I was riding with my dad.
We were pre-riding the Canada Cup course, and there was this one gravel downhill section.
And it just seemed out of my ability.
I remember standing at the top and crying.
We went from a fire road into a single track, and we were going uphill.
And I was passing this girl, and we caught handlebars.
I went down.
I got up, my chain was off, and I was like, “oh, my God, I have to fix this.”
I remember standing there and the frustration of just wanting to walk away, and my dad wouldn't let me.
He was referring to all these other things that we had just done that was way harder.
And then finally doing it and being like, “oh, why was I so worked up about that?”
I got back on my bike.
I lost like three minutes, and I was like, well, there's my race.
I'm dead last, and I can't really do anything.
I didn't really give up.
I just kept going, and I ended up in third.
And I was really happy after that.
That hooked me; that hooked me to mountain biking.
I think mountain biking changes kids in really pretty profound ways.
It's important to a lot of teens to feel like they're part of something.
And being on a high school mountain bike team really affords the opportunity.
We're a co-ed sport, and we're very proud of that.
But we have been really working hard to grow our female population.
When I started at 15 years old, there were no girls.
For me, it was a matter of getting permission to race in other categories to get that competitive experience.
Now there’s some momentum rolling, girls seeing other girls and teenagers and women in the sport is so influential.
It really motivates girls to say, “hey, we can do this too; we can be as good as you and even better.”
You can tell they're working together on their own time and putting the effort in and training because they were fit.
These little moments of perseverance are happening all the time, whether it's at practice, on rides, in the racecourse.
The empowerment that it gives girls on so many levels is really real.
To feel like they are very equal to their male counterparts, these things are a big deal in the formative years.
They just gain so much confidence.
They end up doing things they absolutely did not think they could do.
How they move on the bike, you can tell when they sort of melded into the bike, and they're finally home.
I think one of the big challenges to recruiting girls to mountain biking is just the unknown of what it is.
But when you get a girl in it, it's fabulous because they absolutely love it.
While you're on the start line, it's an independent sport, but it was the environment that really hooked me in.
Mountain biking is for everyone.
I love that you see two-year-old kids that can barely walk out on the pushbikes.
I have seen parents' perceptions change quite a lot.
I see a lot of moms and dads actually get on bikes because of their son or daughter's participation in the sport.
A big piece of our team is the family vibe, having kids of all levels and they're supporting each other.
Our practices are more fun; we're all riding as one group.
My teammates are all super supportive and cheer me on all the time.
If I hadn't joined the mountain-biking team, I don't know that I would've met my best friend.
And my coaches care so much about the entire team.
It's not like a win or lose type of thing.
There's always something to improve on and something that you probably did better than last time.
It's a unique experience to be able to know that I'm not going to be stuck doing the same thing every single day.
When we climb to the top of a mountain, and she's up there, and just that self-confidence that she has, like “I did it.”
Or riding through trails, and all the friends she's made from different teams and attending the camps.
At the end of the day, they all come together and support each other.
We're thinking long term.
We want you on your bike the rest of your life.
This is just the beginning.
There's so much passion behind the force of what this event stands for.
To see it all come together and everyone volunteering and making it happen, I think that was the most memorable part.
And to know what our sport's foundation is now looking like, that's so powerful.
And I hope it goes straight across the continent because it's an incredible program.