American track cyclist Kim Geist announced Friday that she is retiring from a 23-year career as a professional cyclist. Geist, a two-time world champion with Team Pursuit, has also competed in professional road racing, winning 32 national titles.

"Today I am announcing my retirement from competitive cycling," Geist wrote in a statement released by USA Cycling. When I started competing, no one in my family was involved in the sport or was particularly athletic. No one knew what a "velodrome" was or that the discipline of track cycling was a historic sport in the area where I grew up. No one knew that I would seize the opportunity to add a flower to that story, or that it would become a major focus of my life for the next 23 years.

Geist was born in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and grew up racing at the Lee Valley Velodrome (now called the Valley Preferred Cycling Center) near Trexlertown.

As a junior, Geist won two bronze medals in individual pursuit at the 2004 and 2005 Junior Track World Championships.

She competed in professional road racing with the U.S. UCI team Victory Brewing and later Team Lipton. While there, she won the Meiji Leok Best Young Rider Award at the Liberty Classic (Women's World Cup) in Philadelphia.

Geist was involved in a horrific collision with a tractor-trailer during a training ride in the summer of 2007. He broke six ribs, several vertebrae, his sacrum, and pelvis, and his lung was partially crushed. It took nearly a year for him to fully heal, but he returned to racing and won the elite individual pursuit at the 2008 U.S. National Championships.

Most recently on the track, Geist won two world titles with her teammates in women's team pursuit at the 2017 Hong Kong World Championships and the 2018 Apeldoorn World Championships. She also won a bronze medal in the points race at the 2015 World Championships in Yvelines; at the 2019 Pan American Games, she won two gold medals in Team Pursuit and Madison.

"Kim has had an amazing career. She is part of the greatest women's team Pursuit team of all time," said USA Cycling women's endurance track coach Gary Sutton. 'We are thrilled to hear that she will further her coaching career and continue to contribute to the development of our sport. We wish her all the best for the future."

Geist holds a bachelor's degree in exercise science and a master's degree in sports nutrition and coaches cyclists through Kim Geist Coaching.

"Kim Geist represented the US National Team, our country, and our sport with dignity and class. She put her heart and soul into every practice and competition and set the standard for her teammates," said Scott Schnitzspahn, vice president of elite athletics for USA Cycling.

"Kim has inspired those around her as an athlete and will continue to inspire the next generation of American cyclists in her next chapter as a coach.

"Today I am announcing my departure from competitive cycling. When I started competing, no one in my family was involved in the sport, nor was it particularly sporty. No one knew what a "velodrome" was or that the discipline of track cycling was historic in the area where I grew up. No one knew that I would seize the opportunity to add to that story and that it would become a major focus of my life for the next 23 years. For the past 23 years, I have had a strong passion for the sport of cycling. For the past 23 years, I have had a strong passion for the sport of cycling. Recently, I was asked if I knew from day one that I would be on a path to great results in this sport. My answer was a simple 'yes. I knew from the beginning that this sport was right for me. Not because my talent blossomed immediately, but because I found the sport to be so unique, dynamic, and challenging on so many different levels." [It inspired me to take every opportunity to study racing, to beat the boys in my junior years, and to win a World Championship title in my senior years, every day of my preparation. However, apart from this willingness to take on the sport, what made me last was my strong enjoyment of the process. Day after day, I have truly enjoyed the process of improving physically and mentally and forming the discipline necessary to become the best player I can be. Today, I can honestly say that I have lost some of my enjoyment and pleasure in the process. I love riding my bike and the people who supported me in doing so, but the daily process of living as a competitor no longer has the same spark"

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"So I think it is time for me to stop competing. The one accomplishment I sincerely hope to achieve before I close is to inspire a new generation of cyclists to ignite their own sparks. Study, prepare, train, compete to the best of your ability, and you too will be remembered for the good days you had, but if you have more days that are not so good, know that the enjoyment you created and the overall enjoyment in the sport will overcome that. I want you to know. When I look back on my career, I can recall many happy days spent training and competing." As I close those days, I am also opening the door to new, better days. I have already participated in many of the activities associated with the sport, and I am enjoying them just as much as I did the first day I turned the pedals for the first time. I look forward to channeling the energy and drive I put into competitive cycling into new ventures within the sport. I look forward to participating in even more and giving back to the community that has given so much to me. There are too many people in my community that have helped me progress or helped me maintain my brilliance to name a few. People who have run with me, raced with me, competed with me. If you told me I could, or could not, that too is because of you, and I am grateful for that.

"There have been so many of you who have been a part of this process for 23 years. Leaving competitive cycling was a long and difficult decision, but for me it was the right one and I want to say "thank you." I look forward to our next talk and bike ride together." - Kim