No. 22 Racing's Darcey Moore on navigating mud, sand and big descents on her custom Broken Arrow

No. 22 Racing’s Darcey Moore loves technical riding and anything challenging. Based outside Boston, she works in logistics for Patagonia by day, and first realized that she loved cycling when she started commuting to work by bike.

“I find cycling is a great way to clear out mental clutter,” she says.

Her passion for the outdoors and newfound love of riding quickly led her to an interest in MTB and cross racing several years ago. New England has a fantastic cyclocross scene which Darcey dove into and embraced.

“I met our team director, Krys [Blakemore], on the start line of a race a few years ago,” she explains. “We were both lining up in the beginners’ field and just started chatting and built a friendship from there. The cyclocross community is so welcoming and infectious, so it’s really easy to make friends,” she says. “I really adore what Krys has done for the community through building the women’s team. She’s done so much to promote women’s cycling.”

This fall, she’s been competing around the Northeast/Atlantic region on the No. 22 Racing team and continues to push her limits and become the best rider she can be. “I really love courses that are super technical, with tricky turns and descents—throw in some mud, sand, any challenging feature… that’s what I love to race!”

As she got more serious about cyclocross, Darcey knew she needed to find a bike that had the versatility to tackle just about any course. She was thrilled to learn that No. 22 was supporting the team, because she wanted a custom build that she would enjoy riding for fun and also could tackle all the technical aspects of a race.

“I loved being part of the build process for my Broken Arrow, and really appreciated having my voice heard when it comes to what I wanted in a bike,” she says.

 Photo: Sean Curran

Darcey was familiar with titanium builds already, and appreciated the aesthetic that No. 22 offers.

“I love the brand’s design decisions,” she says. “I appreciate what they can do for individual riders, from the butting process to tube selection and making the frames just look so clean.”

Her top priority in a custom build was something that would work for her in a range of conditions.

“I learned through working with No. 22 that the geometric aspects of a frame really matter,” she explains. “Especially for women’s bikes, it’s not one size fits all. In the past, I’ve had some good and bad elements in a cross bike but my Broken Arrow has a tight rear triangle to the frame so it’s really easy to whip around turns, it handles really well, and it costs me a lot less effort on a technical race course.”

The frame's geometry makes shouldering the bike easier which has given her an advantage in racing

Photo: Katie Busick

“This fall I raced in Cape Cod at the Really Rad race,” she says. “It was one of the most turny, technical, fun races I’ve ever done and there’s a really long sand section that was hard and decisive… I managed to make all the turns with my bike and because of that I could really put some distance into the other riders and hold my line well.”

While she strives for her best in racing, Darcey’s ultimate goal in cyclocross is to enjoy herself.

“I take it seriously,” she explains. “I’ll be out there at dawn on the course trying things over and over to master it, trying to figure out how to do things smoother and faster. But at the end of the day it’s just fun to be part of this community and I love going out and cheering for people as much as I love racing. That’s what cyclocross is all about for me.”