GILROY—After a weekend of tough competition and a flight home from Oklahoma, the first thing most people would want to do is rest.
Not Ashley Cohen.
The first thing the 16-year-old wanted to do when she returned from the 2014 USA BMX Grand Nationals was reconstruct her 6-and-a-half-foot second place trophy—and her father Adam was happy to oblige. The trophy—which had to be disassembled and packed into a carry-on in order to get it home—was 10 years in the making after all.
Ashley, who started BMX racing when she was just 6 years old, tackled the 1,200-linear foot course and took second place in Girls Cruiser/Age 15-16 division on Nov. 30 in Tulsa, Okla. It was a long road for the Christopher High student, having gotten to the finals four times previously only to crash on the course.
“I was just really excited (when I placed),” Ashley said. “Finally all of this work paid off. I was just so thankful and everyone knows how hard I’ve worked. It was just overwhelming and emotional. I felt like a little girl. It was like the biggest moment and I know I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”
Ashley punched her ticket to the finals with a solid qualifying run on Nov. 29. The field consisted of 21 racers and is narrowed down to the Top 8—five of them were competing with the Gilroy racer for the No. 1 title in their racing class. Like Ashley, these young ladies had taken first in six qualifying races to get to the national tournament and where they finished in this race determined where they would be ranked.
As she stood at the gate waiting for the race to start, Ashley looked down the line at her competition and knew that it was anyone’s race.
“On the gate my legs were shivering, but once I crossed the finish line it was shocking,” she said. “Then he (her dad) came running over to me and gave me a hug—it was overwhelming. It just felt great.”
A second place finish at nationals and earning a No. 2 national ranking are no easy feat, but Ashley has certainly earned it. Between school, training—both on the track and at the gym—as well as working as supervisor at Gilroy Gardens, she said she’s not sure how she gets it all done. That dedication, her parents said, is just who their daughter is; whatever Ashley does, she gives it 110 percent.
“We’re really proud of Ashley,” Adam said. “We pushed super, super hard this year; the last six months have been brutal. It’s even gotten to the point where she’s had tears in her eyes and she’s like ‘I don’t want to do this right now’, but it’s like ‘OK, but you made the commitment, so we’re doing it.’ I like that she saw the benefit of pushing herself and us pushing her.”
“You’re stressed (at nationals) because she worked so hard,” her mother Kim added. “She’s at the gym three days a week and two days a week at the track. She works so hard and it’s just the thought of it not paying off.”
Ashley trains with her team, the Bay Area BMXers, and its manager Howard Cato every Saturday in Oakland. She has established herself not only as a leader for her teammates, but as a role model for younger riders just entering the sport.
“Ashley is one of my best riders of the girls,” Cato said. “One thing is you have to want it. She definitely wants it. She knows what it takes and what she has to do. … She knew what she needed to do and set her goals. She was going to try to take the title this year. I would’ve loved to see her take the title, but second place is good still.”
While Ashley has a lion’s share of the work, she credits her parents for their support both on and off the track. The Cohens drive all over the country, making stops in Utah, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and South California—just to name a few—so their daughter can compete. Just a year after purchasing their 2013 Ford Explorer, they’ve already put 85,000 miles on it from all the traveling they do—not to mention the $15-20,000 they spend on racing, traveling and making sure her bikes are in tip-top shape to compete.
But to the Cohens, money is nothing compared to the benefits BMX racing.
“It’s kind of like the glue that’s kept the family together as far as keeping Ashley involved with the family,” Adam said. “It seems like a lot of teenagers at this age kind of do their own thing whether it’s good or bad. Whereas this is a family thing and we work at it together as a family thing.”
Ashley competes in one to three races a month throughout the year and will next compete Jan. 9-11 at the Silver Dollar Nationals in Las Vegas. Though she had planned on taking some time off, she decided to get right back to work. That’s what it takes to be No. 1 afterall.
With her talent, tenacity and dedication for the sport, Ashley could’ve turned professional by now but has opted not to. She continues to race because she loves it, but knows there will come a day when hangs up her bike for good.
“Every year I say ‘OK, next year I’m done. I swear dad, next year I’m done’ and then it just comes and I keep doing it,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know yet how long I’ll keep doing it. I’ll just keep going. I’m not bored of it yet.”
