Arianna Urcuyo is an Awesome NICA Mountain Biking Shred Girl

Arianna is a 13-year-old Shred Girl on the Adams County Composite NICA team—I met her at the NICA GRiT camp along with 50 other mountain biking Shred Girls IRL last summer and she has some awesome advice to share. Personally, I love that she offers the reminder that it’s OK to go slow.

How did you get into mountain biking?

My brother joined NICA and said he had a lot of fun, so I decided to go to some practices and see what he was talking about. It was really fun! I joined the team last year. The first year of racing was fun, but I didn’t get into the top 10.

What about it did you love?

I think it was that I actually had some skill. I’d never done a sport before or been interested in that kind of thing, but then when I started mountain biking, it was like, ‘I can do this AND it’s fun!’ I really liked the obstacles.

Did you have any nerves initially with obstacles?

I still don’t love rock gardens, but I walk over the really hard ones and it’s fine.

How was racing, having not done other sports?

It was nerve-wracking! I still feel a little nauseous when I have to go up to the race start, seeing all the people around me.

Is there anything you tell yourself to calm down?

Really, I tell myself that it’s OK no matter what happens, and just do your best. It’s easier if you have friends around you that you can trust. It was easy to make friends on the team—there were only three girls, so we kind of had to band together! It was just us and the boys out there.

How is it being on the team with your brother?

He’s in high school so we don’t do the same practices, and his races are longer than mine, so I get to laugh when he has to do an extra lap!

Favorite part of mountain biking?

Downhills where there is no worry about crashing or technical stuff and you can just speed down the hill. My best tip is to just ride your brakes a little, but don’t squeeze too hard! It’s okay to go down slow though.

Least favorite part?

Going up hills! But now that I figured out shifting, and shifting into an easier gear, is the best thing you can do. That and pacing yourself—don’t go so hard that when you get halfway up, you’re too tired to make it the whole way.

Best moment at GRiT camp?

I think it would be when we were singing the mountain biking parody. We practiced in our spare time, we were listening to Frank Sinatra and singing and playing cards.

Proudest moment?

We were at a local race called Thursday Throwdowns. The first year I rode, I could do two laps in 40 minutes, and this year, I split that in half and could do four laps in 40 minutes! I think it was because before then, I didn’t ride my bike more than just one a week, but after a year of racing, I knew the trails and had trained more.