ASHLAND — A Mansfield woman became the fastest woman on an electric mountain bike in the U.S. in late August.
Ashley Hendershot, 34, finished 10th in the UCI World E-MTB Championship Race held in Les Gets, France on Aug. 26.
Hendershot, who lives in Mansfield, serves as head coach of the Ashland Bike Project’s Team WILD programs and works part-time at the Ashland Bike Company.
“It still seems unreal, and I am just glad I could represent the USA and Ashland, Ohio well,” Hendershot said. “For the people in Ashland to get behind me is amazing in itself but then to be able to bring them home a Top-10 finish is indescribable.”
Hendershot raced against 11 other women from around the world, including another woman from the U.S. It was her second appearance at the UCI championship for E-MTB racers.
In 2021, she finished last in the event because of a mechanical issue she experienced in the race’s first lap.
“I felt more prepared this year,” she said.
One factor that helped is that she found a coach more experienced with E-MTB riders. She said training focused on developing her technical skills on the bike and riding terrain she’s not familiar with.
“Nothing we have around here can really fully prepare me for what they have there. Everything’s just bigger. Bigger rocks, bigger logs, steeper hills,” Hendershot said.
Most of her training occurred at Mohican State Park on the mountain bike trails. To mix it up, though, she traveled to Pisgah National Forest and Dupont State Recreational Forest in North Carolina. She also tried Kanuga Bike Park in North Carolina and Horns Hill, a mountain bike park in Newark.
“Those places were outside my comfort zone,” she said. “Being able to go somewhere new, it prepared me for whatever is thrown at me and helped me work through the nerves.”
Racing E-MTB bikes is a nascent form of racing within the realm of cycling. It’s only been since September 2019 that the electric-powered bikes were officially allowed on all national park trail systems.
Hendershot started racing E-MTB bikes in 2019, and said 2022 marked the fourth year for UCI’s E-MTB championship race.
Most of her competition, though, have raced regular mountain bikes professionally for years and only recently made the switch.
“That means they are mountain bikers that are paid to do this. They have factory support. That’s different from me as a privateer doing this on my own,” she said.
Being a “privateer” in this sport means having to raise all the money necessary to travel abroad and race. Making it to UCI came with a $9,000 price tag, which she was able to do through donations received from a number of local individuals and businesses.
She thanked everyone who donated, which included the Norma Foundation, the Ashland Dickey Church, the Rail Rollers, the VFW based in Sistersville, West Virginia (her hometown) and the Mohican-Malabar Bike Club.
Hendershot encouraged those interested to follow her cycling journey on Instagram and Facebook. Those who would like to donate to her participation in the 2023 UCI race can email her at amcarson126@gmail.com.
