To every girl who came to GCR 19,
I’ve been trying to find the words for this weekend because honestly I keep replaying all of it. The nerves when you arrived. The bikes revving all together. The dancing around the campfire. The cheering from the side of the track. The confidence gained. The new skills learnt. And the moment I got to ride a motocross track again with you!!!
The last time I rode a full MX track before my spinal cord injury was at a Girls Can Ride event GCR 16 at Cessnock NSW. I didn’t know then how much life was about to change, or whether I’d ever get that part of riding back. So coming into this weekend I was excited, nervous and maybe a little bit delulu. But I knew I wanted to give it everything with my girls by my side.
You all showed up before you felt ready
On Friday, I greeted so many of you as you arrived, and pretty much everyone told me they were nervous. I get it. Turning up somewhere new, meeting a whole group of girls you don’t know and getting on a bike in front of them can feel huge!!!
That night around the campfire, I asked what you’d be proud of achieving by the end of the weekend. We got to hear why you were there and get to know the girls behind the helmets, and you all pretty much said you wanted to get air and gain confidence. By the time we got into body position, the basics and coaching on Sat, I could see things shift for you. You started your bikes, repeated the drills, and you realised you belonged out there! You ate that elephant up, one bite at a time!
I told you that the one thing I wanted you to do was get uncomfortable and to keep doing the things that didn’t feel natural yet. You don’t learn to drive a car by thinking about it; you have to get in the car and drive it…. the same goes for riding. GOTTA GET IN THAT SEAT TIME!
One rider reminded me why the mindset side of GCR means so much to me. Her nerves were so intense that she was getting sick after sessions. We found a quiet spot with her bike and took some time together: breathing, noticing what she could see, hear and feel to get her present, picturing a place where she felt calm, then remembering a moment when she’d loved riding. We talked about her fear of crashing and brought her attention back to the techniques we taught her that day. She went out again and came back feeling calm enough to enjoy it. Hearing afterwards how much that time meant to her reminded me why we do this. I used NLP techniques to rewire her brain and fear and she absolutely conquered her first go on a motocross track. Sometimes support looks like giving someone room to find their way back to why they started and their love of riding and getting them out of their head of past experiences and fear, and putting the focus back on body position.
My first lap back
Then came Ride with Tay. Jy and Kristin helped me get my gear and boots on. I warmed my body up with a few laps around the house, then trail rode over to the track with Damien on the back of my stark. The track was prettttyyy sandy and soft, so we did a lap together to help me feel it out and pick my lines before committing by myself! Damien was my safety, I would yell out to him to put his feet down if it got sketchy but we didn't even have to do that!
Halfway around with Damien on the back, I could hear our GCR 19 theme song “Thunderstruck” coming from the big SOUNDBOKS speakers and I was fully ready to do it on my own. We stopped right in front of all the GCR girls, Damien got off, and I took off by myself! I got through that hard hairpin corner, up the hill and back down, and thought, hell yeah I’ve bloody got this. I could hear the girls cheering from the sidelines and my best friends, team and my mum were following me. Guys, what the hell I cleared a jump on that first lap which feels insane to write! The Stark and all my mods did the job! And then the GCR girls came out to ride with me!
Tara, I have to mention you. You were at GCR #1, and you’ve cheered me on from the sidelines since my accident, always checking in on me and being such a huge supporter. Getting to share the track with you at GCR 19 meant more than I can explain!
That ride gave me a part of myself back and opened up something I can keep working on. I hope it showed you what I was seeing in you all weekend: you can be nervous and still give something a go. You can meet a hard corner, find your way through it and come around ready for another lap.
All the bits that made it GCR
There was so much more than my ride. I watched girls go from never getting air to clearing a jump. We had coaching on corners, rollers and jumps, a fun as hell trail ride, Stark demos which you all now want to buy a stark apparently(!!!), our camo themed ycf pit bike relays. goodie bags from our brand partners, a bike maintenance chat and a hell of a lot of riding. By the time we finished, you’d put in two days of real work and so many of you were riding with more confidence.
And off the bikes? Saturday night I rolled up to the campfire to find girls dancing around it to “Maneater.” We played games and gave Rival Ink packs to our winners.
The camo pit bike relays were absolute chaos in the best way. Red Bull rocked up, the YCF Pilot 150s came out, everyone got competitive, and even after a few crashes, you bad bitches got back up and kept having fun. That’s a big part of why we ride too: to play, laugh and remember the fearless kid in us.
After the weekend one of you told me the group felt like family and that you never felt judged or out of place. That is the kind of community I’ve always wanted Girls Can Ride to be. A place where you can arrive shaking with nerves and leave with new friends, new skills and a little more belief in yourself.
I couldn’t have made this weekend happen without our team. Damien Adams, thank you for coaching and for being there with me on that first lap. Jy, my best friend and sidekick, thank you for everything, including your demo riding. Nick Broom, thank you for the track prep, helping me prepare my first ride, catching my bike at the end, and demos. Mum and Dad, thank you for travelling up from the Snowy Mountains and spending the week helping with the property, the track and the Throttle Girls store. Kristin Donohue, thank you for helping us deliver content for our brand partners; Sally Higgs, for capturing the ENTIRE weekend on your phone and all the special moments; and Matt Vince, for photographing it all. Bec for helping with sign on and the throttle girls store! Sophia for running around for us all weekend whenever we were in need!
Thank you to Stark, YCF, Pit Viper, Link International, Just Elite Performance, SP Tools, Happy Way, Before You Speak Coffee, Throttle Girls, Monie Reed Tattoo, LSKD, Rival Ink, AMX, Trade Chicks, Lust Minerals and SOUNDBOKS for being part of GCR 19. Our girls really feel supported because of you!!!! Sneaky discount code shoutout to our partners LSKD "TE15" and Happy Way "HAPPYTAYLOR". These codes go a long way with sponsoring GCR, so make sure you use them if you're in the market for activewear or protein!
And to every girl who came: thank you for trusting us, cheering each other on and giving the uncomfortable things a go. I hope you remember the version of yourself who arrived, and the version who rode away on Sunday. You made that happen!!!!
GCR 20 is next, and it’s going to be a big one. I can’t wait to see what we do together!!!!!!
Love, Taylor Eve