 He started out doing local mountain bike races and, by the end of the season, he had moved up to the Expert class and was placing well.The next year was Hawkins's breakout year; he trained all winter and got picked up by the Mountain Bike team SoBe/Headshok, traveling the National circuit racing as a junior expert.He had a few podium appearances at Nationals and was ranked #4 nationally and #1 in New England, while never finishing a local race outside the top 3.