Hmmm…where to start. I’ve been racing bikes now for about 12 years and I never would’ve thought my life would have turned out like this. I grew up in Southern California playing basketball, softball, and running track. Who knew at 5’4” tall that at the end of my high school basketball career that I’d have a chance to play in college. Right around that time I had started getting more serious about racing my bike. I started around 12 years old racing BMX. I had done the entire national series and kept hearing about mountain biking and how well the BMXer’s were transitioning. My sponsor, Haro Bikes gave me a mountain bike and let me try it out. I finished 2nd in my first race and from there kept going. I eventually phased out of BMX I guess around 17-18 years old and fully concentrated on mountain biking.

I decided to move out to Durango, Colorado, the “capitol” of mountain biking right after I graduated high school with my good friend John. Mom was a little skeptical, but loosened up the reigns a bit to let me do my thing. It must have been hard for a single parent, but she trusted my judgment. I don’t know how, but she did. It ended up being one of the best decisions of my life. I learned a lot about myself, about racing, and about life. Mostly that Mom really didn’t have a money tree in the backyard.

I ended up getting a couple seasonal jobs to help pay the rent with only a small amount of money coming in from sponsors at the time, but I made it work and I really liked the whole being independent thing. After a couple years I moved back home and signed with Eric Carter’s new start up team, Rotec. It was an all new bike, team, trailer, and concept. What it ended up being was an all-new headache. They meant well and worked their butts off, but the bike just wasn’t up to par. And the only the way I even got the deal was by driving in the truck to all the races and then working at Rotec during the week. I was doing a 9-5pm and clocking in Monday to Friday. I could appreciate it though and besides I needed the money. And they did give me some leeway to get some training in.

During that year with Rotec I managed to do horribly at all the races partly due to the fact that I was literally racing a different bike every race. My bike either was the size that fit Rich Houseman who by the way is about 6’2” or would break. That year I raced a Rotec barely stitched together, a KHS, and a GT. To cap it all off at the end of the season I broke my collarbone for the first of three times at our national in Washington. The year’s prior showed promise, but this particular year had me thinking of hanging up the chamois and going back to school.

Lucky for me one of the top riders Mikki Douglass was in her retirement year and Team Specialized needed a new female downhiller. Mikki and I were good friends and she passed on my stats to the new team manager Sandy Egger. I met with Sandy at the next race with my arm in a sling and had a little impromptu meeting with her. After that I was basically waiting by the phone hoping for some good news. Well, I got it. I was signed with Team Specialized at the end of 1998 and ended up riding for them for three years. The team was huge with some big names. I was a bit intimidated at first since I hadn’t had the same big finishes some of them had. Just to give you an idea of the star power we had…Shaun Palmer, Bart Brentjens, Marga Fullana, Fillip Meirhage, Kirt Vories, David Vasquez, and Oscar Saiz. I mean these guys and girls had won Olympic medals, World Championships, and World Cups. I was just trying to finish in the top ten of our National downhill series!!

But Sandy made me understand that they didn’t expect anything of me my first year. It was just a learning experience. They’d send me to all the World Cups all over the World just for “experience”! I thought they were nuts. But at the time mountain biking was big and they had the money to burn. Oh those were the days of $250,000 contracts and even $500,000 for some. In my second year with the team I really started getting some results, and by year three I was coming into my own. I was consistently placing in the top three in the downhill at the Norba’s and that was against the heavy hitters. Missy, Elke, Mercedes, Marla, Lisa, Leigh, and Cheri, and the list goes on. Back then the U.S girls were a force to be reckoned with. Just making the US team was tough. I couldn’t be happier.
Until, mid 2001 we had heard a rumor that Specialized was going to be cutting back. It would either be the DH team or the XC team and we weren’t stupid. The first thing to go is the DH team. Sure enough we got the call while we were at the World Cup in Mt. Sainte-Anne that at the end of the year the DH team would be cut completely. I’m not sure what it was, but it was like a fire was lit under my ass and I almost made the podium at that race finishing sixth at a World Cup downhill and not just any World Cup downhill, but Mt. Sainte-Anne one of the best downhill courses on our circuit. I continued to get my best downhill and slalom / 4x results ever that year hoping to land another great sponsor.

At the end of the year I had a few options and ended up going with Yeti. At the time the mountain bike high was going into a lull and sponsors weren’t into paying the big salaries anymore, which was fine by me as long as we had good bonus programs. Yeti / Pearl Izumi was a much smaller team, but I didn’t mind at all. The harder part for me was that I never really felt like I fit in completely. Nathan Rennie, Paul Rowney, and Frank Mapel were my teammates and they were great guys, but I guess I was a bit more on the quiet side. I had a couple roller coaster years with them and trying to get a DH bike that could not only fit me, but was about 10lbs. lighter. Don’t get me wrong the bike worked great, but it was built for Rennie who could probably run into a car and it wouldn’t phase him. I on the other hand could not man handle it quite like he could, which posed a problem.

Although they could always count on me to be in the top three pretty much at every 4x race and I ended up with a dual slalom national championship for them that year. I also ended up with one of the most horrific crashes of my life that ended up season while I had the points lead for the 4x. Unfortunately with that crash I ended up with another broken collarbone, a torn MCL and PCL of my right knee, and both lungs partially collapsed. That was the end of my season and had me taking a good look at what was next for me.

In that off-season I had got a call from the Giant team manager and he told me he was interested. Pearl Izumi who was the title sponsor for Yeti wanted to work with Giant and keep working with myself. So everything worked out and I signed with Team Giant / Pearl Izumi in 2003. From the get go everything felt right. The team, which consisted of Jared Rando, Dustin Adams, Adam Craig, and Carl Decker kicked ass. We just hit it off. On top of that we had the best mechanics and the fastest souigneur on the planet…Frank Trotter, Tom Neb, and Elke Brutsaert. We had great bikes, a great program, and great co-sponsors.

I am now in my third year with the team and as of last year won a 4x National Championship for them. Hopefully I can repeat that again this year and add a World Championship to it.

In my years of racing I have traveled the world. I’ve seen some of the most beautiful land the world has to offer and have gotten lost in the seediest corners of the planet and couldn’t wait to get home. I’ve met people that I will never ever forget and people that I will keep in touch with always. I have ridden a mo-ped drunk off my ass topless going a whopping 5mph in France and I’ve had to carry Mercedes Gonzales to bed because she was drunk off her ass in Canada. I’ve crashed a rental car in Utah and had a crepe-eating contest in Sierra Nevada, Spain. I’ve broken my collarbone in Washington, Colorado, and at a World Cup somewhere in Canada. Calgary I think.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be on some of the biggest teams within the industry that allowed me to buy my first home at age 21. I’ve been in commercials and print ads for major outside the industry companies such as AT&T Wireless, Subaru, EAS, and BMW. I have raced against the finest athletes the sport has to offer and learned about the beauty of victory and the absolute agony of defeat. I’ve raced in the snow at the Winter X-Games and won a gold medal. I’ve raced in the snow at the Winter X-Games and ended up in the ER with a head injury. I’ve had accidental layovers in Paris and walked to the Lourve. I’ve missed flights, lost bikes, and sat next to plenty of smelly euros. I’ve finally figured out a good sleep routine for traveling overseas. I’ve had a week off in Europe before the next World Cup and was able to attend my aunt’s 50th birthday in Germany.

I’ve seen plenty of naked bodies riding around the always well-lit naked crit in Vermont. I’ve had some unreal food in some of the finest cities and I’ve I also had plenty of cereal for dinner when I couldn’t afford anything else. I know how to work the system to get my bikes on for free and I know when the stout German woman just isn’t going to budge. I’ve seen overwhelming crowds of 20-30,000 people at races such as the World Cup in Japan and even at the Red Bull race in Portugal this year. I’ve signed autographs for little girls and for gray haired men and enjoy and appreciate every minute of it. I’ve even given my socks to a young boy in Sainte-Anne after winning the unofficial Dual World Championships. I’ve done interviews and sounded like a jackass and I’ve given interviews and sounded like a jackass. Honestly the list could go on and on. And you know what I hope it does.

I have been able to live a life I never would have thought possible. I am now 28 years old going on 18 and race mountain bikes for a living. Who da’ thought! -Tara