Texas Monthly Spotlights Beckam Drake, a Texas NICA Alumnus on the Rise in World Cycling
Texas Monthly‘s April 2026 issue features a sweeping profile of Beckam Drake, an eighteen-year-old from Amarillo who is quietly becoming one of the most exciting young cyclists in the world — and whose story starts right here in the Texas Interscholastic Mountain Bike League (Texas NICA).
Writer Daniel Vaughn traces Beckam’s journey from a self-described “pretty cookie-cutter Texas family” to the starting ramp of the UCI Junior World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda — a journey that began when Beckam joined the local Yellow Jackets mountain bike team and began racing in the Texas NICA league. He finished 31st in his very first race. By the time he left the league, he had won his division overall. That foundation of youth mountain bike racing set the trajectory for everything that followed.
The article captures the remarkable chain of events — and people — that helped Beckam level up from NICA racer to international road cycling prospect:
- A local propane-delivery driver turned coach named Kevin Reedy recognized his potential early and gave him structured training.
- Caleb Fairly, a former World Tour professional from Amarillo, was dropped by Beckam on a Tuesday night group ride — when Beckam was still in middle school.
- The Fairly family sponsored Beckam through Hill’s Sport Shop in Amarillo and connected him with USA Cycling’s development pipeline.
- After racing in Belgium with USA Cycling at age fifteen, Beckam committed fully to road racing — switching to online school to accommodate a grueling training and travel schedule.
- At the 2024 Junior World Championships in Kigali, Beckam finished fourth in the individual time trial, just 13 seconds off the gold medal, against riders with professional development contracts and years more experience.
What makes this story resonate so deeply for the Texas NICA community is where it begins: a pudgy middle schooler, weekend trail rides with his dad, a local team, and a first race that ended in 31st place. Texas NICA exists precisely to create these kinds of on-ramps — moments where a kid discovers that the bike is more than just fun. For Beckam Drake, that discovery changed everything. He is now under contract with a professional development team and set to move to their European headquarters in northern Spain later in 2026.
This is a beautifully written, deeply reported piece and a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of cycling in Texas — and about what youth mountain biking can set in motion.
