Kinesiology’s Jay Gump Competes at Cycling World Championships

When Jay Gump, senior lecturer of kinesiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, lined up on Australia's Great Ocean Road last month wearing a Team USA jersey, he was thousands of miles from his lecture hall-but right at home on two wheels.

Gump represented the U.S. at the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Lorne, Australia, finishing 10^th of 167 cyclists in his age group (55-59). The 131-kilometer race featured more than 2,000 amateur athletes from around the world.

"It was fantastic," Gump says. "I had been to large international events as a coach, but I had never participated as an athlete … Putting on the national team kit … I got a few goosebumps, I'll admit."

Gump earned his invitation to the world championships after winning the 2024 national championship in Frederick, Maryland. He's a three-time national champion and longtime competitor in cycling, triathlon and running events.

But while Gump excels on the bike, his passion also fuels his teaching. At UMass, he teaches the Department of Kinesiology's foundational anatomy and physiology sequence-courses that serve hundreds of students each semester preparing for careers in health care.

"Anything that students can connect with, that you can take into the classroom, kind of draws them in," he says. "Any time there's a practical situation that can be applied-effectively a case study-I'll bring it into the classroom. Sometimes that's from my own experience."

Before joining UMass in 2018 and previously teaching at Greenfield Community College, Gump coached elite endurance athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and with professional cycling teams. He also built a successful career as a physiology researcher, specializing in muscle growth and cancer signaling pathways.

At UMass, Gump has twice been nominated for the Distinguished Teaching Award, in 2018 and 2020, for his dedication and impact in the classroom. Colleagues describe him as a modest, no-nonsense instructor who constantly experiments with new technologies and discussion-based methods to keep classes engaged.

Whether he's discussing human physiology or racing across continents, Gump sees movement as central to both health and learning.

"The best medicine we have for any of us is physical activity," he notes. "People who think they've lost it-I don't buy that. There's always something we can get back."

For Gump, that message resonates beyond the cycling course. "All of us need broad life experiences, and we should bring those into the classroom," he adds. "That's what students want-to know what's relevant to them and why it matters."