Introducing: US mechanic Andi Zolton
After embarking on her first Euro Cross Academy with among the most enjoyable and proficient riders from America, mechanic Andi Zolton will type a part of the assist crew for the USA on the upcoming UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Arkansas.
Zolton, a former racer and model ambassador for LIV Racing USA, has labored alongside among the largest names within the off-road world, together with Rebecca Rusch, however when Euro Cross Academy organiser Geoff Proctor supplied Zolton the possibility to work in Belgium over the vacation interval, she jumped on the probability.
“I’d heard concerning the programme as a result of I used to race ‘cross loads, after which within the final fall I began working for the Olympic improvement programme at USA Biking as one among their mechanics,” Zolton instructed Cyclingnews.
Zolton’s path in direction of being one of many elite mechanics on the off-road circuit began at a younger age when she obtained her first mountain bike. From there, her love for the game and her fascination with gear started to blossom.
“I began wrenching as a mechanic again in faculty, so round 2006, 2007, and I’ve carried out that greater than anything since then. Rising up, I simply had this sturdy draw in direction of bicycles. I simply beloved my horrible division retailer mountain bike that I had and actually needed to know learn how to repair it. Then once I was 18, we acquired new neighbours and the dad of the household was an assistant bike supervisor at a neighborhood bike store and he gave me a summer time job. I might return each summer time, and each winter, and I had this sturdy draw in direction of bicycles and the way they labored. I simply adopted it,” she stated.
The Euro Cross Academy journey meant spending the vacation at a base in Belgium with virtually a dozen younger riders and the remainder of the assist crew. The camp has been a launchpad for a string of extremely profitable American riders previously and its significance and relevance within the grassroots of American biking can’t be understated. The programme offers younger athletes with the possibility to expertise European racing and tradition for the very first time and see them problem the very best of the very best in European cross-racing.
For Zolton, it was an opportunity to work with aspiring younger athletes and assist their budding careers as riders. The programme was enjoyable however intense, with lengthy days and a busy race schedule that included a number of rounds of the UCI World Cup, and Zolton appreciated the environment and the possibility to assist information the athletes.
“It is nice. I prefer it,” she stated on the eve of the ultimate European race in late December. “I’ve by no means actually labored with youngsters like this but it surely’s enjoyable and so they’re a hoot. They’re nice athletes and it is nice to spend time with them off the bike after which have the ability to assist them out within the pits on the races. It is an amazing group.
“I’ve had a very constructive expertise. I get pleasure from working as a staff, and the pits are good. There’s truthfully nothing unfavourable to say as a result of I have been watching these races for years and it is superb to be a part of it. On a deeper degree, I get pleasure from being a cog within the machine that makes all of it occur. I did not actually ever have the time or the cash to push my racing far sufficient to do these races. I might do one or two UCI races a 12 months and raced in China, however that was about it.”
A typical race day for Zolton through the European camp would begin the earlier night, when the gear could be checked over and packed up for the following morning. Together with co-mechanic Dave Hartman, who can even be at Worlds for Staff USA, Zolton would put the ending touches to the bikes through the early morning pre-race journey, after which work flat out through the intense racing programme.
“The day earlier than the race we would get all of the racers B bikes dialled again to race mode as a result of they’d normally practice on the B bikes,” she stated. “We might stand up at nighttime the following morning, set-up all the pieces for the riders, ensure that all the pieces is squared away earlier than the riders get there. They pre-ride the race, usually, after which we’ll wash the bikes down. Typically the races happen proper on high of one another however we’ll set the riders up on the trainers, finalize any final particulars like tire strain, which we write down on a whiteboard for them. It was principally muddy in Europe, so there’s been pitting each lap and it may get tense at occasions. After the race, we’ll clear all the pieces up, head again, after which simply prep for the following day.”
The environment inside the pits on the European races was at all times geared in direction of offering the very best look after the athletes. Nevertheless, there is not any denying that Zolton works in a world dominated by male mechanics, whereas the variety of females in her skilled sphere stays low. There are numerous miserable preconceptions and parts of gender bias in sport – as there’s in virtually each stroll of life – and the world of motorcycle mechanics isn’t any totally different. Nevertheless, Zolton has confronted as much as these challenges each step of the best way.
Zolton additionally hopes that her expertise in Europe has helped shine a lightweight on what younger feminine riders may obtain in the event that they wished to comply with her pathway in direction of being a full-time mechanic on a nationwide programme. “There’s actually just one different feminine. Everybody else is a person and perhaps I get some appears and a few folks do not suppose that I am a mechanic,” she stated when requested concerning the gender break up at races again in December.
“Typically they suppose I am simply there serving to however I do not really feel bizarre in any respect. My entire life I have been a feminine amongst males, whether or not it is within the bike retailers or within the bike business, so it is what I am used to. I believe which means it’s essential are available in with a sure angle, however you act in a manner so that folks perceive what you are doing. Then it is all fantastic.
“I simply at all times assume, whether or not it is a buyer or anybody, that as a result of I am feminine they suppose that I do not know what I am doing. Whether or not that is true or not, I simply go in with the angle that I’ve to be assured. It normally works. I at all times have that hope,” she says when requested if her actions and path may act as an inspiration for extra feminine mechanics.
“So perhaps among the ladies who’re racing even now, in the event that they’re mechanically minded, they will see me within the pits and notice that in the future they might do that too. I simply need to present them that it is a good expertise and that is it is potential.”
On the World Championships in a number of weeks’ time, Zolton might be a part of an elite group of mechanics available to assist the riders on the US nationwide staff. After that, she’s going to deal with quite a few different tasks together with Roam Occasions.
“With Roam, we placed on girls’s mountain bike occasions. I do my very own mechanic work on the facet as nicely however I believe there might be much more travelling and wrenching this 12 months.”
