Name: Andrew Da Silva
Category: 3 across the board!
Race Age: 27
Current team: Sommerville Sports – Ride Brooklyn

Day Job: I’m a Clinical Social Worker. Basically I’m an individual and family therapist working mostly with adolescents and their families.

How you got into cycling: My father was an avid cyclist and big fan of the sport in the 80’s. I grew up 10 miles west of West Point and Bear Mountain, so he had me and brother out riding around with him from pretty early on. I always wanted to race but it wasn’t really accessible where I lived and I was involved with cross country in the fall, skiing in the winter and Lacrosse in the spring for the majority of high school. Not much time for bike racing, but I always planned on getting into riding/racing one day.

How you got into racing: During college my friend, and now teammate, Konrad pressured me into doing a ‘Try the Track’ type clinic with him at T-Town in the spring of 2010. I was hooked immediately after that. We drove home from the clinic and both signed up for the next Twilight Series race at Kissena. We have both been racing road, track and cross ever since!

Favorite local course and why: Definitely Kissena. It is where I started racing so consequently it will always conjure up good feelings and memories. I always really like racing in Branch Brook Park in the early season. Also I really love racing the Memorial Day weekend crits in NJ, those being Raritan, Bound Brook and Somerville.

Greatest achievement racing: I’m pretty proud of a silver omnium finish at Elite NYS Track Championships in 2014. I was also pretty stoked to squeak out a 3rd place finish in a Derny race during the Dave Creasy Six at the Herne Hill Velodrome in London after the states that same year. Also in 2014 getting the opportunity to race a Madison with my coach/team mate Eric Ragot at T-Town in a really serious field was awesome.

Worst memory of a race: Whenever a crash happens and someone ends up in the hospital is generally a pretty bad memory of a race.

Goals/Aspirations: I’d like to be able to race on Friday nights at T-Town someday. Other than that, just to continue to grow and learn as a rider. Also, secretly I want to be a climber… I know it’s absurd, but I still haven’t gotten it through my head that I can’t climb. So not getting dropped from a road race with a proper climb is another goal on the back of my mind.

What’s the most fun thing you missed out on in order to do a bike race: You know the typical amateur bike racer stuff. Being out with my girlfriend and friends and having to go home early for a race or ride the next morning. I’m in a band, I’m pretty sure I’ve had to bail out of a show or two after a crash.