SPRING2017
MLBLUE
35
ML:
You raced theNewZealandDownhillSeriesand took theoverall asa
junior.Tell usabout that?
SF:
I did four of the six National rounds and took the overall. I also raced
a 2W Enduro which was cool.
ML:
What is the racingand ridingscene there?
SF:
It’s unreal. I live six kilometres away from the Redwoods—with over
100km of singletrack. I go out every day after school and there are so
many more kids riding. In Elora, I was the only kid whomountain biked.
Here I have a best friend—Katelynn—she’s the same speed and she races
Cross-country and Enduro and we’re out together all the time. There’s a
school mountain bike team. There are a lot of fast boys too—it’s great to
ride with girls but if you want to get faster and push yourself, you've got
to ride with the guys.
ML:
Therearea lotof fastdownhill riders fromNZ.Haveyoumetmany?
SF:
Yes, when I was travelling with Nelsonmy travel partner, he raced for
GT as well, just not at theWorld level, and we parked our van next toWyn
Masters’ van and hung out all day. Brooke MacDonald is always around
and Blenki [Sam Blenkinsop] has been super helpful.
ML:
And thatwas theendof your year?
SF:
Yes. I remember driving in the ambulance in tears, not because of my
injury, but because I was supposed to get on a plane that Tuesday to fly
to BC with the Quebec team and do Canada Cup #3 and the Canadian
Nationals and then come back for my first World Cup Downhill. For me,
that was heartbreaking. It was going so well and then it just stopped. I
wasn’t onmy bike again until the end of August and then I moved to New
Zealand. That was always part of the plan but we’d pushed it back for last
season. When the accident happened, we decided that since I couldn’t
race, we’dmove.
ML:
Andnow thatyou’resettled inNZandbackon thebike,howdoes that feel?
SF:
It was late September/early October when I got onmy downhill
bike. We had to have it shipped over. Rotorua is very different from Blue
Mountain. BlueMountain is very hard-packed. I knew how to ride in the
dust like no one’s business—but here it’s mud and slop, from the top to
bottom. The week beforemy first race, I still felt horrible. There’s another
junior girl who’s done very well at Worlds who is my age, and I wanted
to see how I lined up with her—she beat me by twominutes and that
definitely knockedme down a few pegs. But now, a fewmonths past that,
I’ve raced plenty and done very well. I needed to admit that I couldn’t just
return to racing at the same level. I needed to learn the area and recover. I
realized I had to be onmy downhill bike a lot to get back up to speed.
BlueMountain isveryhard-packed.
Iknewhow toride in thedust likenoone’s
business—buthere it’smudandslop, from
the top tobottom.
ABOVE LEFT
"TheygaveCarsonWebbandme two
signs.One said 'YouSuck' andone said 'Give 'er theGoose'..."
MARC LANDRY.
RIGHT
Skye riding tovictory inCanadaCup2016Round1,
MontTremblant,QC. ANDYVATHIS
