As a woman how do you think the process of changing teams is different?
I have to say I’m really happy with where I ended up but I do feel like a lot of doors are closed to you being a woman. A lot of brands don’t have their focus on women’s racing, which is a shame. But then, obviously, you do have the brands that do see the value in it which is really nice.
I think you wouldn’t want to join a team where you feel like you weren’t equal with the other riders. I think you’d almost feel like an add on, which is definitely not where you want to be when you want to be confident to race as hard as you can.
I feel like Radon really do believe in having women racing. You can see that from their cross country team and having Raphaela [Richer], the under 21 Enduro World Series champ, it’s really nice to see that and I think it’s a nice environment to be racing in.
Will Raphaela be racing alongside you?
I’m not sure of her main aims. I guess she’s the gravity side but I think she’s mostly enduro. It would be cool, she’d be 19 so she’d be in the elites. I remember Scott had two women a while ago with Emelie [Siegenthaler] and Floriane [Pugin] but it is very rare.
How do you find the new bike?
When I’ve been out on it I’ve had a great time which is a good sign. As I wasn’t riding downhill for a while I wanted to make sure that I felt quite strong again before I rode. I didn’t want to be feeling rubbish on the bike.
When I’ve been out on it at home I’ve felt really happy about it. Obviously it’s very new to me but I feel comfortable on it and I’m looking forward to spending more time on it.
What other races will you be doing?
I’m stepping away a bit from the British national series. I’ve raced the whole series for six years now. I’d like to do some BDS races still, and it sounds like they’ve made some interesting changes with new sponsors this year, but I think sometimes it’s better to pick and choose them and focus on World Cups. Obviously they’re the biggest races that we have so I want to make them my main focus.
I’d like to race some more Crankworx events. I think they’re really cool and I like the different disciplines – hardtails and dual slalom and stuff.
What’s the plan before the season?
I’m quite enjoying being at home at the moment, the weather’s been alright. I think as soon as the weather takes a turn for the worse I’ll be going away and ride the bike somewhere a bit less muddy. I went away last season to New Zealand, which was great, but there’s also a lot of riding on my doorstep so it’s not bad. I’m quite enjoying being at home and there’s loads of stuff to ride in south Wales.
What are your goals for this year? From the sounds of it, it’s Win World Cups, win the World Champs, win everything?
Yeah, I think it is that but besides that I’m really excited being back with Alan Milway. I’m enjoying training with him and getting physically as best as I can before the race season.
And having a fun year as well. I think it’ll be a lot of fun with this team going to lots of places so looking forward to it.
