This season for me began and ended in Nevada. I started off strong with a 3rd place finish in the Wheelers and Dealers race at CrossVegas and capped it all off with my very first CX Nationals in Reno. In between and along the way I made my way up to Sacramento where I got my first taste of gnarly NorCal racing, raced my heart out, got on some podiums with super strong Elite Women A racers in our SoCalCross Series, but also shed many tears of disappointment. This season did not go as I had envisioned. I came in strong and somewhere along the way as the season continued, my fitness began to fade. After training my butt off for months and months, to see my season spiral downward was a huge blow to me. I knew I just needed to focus on having fun and continue to work on improving my skills at each race. To me, racing is only one aspect of the season, the other is the time spent with friends. This season was amazing and my heart is happy from the camping trips, costumes, sitting on the grass drinking beers, cheering on friends, giant champagne bottle balloons, conquering fears, and racing and experiencing my first Nats with people I love.

​Cheers,
Diana Danger

SoCal Cross Prestige Series packed in 16 races this season. A dusty, sweaty and amazing 3 months of racing, camping, and handups. Each racers best 8 races count towards the overall series podium. All races count towards the team podium. This year SWAT ended up 7th overall in the team standings. We're pretty damn proud about that 7th place, especially as the only WTF team. Diana, Lynn, and Rhea all made the series podiums for their individual categories. Susie placed 7th in SS and 9th in A's. Meg placed 16th in B's and 20th in SS. 

​The season had lots of ups and downs. It was Diana and Susie's first season racing A's and getting their legs ripped off week after week by pros. Lynn was consistently in the top 5 in B's and single speed winning a number of races and getting her Cat 3 upgrade. Rhea dealt with a hip injury all season and powered through it staying competitive in the B and SS fields. Meg got her first taste of racing B's in a stacked field.  Arin played dirt foo race Mom and perfected her heckling and handup game. Ana even came out for a few races and had a blast getting dirty. 

We had so much fun this year we decided we didn't want the series finale to be the end of our season. With CX Nats being only 8 hours away in Reno our Cat 3 Killers decided to take a road trip and end our season in January in the biggest little city. More on that next time... 

Photos By
@the_hoff_
@letsgoarin
Graphics
@susielowbrow
​@bicikyla

Racing comes easy for some people, I am not one of those people. A few years ago I broke my pelvis badly as the result of a crash on a group ride. I was on bed rest for 2 weeks and crutches for 3 months. I missed the entire CX season that year and basically had to relearn to ride a bike.

Since then riding in a pack has been more of a mental challenge for me. I used to be fearless and now I’m cautious. Gaining the courage just to get back out there and go on large group rides was a struggle. I raced track last year, but my main goal was to not die. Most races I’d hang out on a wheel I trusted and just aim to survive. I came back this season to face my fear and become stronger both physically and mentally on the track.

For the first season ever our team had sponsorship and the funding to pay for 100% of racing and training thanks to Thomas Forsyth, Wabi Cycles, and team fundraisers. The whole team went to Encino’s race school in March and attended as many weekly training sessions and clinics as we could. Having the team out there training together kept the energy up. We improved together and learned to race with each other instead of against each other. ​

Monday night sessions with Stefan taught me so much about riding and racing the track safely as well as kicking my ass on a weekly basis. I started to feel noticeably stronger every week. By the time spring racing started at Encino in April I was more confident on the track than I had ever been. I was ready to race not just sit in. I started instigating attacks not just responding to them. For the first time I was actually having fun out there racing. ​

12 omniums later I’m a much smarter, stronger, and braver racer. I even surprised myself with a few individual race wins (wtf how did I win a Keirin?! ) and my first Omnium win. I honestly never thought I’d stand on that top step ever at the track. I still have a ton to learn, but this season was a great start.

The womxns field at Encino 

And these Skinsuits 

My true love is still Cyclocross but track has a special place in my heart now that I never thought it would. ​

By Lynn 

​This season of the SoCal Fixed Series, was the best season I have had racing the series. I was able to accomplish my race goals of placing in the top 3 overall of the series and Win the final race. I was also able to overcome mental blocks, work on improving my weaknesses, and learned how to communicate and work with my teammate.

Most of the season I was racing with self-doubt. I would see who I was racing against and automatically box myself into "I am not going to place well today because these other racers are stronger than me." I also would psych myself out by getting nervous about the things I knew I was not good at. 

Towards the last few races I was sick of not doing as well as I wanted to. I started pushing myself harder mentally and physically in the races and started to see an improvement. Then I decided to practice on skills that I was not as strong in. We naturally want to stick with things we are good at. It is often scary to work on things we are not confident in. The only way to get better is to work on improving the things that make us uncomfortable. 

​Last but not least I want to thank my teammate Ana. In the last race Ana helped me get 1st place. I know if she did not race that day I could not have done it without her.  #fuckyeahwomenracebikes 

​Looking forward to Sundays Crit! 

Photos by Julio Hernandez

​Designed by SWAT. Made in California by Voler. Available in womens, mens, youth, club and race  cuts.  http://www.voler.com/custom/ordering/li/16851

We'd also like to thank the awesome 1st Impression Scorpions Squad for joining our impromptu shoot and Jennifer Caballero for taking the photos.  

Jennifer Caballero Photographer ​cabsjourney.wordpress.com
Thomas Forsyth Bicycle Attorney http://bicycleattorney.net/
1st Impression Scorpions Cheer, Drill & Dance ​http://www.1stimpressionddc.com/index.phpt