Early on in my evolution of becoming a mountain biker, I remember meeting someone who had a singlespeed mountain bike. I was curious, even to the point of asking if I might someday borrow the bike and experience singlespeeding for myself, but never did. (Ironically, while living in the Midwest, where a singlespeed mountain bike…
Category: Mountain Biking
Try New Things
There’s a wide range of skillsets within the world of mountain biking, and while I feel like I am learning quickly, I often have to remind myself that until I moved to Virginia in 2021 (just a year ago?!), I had never seen rocks…not #eastcoastrocks, anyway. All of that to say, I have a LONG…
Just one of those days…
What do you do when you show up to your A race of the season, the gun goes off, and you just don’t have any legs? This year’s USAC Marathon MTB National Championship returned to the rocky trails of Gambrill State Park and the Watershed in Frederick, Maryland. After racing there in 2021, I made…
Shenandoah 100k…or not?
The 2021 Shenandoah 100k was the highlight of last year’s race season for me. It was not my best result (though it was perhaps my best performance–ironic how those two things are not always directly correlated), but something about those national forest trails and Stokesville vibes just make the race a really great event. Despite…
Virginia State Marathon MTB Championship
What a day! This weekend, the 2022 Virginia State Marathon MTB Championship took place in Palmyra, Virginia–an incredible event hosted by the team at RVA Racing. I went into the event cautiously optimistic. I was nervous because I know that Virginia is home to an incredibly strong group of women Mountain bikers, and because I…
World Cup Debut: Snowshoe XCO 2022
Since 2019, I have turned my focus towards marathon mountain bike races, generally competing in events ranging from three to eight hours in length. As such, my training centers around developing a strong “diesel” engine: a steady sweet-spot pace that I can maintain for hours at a time, putting in hard efforts for the occasional…
Now Offering Coaching!
Since “retiring” from the classroom this June, I have been pursuing education and certification as a cycling coach and am excited to start working with athletes to help them meet their goals. I’ve been personally working with a coach since 2018, when I first started racing, and I’m thrilled to be able to share the…
Race Report: Mohican 100k
What a study in contrasts! On Wednesday, I participated in the Play Roanoke’s second Disco series race on Mill Mountain, but with strict guidelines to not go too hard (and thereby “ruin” my race on Saturday). The Disco course is rocky, mostly climbing, and the field thins out quickly, allowing for plenty of space to…
#LoveWhereYouLive
Almost a year ago, I moved to Roanoke, Virginia. Why? Mountain biking. Little did I know, that my move to Roanoke would be about so much more than just glorious trails and ample gravel roads for training. It would deliver an incredible community, a city replete with culture and food destinations, and all sorts of…
Race Report: Big Frog 65
Summary The irony of this event is that it was supposed to be my first NUE series event, way back in 2020. I remember asking friends, veterans of the event, for beta, and gearing up for my first season “as a pro” and… then COVID happened. Now, two years later, with a full season of…