Many of the riders who are current favourites for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China are near the end of long and successful careers. The next generation of cross country mountain bikers is still emerging, but one rising star is Chloe Forsman, who won the USA Cycling U23 National Championship and the National Mountain Bike Collegiate Championship cross country and overall titles.
As a young member of the Luna Chix Women's Mountain Bike Team, Forsman would have to look across national borders to find better female role models from whom to learn than the likes of current and former team-mates Georgia Gould, Katerina Nash, Alison Dunlap and Shonny Vanlandingham.
"It's been pretty unbelievable," said Forsman. "Luna was the first team I ever heard of in cycling. I knew who Alison Dunlap was - she was the first pro I could recognize. I still have a poster at home that she signed a few years ago."
"I've looked up to all the women on the team for a long time. It's valuable to travel and race with them this year. They are willing to share what they know. We all stay together at the races," said Forsman. "We all live all over the country, so I don't see them much in between events. We spend a lot of time together at the races."
The 20 year-old Forsman has been spending her time quietly gaining experience by competing against the best racers in the United States in the National Mountain Bike Series events and other national-level competitions.
"I feel really good about my 2007 season. I had a solid and consistent season. I had a couple top ten finishes in the cross country and short track NMBS. I'd like to improve on that next year. It's exciting to be competitive with some of the best riders in the country now."
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When she does have the chance to race against other women of similar experience and age, she quickly rises to the top. In 2007, Forsman won the US cross country Under 23 national title as well as the collegiate mountain bike national cross country race and omnium.
After her first year racing pro in 2006 for Tokyo Joes, Forsman joined Luna in 2007 and will ride for the team again in 2008. "I had pretty high expectations with the Luna team. And yet being part of it, I'm still kind of being blown away by it."
As a sophomore at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Forsman has plenty to do during the off season. Originally from Boulder, she is studying health education although she admitted uncertainty about her future profession, "I have no idea what I want to do at this point."
"The first race I ever did was the 24 hours of Moab in 2002. I've done it four times. The first one I did with three other junior girls. We were all supported by a YMCA group. I did mountain biking a bit before that."
A 24 hour race isn't exactly the most likely point of entry for many junior races, but it worked to hook Forsman. "I just happened to start racing there. I thought it was cool to race with other girls who liked to mountain bike at my age. I went to a middle school and a group of my classmates end up racing and I think they were the youngest team ever to race so I kind of already knew about it."
