The Ultimate Mountain Challenge is composed of four races over two days. There’s a kayak leg, a x-country mountain bike ride, a 10k trail run, and a road bike hill climb. The racer with the shortest cumulative time wins.
I started racing competitively as a trail runner. Shortly after that, I earned my mountain bike pro license.
Adventure racing with Team Nike really took my racing to the next level, and I began to compete as a way to supplement our income.
I’ll race anything— I really enjoy being able to compete all year long on bikes, on snow, anything.
A friend nominated me for Outside Magazine’s America’s Fittest Real Athletes— people who have families and full-time jobs that are still racing at the elite level, against those who race full time as their sole profession. It was a big honor: there were quite a few people nominated. I didn’t even know it was going on.
I’ve recently started training with Carmichael Training in Colorado Springs. I do a mix of endurance training, like four-hour rides, with smaller projects— today I did just under an hour of intervals.
I needed to be training smarter, not harder. With two kids and a part-time job, I only train 10-12 hours a week, so I need quality rather than quantity.
My kids help with my training— I push them while I run or pull them on my bike. They just add a little more resistance.
For the Teva Mountain Games, I haven’t really trained specifically for it. I just added kayaking to my normal training routine because I hadn’t been in my boat in two years.
I’m running a 50K this weekend in Gunnison, so depending on how fried I am, it will be interesting to see if I can compete with Gretchen [Reeves] or not.
There are usually only two or three solid female competitors in the Ultimate Mountain Challenge, but for the first time, this year there’s a really high level of female competition.
Kelley Cullen is on fire. She’s never raced at the Teva Games before, but I predict that she’ll kick all of our buts.
