At LACBC, we’ve been very fortunate to have a number of highly skilled interns help us out in many different capacities.

I don’t think the level of people’s bikey-ness plays into the interview process, but the bar has been definitely raised on how fast they can go.

Last September, I heard we were getting a new intern from the Netherlands that’s in school for marketing.

The one small detail that was left out was that she also happens to race at the highest level for the Lares-Waowdeals World Tour team.

Oh my.

She had never been to LA, let alone the states and had a blank slate on knowing anybody or where to ride.

At least she earned bonus points for renting a place in the valley (Gr818!).

 

See how difficult I make cycling look riding next to her! (photo by @danielredwood)

 

Her first weekend here, I thought it would be cool to give her a proper introduction to what LA has to offer, so my friend Daniel and I took her up ACH.

Lucky for us, her training schedule had her off the bike for a couple of weeks, so we took it pretty easy.

Leaving early in the morning, it was magic hour climbing the crest as the sun gently laced the landscape.

Along the way, she took out her phone a few times and kept snapping away impressed with what we had to offer.

The funny thing was Daniel, who’s an accomplished photographer in his own right, was shooting pics too and one ended up on the Lares Waowdeals bus.

 

California and Bryony are forever immortalized on the Lares WaowDeals team bus.

 

It didn’t take long for her to make friends and get immersed into the local cycling scene.

At the same time, she loved all that L.A. had to offer even during the rainiest seasons we had in years.

Time flew by and before we knew it, her four months were over and it was time to return home for studies and training camp.

Before she left, it was no secret that she hoped to return in May for the Amgen Tour of California, but the word was that her team would not be making the trip.

So early last Thursday morning, I was perusing Cycling Tips when an article dated for the next day released the team names for the 2017 ATOC edition.

I immediately scrolled down to the women’s listing and there it was.

Lares-Waowdeals.

Through the power of social media, I messaged her about this (thank god it was late afternoon over there) and it was the first that she heard about it.

Even after sending the link, she was still surprised, but as the day went on other friends started messaging her and she found out this was a reality.

 

Let’s bring Bryony back to this.

 

While the women’s race is only staying in the Lake Tahoe / Sacramento area (can we get a stage in Los Angeles like the men do someday?), going back to Cali would still be awesome and I’m sure she’d find a way to stop by our neck of the woods.

Where I need your help is that Bryony hasn’t been named to the roster for this race and by creating some buzz will definitely help getting her out here.

I’m starting the #BringBryonyBack hashtag which I’ll post to my Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Please either share, like or even post something of your own, but don’t forget to tag Lares-Waowdeals and the Amgen Tour of California too.

As if we already don’t know that this has to happen, the women’s race ends on her 21st birthday!

Isn’t that a sign?

In Europe, the drinking age is lower, but from a California perspective, hell yeah!

Let’s do this.