The ever present question of "what next?"

Our ambassador, Scar Zeigler has already achieved a huge amount in a bike and isn't yet 18. Here she reflects back on a slightly quieter year on the bike, the mental pressures we can all put ourselves under and life as a teenager in a rapidly changing world. We are all immensely proud of her here at Restrap.

Hello guys! Scar Zeigler here. Throughout this past year following my record attempt, its been a rough road. As 2025 came to a close, I tried to look back on what happened to me mentally, coming from an internal and social standpoint. Being a Restrap ambassador (and repping other companies) comes with certain requests and requirements, mainly focusing on sharing my story and my achievements. From Just To Be With You, A Father Daughter Ride the Divide, to my world record of Under 24-hour Most Miles Ridden by Someone Under 18, my cycling journey has been shared and seen on many platforms for a few years. So when my mental state changed this past year, it was tough to separate pressures from outside sources from the pressures I put on myself. I asked myself, what happened?

Articles came out, and interviews happened. Of course, the question they always asked was, what's next? I responded that I’d like to hit some day races within the next year, and made vague promises of another big thing in 2026. Yet in all honesty, I had no idea what was next for me. My mental health felt disorganized, and I was unsure of how to face the world in front of me. At the beginning of the spring, Sea Otter Classic had brought me new friends and connections, and I barely reached out. What would they want from a cyclist who pulled her life to a halt? My bike sat untouched. I wish I could say I poured my hours into something else – school or music perhaps — but I did not. Something seemed to be wrong with me, and I just couldn't put my finger on what.

Looking back, I remember some of the thoughts that ran through my head, holding me back. Again, some parts came from inside me and others came from social pressures. What do you do when you've accomplished something that ended up being the best in the world? How can you do something bigger when you see the biggest thing you've done be at the world level? How do you keep going? How do you balance that with being 16, and balancing it with your ‘normal’ life? What do you say to your friends, your teachers, your advisors, when they ask how you balance the two? When they try to compute that there is a part of you they can't comprehend? What part of you will win out: the part you've built over years of work, or the atypical means of being your age and the consequential need to fit in?

Allow me to paint you a picture. Balancing the emotions and rollercoasters of being a teenager is a lot for anyone to handle, and in addition to my own life is a lot. You need to learn how to deal in social situations, how to work a job, how to keep friends, and maybe you'll end up with a girlfriend or boyfriend. All the while, you’re expected to act like an adult, yet then face your age being thrown at you like a bomb. The most common question you’re asked is “Do you have any plans for college?”, which is okay until you’re faced with college application deadlines being within a year. You constantly wonder if you fit in, if people like you, even though you know that isn't how you should base yourself. Yet it feels ingrained, like it's something genetic, and so you still do. Then you lay in your bed at night and question yourself — if your grades are good enough, if you're strong enough, pretty enough, good enough for anyone including yourself. Then if the answer is no, you fight with wondering if it's your fault, which sometimes it is. Other times it's not, but you can't afford to think that because that’s not self-improvement.

You see how much that can be- and perhaps you’re thinking that much of that is useless, that it doesn't matter once you get older. Maybe you’re saying, Scar, this isn't relevant to cycling at all. Ha! Right there shows that you’re probably older than me, that you've lived more life than I have, and yes, you have. Perhaps you’re more mature than I am — I wouldn't be shocked. However, please remember, this is the life I'm living. This is the life that thousands of teens are living right now and it matters so much because these are the strongest feelings we’ve ever felt. This is the oldest we've ever been, the most mature we’ve ever been. We don't know if it changes, yet you might.

Now, please imagine yourself as me. You set a world record within the last year. You beat the last two male records that had been set, and now you wonder what’s next. You’re in your last year of school before college (ahem, university), and you're not sure exactly how you want to go about that. You have a close friend group that you love more than anything, but you know that within the next year or two you may never see any of them again. However, that doesn't make them matter less. You value your education, but you’re scared of missing out on what seems to be core teenager things. You want to train, because you want to keep cycling and being outside and seeing the world, and that would give you a wonderful career. You also have other hobbies that take time and energy, that you wonder might be a career. Yet you seem to run out of time and you don't know where it goes. It feels like a vicious circle, you don't know how to pull yourself out. That's what it felt like to live through this past year.

What's my conclusion? Well, I've laid out schedules and dates. I've made training plans and begun to see a therapist. I've cut my time on social media, and started to read more books like I used to. On days I can't train, I take a moment to walk outside, to feel the ground under my feet. I’ve begun to piece back together a life to live for myself. I've spent more time with my family, and kept time to be for myself. Even on the busiest of days, I write some words, pedal some hills, pluck some strings. The most important thing to remember, I've learned, is this: the smallest things matter more than any huge to-do. Of course, this makes them the easiest to forget, and thus the easiest to lose. Watch it, and watch yourself. See the sunrise, drink a coffee. Savor the laughter with your friends, the wind on your face during downhills, that perfect run of Everlong during rehearsal. Smile at the mother in the grocery store, wave to the truck that gave you plenty of space when passing. Above all else, remember — you don't know what someone else is going through. Yet if you want to connect, ask them to paint a picture of their life for you. You might just learn something new.