Name: Lilah Engebretson

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 13

Town: Florence, Mass.

NCC Member Since: 2017 

Lilah: The History

Where are you from? 

I am from Florence, Mass.

What is your first memory of riding a bike? 

My first memory of riding a bike is probably bikepacking with my dad and another dad and his daughter on the Airline Trail in CT. 

How did you first get involved with NCC? 

I first got involved with NCC by doing the Look Park Junior Cyclocross summer and spring programs. During the late stages of COVID I started riding with the Trail Blasters rec rides and I liked it so much that I joined the Trail Blasters cyclocross team and then New England Youth Cycling’s River Valley Riot team.  

What type of riding do you do? 

I like to mountain bike year round as long as the trails are open, and then I mainly do cyclocross in the fall/winter. I road ride for most of my training and long endurance rides as I train for my cyclocross and mountain bike seasons. I also enjoy riding downhill as I did the Devo program at Thunder Mountain. 

What is your favorite part of training and racing with the Trail Blasters and River Valley Riot? 

My favorite part of training with the NCC Trail Blasters race team and River Valley Riot is probably all the friends and amazing memories that I've made with both these teams. I also love that even if I have a bad day at school, practice will almost always make my day better. By the time I get home from practice you usually can't tell if I had a good or bad day at school.   

What is something you have learned? 

The most important thing I have learned on a bike is how to connect with nature in ways a lot of people don't, for example finding places where no one is or just riding to be in the woods and not for training purposes. Something else I've learned from just biking is spatial awareness and bike/body control.  These two skills combined have given me confidence on my bike.   

Lilah’s Favorites

What’s your favorite place to ride?

My favorite place to ride is the Kingdom Trails in East Burke, VT because it has a mix of challenging, tech, flow and a lot of other variety. My favorite trail there is Black Bear because it is a flowy down hill trail that is fast with big berms, jumps and some tech.  

Favorite ride snack & mid-ride stop spot

My favorite ride snack is Haribo sour gummy bears and my favorite place to stop for a mid-ride snack is any place with a good view and no mosquitoes.

Favorite piece of cycling gear?

I have three favorite pieces of cycling gear, the first is my wahoo bike computer because I love looking at the numbers while I’m on my rides and after my ride because it helps me understand what I'm doing on the bike and how I can push myself to be better. My second thing is my 2025 Cycle-Smart Northampton Cyclocross winners/leaders jersey because it has always been a dream of mine to win that race since I’ve gone to that race for so many years. So for me winning that jersey this year showed how far I'd come from watching the races to winning the Cat ⅘ women's race.  My third favorite piece of cycling gear is my new Cannondale Scalpel 2  mountain bike because it is a bike that fits me well and I feel so confident and comfortable on this bike.      

What is your favorite NCC group ride or event?

My favorite NCC event is either the Trail Blasters rec mountain bike rides or the Look Park Junior Cyclocross program. These are two events that I have grown up riding and I have learned a lot of my skills in these two programs. 

What’s your favorite movie?

My favorite movie is Home Alone (the first one) because it is a tradition in my family to watch that movie at least once (we usually end up watching it more than once) during the Christmas season. 

Lilah Off the Bike

What do you do when not on your bike? 

When I'm not on the bike I'm usually at school or volunteering to help with junior programs through NCC.

What do you do for fun (besides ride your bike)?

Besides cycling I love downhill skiing and have grown up doing it my entire life and in the winter my family is always chasing the snow and skiing whenever and wherever we can.

What is your favorite spot in the River Valley? 

My favorite spot in the River Valley is probably on a dirt road somewhere where no one is or in the woods mountain biking. Off my bike is also probably in the woods on a hike.  

What’s next for Lilah? 

What are your goals for the mountain bike season? 

My goals for this MTB season are: 

1. Have better endurance on long rides and races, 

2. Find the balance between pushing myself hard and not blowing up in races, 

3. Have races that I'm happy with 

What’s on your cycling bucket list? 

My cycling bucket list includes long rides in beautiful places like the 40-mile Slate Valley Epic race, which I will do as a relay this year and hope to complete the whole thing in the future. I also would like to race collegiate MTB in college, to hopefully race pro MTB and to travel to really cool places with my bike, like Norway and British Columbia.

What are your hopes for NCC's youth programming? 

My hopes for the NCC youth programs are getting more girls involved in the sport because when I started MTB with the trail blasters I was one of the only girls on the rides (that number has changed since then). In the future I want to try and get more girls into the NCC youth programs.