More impressive for her technical ability on a mountain bike than for her height, the California native has translated her passion for skiing into a newfound joy and work on the bike. In her third year of bike racing, she won the Rock Cobbler in Bakersfield and made the podium at the Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona and the Cactus Cup.
In 2021, he won the mountain bike college race in Monterrey, and last year he finished 13th in the Fuego XL 80K MTB in Sea Otter, but did not participate in the Lifetime Grand Prix. This year, he will be aiming for a longer Fuego XL and a higher finish in the Grand Prix.
"I've run Truckee before and can be strong there. I grew up on loose sand gravel in Truckee, so it's similar," Yamauchi told Cyclingnews about racing in Monterey. Monterey is just over 140 miles north of Caltech in San Luis Obispo, where she attends school. [After more success this season with second place finishes in BWR AZ and the Cactus Cup, I am excited to bring this momentum and confidence to Sea Otter. We want to bring this momentum and confidence to Sea Otter.
The U.S.-based off-road racing series has expanded its invitation-only roster from 60 to 70 riders for 2023. Riders earn series points at each race, with the best results from five of the seven rounds counting toward the final standings.
"Lifetime is a great testing ground to learn from some of the best women in America. It's a great opportunity for someone new to the sport to be able to race at such a high level. Competing in the Grand Prix was something I could not pass up."
In last year's Fuego XL, 20 km shorter than this year's 100 km, Yamauchi ran between big-name competitors like Katerina Nash, Casey Armstrong, and Sarah Sturm, finishing just ahead of her. But don't let those names fool you; Yamauchi is a very talented competitor.
Yamauchi was born in Chicago and began ski racing in elementary school on a small hill in Wisconsin. He progressed as a downhill ski racer, and in high school he took up mountain biking and, with his mother as his coach, entered the National Intercollegiate Bike Races in Nevada as a "new pastime" during his junior year.
He transitioned to cross-country running and big mountain skiing in his last two years of high school. He also tried snowboard racing, soccer, and swimming, and played on the men's tennis team for a year.
"I loved skiing, but in fourth grade I broke my femur skiing. I had qualified for the Junior World Championships and had a plane ticket to Austria," Yamauchi calmly admitted, but she passed on the disappointment. She used mountain biking as a way to recover. She stopped skiing, took up surfing, and even started riding a bike."
Her first big mountain bike race was the Tahoe Trail 100 in 2021, and she chose the 100 instead of the scheduled 50. She said, "I was thrown right into the thick of it. It was a lot of fun and I came in third overall. "
In his first race with the college team at Cal Poly in the fall of 2021, he won the mountain bike race at Sea Otter and then competed in the college championships in Durango, where he took three podium finishes in the cross country, short track XC, and downhill events.
"Cycling has exploded in Cal Poly lately. It's a great community," she admitted, and never looked back at other sports for serious competition.
Yamauchi, who started the 2023 season near her hometown at Low Gap, the opening round of the Grasshopper Adventure Series in January, was the closest rider to 2018 MTB World Champion Kate Courtney, the eventual winner in the women's leader, but Yamauchi went off course off and was disqualified for failing to correct her error before the finish. In the next race, Rock Cobbler, Yamauchi won the race, "I was able to use my technical skills and pedal hard.
She is only 23, making her one of the youngest of the 70 Lifetime Grand Prix male and female competitors, and although she plans to earn a degree in architectural engineering from Cal Poly in June, she is unsure if she will be able to combine her final week of school with racing on unbound gravel.
From books to bikes, expect her to be highly regarded in her first Grand Prix race.
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