Some of my best performances have come from that strange space between confidence and curiosity: in this case, between knowing that I thrive in the techy singletrack and the uncertainty of not knowing whether I can actually ride a singlespeed for 100 miles. The Marji Gesick is a special race: it’s 100 (more accurately, 109)…
Tag: marathon mtb
Well, that was Epic
Several years ago, Mike Mac, the director of the infamous Breck Epic stage race in Breckinridge, Colorado, took it upon himself to find a way to increase the female participation at his event, and created the Women’s Tour. In short, the Women’s Tour provides fully comped entries to the Breck Epic for pro women. Year…
I just want to ride bikes with my friends
Yes, that was one of the things I found myself saying out loud as I was racing during the XCM National Championship this past weekend. The highlight of the race for me was that, towards the end of my second lap, I was intermingled with a handful of amateur women on their first lap–and I…
PMBAR
The Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race (PMBAR) is a race I’ve heard about for a number of years, but never actually been able to attend until now. The basic premise is that you race with a partner, making your own route to various checkpoints in the Pisgah forest, and returning back to the start/finish line…
Hindsight is 20/20
They say hindsight is 20/20, but that clarity never comes if you never take the time to reflect. It’s equally true that a single number, in isolation, cannot possibly tell a full story. Though it’s an exaggeration, I feel like, in the races that mattered, I finished last (or close to last) nearly every time…
Singletrack is my superpower
I don’t know why this is the phrase that came to mind as I started the Marji Gesick 100-mile mountian bike race in Marquette, Michigan last weekend, but I grabbed onto it and added it to “Stay Curious” and “Be Patient” as my mantras for the day. This spring, as I was determining my race…
j’adore ça ici
Correct me if you speak French, but I think that means “I love it here.” It’s been years since I spent time in Europe, and it really is addicting. I’m sitting in the Zurich airport now, waiting to board my flight back to the U.S. and already scheming how I can come back and spend…
2025 Ride Fierce Women’s Scholarship: Success!
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…
Wow. Just Wow.
I opened up a new message on Slack to my manager and CTO at work this morning and realized that the last message I had sent to that particular group of individuals was from the ER in January after getting hit by a car. The subject of today’s message was that I had been selected…
Just Have Fun
This is what I told myself as I pulled into the parking lot for the start of the 2025 ORAMM race. My most recent XCM event (Nationals) put me far enough in the hurt locker that it left me reconsidering whether I even wanted to race these endurance events at all, and ORAMM wasn’t far…
