Yesterday at around 11:30 AM (trust us, we were obsessively refreshing the USAC News page) USA Cycling named Koochella Track Club of the Year. Needless to say, we were stoked.
About an hour later Koochella Captain Anna “Mama Duck” Schwinn formally congratulated the rest of the team exclaiming, “LONG MAY WE REIGN.” Joking aside, Schwinn said that what she really wanted was for us to go at it again this year, harder than ever.
And have someone beat us.
According to USAC’s post, Koochella won for our passion for growing the women’s racing scene in Minnesota. In our application we talked up our new racers, the clinics we hosted and volunteered in, and the brand new second women’s field at the National Sports Center Velodrome.
But honestly we spent more time focusing on the stuff we do that isn’t on the track. We wrote about amping up other disciplines as a recruitment tool for the track. We wrote about the Koochella Classic and how we partnered with Babes in Bikeland to create a scholarship fund to cover new women’s race fees. We wrote about sitting on advisory committees, helping start new teams, becoming licensed coaches and race officials, leading community rides, and volunteering at local races and events whenever we could. We even wrote about #adventuremimosas.
We did a lot in the last year. And we’re tired. But we’re going after it again and we want you to, too. Next year when we frantically refresh the USAC News page, we want your name to pop up, not ours.
But hustle hard. We’re not going down without a fight.
Of course, all of our hustling would be a heck of a lot harder without the many, many people who helped set us up for success.
First, we owe our ability to support and develop new riders to our fabulous sponsors All-City Cycles, Paul Component Engineering, Knog, Sisyphus Brewing, Podiumwear, CHUX Print, and, of course, Jamie McDonald and Sunrise Cyclery.
Second we’d like to give a huge shout-out to all the women, trans, and femme racers in our community both near and far. From amateurs to pros to our sister spirit teams SWAT, Velociposse, and Laser Cats. You all inspire us. Big time. P.S. if you wanna start a team check out Anna’s go-to guide here.
Next we are incredibly grateful for our super rad race community at the NSC Velodrome. Special shout-outs to Track Director Bob Williams, Friends of Velodrome Racing in Minnesota, and Linsey Hamilton for all that they’ve done for our racers in the past two years.
Last but not least we would like to thank all of our friends, supporters, fans, and partners. Babes this passionate demand a lot from ourselves and the people around us, and you always deliver. For that, we love you.
You’re all diamonds.
