Although she has Sunny Gilbert-esque height, Colorado’s Lauren Zoerner (Alpha Bicycle – Groove Subaru) has the playful nickname “The Little One.” Thus far in her cyclocross career, however, Zoerner has been anything but little.
Zoerner took home 2 Junior 15-16 National Championships in 2018 in Reno and Louisville, and she has a fun, easy-going attitude that left her dancing to the background music on the start line in Reno. (For the record, there was no music playing in Louisville for a repeat performance)
Lauren Zoerner celebrates her comeaback win in the Junior Women 15-16 race .Junior Women 15-16. 2018 Cyclocross National Championships, Louisville, KY. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine
Despite her success, Zoerner is still hungry for more success as she moves into the Junior 17-18 race category. “I just train a lot, which gets me hungry to eat a lot of food,” she joked.
Let’s try that again. “It’s cool that I’ve won twice, but that won’t matter this year. That can’t get me to Worlds. So, just keep working toward Worlds and winning Nationals again would be pretty cool.”
Lauren Zoerner (right) works hard but also finds time for fun with activities such as starting The Wave.. 2019 Women’s MontanaCrossCamp, Friday. © Z. Schuster / Cyclocross Magazine
Zoerner’s success has not been limited to the national stage. Last year, she raced Elites back home in Colorado and often found herself in fields that resembled UCI races.
Among the riders Zoerner competed against was Meredith Miller, and not surprisingly, Miller is a favorite athlete of hers.
“I got to race her a lot last year, and I learned a lot from her. The way she races is so calm and collected, and getting to sit on her wheel or work my way up to sit on her wheel in a race has been amazing,” Zoerner said.
The first relay got rowdy early on behind Lauren Zoerner. 2019 Women’s MontanaCrossCamp, Wednesday AM. © Z. Schuster / Cyclocross Magazine
I chatted with Zoerner earlier this summer at Montana Cross Camp. You can listen to our conversation in the video below.
For more interviews and coverage, see our 2019 Montana Cross Camp archive. For more photos from camp, visit cyclocross.zenfolio.com.
