fi
What are your plans after high school?
To hopefully fulfill my dream as a pro cyclist!
Are you involved in sports other than cycling?
Starting in the 7th grade I ran cross-country, and I did that until last year. I liked it just because it’s a healthy way of living and I liked the intensity of the bigger races, plus all of my other friends were doing it. I was a speedskater between the ages of 8 until about 15.
How did you get into cycling and racing bicycles?
Speedskating was my main sport, but my next door neighbor mentioned that cycling is good for cross training, so I went to the local bike shop with my dad and we invested on a cheap KHS road bike. Then we heard about some junior racing down at the velodrome at Marymoor park, and I could not stop talking about how cool it was, and so I ended up joining the junior team there (Team Zoom). That’s how I got so into this sport! I have only been on 3 teams in my career, Team zoom, Starbucks, and Herriott Sports Performance (HSP). Transitioning was not a big deal. The reason why I was changing teams, was because I wanted to get serious, and HSP has been a great team for that. Couldn’t have picked a better team.
Tell us about your training schedule.
My training schedule varies a lot, but the average amount of hours I put out in a week is around 12-14 hours. So my rides on the weekdays are 1-2 hours long, and on the weekend are typically a lot longer. I don’t do any other training now, its just strictly cycling…
Tell us about the challenges of combining school and racing bikes.
Combining these two thing have always been a struggle for me, but the key to it, is to balance everything out, however for me it can be difficult…just have to find a way around it.
What are some of your racing highlights?
Most of my bike racing highlights have been in criteriums because I’m a sprinter. I won the Capital Stage Race criterium last year as a cat 3. Wenatchee Omnium last year was good as well because I got 2nd overall in the cat 3 field. But my biggest highlight this year (and in my career thus far) was at Cascade Classic, where I got 2nd on the crit in the cat 2 field. I’ve always wanted to do well in that race.
What are your favorite Seattle-area ride?
I live about 1 hour north of Seattle so I don’t ride much up there but when I do team rides, I like riding out towards May Valley and doing a loop around Mercer Island.
Do you have any advice for other teens thinking about cycling or racing bicycles?
Getting into cycling is a really good choice, not only because it’s a healthy lifestyle, but the community is great! It’s a really competitive sport, which makes it 10 times better. And it’s just a fun thing to do overall, best sport by far!
Previous: Junior Spotlight 2014: Ben Peterson
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