GWENDALYN GIBSON

After being home for a few weeks for some training, I headed out again to West Virginia for Nationals. I had been looking forward to this race all year because it was my chance to defend the stars and stripes in Cat 1 before I make the jump to U23. Months of training and racing were coming down to this race, and a good result would make all the pain worth it. I was lucky to have my whole family coming with me to cheer me on, and I wanted to make them proud. When we finally arrived, I had three days on the course to get all my lines dialed. It was incredibly fun with a mix of wet roots and man-made rock gardens, and I felt smooth through the tough sections.

 

Each night before the race, I played it over and over in my head, and I would feel my heart start to pound. Looking back, I see that I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform. I thought it would be “the end of the world” if I didn’t defend my title. I tried my best to shake it off and stay relaxed for the race, but every time I thought about it my stomach became uneasy.

 

Finally, when it was race day, thunderstorms rolled in, delaying my race an hour, but eventually it was time to kit up for a warm up. My future Collegiate coach helped me warm up, and I headed to the start line. I rolled up to the line first call up and took a spot in the middle. The closer we got to race time, the more my nerves built up. So much that, with 30 seconds to go, I was shaking like crazy. This had never happened to me before. I was so overcome with nerves that when the gun went off, I tried to move forward, missed a pedal, and then ended up with both feet unclipped and my stomach over my top tube as everyone, and I mean everyone, surged around me. I got myself together as quick as possible and tried my best to make up positions, but with a downhill start that almost immediately went into single track the leaders rode away leaving me somewhere far behind. 

When the trail opened up to a small climb, I used everything I had to pass, but soon, we headed into the root section. Everyone in front of me was running their bikes, forcing me to get off and run as well, while the leaders grew their lead even further. Throughout the first two laps, I put everything I had out trying to make up time, and I made my way all the way to second place. Another girl and I worked together to grow a lead on the rest of the girls behind us.

As we started lap three, I realized I hadn’t had anything to drink or eat and I was dying for water. At this point, it was too late, I could feel myself losing power and becoming more drained even though I drank my whole bottle as soon as I grabbed it through the feed zone. When we headed out for our fourth and final lap, another rider caught us and the two of them left me. I had nothing left at this point and finished the race in survival mode. Through the last rock section just before the finish, another rider passed me. I tried to push, but I felt like I could hardly pedal. As I came around to the finish, I tried to sprint, usually the final sprint is a strong part in my race, but when I stood up I could hardly get the pedals to turn. I crossed the line with absolutely nothing left disappointed and confused.

Reflecting back on it now, I can’t be disappointed with my effort, but with all the training I’ve done leading up to this, I know I am capable of so much more than what I put out there at nationals.But that’s racing, sometimes it just isn’t your day and you learn the most from races like these. Looking back on my season, I am proud. It was my first year racing UCI and my first year racing internationally, and I had some great finishes.  There will be plenty more races for me to show everyone what I really have, so for now, it’s onwards and upwards to the next start line with just a little more fuel for the fire.

After a good week of training, we finally headed to the next race venue in Andermatt to pre ride the course. I had a rough pre ride. On the first lap, I had a crash that landed me in a stream, soaking wet. I had a hard time getting this section of the course dialed, I was embarrassed and shook up from crashing in front of so many people, but eventually, I found another line that I could ride smooth and fast and went on with the lap. After this, I wasn’t riding well. I was still out of it from going down and  from being covered in mud and water. I crashed again pretty hard on another part of the course and was feeling really discouraged and drained. I did one more lap and cleared everything, but it was not an ideal day with the race tomorrow. I did everything I could to shake it off, so I wouldn’t let this affect me in the race. Luckily, my family, friends,and coaches all helped me relax and reset.

 

I woke up the next morning with a new mind set, and I was determined to have a great race despite how my pre ride went. I watched the boys race earlier that morning in the pouring rain. I knew this would change the conditions of the course even more, and being from southern California, I don’t get much practice riding in wet weather. I’ll admit this made me nervous, but I quickly shook it off. “You’ve done this before, you’ll be fine,” I told myself. At 11:00, it was time to kit up and head out for a warm up. It was still raining, but it wasn’t too cold outside and my legs felt good. When I was finally on the start line, I felt calm and couldn’t hold back a smile because I was in Europe, doing what I love, among some of the best in the world. I thought of all my family and friends at home who were rooting for me and everyone who reminded me to race with a smile on my face like I always do. I felt like the luckiest person in the world.

 

Minutes went by like seconds, and before I knew it, we took off. I missed my pedal off the start but eventually got going and used the wide fire road start to move up. During all the chaos of the start, another rider rammed into my front wheel, braking two spokes. I didn’t notice. I kept moving forward. At this point, I was sitting in 5th. Then, up the steep climb, I moved into third. We headed up the main climb which consisted of a series of tight switchbacks on a steep grade. I was still tight on second’s wheel, feeling great. Then, I heard a loud noise and I was no longer moving forward. My chain fell off and was lodged in-between my cassette and the spokes. I struggled to get it back on as a long line of girls went passed me. Finally, I got the chain back on, and at this point, everyone was running up the climb, so I sprinted full speed sneaking by riders when I could and jumped back on when we finally turned for the down hill. I could have let this end my race, but I kept moving forward. I was aggressive and made passes doing my best to move back up through the field. Eventually, I came around to where I landed myself in a stream during the pre ride, but I was not nervous. I rode smooth, and I made another pass here. I headed through the feed zone and was told I was in 8th, “it’s okay,” I said, ”keep moving forward”. I went through the finish line and put the first lap behind me, 5 more laps to go, plenty of time.

The next laps went fast, and on the third lap, I was told a pack of girls, 4th-7th, was just ahead. I sprinted hard until I caught a wheel and was in the pack! I expended a lot of energy to get to the group, and I was hurting, but I would not let myself fall back again. I worked too hard to let go now. I used the steep climbs in the beginning of the lap to my advantage. I got in front here and began to grow a lead on the pack. Soon, I could see third. I sprinted to catch her wheel, and when I did, kept pushing forward. I attacked and pulled away.

The last two laps, I told myself to leave everything out there. Spectators told me second was close. I wanted it. Soon, we were on the last lap, and I rode the climbs feeling fast and felt smooth on the descents. Towards the end of the lap, you loop back around the other side of the single track, with obstacles on the road, to head to the finish line, and at the very end of the turn, second was on the other side. I did everything I could to catch her wheel, but I just didn’t have enough in me. I came across the line in 3rd, 20 seconds back. I was more than happy with this result after such an exciting race. I have been fortunate to not have to deal with any mechanicals before this race, but they are a part of racing and bound to happen eventually as I’m sure they will again during my racing career. At the end of the day, a series of unfortunate events resulted in one of my most successful races. More than anything, I learned that the fight is not over until you cross the finish line, so you can’t let off the gas just because things aren’t going perfectly.

I am so thankful I got the opportunity to race in Europe and represent the US. I learned so much and I’m more motivated than ever to keep training hard and moving up. I cant thank Marc Gullikson enough for all of his support through this trip and Julien Pettite for keeping everyones bike dialed the whole trip!

After a few weeks of rest and preparation, I hit the road again to head to my first European racing experience. Going into this trip, there was a lot of unknowns, what my fitness level was after being sick for a while, how racing in a nine hour time difference in a foreign country would affect me, or where I stood against some of the fastest girls from all over Europe. These factors went through my head a thousand times, but what I thought about most was how incredible the opportunity to race in Europe would be and how excited I was to give it my all and represent the USA.

When I finally began the 17 hours of traveling to Switzerland, I was overcome with excitement, and luckily, I slept most of the way so I was there before I knew it! My trip got off to a rocky start. I was standing in the airport waiting for my luggage to come around, and I watched as everyone grabbed their bags and left and eventually realized mine was not coming. I went to lost and found and they did their best to help me out, but for now, I had to head to the hotel with no bike, no bag, and no idea when I would see them again. But, I stayed positive and enjoyed the rest of my first day there and how beautiful it was.

The next day, I came down to see that a bike bag and luggage had been dropped off! Although I realized the wrong luggage had been left, at least, I had my bike now, and I was able to borrow some shoes and a kit to be able to go do a pre ride on the course with the team. We spent that first day thoroughly going through the coarse and getting our lines dialed, and at the end of the day, I was more than ready to race on this incredibly fun course. That night, my bag showed up around 10:00, and I was feeling thankful that everything got to me so quickly. After another day of riding, it was almost race time. Surprisingly, that night, instead of feeling scared, I felt calm because I knew all I had to do was give it my best, and if I could do that, I would be happy with any result.

Luckily, the time change didn’t affect me at all, I slept great the past two days and woke up the morning of the race feeling well rested. My legs felt good in my warm up. I wasn’t sure how race pace was going to feel, but I was excited to find out. On the start line, I rolled up as the second call up. As I looked around at the start line, at all of the incredibly fast Jr women I was about to battle it out with, it was impossible to push my nerves away. The elite women took off in front of us, making my excitement grow even higher. I’m pretty sure I saw my heart rate hit 150. I was standing still. Soon, the announcer counted us down in German, and we began racing for positions as we began our first of five laps on the demanding course. I got a good start and headed up the first climb in second and moved into first half way up. Before we crested the top of the hill to head into the first technical descent, two riders went around me, and I sprinted to not lose anymore positions. Heading down, I could see first pull away.  I was close on second’s tire, hoping for a place to pass, but the descent was narrow with sharp turns, so I was held where I was. Throughout the rest of the lap, second began to slip from me, still in sight, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t blow up early on in the race, so I focused on staying smooth and holding my pace.

The lap went by fast and, before I knew it, I was back on that first climb again. This was the most challenging part of the course. It was a steep, paved hill fully exposed to the sun, and we were racing at the hottest part of the day. I could see second just in front of me here, but as the hill crests at the top, you head into the shade of the trees back and turn into a decent, so she would be out of sight for a while. It was a relief to be in the shade and heading down, but I knew I could not let off for even a second, or there would be five more girls ready to take over third.

As the race went on, second grew a lead on me, and I focused on holding my gap on fourth and fifth.  I had some time on them, but on some of the turns, I could look on the other side and see them not too far back. In the last two laps, my lead on the next pack grew to over a minute, and I was now completely alone. It was a lot harder to find the motivation to push with no one in sight to chase and no one I could see to run from. Finally, I was headed into my last lap, and as I made my way up the first climb, I told myself “one more time, give it all you have”. I had a new found energy in that last lap and felt really good. Sprinting into the finish line, I crossed in third place, less than a minute behind second place! I couldn’t hold back a smile; I was incredibly happy with how my first European race went.

Going into the race next week, I feel good and motivated to continue working hard to improve! Now the team is headed to Germany for a few days of training before going to the next venue.

 

For months, I had been looking forward to heading back to Canada, and on Friday morning, it was finally time to return for two UCI races. It was about 8 hours of traveling and a 3 hour time zone difference from home. I got in around 8:00 pm and made it to our hotel around 10:30. After settling in with my room mates and USA teammates, Savilia and Mina, I headed to bed. We woke up the next morning and got in two laps on the course. We would race Sunday, which meant we had one day to become familiar with the course without tiring ourselves out. It was muddy and very technical, but after two laps, I knew I was as comfortable with it as I was going to get with so little time. It was hard to get myself to go to sleep the night before the race, some of this was because the time difference, but a lot of it was my nerves. This was an important race because of the UCI points at stake. I’m behind because it my first year in UCI, but I have been lucky to move up quickly in the rankings and I knew good results at these races would help keep me there.

The race started at 2:30, so at 1:15, we put our USA kits on and headed out to warm up. After riding a little, I was feeling pretty good. My teammates and I had made a plan for the start to put us all in good positions, and I felt confident that I could do my part. Finally, we were on the start line, and when we took off, it was fast, but I felt good. I sat in second behind a racer from the Czech Republic. I held that position until we headed in the first rooty climb. A rider took a pass, and I was in third with the front two starting to pull away. I felt a little off, so I tried to pace myself more, but on the first decent, I found myself hitting the ground and fell back to 5th. The rest of my first lap was far from smooth; I let the crash throw me off and I began to make other mistakes. Going into the second lap, I shook it off and tried to get back into race mode. Soon, I could see the other riders again, and I worked hard on the climbs to make it within a bike length of second place. Then, I crashed again, in the same spot, this time, I only lost one position, but I had lost a lot of time.

I spent that lap playing catch up again, and on my last lap, I made my way back to 3rd place and pulled away on the climb. When I got to the descents, I played it safe and took them easy, which was a mistake, because it allowed two riders to make up the time I had gained on the climb. When I got to the place where I crashed, I ran hoping  to avoid another crash, but here a rider made a pass and now I was in 4th again. There was a small climb before heading into the trees again, but it wasn’t long enough for me to get away. I went for a pass before the descent, knowing I was faster through this area, but she countered my attack and sprinted, so I let her lead through the section. I felt good through this area and I knew I could go faster so I was confident that I could come away with 3rd. At this point, one of my USA team mates, Savilia was with us as well and it felt good to have a teammate with me.

On one of the technical climbs, the rider in front put a foot down and we all had to get off and run a section I had been clearing every lap. I thought to myself and I knew I should have given more room between us so I could have rode around her in this section to grow a lead, but it was too late now, and we all clipped back in and started the last down hill. We rode down it slower than I had been going before, which caused me to slip a little and my foot came unclipped. Here, I lost a position. In the end, we finished in that order. The 3 of us coming in close together with second place only seven seconds ahead. At first, I was disappointed, but when I thought back on how much I learned in one race, I was happy with my result. This race, more than any other this year, taught me that things do not go perfectly every race, and how to deal with things when they don’t. Overall, it felt good to still come away with a podium finish after an off race and to stand on the podium with a US teammate.

It was a short race, we finished in an hour and each lap Savilia and I got faster, so going into the next race we both feel confident about moving into the top three.

The next morning after the race, I woke up with a sore throat and the following day, I attempted to ride but felt terrible. After this, I did everything I could to get healthy before the next race and after getting a lot of rest, I started to feel better in the next couple days.

Soon, we were heading to the next venue in Baie-Saint-Paul. It was about a five hour drive, and we immediately got on the course when we arrived. The course was technical all the way through; it was rocky and dry, but I felt really comfortable with the terrain and was looking forward to racing on it.

On race day, during the warm up, I felt a little off. I still was a little sick, and I wasn’t sure how I’d really feel until I was going race pace.

When we finally did take off, I was feeling good, and I found myself siting comfortably in the front pack. Soon, we were heading into a single track, and I went to turn in on the inside but a rider cut me off. I had to unclip here and multiple riders flew by me as I struggled to get going again. During the first half of the lap, I was stuck in 10th place, and with no where to pass, I could see the front pack pull away. When the trail finally opened up, I attempted to sprint past several girls, and when I made the turn, a few of us collided and we hit the ground. I quickly got back on ahead and pulled away from that group working as hard as I could to catch the lead pack that broke away. I was really pushing my limits, and on one of the down hills, I caught a root the wrong way and hit the ground hard. I lost two places here and was back to square one. I made my way back around the riders as soon as I could, and finished that lap sitting in 5th.

I headed for my second lap feeling weak, but I pushed as hard as I could, hoping to catch up to the lead pack. I could tell I was making up some ground, but I felt terrible. I tried hard to push myself, but I couldn’t get my heart rate up. On my last lap, I began loosing positions and finished the race in 8th. I crossed the line disappointed with how the day went. I had high hopes for a great race, because I really wanted to improve on the previous one. It was hard to take it in knowing that I had performed much better in my last trip to Canada. Looking back now, I know that every race can’t be your best and sometimes you’re going to have bad days. Although I didn’t have the races I was hoping for this trip, I gained so much experience that is going to help me through the rest of my racing career. I’m learning to cope with disappointment and use it to fuel me to do better in future races and not let it get in my head. I also learned that, at this level, you have to ride aggressively, and that is something I need to work on. And most importantly, I got experience racing on world cup level courses which has improved my technical skills a lot.

I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to represent the USA and race hard this past week. I can’t thank my family, coaches, and sponsors enough for all of their support through the good races and the bad.

Now, I’m back at home and focusing on getting healthy and training for Europe in two weeks. I am looking forward to taking what I’ve learned these past two weeks in order to improve on my next races and hopefully get some good results in Switzerland.

This past weekend, I ended my High school racing career at the State championships in Petaluma. Norcal hosted an amazing race weekend at a beautiful venue! Friday morning, we began the 9 hour drive to Petaluma and after arriving, I woke up the next morning to pre ride the course. The course was pretty bumpy and after doing a lap on my hardtail Revolver and my full suspension Revolver I opted for the duely. I felt really good during the pre ride and I was ready to give it my all the next day and hopfully defend my state champion title!

It was an early start the next morning to get ready for my 9:00 race. After a good warm up, I was more than ready to take off. It was cool to line up with a new field of girls, some who were new to me and some familiar. We all talked on the start line and it was all smiles leading into the race. The good vibes made me excited for the race ahead and when we took off, I sprinted to the front full of excitement.

I wanted to separate the pack early on, so I led up the first climb pushing a hard pace. I successfully broke away with Norcal league leader, Mina Richi, as I had anticipated would happen. I stayed in front with Mina tight on my wheel as we flew through our first lap.

I continued to pull throughout the second lap, making a few attacks but none of them stuck, and we stayed closely knit. As we began our second lap, I throttled back, hoping for a break. Mina didn’t take over the lead, so I decided to keep a steady pace, lower my heart rate, and prepare for what was likely to be a sprint finish. As we neared the end of the lap, she went for a pass. Knowing the finish was coming up soon, I sprinted to keep the lead for the sprint advantage. As we went up the last switch back climb, we weaved through some lap traffic. I heard a fumble behind me, and soon realized Mina had been held back in a crash.

With less than a mile left, I wanted to finish strong but it crushed me that the race ended this way. I crossed the finish more than happy to take the win at my last high school race but a little unsatisfied with the ending. Overall, it was a great day and I had an amazing time out on the course with Mina.

Now that my high school season has come to an end, I am looking forward to placing all of my focus on the UCI races. I leave for Canada this Friday with team USA and will race again on Sunday. My biggest goal for this weekend is to push myself out of my comfort zone. I’m eager to get back on the start line and dig deeper than I have before and hopefully keep the leader jersey in the Canada UCI series.

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me through this season and I’ll keep you guys updated on my adventures in Canada!