Back in 2001 she was fourth in the national championships and second in the B.C. Cup series.
The following year she tried racing downhill for the first time at a B.C. Cup, encouraged by her coaches and teammates at STORMBC. She borrowed a bike from teammate Jeff Beatty, the junior national downhill champion in 2001, and went on to win her very first race against a field of five more experienced girls. Two weeks later she won the junior women’s category in the very first Whistler Air Downhill, finishing with a time that would have placed her in the top-10 of the elite category. After that she was hooked.
She went on to win the national junior downhill title for two years in a row, qualifying to represent Canada at the World Mountain Bike Championships.
She had low expectations heading into her first summer racing as an adult, but went on to win her first B.C. Cup downhill to qualify as an elite level racer. Now she’s well in the running for the overall B.C. Cup title, despite the fact that her points from the first race as a senior expert won’t count towards the senior elite category.
Racing in Whistler two weeks, Baker went a step further in establishing herself as one of the top downhillers in the country, finishing second in Air Downhill and winning the senior elite category of the first ever B.C. Downhill Championships. Last weekend she placed second in a B.C. Cup, moving closer to claiming that series title.
With over a month of competitions still ahead of her, Baker is feeling confident.
"I’m really happy with the way that my season is shaping up so far," she said. "I still have the B.C. Cup series and some Canada Cup races ahead of me, so I’m going to try and keep going at the same level I am right now, and maybe even step it up a bit.
"Every time you do well in a race it helps your confidence. There were a lot of strong girls (at CrankWorx), but I tried not to focus on them, just to run my own race.
"I always just try to go as fast as I can. There’s no point in slacking off just because someone is here or isn’t here, because someone is always stepping up and you want to know at the end of the day that you did everything you could."
Baker came into the season still recovering from a training injury last fall. Rather than take some time off her bike, she’s been riding more to get stronger.
"I’ve been sort of plagued with injuries recently, so I’ve been training on my bike every day. I’ve been riding the downhill park, but I’ve also been doing some cross-country riding to get my fitness up, get my speed up, improve my technical skills, and get everything a little better," said Baker.
A student at the University of Victoria, Baker spent her free time in the saddle last winter. Andrea Hestler, one of Canada’s top cross-country races, has been acting as her cross-country coach.
"Being a student fits in well with my training, unless I need to get a job. Right now I have lots of time to train, and as long as I can train and still get okay grades at school then I’m happy, I can work towards two goals,"
Back in Whistler for the summer she rides cross-country by herself a lot of the time on a mix of technical and endurance trails.
"I really like the technical riding, which there wasn’t enough of in a lot of cross-country races," said Baker, who is hoping to return to cross-country racing in the future. The time she lost to injuries set her back.
To train for downhill, she rides with her Norco teammates every chance she gets, some of who are living and training in Whistler.
"Mostly I just show up at the park by myself and I usually meet a few people along the way," she said. "I ride three or four days a week, so you get in with a lot of people who are up there just as much as I am. It’s good to ride with a lot of different mountain bikers because they all push you in different ways, and you don’t get bored by doing the same runs over and over."
Having home field advantage for CrankWorx definitely helped, says Baker, especially on the Whistler Downhill course that she rides almost every time she goes up the mountain.
"I think I’m past that, wondering what’s around the next corner," she said. "I just look for ways to go a little faster and maybe a little smoother. Every second counts, so if you can cut even half a second off your time in one section and a half second in another, that can make a big difference."
In the future Baker wants to participate in more Canada Cup events, and take part in the more high profile nationals and Canadian World Cup events – as long as it doesn’t interfere with school
"If I can stay healthy and get good grades, then I’m going to keep racing downhill as much as I can,’ said Baker.
