Mara Roldan, 17, of the Roldan mountain biking family of Whitehorse, is competing in her first mountain biking world championships tomorrow at the Val di Sole bike park near Commezzadura, Italy. She will be racing in the Junior Women’s XCO (Cross-Country Olympic) competition. XCO was the only discipline in mountain biking at the Olympics.

I reached Roldan yesterday morning in Italy. She is enjoying her experience in Bel Paese (the beautiful country) so far.

“Today (Tuesday) was our first day on course. We got here late last night. Italy’s really pretty. It’s really fun to be here.”

According to Roldan, her races range between one hour and one hour and 20 minutes.

“It’s pretty full-out, and technical courses on steep climbs, steep descents. It’s very fun. I enjoy it a lot.

“A lot of climbing and a lot of descending. What goes up must come down!

“We have a lot of rock gardens and roots, steep corners, that are very dry. There’s a lot of technical skills that are required, but also a lot of physical capacity and power and endurance as well. So it’s a good mix of both.”

To qualify, Roldan competed in the Junior World Series races in Saint-Félicien and Sherbrooke, Quebec, which also counted as Canada Cup events.

“Every country has races to qualify. So in Canada we had two races in Quebec last month. I went to both of them. To qualify I had to make the top four, and so, I did. And so now here I am with the national team for my first international project with them. So it’s very exciting, for sure.”

According to Roldan, Junior World Series races are scattered around the world, including the United States and Europe. When racers finish first, second and third, they receive a different amount of UCI points, which determines their overall worldwide ranking against other juniors in their category. That determines start positions. Roldan qualified 55th, so it’s harder for her to get to the front.

“When we start farther back, it’s much harder to get to the front, so sometimes we get caught up in the crashes, and walking and everything … the whole purpose is to get as many points as possible, so that when we do get to the start line, we’re farther up every time, and so it gets easier. It’s always a fun challenge anyways.”

As for how Roldan is feeling going into the event, “there’s always nerves, which are totally normal,” she says. “This year I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, many crashes, injuries, concussions, and so … on a roller coaster … I’m still pretty sensitive, still somewhat injured, so coming into this for me … I’m not at top of my form, but this is still an experience that will allow me to take an experience out of it and will definitely help me with future races for sure. Any experience that I get to race in Europe, something good comes out of it, even if it’s not always a good race., just because the field here is so much stronger than in Canada.”

Regarding how she finishes, Roldan has “no real expectations.I just want a clean, smooth, race, no crashing, and then hopefully I can make my way up, to get a good number of points and come out of this race with a smile on my face, and not a hospital bill.

“Just to be here, and getting to meet pros and the elite, and have them help us out with choosing lines … it’s really incredible, because I’m in the younger juniors here, I’m only 17, so I’m racing against 18 and soon to be 19-year-olds, so it’s kind of like my first experience, and definitely will help me leading into next year if I qualify again, ‘cause I’ll already kind of know what it’s like to be here and race. Nothing bad can come out of this trip, even if I don’t necessarily reach my goal or don’t end up in the position I’m aiming for.”

Roldan is shooting for a top-30 finish.

I asked Roldan if she considers mountain biking a dangerous sport.

“No, not necessarily, but there’s always risks, and we just got to be careful, but mountain biking is a pretty risky sport, and crashes are totally normal, and are a big part of the sport, and I just got to deal with them. I’m very excited and definitely looking forward to it.”

When it comes to the success she’s experiencing in her young career, like many others before her, it takes a village.

Her coach in Quebec, Daniel Cyr, who’s been coaching her since 2018, is in charge of her training plan. According to Roldan, Cyr is the greatest overall coach she’s had.

And then there are the coaches in B.C.

“I train in B.C. mostly in Squamish, and I have my team based out there with some other coaches as well – Tobin (McCallum) and Mike (Charuk), who’ve been really really helpful in the past year to prepare me for competition like this, for sure. My teammates over there have improved my technical skills a lot, riding B.C. trails. I’m probably the most prepared that I could have managed to be, considering COVID and everything, and not being able to travel at all, and not going to the United States and doing races that I would have potentially done without that.

“The coaches here, that are here with us, and mechanic, and physio, and all the people supporting us here.”

Cycling is a family affair for the Roldans.

“Obviously my family, who are probably the biggest people who play a role in this, and always been my biggest supporters for sure. They’re definitely the reason I’m here right now. I love them very much.

“My dad and my mom have definitely always been outdoorsy, and they definitely got us into biking in the first place … I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for them. They’re always supporting me to ride with them. Biking is a sport that all my family likes to do, so it makes for fun family outings for sure.

Roldan’s twin sister Aisha and younger sister Mathilde just competed in the ShredHers event on Grey Mountain in Whitehorse. Mathilde finished first and Aisha second in that event.

“I was pretty happy for them. They represented pretty well I think,” says Roldan proudly.

“It’s never only one person who allows an opportunity like this to come up. It’s always a bunch of different people and I’m thankful for all of them for sure.”

As for how it feels to be the first female junior rider from the Yukon to race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, Roldan says, “I’m incredibly proud to be doing this. Sadly, I could not do much in the Yukon in the past year because of COVID-19, I was stuck down in B.C. Just the Yukon, incredible mountains and incredible trails and training their is good preparation for pretty much anywhere else.

“Representing not only my country but being the first female in the Yukon to get to a level of competition that’s world- wide is pretty incredible, and I hope I will represent it well. Hopefully it will be a good race.”