faced at the Sunny King in 2017 was a crash
during the fast-paced crit. “I was in one of the
crashes and went down, and you really have to
compose yourself . . . The first thing you do is
kind of assess your limbs, assess your helmet
and your head, and then you get your bike . . .
Everything in your body is saying ‘What are you
doing?’ And in your heart you’re like ‘I have to
do this for the team!’ ”
The women of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
have already found success this year. “We
had kind of like a training race in Phoenix
[in February], Valley of the Sun, and we won
overall. I won a stage, and so it’s always good
to kind of kickoff the season with a win.”
The Sunny King Criterium is the first race on
the 2018 Pro Road Tour, and Hall says “we’re all
kinda just chomping at the bit to get racing.”
As team captain, Hall is able to adjust tactics
within the race “if somebody’s feeling like their
legs aren’t for it or they’re just having a bad
day”, but her role is more than carrying out
the team strategy. “Just really giving the girls
the confidence that they give me because we
fully invest in this plan for a sprinter or for the
attacks to work so, you know, we’re going to
commit to it and be confident that it’s going to
work.”
Hall’s background is actually in soccer. “I
played on a full-ride scholarship at Mississippi
State and so I thought I was going to be a
professional soccer player. So I didn’t really
have plan B after I graduated college and
soccer didn’t pan out,” she explains.
Before discovering cycling, Hall went to
Culinary school, “While I was in culinary school
my brother talked me into running a marathon.
So we ran the Music City Marathon in 2006, and
after we did that I said ‘I want to do a triathlon.
That’s naturally the next progression right?’”
When Hall visited a bike shop she says she was
overwhelmed by the choices.”I didn’t know
what the components were, I didn’t know
anything about wheels, or why this one was this
much money and this one was only this much
money, and what size I needed. I had no idea.
Basically, I walked in and walked right back
out.”
Once she found a bike shop she was more
comfortable in, Hall says she was invited to
join in a group ride, “Those guys basically
motivated me.” As Hall learned about racing,
she thought, “I was going to do the triathlon
thing, but maybe I’ll stop that adventure and
pursue cycling only.”
Since then, Hall has riden for seven different
teams, working her way up through the cycling
world, and she has experienced the many
different avenues of cycling along the way. “I
have a mountain bike and I love the trails . . .
and I had a cyclocross bike, which is a mix of
a road and a mountain bike. Now the coolest
thing is to do gravel cycling, and I’ve done the
track and the indoor velodrome . . . Once I had
the opportunity to try all these different sports
within cycling I was like ‘Ok, let’s do it. Sure,
this is so much fun why not try this one too?’ ”
Hall also appreciates the doors cycling can
open. “It’s a community all in itself because
you start to meet people from all walks of
life who just like to ride bikes, and it’s a good
networking opportunity as well,” she says.
“Now that I’ve traveled all over the world via
bicycle, basically, it’s such a game changer.”
Hall paints a picture of how practical and fun
riding can be, “You can go to Italy and jump on
your bike and go do a 30 mile loop and kind
of take your time and make a day of it . . . It
has just brought such joy into my life. I’m so
thankful.”