The four recipients of the 2025 Ride Fierce Women’s Scholarship have each completed their races, and I am so, so proud of each of them!

Here are some short updates from each of them!

The Shed Enduro: Annie Chapelle

Holy Jalapeno, I did The Shed Enduro 2025!!

WILD! I had a blast and I am so proud of myself!

Race Analysis:

I had jitters for all of Stage 1, but did about as well as I expected. I was really smart about my knee, not taking any chances for injury on it the whole race, and I took what I thought was my time on the pedals up but, wow, I really should have taken more advantage of rest between stages. I have so many skills I want to improve, speed I want to add, tech to improve. There are so many more places I can pedal and be smoother and keep speed. There’s so much more fun to be had! I loved my fellow competitors and new friends. I hope my overall fitness improves as I challenge myself to do this again next year! I hope I do more enduros.

In the moment, immediately after racing, I was so confused how I felt. I did not want to see the Results. Abigail Snyder reminded me that how I did doesn’t define me, but it took a lot of thinking for that to stick in my head permanently! I am thankful for Ride Fierce Racing scholarship this year, I was in shape for this race for sure, I was motivated as hell. I looked at the results and saw that I took 4th / 4 for my age group and honestly initially felt gutted. I didn’t feel like a sore loser, I felt guilty! I felt like a lot of people had dedicated time and energy to me, time away from my kids, Multiple training weekends. People giving me time and energy. People giving me love. I felt so confused. Suddenly…. Wait, did I have fun today? I was so nervous for so much of it.

I went to go change out of my sweaty race gear. My husband always knows what support I need (or asks! ) He let me feel my feelings. He reassured me that it’s okay to be disappointed. He reminded me of the good. He told me how proud he was of me

Over and over. I returned to my friends who all echoed the same thing. It’s okay, and then they told me stories of their first races. Their losses and their triumphs. It took a good 15 minutes, but I perked up and loved the moment. Look at these AMAZING women and men around me that I am in company of. Look at my children zooming around on bikes at the after party because they want to be like Mama.

My parents ame down from Massachusetts to watch me and help with our kids on the mountain. My siblings too!! Some of my best friends raced and wanted to keep racing with me and being my best friends. I had worked up so much emotion and prep to this, I felt overwhelmed. Wow thank you so much to them, and thank you to new friends who just made my race so fantastic!

I spoke to some wonderful B-Team humans putting on the best race and yeah, I DID HAVE FUN TODAY! I want to race again, and have a whole nuther’ training journey.

I have had therapy since post partem and since the accident… and something I have been working on was allowing myself to feel my feelings and not shove them aside. Old me would have felt gutted upon seeing my results: and never let myself feel that. Old me would have smiled and felt ashamed of my initial disappoint… shoved it somewhere deep and tried to never think about it. I really like a more emotionally expansive me. I processed it and realized, That I really give a damn about this and actually loved racing. It doesnt define me! Hell, I hope to ride with those wonderful humans ahead of me. What a privilege I have to ride this bike and learn. I will see you next year, Shed Enduro. Thanks for this wonderful event.

Thank you again to my loved ones and fellow humans in the forest.

-Annie

Off-road Assault on Mount Mitchell (ORAMM): Megan Stainback

When I got the message from Megan that she had finished ORAMM, despite it being the hottest ORAMM in recent history, and an absolutely brutal day to do your first mountain bike race, I definitely teared up. Not only did Megan show incredible grit, persistence, and courage to show up, keep pedaling, and finish, but she also got 3rd in her age group! I am so, so proud of her. Congratulations on an awesome race, Megan!

Slatyfork Enduro: Abby Lent

Being a part of the Ride Fierce scholarship has been an awesome experience; it’s taught me a ton about training and fueling, discipline, and introduced me to the world/atmosphere of racing. I am super grateful to represent #morewomenonbikes! 

This past weekend I raced the Slatyfork Enduro, the 5th part of the West Virginia enduro series. The race was on some of most beautiful trails I’d ever ridden, and was just raw backcountry. Heading into the race weekend, unfortunately I got sick (food poisoning not a good time:( ). That made it quite difficult to fuel on Saturday and feel fully prepared for the race on Sunday. And though I was not feeling 100%, I still went out there and did my best. I raced sport women, the only one in my category.

It was a super fun, challenging day! I definitely want to go back next year when I can race not feeling under the weather!! I had an amazing support system, and was so impressed with the trail volunteers and positivity from everyone there! This scholarship has also shown me what an amazing community the cycling community is. It’s not about being the best out there, it’s about getting to have fun with others and challenge yourself personally, and support everyone there. 

-Abby

The Shenandoah 100k: Nicole Ilechie

I got cut off after aid station 2! (Cut off was 12:30p and I got to it at 1:45p), and they said the only way I’d be able to continue was if I had a dedicated ride partner (which I didn’t)

So I clocked 30/59.5 miles and about 3800+ ft of elevation.

It was the Lynn climb again that took me out/caused the cut off. Everything else was good. I only ever took breaks with the Lynn climb—sooo much walking.

All in all I had soooo much fun!! I learned that I really really enjoy downhill riding!!
The sweeper was super impressed about my downhill skills and said I need to do that or enduro and ditch backcountry. lol.

But seriously thank you so much for even making all this possible and really opening up my bike world.

-Nicole

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Once again, thank you to the sponsors who have stepped up to help support these women, as well as the race directors who are a part of this scholarship:

The Shed Enduro / B Team
Skadi Sport Psychology 
Handup Gloves 
Black Ox Sealant 
CarboRocket 
ESI Grips
TakeAim Cycling
Blue Ridge Adventures
Poca Trails
Shenandoah Mountain Touring

Stay tuned, as I would like to potentially repeat this scholarship again for 2026. If you (or someone you know) is interested in supporting getting more women on mountain bikes in 2026, please reach out!