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TAREK RASOULI / TARA LLANES / JOHNNY WADDELL / SAUL RAISIN / PAUL CRAKE STEVE PEAT / OENONE WOOD / CADEL EVANS / IRINA KALENTIEVA |
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On September 1st 2007 Tara crashed at Beaver Creek, Colorado, host to the Jeep King of the Mountain Finale, and was airlifted to hospital. Despite 7 hours of surgery, she had no feeling from the waist down. Tara grew up in Southern California and began racing BMX bikes at 12 years old. She moved to mountain bikes a few years later, travelling the world from ‘98 racing for teams Specialized, Yeti and Giant. In her website blog in 2006 she explains life as a pro mountain biker: “I’ve had some unreal food in some of the finest cities and I’ve I also had plenty of cereal for dinner when I couldn’t afford anything else. I’ve seen overwhelming crowds of 20-30,000 people at races such as the World Cup in Japan and even at the Red Bull race in Portugal this year. I’ve signed autographs for little girls and for grey haired men and enjoy and appreciate every minute of it... Honestly the list could go on and on. And you know what, I hope it does.” Then Tara crashed. A few months later she recalls watching the footage of her crash for the first time.
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“After I watched it and cried, and cried, and cried, and couldn’t understand why I didn’t put my hands out, or why I didn’t pull up on the roller before the lip. Then I stopped crying. And the very next thing I thought about was this past year in Whister, B.C where I had a chance to ride some of the best trails in the world with some of the fastest racers in the world and I smiled. I remember that feeling of being in the air just floating over and over and over again. The only girl holding her own just like I always wanted to do. I was doing it and loving absolutely every second of it. I will never ever forget that feeling.” “Follow your dreams dammnit and don’t ever, |
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