"2013 was the first year of the Enduro World Series and it brought together a whole new group of mountain bikers, from across many disciplines. XC, DH and Enduro racers were now together racing for the first ever World Enduro Champion Title. There were so many new faces to me amongst the women’s field, which was great to see. Sadly there were not so many youngsters, but the few there were, looked good on their bikes and there was one that stood out in particular….a young, small, Swiss girl, who spoke amazing english and rode like a boy! Lorraine Truong has a very unique style on the bike, riding aggressively and pulling shapes on the bike that few girls can do. I liked her style although I was not always sure she was in complete control !!!!
In 2013 Lorraine scored a couple of top 10’s showing the potential she has on the bike. But sadly in 2014 she was left without the support of a team. I wanted to try and help her out in getting to as many races as she could, so offered to help her out for the UK round in Scotland. I spent the week with Lorraine as she stayed with the team and practiced with us, hung out and ate all of our food !!
I enjoyed getting to know Lorraine and the more I have ridden with her the more I am impressed by her natural ability on the bike. Her race results have not yet echoed her speed when we are out just riding. A story I am sure many people can also relate with. Success in races is not just down to the being the best bike rider in the world, you have to be the best ‘racer’ and that requires performing at the right moment in time and learning to get the best performance out of yourself when asked.
I really felt as though there was something that we could unlock and Lorraine's potential could then be seen, so at the end of 2014 I offered to help mentor her and see if together we could find that key to get her up on to the podium…

Along side the racer, there is also a hugely intellectual person, hiding behind a want to be tomboy, ex-XC racer wanna be downhiller !! Lorraine is super intelligent and manages to hold down an engineering job at BMC alongside her professional racing career. She also can play music, juggle whilst riding the rollers no handed and also makes a mean millefleur !! Multi talented indeed...