2025 Ride Fierce Women’s Scholarship: It’s Almost Race Day!

For the women of the Ride Fierce Women’s Scholarship, it’s almost race day! Megan: racing ORAMM on July 27Annie: racing The Shed Enduro on August 3Abby: racing Slatyfork Enduro on August 10Nicole: racing Shenandoah 100k on August 30 If you happen to be at any of these events, make sure you give these women a…

Endurance MTB Nationals–in ROANOKE!

Though I was very much on the “fringes” of the team that spent the last several years working to bring Endurance MTB National Championships to Roanoke, I was involved just enough to know that it was a possibility…and then, eventually, that it was really going to happen. There’s not much I like better than showing…

2025 Ride Fierce Women’s Scholarship: Early Summer Update

The four recipients of the 2025 Ride Fierce Women’s Scholarship have been hard at work, despite the inevitable setbacks, challenges, and obstacles that come with any attempt to reach a goal. Here are some short updates from each of them! The Shed Enduro: Annie Chapelle My journey has had a sidequest of healing.  I was…

Transylvania Epic: 5 Days of #EastCoastRocks

It’s no secret that I love everything that is East Coast mountain biking: the rocks, roots, and jank. The 5-day Transylvania Epic (TSE) stage race serves this up in spades. I raced this event coming off of a knee injury back in 2023, and had a blast. Even though I was taking grad school classes…

What if…?

Earlier this year, some friends mentioned to me that they were going to do a “stage race” version of the Rockstar Trail, a local point-to-point ultra endurance event, during the grand depart in April. I was intrigued, mostly because the fact that the Rockstar route starts in Harrisonburg and finishes in Roanoke with 270 miles…

2025 Ride Fierce Women’s Scholarship: Spring Update

In the last two months, Annie, Megan, Nicole, and Abby have been diligently training and preparing for their selected races. All four women are registered–so prepare to see them at The Shed Enduro, ORAMM, The Shenandoah 100k, and the Slatyfork Enduro this summer! Here are some short updates from each of them! The Shed Enduro:…

The 2025 Ride Fierce Women’s Race Scholarship

At the beginning of this year, I posted a reel of me freaking out before a trail feature with the sole purpose of being vulnerable and drawing attention to the fact that everyone gets scared sometimes. Within hours, I had thousands of internet trolls telling me that, as a woman, I shouldn’t ride bikes, and…

A dream come true

It isn’t very often that a world championship event is held on home soil, or, even more specifically, on one’s home trails, but that is exactly what happened last weekend as the 2024 UCI Cross Country Marathon (XCM) World Championships took place at Snowshoe, West Virginia. The course was 68 miles of backcountry goodness, trails…

A Victory of Values

Three days ago, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish this race, so being able to stand on the top step today is really only another testament to showing up, staying curious, and good ol’ fashioned grit. I’m proud of this one.

Teamwork makes the dream work

I race as a privateer, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a team making it possible for me to chase this dream of racing bikes. From the many friends and neighbors who volunteer to take care of Kweli to the organizations (and individuals) supporting me financially and through gear, the network supporting me…