Welcome to CCC Introduces, our series spotlighting our amazing community of contributors.
From: West London
Lives: South London
Instagram: @heythere_dalila
Club: Dulwich Paragon
1. Tell us about yourself:
I'm a Londoner, born and raised. I've been riding bikes for sport and fun for about 12 years. I'd gotten bored with just commuting back and forth to work, so I started signing up for sportives. And then, when that still wasn't enough, I joined a cycling club and became a regular attendee of the weekly club run. Some other women in the club noticed that I had a fairly decent turn of speed and encouraged me to try racing, so over the years I got into racing criteriums, track and cyclocross. Eventually, my interest in cyclocross would branch off into gravel cycling just as that scene was starting to gain popularity. And now I mostly do gravel cycling - in the UK that includes a lot of mud - and I still make time for a bit of cyclocross in the winter.
2. What do you love about cycling:
I remember the first sportive I completed, by chance, I was riding along chatting with the Lord Mayor of the City of London about how the ride was going, and at that moment I realised what a social leveller cycling was. It felt so freeing, and I really loved that, and I still do. It's amazing how just being on a bicycle can facilitate interactions between people whose paths might never have crossed. And, over the years I've also enjoyed the camaraderie, the discovery of new places, the opportunities to push myself, and the complete disconnect from anything else that might be happening in life.
3. What barriers have you faced in cycling:
I haven't actually faced any, I've been so fortunate with the people I've met and the clubs I've joined. People have been encouraging and welcoming and often believed in my ability even before I did. Although, when I was first looking for a cycling club to join, there was one well-known club that wouldn't let you join unless you could ride 3 laps of Richmond Park in under an hour. As someone new to cycling as a sport, that was a very daunting prospect, and so I excluded myself from even attempting to join them out of fear of failure and embarrassment. So I suppose you could call that a barrier in a way, it felt very exclusionary to me at the time.
4. Why were you interested in contributing:
It was clear that Miles was going to keep asking until I did! But on a more serious note, I had a bit of a realisation a short while ago, that although I'm starting to see diversity spreading within the cycling scene in general, progress within the gravel and ultra cycling scene seems to be much slower. This being my particular area of interest, I'll approach it in the same way that I do as a brand ambassador, with my aim being that hopefully, other women of colour will get to see my contributions and think "well if she's doing these things, maybe I could try that too."
5. Your fondest memory on the bike:
Racing Red Hook Milano no.9, the final ever Red Hook event before its indefinite hiatus. To come flying down the finish straight each lap and hear the thousands of people lining the street shouting and cheering was unlike anything I've ever experienced. It was truly magical, it felt like the crowds gave me more energy and motivation than any criterium I'd ever raced back in the UK.
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