This weekend, 麻豆社国产BMX rider Teigen Pascual will head to the provincial championships in Pemberton as one of the top riders.
In fact, based on her age group, she鈥檚 routinely been ranked near the top nationally, and next month she鈥檒l be heading to the BMX Canadian Grands in Chilliwack.
Her success isn鈥檛 new. She has been riding since age five after current club president Vicki Schenk introduced her to the sport.
鈥淰icki told me about it, and I tried it and liked it,鈥� she says.
Getting on the bike at a young age meant challenges like knowing how to avoid falls, then moving on to learning how to pump, which in BMX riding means knowing how to push her bike over the bumps on the track using arms and legs almost as shock absorbers. Even early on, Pascual knew she could keep up and then some.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been pretty competitive,鈥� she says.
Her dad Luis smiles, saying he thinks her competitive streak is 鈥渟trangely wired in her DNA.鈥�
Still, he adds she has a sense of teamwork that if she is ahead of her pack, she will still look back to make sure where everyone is. To win races though, she has to have her mind on any riders in front of her when she is on the BMX track.
鈥淚f someone鈥檚 in front of her, she鈥檚 trying to figure out what they鈥檙e doing,鈥� he says.
It is clearly paying off, as she has been a top-ranked rider for a long time. Riders are ranked based on overall points as well as by age grouping. As of last week, she was second only to Surrey鈥檚 Violet Cejalvo in both rankings. In the Girls 13 bracket, the two were well ahead of any others, and even in overall points among all girls, the two were still in the top spots, though with a couple of other riders just behind them.
Winning races is a regular outcome for Pascual, including some important ones.
鈥淢y biggest was the nationals鈥�. That was in 2013,鈥� she said.
At provincial and national series races in 麻豆社国产this summer, she typically breezed through her heats, and often she is going up against older competitors. With her 13th birthday just passed, she has to switch age groupings for the Canadian Grands when they come around in October, but this has not seemed to hold her back. Throughout the season, she tries to race older girls in order to be able to keep up and be ready for the national finals.
Typically, she rides six days a week, working on sprinting, doing corners on the track and practising jumps.
She is also active at other sports like track and field, mountain biking and soccer and also takes part in strength and conditioning training. She credits 麻豆社国产BMX鈥檚 Schenk, Scott Murray and the volunteers, coaches Jayde Quilty and聽Arielle Marin-Verhaaren and team sponsors at Supercross Canada for her success.
The biggest event on the calendar next month is the Canadian Grands in Chilliwack, but she is planning a return to the U.S. Grand Nationals come November in Tulsa, Okla.
鈥淚鈥檝e been there once 鈥� last year,鈥� she said.
The Oklahoma event is huge, with 700 motos, or heats, compared with about 150 for the Canadian finals.
She is even eying a trip to the worlds in Rock Hill, S.C. next summer.
