Above: Taylor Allison at Plattekill. Photo by Ehrin Macksey.
When she was just ten years old, Taylor Allison was already donning full-body armor to race mountain bikes down the steep, shale-strewn slopes of Plattekill Mountain. Now, at 16, the Roxbury teenager says she's currently the youngest female pro in her sport: After a first-place win at Killington last year, Allison made the jump to the competitive world of pro cycling.
On Sunday, June 24, she'll have the chance to test her mettle against a few other up-and-coming bikers. Allison has been chosen as one of the forerunners to open up the course for the women's downhill mountain biking race at the Windham Mountain Bike World Cup.
Watershed Post: How did you get started riding?
Taylor Allison: My father and brother did it, and it sort of evolved into a family sport. I just fell in love with it.
WP: Tell me about how you went pro. How did you know you were ready?
TA: Two seasons ago, I started getting a lot better. I started getting more competitive with the older women, and I moved up to Junior Expert. My times started coming in competitive, and started even beating some of the pro times. So I petitioned USA Cycling to get my pro card.
WP: Was there a race that you look to as your finest hour?
TA: The 2011 Killington Eastern States Cup Race. That was my first pro win. I couldn't believe I beat Kate Parhiala. That was a very big accomplishment. I've been racing her since I was young, always kind of looking up to her as an inspiration.
WP: You learned to ride on Plattekill Mountain. What's Platty like to ride on?
TA: Plattekill is very gnarly, it's very oldschool. It's steep. Most of the mountains [in the sport] are now moving into a kind of man-made, flowy, fast terrain, where Platty is more steep. Shale. Roots. Craziness. I love it. It's my favorite kind of riding. It's really hard to stay in control of your bike when you're going down shale chutes. It's scary to do. but it's such an adrenaline rush, and it's so much fun.
WP: What about Windham, where you'll be riding on Sunday?
TA: Windham is steep, but a lot of the rocks don't move. It's bigger rocks, big jumps, big gaps, very smooth and fast and a lot longer than the courses at Plattekill.
WP: Forerunning is kind of a ceremonial thing, right? How'd you get picked?
TA: They like to pay a lot of attention to the newer generation coming up, who would be expected to race the World Cup. You can get a time on the same course as these people, so you can see what you need to do to improve and how you can get in.
Racing in the World Cup is definitely a dream of mine, which I will hopefully be able to do next year.
WP: Got any other favorite local rides?
TA: I love the cross country trails at the Shepehrd Hills Golf Course, and I love a lot of the road biking here in the Catskills. I did the Tour de Pepacton that was right here in Margaretville, that was fun.
WP: That was a great article that Decline ran about you recently. I hear you've been getting a lot of mail since then.
TA: Yeah! Thank you. I've been getting a few random fan mails, and it's so weird. Usually I'm the one looking up to the pros. It's been crazy coming up into their position.
Below: The winner's podium at the Gravity East race earlier this month at Mountain Creek, NJ. Left to right: Hillary Elgert, Taylor Allison, Elinor Wesnor. Photo by Billy Allison.
Bottom: Taylor Allison. Photo courtesy of Billy Allison.
