Shred Girl Lyllie Sonnemann Has Some Cyclocross Advice You’ve GOT to Check Out!

Lyllie Sonnemann is a cyclocross-ing Shred Girl in Real Life in Madison, Wisconsin, where she races with the Revolution Cycles team. She’s only 10, but she’s already kicking butt in the women’s categories in races, and she’s loving every second of it. She also has a website she created for the Shred Girls where she shares some of her best cyclocross tips and you HAVE to check it out. (PS you can snag a tshirt like hers right here!)

One of the coolest parts about doing this interview? Lyllie and I have the same cyclocross mentor, even though I raced 12 years ago in New Jersey and she’s racing now in Wisconsin. My BFF Mark is one of the local guys behind her cycling crew, and I can safely say that he’s the best person in the world to learn cyclocross from… If it wasn’t for Mark, I don’t know if I would have ever gotten into cycling, and if I hadn’t, the Shred Girls series wouldn’t exist! (It’s also super cool to me that Lyllie not only is racing cyclocross but she’s writing about it too—glad she’s carrying on the tradition!) So, huge thanks to Mark for bringing so many people into cyclocross and helping up kick butt! XO,molly

OK, Lyllie, tell us about yourself!

I am 10 almost 11. I am in 5th grade, and I like math & reading, baking, watching movies and shows, playing with my brother. I ride cyclocross on the Revolution Cycles team.

What made you want to try cyclocross?

I wanted to try Cyclocross because some people in my neighborhood (Kate Konkle and other Rev team members) wanted me to join their team so I said I’d try it out and became “in love” with cyclocross, racing every weekend.

 

Favorite part?

My favorite part of Cyclocross is the last lap because everybody is cheering you on and you speed ahead and finish like a pro.

Favorite race so far?

My favorite race so far was the Trek CX cup, they had awesome swag and a cool course!

(Oh hey—our real life Shred Girl Ellen Noble had an amazing race at that World Cup… get her best advice here!)

What’s the hardest part?

The hardest part of Cyclocross is when someone passes you and you can’t catch up to them.

Best tip for new riders?

Do your best and BELIEVE, also, go kick butt.

Everyone is always scared about the remount/dismount: any tips for getting more confident there?

It really doesn’t hurt to slam your leg into the seat even if it does sound bad. If you are scared about mounting and haven’t ever tried it before, well, you haven’t tried it before! Try remounting and if it doesn’t go well, try it again. You can’t judge something on the first try. As for dismounting, if you are scared that you are going to fall over because you can’t get you other leg clipped out (I have been there before) try un-clipping your leg before hand. When you get comfortable with that then try not clipping out early. You can do it!!

Do you do any other sports?

Yes,Basketball, Swimming, Unicycling and Soccer are the other sports I outside of cycling.

I’ve heard you’re even crushing it in races with adults—is it scary to line up with older riders? If so, how do you get past those pre-race jitters?

For me, actually knowing that I am only ten and going to crush it out there helps me with all of my jitters. For my first race with the woman I was scared because I had no idea what to expect, but then it went well and I got over being scared.

Any tips for making friends in cycling?

As for making friends you could, start a conversation. The person you pick might not want to become friends. That’s okay. Try another person. You could say something about the course, the weather, your favorite things, etc.

What do you wish you’d known when you started riding?

I wish I’d known when to pre-ride and all of that stuff before the race like eating a bit, drinking water (not to much) and changing when I started riding.

I know you work with Mark, who is actually the guy who taught ME how to race cyclocross! What’s the best piece of advice he’s given you?

Keeping your hands loose and butt back were some of the things he told me. He is also good at making everybody feel included!

Lyllie has a cyclocross advice website that she built for Shred Girls that you can check out here, with advice like:

• Always pre-ride the race before it starts to get a feel of what to expect. DO NOT PRE-RIDE WHILE OTHER PEOPLE ARE RACING!! Wait until they are finishing there last lap then pre-ride. If you are still not sure when to ride, ask the people who are tracking times of people.
• Have half of a CLIF bar (or any other energy bar) or a smoothie of some sort to start off. Eat that as least 30 minutes before your race. This should give a boost before your race starts. If you want or need to put some energy chews in your pocket for during the race.