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Age: 21
School: Fort Lewis College
Sports: Road, Cyclocross
Sponsors: Fort Lewis College, Point S Nokian, Team S&M
Race Highlight: That race where I surprised myself because everything went right: 2018
collegiate road nationals (2nd place).
Sophie Russenberger grew up around the highest level of cycling, her father being a
professional international cyclist in his younger years. Sophie and her sister knew all the
“local pros” and they looked forward to spectating when the races came to their home-
town. Despite being a cyclist himself, their father never pushed the girls to join in on the
competition. Sophie’s interest in transitioning from spectator to competitor came in her
junior year of high school, when a friend of hers encouraged her to join Bend Endurance
Academy (BEA).
Age: 16
School: COCC
Sports: Cycling, Skiing
Sponsors: BEA
Race Highlight: podiums at Cross Nationals and in elite womens races.
Ava Lilley became involved with cycling at age 11. Her father pushed her into the Hallow-
een Cross. After that race she never wanted to ride her bike again, but for some reason
she kept going to races because of a strange pull to the sport of cycling. To this day
cycling still pulls and pushes at her.
After high school, Sophie was lucky enough to live in Switzerland. She spent a gap year
as an au pair. One of her uncles lives there and owns a bike shop. Sophie was able to
race on weekends and get a good taste of the level of international cyclocross. Sophie
was able to train with her cousins and race UCI on weekends. feeling” that can keep you going.
Sophie has built a great cycling foundation, but for her no race is perfect, and a race
where everything goes well certainly doesn’t happen often. Racing involves luck, fitness
and strategy at whatever level of racing. Finishing where she wanted to be in a race, or
surprising herself with a better result than expected is very satisfying. Sophie’s current
coach, Chad Cheeney, a former BEA coach and now a coach at Fort Lewis College (FLC),
created the hashtag #NFTF which stands for “Never Forget The Feeling”. This is fitting
because more often than not, you’re thinking about what you can improve on, it’s “the “Cycling is definitely a male-dominated sport, which I found intimidating when I was a
junior”, Sophie says. “For any younger girls looking to get involved in competitive cycling,
I think the best way to get faster is to ride with people who are faster than you are. I
know that riding with Swiss guys when I lived overseas made a huge difference in how
comfortable I am riding a bike today. I also would encourage you to keep it fun. Don’t
worry about ‘training’ in the most structured sense, because as long as you’re getting
out there and having fun riding your bike, you’re probably getting faster”.
P: Matt Wilkin
Ava is now mature and confident at sixteen and is enrolled in the COCC high school
program. She is attracted to cycling for the same reasons other girls are attracted to team
sports. Ava has had some great successes so far with a third place at Cross Nationals
and a few podiums in Women’s elite races. But as Ava puts it, “I have never had a race
where everything goes right, because after
every race I always think about the things I
could have done better”.
Ava still has a whole year of high school
after this year. She plans to continue cycling
competitively but hasn’t decided where to
attend college or it the school she chooses
will have a team.
Ava has raced road and mountain bike, but
she always comes back to cross. She loves
the way the sport flows, how every move and
push you make is that much more impor-
tant because you’re racing for such a short
amount of time on a high risk course.
As for mentors in Bend, Ava looks up to
Laura Winbery. Ava puts it like this, “I look
up to Laura because she understands how
to push as hard as you possibly can in high
level competitions, but she also knows how
to go shred and have a good time. She also
has taught me how that it’s okay to step
away from the competitive side of things and
find what really makes you happy”.
Both photos by Neil Korn
P: Dylan Howell