I wear a women’s size 5-6, which in the ski world puts me in an awkward in-between: too small for most adult boots, too big for most junior ones. For years, that meant cold feet, poor control, and a lot of unnecessary pain on the mountain.

After one particularly miserable trip- where I spent more time stopping to relieve shin pain than actually skiing- I finally decided to figure this out for real.

With ski season being done for the year (and it was a dry, snow-less ski season for us in the Southwest US), here I am posting about ski boots for small footed women. If you have come across this post, you may have very small feet like I do. And if you also dabble in mountain sports you may have felt the painful nightmare of finding ski boots that work for you.

I have struggled with this particular gear issue for a while, and haven’t found a lot of online resources to help. (Also true for mountain bikes, but that’s for another day.) So I’m sharing my experiences here in case you are also searching online for the same information.

Renting has always been a crapshoot. My foot size is anywhere from women’s 5 to 6 shoe depending on the type. Rental shops usually give me junior boots, which are not as insulated or supportive. While I’ve heard junior race boots work for some, reviews are mixed and I cannot speak to it personally.

Two years ago I decided to forgo the rental challenges and buy my own boots made for an adult woman. I found a pair of used Salomon boots with 90 (Medium) Flex, size 22.5 which should be equivalent to a Women’s 5.5 in terms of length.

Salomon customer service let me know they do not make smaller boots than this.

The boots, with their “Golden Glow” accents, were sharp and I was excited to own a pair! Oo la la! Unfortunately, when I took them to Breckenridge, my shins and legs were screaming in agony after the first runs of the morning. I was drowning in the boots and my shins were taking a beating. I tried filling them with inserts from a ski shop at the base, but to no avail. I was stopping constantly and in pain.

A boot fitter at base examined and explained. Oh, they’re HV. What is that? First time boot owner, I was not aware that “HV” on a boot means “High Volume.” These are meant to provide extra room in the forefoot and instep, making it ideal for wider foot shapes.

He gave me a handwritten list of boots to search for - smallest of the small, even at the same numeric size (see list below). At the top of the list he wrote the numbers 21.5, which is the size I should be, if any brands actually made that size for adults.

On my second ski day after another attempt at skiing with too big boots, I ventured forth with my HV boots to Surefoot in Breckenridge. They happened to have a pair of boots on my list – Lange Shadows. Surefoot offers the service of filling these boots with foam that exactly fits the customers shins and feet. Of course, at a price. Custom insoles from Surefoot cost more than the boots themselves.

I took time to think.

The ski industry doesn’t have tiny women in mind when they design their boots. And while it stings to pay a premium for something that should be available, I finally accepted that I’m “out of normal range” and went through with it. At the time, as I was still in consulting, I had a salary that could mostly accommodate this, with a tinge of guilt.

My non-consulting self looks back and says “Thank you!”

I wanted to try them out on a full ski trip before I reported back. And now I can say that I can ski without the constant threat of shin splints. I am absolutely not sponsored by any of these companies. I will also say that when it gets hot (such as this year in the 40s in Angel Fire), the boots get a little loose.

However, custom insoles are 95% working for me and I will stick with them. So, fellow tiny-footed skiers, keep your chin up! There are boots out there for us. It might take some serious research, a few tears, and a hefty investment, but finding the perfect fit is possible.

P.S. Here’s that list of boots the boot fitter gave me, in case it helps:

21.5 - Low Volume or Snug Medium Volume - Flex between 85-95

• Salomon Alpha or S/Pro (Not HV)

• Atomic Prime or Ultra

• Lange Shadow

• Tecnica Mach 1 LV or MV

Summarized list of other women on the internet who have found solutions to this:

• Flex-70 K2 Evolvers junior boot. 5’2’’ 110 lbs. Report was they were too flexible

• Size 22 Dalbello Kyra

• Dalbello KR-Lotus?

• Nordica LaNina

Additional Readings/ Links

https://wildsnow.com/28528/talking-it-out-with-hadley-hammer/

https://craftmtn.com/features/no-small-feat

https://www.powder.com/news/high-performance-ski-boots-tiny-feet

https://www.petitepoire.ca/gear/sports-equipment/ski-boots-for-small-feet.html

Happy skiing (and happy boot hunting!)

I was wondering how long it would take someone to find me if I died. My bike had slid out on a slope of loose gravel, and I was laying where I landed in the dirt, staring up at the despondent sky from Big Bend Ranch State Park, aka El Despoblado: “The Uninhabited.”

This was January 2026. Six months ago, a crash in Angel Fire left Jason recovering from reconstructive shoulder surgery for the summer. At the same time I was licking my wounds from my second layoff (a mercy killing this time, from ServiceNow consulting). We needed adventure to heal us and bring back the vitality. By the year’s end we had steadied ourselves and searched out the next thing.

We decided to take a road trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park to camp and mountain bike, with stops in Marathon, Fort Stockton and Fredericksburg on the way back. And a side quest to eat delicious things.

Early on New Year’s Day, we filled the truck with camping supplies and drove all day starting at 5am, watching the greenery fade into dusty miles.

Big Bend Ranch State Park (BBRSP) is raw and wild, even compared to its rugged, yet more paved big brother National Park next door. Lined with dusty ranch tracks requiring high clearance tires, it’s a vast, awe-inspiring landscape of geologic drama, most notably one of North America’s largest volcanic eruptions, the remnants of its lava flow still visible.

At dusk we reached it. The final hour of the drive was a slow, bumpy trek from the park entrance through Presidio to our campsite for the night, Papalotito Colorado. We chose it for its accessible road and online photo of a little wooden shed-covered picnic table, a fire ring and an old wooden windmill a quarter mile away, an original from the ranch.

It feels pretty desolate, and there were few other campers seen.

Our life evokes our character, said Joseph Campbell. I think of myself as a woman who endures hard things. I have three warrior women tattoos -- one with a torch, one with a sword, and Artemis drawing a bow. I grip the archetype less tightly now, in my 40s versus my 20s. But I am very fond of trying to embody it, to be the courageous warrior in search of a thrill, the fear slayer, and the adventurer.

What better way to evoke the adventurer than mountain biking in the wilderness? At Paplotito, we revisited our plans as we sat in the dusty expanse of our camp. In the morning we’d drive another two hours out and around to the other side of the park on 170 to Lajitas, near the mountain bike trailhead. You can’t cut through the park due to the lack of drivable roads. We’d bike 30 miles, which would take us about four hours.

And we’d be …very alone. I felt my familiar cocktail of excitement and dread that bubbles up inside before an unknown ride. Jason assured me many times it was not a technical trail, and I knew that. Little did I know that wasn’t the whole challenge.

I was tired. I didn’t usually get up at 4am. We started a fire and warmed up some chili, dressing it with broken Saltines and shredded cheese, and cracking a couple of NA beers. Then we sat beholding the moment, a gloriously alone one. In miles of dark and silent, dusty desert, a single stream of smoke slowly spiraled into the endless spray of stars and bone moon - our campfire in the land of the uninhabited along the Rio Grande.

As the fire died out, we tucked into our sleeping bags and I dreamed / worried about furry lurkers blinking at us in the dark, before falling asleep here and there. It was very peaceful but I kept waking up.

In the morning chill, we made coffee and discussed the day’s task. The hero’s journey only gives us the adventure we are ready for. We were ready with walkie talkies, liters of water, bike tools, extra tube, sunscreen, food and other supplies. At this point, one could say we were heading out to face the monster and to slay our fear. We were ready to survive the whale belly and emerge transformed. I say “we”, however I’m not sure whether Jason was preparing for an epic experience or just thinking about the calorie burn.

After more driving, we started out down the trail Buena Suerte. I felt good. The scenery was amazing. Huge canyons for miles, an old brick house used for trade (we climbed inside), sharp cactus lining our path (we got scratched). We ate snacks and took in the scene.

Then I realized we forgot our walkie talkies. My stomach clenched. We briefly discussed going back to get them, but it would add an hour and a half to the ride. We kept going. Over the next couple of hours, despite my bike fitness and stocked food supplies, I began to worry we would die out here. My amygdala is a heavyweight champ. About this time, I descended down a loose gravel chute and slid out, crashed to the ground and laid still, feeling demoralized.

Jason rode on, a disappearing dot in the distance. Now here I was in the belly of the whale. I thought all the adventure stories I’ve read of those had been lost, or worse. A recent news story said a man in Utah was stuck in quicksand, saved only by using his SOS device. I had no SOS device, no walkie talkies. We had only seen two other riders hours ago.

The sleep deprivation of the last two days was playing a role and ramping up my fear. The trail wasn’t technical but I had underestimated the psychological challenge of the terrain, and as I lay there, I felt…nothing like a warrior.

For a minute, I just let myself feel it all: the disappointment in myself, the weakness, the fear. The stuff I don’t like to feel. But part of me also accepted that I’m just human, and this is just what it is, and this is part of the journey.

I had to pull it together and pedal or the situation would probably not improve. Warrior woman or not, I had to get freaking moving. So I half pedaled, half pushed another 10-20 minutes until I made it to Jason, who had stopped to wait. Three hours into the ride, this warrior woman apparently looked so spiritually defeated Jason later admitted he worried a mountain lion might see me as low-effort prey.

My mood was a bit infectious for him, and dampened his enjoyment – though the trails themselves were not great. A lot of it was loose gravel, sand and dried river beds that we had to drag our bikes through, without the fun, flowy features of Moab or Sedona.

So we had time to discuss emotions, performance psychology, and trail conditions.

Even with the missing emergency devices, Jason felt we were fine and would survive this. But he agreed to cut the ride a bit short for me. I started to feel silly as we soon rode out to the main trail, not long after my mythic mental (almost!) defeat in the whale’s belly - and realized the rest of the ride out was really easy and we were almost back. It was quite a ride all in all.

Afterwards, we packed up and were on the road again, to Marathon to the White Buffalo Bar at the Gage Hotel. I felt my descent into madness and rapid recovery deserved one of its famous bison burgers.

I requested to play an episode from “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth” in our hours on the road. It felt fitting but unlikely for Jason’s tastes. I was thrilled when he agreed. A chance to mythologize our trip far from the comforts of home and hearth, to feel heroic. We made it to the Gage, and among the wide brimmed cowboy hats and dark leather ambience, I felt so happy. The adventure I needed! My warrior had slain the dragon and in doing so, slain her fears.

The White Buffalo clientele are larger than life, very much an “edge between the familiar and the unknown,” like the Prancing Pony or the bar scene in Star Wars. I love it so much.

The day after, with the tent packed we used points to stay at a Fairfield Inn. We climbed Enchanted Rock and ate delicious German food the night after in Fredericksburg. No more major adventures for now.

Despite the ambiguity of the ride’s fun factor, we both started plotting more mountain bike road trips right when we got back. The emotional highs and lows for me made the trip one of our best, along with the open landscape, and the mostly successful camping. You can’t really have an adventure if it’s all easy. And I’ll be ready for the next one.

How to make your dreams come true

While my husband and I are blessed to have jobs related to technology, we’ve also experienced setbacks and down times due to layoffs (me) and for my husband raising three kids on his own. So we must be strategic and intentional about making our bike dreams happen. I will acknowledge we are privileged to be able to travel at all. So acknowledging that some resources are required, I want to talk about a way of doing things that can help you make things happen.

I get excited about “making things happen” as a project manager and a personal finance nut. And I hope the methods I describe here reach someone who wants to make travel happen for them, and may not know where to start. These are ideas that could be applied to anything explained through the lens of adventure travel.

Prioritize and Pay yourself first

First things first, taking time and money for travel means getting your financial priorities in line. There is so much to say about this, but it goes without saying (even though I’m saying it), that you have to take care of the essentials before you save for the non-essentials. (Here’s a starting point Reading List)

If you are not familiar with Ramit Sethi’s “Rich Life” philosophy, I recommend this and his podcast as a way to consider and plan your financial life. No kickbacks here, I just love Ramit’s approach and recommend it. If you are in debt, or don’t know where your money is going, these resources will help as well as the tools I list. This post is more focused on goal setting beyond the essentials. Ramit covers it all.

Blog: “How to Live a Rich Life”

Book: “I Will Teach you to Be Rich”

One thing I love about Ramit’s approach is it talks about defining what makes me happy and carving it out in my finances as a priority. Finances reflect our priorities and they can do more so when we are intentional, and our spending is aligned with higher goals, not low value purchases.

For me, this means several trips a year, and lots of cycling adventure trips. So you really have to know where your money is going and make it line up with what is important to you in life.

Use Tools to Create Visibility into your Finances

Given how complicated life is, it’s very difficult to look at the number in a bank account and figure out how that number is going to turn into all these wonderful things. Don’t try, use a computer!

I use apps such as YNAB, Google Sheets and Empower to keep track of my big picture goals, operational spending and saving goals as well as super long term trends. A solid budgeting app is so critical to this. I used to use Rocket Money to track my finances. I highly recommend YNAB instead as it gives you so much more fine grained control and visibility into your spending. I’ve also heard of others like Monarch Money and Actual Budget but can’t speak to those. There’s a huge community and tons of resources on YNAB and I’ve been blown away by my experience. I have over 50 separate categories to track from groceries to a car down payment in 5 years, and there is no way I could do this manually or even in a spreadsheet.

List your travel goals. Classify goals by cost

We do this by roughly classifying trips into A, B and C class trips. Your mileage will vary depending on how much you can invest in travel.

• A trips are the ones you can afford to do once a year, or once every two years. This could be something like an international trip, or otherwise expensive destination to get to or stay in. For us, it’s Paris for a week.

• B trips - Whatever medium is to you. Maybe you can do 1-2 per year. For us, this would involve flights and a car rental.

• C trips - More than twice a year. C trips are usually local and drivable such as a nearby area for a micro-adventure. For us in. Austin, San Antonio or Houston are examples as well as Bentonville and Big Bend.

• extra tip - leave breathing room in your plans for weddings or other new opportunities that come up during the year. Also, we are figuring out how to turn B trips into C trips by doing longer road trips, and camping 1-2 nights

Create a backlog and start saving

List all the trips you may want to take on a spreadsheet or list so you have the backlog. You can classify them as A, B or C or whatever classification works for you, just so it’s a mix of easily attainable and big bucket list trips. A spreadsheet works great when a trip is in the concept stage.

Start saving: Travel costs can be big hits to your monthly budget when they’re not evened out month to month. So we like to amortize the costs with this method. That way, we do not feel guilty about paying for it because it’s already budgeted and set aside for us. We start with how much we can contribute per month per person to our travel budget. Then each month we contribute that amount into our shared account. That’s it. Then the money “gets a job.”

From Backlog To Plan

If you’re familiar with Agile methodologies, you may see a parallel here. For a given amount of time, a handful of backlog items are chosen to work on, while the rest are left in the backlog. Our new process is similar. We move a handful of trips from the backlog into planning, which in this case is a YNAB plan / budget. In the meantime, take an amount you are comfortable contributing into savings account every month. We choose to keep it separate from other funds, but you could also use a budgeting tool to separate it from your other funds. In any case, protect it like a baby endangered animal. This will align to your plan.

Feed the plan with your travel funds over time

My advice for this type of planning before I started using YNAB was entirely different. Now we have fine grained control over our travel budget and I love it.

https://www.ynab.com/

(not a sponsored post, I truly love this software).

In YNAB or a budgeting tool, create a category for each trip that you want to move from the backlog to the plan. This could be done in a spreadsheet too, just takes more work. You will want to create a target. That means, how much do you need for the trip and when is your deadline for that. If you’re using YNAB, it’s easy to create a target for how much that trip will cost and it will calculate your monthly allocation for you. You can tweak this amount until it aligns to the contributions you make. If that means one trip per year, awesome! Six trips, awesome! It’s entirely up to your budget and how many trips you can save for at once, and how much they cost. If you want to be more flexible, you can also create generic categories on a spreadsheet or budgeting app (eg. Trip A / Summer 2027) and decide once you’re closer to your goal where the destination will be. Since we blew through our budget last year, we are excited about saving up before we commit to a trips in the future, or at least having a solid plan for steady savings. Below is an example for monthly allocations in YNAB.

Once you have categories set up, and you have your savings aligned to those categories, you just sit back and watch them grow. Then, I think you can take it from there. But if not, I will create more content on this topic! So stay tuned.

Yes, most of the days will be a grind in corporate America, but it is all to fund the weekend warrior adventures, which gradually emerge in the little squares of the almighty calendar.

I’m a program manager by day, and have a sort of fetishistic bond to calendars, as some of my friends who have humored me with Calendly entries for social walks, or two-months-in-advance movie date plans will attest.

Also, important, I’m still relatively new to marriage and traveling while married. This year Jason and I are more in tune with our differences: his passion is still for downhill and mine for cycling fitness with some outdoor thrill peppered in.

But we share the “pioneer spirit” of wanting to go forth and try things. So we are kind of in it together for the most part.

Last year we had quite a few adventures, from a ski trip, to Vegas, the epic backcountry rides of Utahs, triathlons, metric centuries and cross country races.

We also had a blast in Sedona at MTB Fest.

So, with all this said about planning, I have to admit we exceeded our travel budget.

But the good news is, we were able to look at it objectively and figure out how to fund the additional costs as new opportunities arose. We are being careful in the new year to continue to think about trade offs so that we don’t stress ourselves out financially.

Here we are in Las Vegas, Utah, Galveston (metric century Conquer the Coast), Sedona, Angel Fire and Bentonville at Little Sugar.

Budgeting for your Adventure Plans

In a previous version of this post, I went into more detail about how to plan travel. As I am a budget/planning nut, that explanation got a bit long-winded so I broke it out into its own blog post. If you want to read more about how to make your adventure dreams come true, read my thoughts on that elsewhere on my Substack

Held annually in March the stunning red rock landscapes of Sedona, Arizona, the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival attracts visitors from all over, including Austin Texas from where we made our trek a la Southwest AUS -> PHX and drove the rest of the way, with our bikes in tow.

It doesn’t need to be said, but Sedona is a mecca for mountain bikers, and I’ve described it previously as a favorite destination.

This three day festival celebrates all things mountain biking. From world-class athletes to casual riders, there is something for everyone. Pro riders, influencers, apparel makers, big brands, etc.

In case you’ve thought about traveling there, I’m sharing my experience in 2024 as an input. Though we probably won’t return every year, I love Sedona so I definitely seeing it happen again in the future.

Here’s my recap—

Expo

Explore the latest mountain bike gear, accessories, and apparel from top brands. Test ride the newest bikes and find the perfect setup for your riding style. Lots of mechanics there to help you out. The expo is where all the brands collect- the fest HQ. You can shop there, and sign up for giveaways, but one of the big reasons people go is to try out the new crop of bikes.

Get there early if you want to be first in line for a demo bike. When the gates open, get ready to see people running to vendor tents (and you may choose to do this as well). I watched a guy trip on a tree root and have to go to the medical tent before setting foot on a bike. So be careful out there. When you sign up for one, you get it for half a day. You can take it on any trail you want and ride the hell out of it. It’s really great.

More about Demo Bikes

I was surprised to see how many bikes are available from major brands - not sure what I was expecting since it is Sedona MTB Fest, but it was truly impressive.

I was concerned they wouldn’t have enough xs bikes to fit my five foot tall frame but they had plenty and more.

I ended up riding bikes from Yeti, Pivot, Santa Cruz and others. Amazing!

Shuttled Rides

Experience some of Sedona’s most iconic trails with “free” (included with your pass) shuttles to the trailheads.

This is a huge perk. Be aware that when you’re shuttled out, there is not always going to be one available to take you back to the festival grounds. So we ended up booking it across town.

Even with the trek back, this is great because at different skill levels my husband and I could split off and meet back, without having to figure out our own transportation.

He was able to try some of the more expert level trails (Hiline), and because of the shuttles and the fest going on in general I knew there would be other riders around in case something went sideways. I was also free to explore on my own (Slim Shady).

Skills Clinics: Improve your riding skills with expert instruction from experienced mountain bike coaches.

The skills clinics were great. I met some fun, fellow female riders at a women’s only ride with Joanna Yates sponsored by Dharco. I love Joanna Yates! If you are not familiar she is a super positive and supportive coach. She is not going to tell you to just Yeet it off the side of a cliff. Definitely recommend following her on IG.

Live Music and Entertainment: Enjoy live music, beer, and food at the festival’s vibrant social scene.

We had fun just hanging out at the fest. The bands play against a beautiful backdrop, there is great food, prize giveaways, etc.

Film Festival: Immerse yourself in the world of mountain biking through inspiring films and documentaries.

We had the incredible opportunity to attend the Freehub PRESENTS: A Mountain Bike Film. Amazing cinematography, bike tricks and very cool, inspiring stories.

Group Rides

We did a few group rides, one of them being a demo of some cool e-bike technology where the bike pretty much rode itself, with Shimano. Also got to ride with a pro.

Group rides are one of the features of a big mountain bike festival, and I haven’t figured out whether I actually like them. Am I the only one who thinks the fun of mountain biking increases with a handful of people and greatly decreases the more people you add? Anyway.

These rides offer a chance to explore unfamiliar trails and meet cool people, but they can be fairly chaotic so be ready to enter with a patient mindset. At the risk of being negative, not everyone on the ride is someone you would have chosen to ride with. Also, at Sedona the number of participants can far exceed the ride limits, leading to crowded trails and a bit of a free-for-all safety-wise. Many of the participants in the group do not have accurate reads on their skill sets, and there is a lot of jockeying to get to the front.

One of the riders on the Jeff Lenosky ride kept yelling “Do a wheelie!!” over and over. Ok, we get it dude! There are the ego driven shenanigans on narrow single track, and men attending women’s only rides. So, yes, there’s just all the stuff you’d imagine when lots of people show up. And the trails are just mobbed.

Unfortunately, during one of the cluster f that is descending on the Adobe Jack trail system in a long line of bikers, a wash out left me seeking medical attention at the festival’s well-equipped medic tent. The staff was great, and fixed me up very quickly

Wrap up

All that said, it’s just a fun time.

Beyond the organized events, Sedona itself is a mountain biking paradise. With its diverse trail network, stunning scenery, and challenging terrain, it’s no wonder why it attracts riders from all over the world. Whether you’re a seasoned rider or a beginner, you’ll find trails that suit your skill level and preferences.

The Sedona Mountain Bike Festival is a truly unforgettable experience. If you’re a mountain biking enthusiast, I recommend adding this festival to your bucket list.

Not a Shredder? No Problem: This Bike Park Survival Guide is for you

Bike parks are a thrill, but they can be daunting for newbies, especially if you started mountain biking later in life as I did (40), past the age of no fear and fast healing collarbones. I love the cardio/fitness side of mountain biking and my husband loves bike parks. So I have learned to enjoy them in a mellower way. It took me a few years to get there.

While social media reels are filled with huge jumps and jaw dropping speed, there is still fun to be had for those of us who do not want to go full send, but want a little “beginnermediate” thrill and action.

Sometimes I look around a park and see a majority of young males and start to spin off into existential questioning - why am I here? I don’t see myself reflected here. If this happens to you, not to fear, you are not alone and you’re in the right place. The doubts will pass when you are blasting down on your own journey and emanating all the cautious, middle aged badass lady (or dude) vibes you got.

The most important thing is to be honest with yourself and where you are.

Here are some lessons I’ve learned in traveling to bike parks with my husband.

Recognize that downhill is a unique riding style from road or cross country riding

I have seen this firsthand and done this myself: Many inexperienced riders underestimate the park/downhill learning curve due to their prior bike experience with road or cross country. I’ve heard it and seen it. Please do not make this mistake.

Inexperience is not the issue - it’s awareness that downhill mountain biking is a specialized discipline with its own set of skills. Please take your time and learn and progress at your own pace and do not assume that your road or xc skills directly translate to this type of riding. Also, don’t just blindly follow more experienced riders down trails they’ve chosen.

I made this mistake as well my first time at Spider Mountain. Having ridden the greener trails once or twice, I took a steep downhill turn way too slowly, crashed and rolled down the hill, injuring my neck. I had to be carted off and ended up on muscle relaxers for a week, which is a better outcome than it could have been. The consequences of injury are high so if you take anything away from this post, please respect that it’s a different sport and requires some competence with steeper grades and more dynamic bike handling than road biking.

Most bike parks have coaches/ lessons available and I would recommend starting there. I do this on my first day to a big bike park when I want a refresher or feedback on my skill set.

Do Your Own Thing

In my experience, it’s best to come up with my own plan for the day if I’m joining a more advanced rider. I don’t assume we’re going to be together the whole time since we are at different skill levels. It would not be fun for either of us. We do like to take the lifts together, stop in for lunch, etc, so we can see each other.

That said, if you are a super newbie rider, it’s safer to ride with someone. If that’s a concern, sign up for a lesson and let your companion do their own thing.

To get familiar with the park, YouTube videos and online maps are a great starting point. They’ll give you an idea of the layout and what lifts are best for you. Once you’re at your destination, physical maps can be found near lifts, keep a copy on your phone, or downloading Trailforks.

Coordinating While Riding Apart

If you’re going to be riding separately, consider bringing walkie talkies. These help you stay in touch and coordinate your plans without having to try to text or hope for the best. We have been using Rocky Talkies and we love them. They work amazingly well across mountain terrain and have a long battery life.

Just set them on an agreed upon channel (avoid the channels with rescue traffic), and leave them on. I clip mine to my hydration pack. Instant communication!

Start Small and Progress on your own Journey

Most bike parks have trails of all skill levels. Start small and remember you cannot send crazy features just watching other people do it. You have to build up to it.

If possible, head to a smaller local bike park before you go, or plan to master the green trails well before progressing to a more difficult level. Most parks designate the level of difficulty on a spectrum, even within the same difficulty level (eg, easiest to hardest of the blues). This is for a reason. It will give you a chance to get your bearings and build your confidence.

You can spend all day on the same green trail if you want. It is okay, I promise.

When you’re ready to try something new or ride with your partner, many but not all advanced trails have B lines you can take instead of the big feature. If I’m intimidated, I ask my husband to ride it and report back if there are B lines and if you can roll the drops. It often opens the door for me to try something new.

Don’t Skimp on Protective Gear

While some riders choose minimal protection (see tip 1), and might get away with it once or twice, I do not recommend a half-shell helmet or lightweight trail knee pads.

Invest in a full-face helmet and study elbow and knee pads. Wear full fingered gloves. You may also choose to wear a chamois with extra padding on the hips or a chest protector.

Bike parks offer rental options if you don’t own this gear yourself. These will significantly reduce the risk of injury in case of a crash. I also wear goggles to get full eye protection. This is a personal preference.

Hydration and Nutrition

Bike parks can be physically demanding even if you’re not pedaling per se, so it’s essential to stay hydrated and fueled. Bring plenty of water and snacks to keep your energy levels up. I don’t drink during the day, even though many riders do. I bring a hydration pack with me. Others carry a water bottle or just get a drink at the end of their laps. You can keep extras in a locker or in your car/truck in the parking lot. We bring our own lunches almost all of the time because resort food can add up quickly.

I wear a CamelBak Chase Vest. Love this thing! It’s made for cyclists, fits my smaller frame, and holds water, a walkie talkie, my phone, wallet and snacks for the day. Okay you could say I go prepared.

Summary

• Know your own limits

• Ride your own ride

• Have fun

• Be Safe

This is a fairly small race in the XTerra series. I love XTerras! From the three I’ve done in Texas there are smaller crowds, and have a fun variety of terrain to race through. This one was outside of Houston at a private ranch.

The lesson I learned from doing this event is to never underestimate short distance triathlons. In this case, we did the “super sprint” distance, which was as follows:

• 400 m swim

• 7.5 mile bike (my Garmin clocked ~7 miles)

• 2.11 mile run

Easy breezy right? So we made a few mistakes such as working out the day before, skipping some gear checks, and planning hydration. Some of those misses bit us in the butt day of, so I am walking away with a renewed respect for planning and checklists when it comes to multi-sport events, no matter the distance. Oh, and training. Don’t forget to train!

Course

The Magnolia Hill course is fun. I think it’s a good one if you are wanting to dip your toe in off road triathlons as it’s pretty mellow.

The swim was super calm in a pond on the property. No currents. Water was warm.

For the biking portion, it reminded me of east Tx terrain with pine trees all around. No tech on this course. Bridges, skinnies, woods, woops and corners everywhere. It was a wooded, loose track. I can see how if you are used to this terrain the rocky trails in the Austin XTerras would be a bit of a surprise, especially Pace Bend.

The run was the same terrain, with one big climb but mostly grass and wooded flat trails (not rocky).

My Results

I’m a mid-packer almost all the time. You can use this to decide whether to listen to my advice on tris, haha.

• 1:33 chip time

• 1 out of 2 in my age group (women). It was a small population of racers.

• 5 out of 11 in all women – 4/11 in women bike. 23/49 in bike place overall.

• 27 out of 49 overall.

Hydration and Fuel

I carried a Camelbak Women’s Chase Bike Vest for the bike for a few reasons. Due to my small size I don’t fit much in my bike frame. I also don’t want to mess with bottles while I’m trying to navigate corners, g outs, bridges and tech on a mountain bike, even my beloved Fidlock bottles. For me, I have to go with the hydration pack even though they look kind of dorky. I want to eliminate any toil to get the water into my system while I’m racing. It also carries gels, and a phone if needed.

For extra carbs, I chugged a half bottle of Skratch mix during each transition. I took one energy gel at each transition, and one gulp of gatorade and one of water during the run at the aid station.

I highly recommend Maurten gels during a race to minimize any gag effect from flavor that you thought you wanted but now that it’s a race you don’t. I am the first in line for chocolate or caramel Gus during training but Maurtens are where it’s at when your heart rate is through the roof and you cannot eat.

Challenges Encountered

I’ll expand on the challenges we encountered so you may read this and consider what could happen in your race, some controllable, some not.

We haven’t been training on swim or run. We are in year two of training for endurance mountain biking events, so our swim and run results were pretty poor and our bike times were pretty decent.

Lessons Learned

Learnings and advice I’m leaving you with from our race experience.

• Gear

  • I followed these instructions on the Nike site to take apart and wash three pairs of shoes after the race. They were super muddy, sweaty and gross. Now they are back to almost new!

• Biking

  • It is probably always going to help to have a hydration pack vs bottles in the mountain bike leg of an off road triathlon. But whatever you do hydrate!!

  • If you see some shenanigans on the bike portion, aka someone is parked where you need to be, dismounting is an option to strongly consider. Again, this applies to single track / mountain bike races more so than a road race where there is usually way more room to pass.

• Planning: Gear, rest, pre-race supplies

  • Plan ahead even if the race is no big deal. It will create better conditions for success every time. I should have confirmed my goggles, gloves and socks were packed in my transition bag!

  • If you stay in a hotel the day before, bring your own creature comforts. We stayed at a Day’s Inn near the race the night before. We brought a french press, ground coffee and our own: coffee mugs, pillows, large bar of soap, a pyrex container full of eggs and rice to cook for breakfast, an electric hot pot to heat water and then cook eggs. We wouldn’t have found pre-race breakfast in Navasota Tx at 6 am otherwise. Highly recommend research and bring your own supplies.

  • Rest the day before a tri, even if it’s not your A race.

• Miscellaneous

  • Something happens in super hot and muggy races where I get contact dermatitis (aka a rash) on my face where my bike helmet straps are. If this happens to you, you can apply hydrocortisone cream to bring it down.

Side note on cleaning Shoes: Take out insoles, wash laces separately, wash upper and insoles with Woolite and a soft brush (hard brush on the soles). Dry, relace and voila!

Welcome to a race report for a true mid-packer at Captex tri. I finished. Hurrah!

When I was younger, I’m pretty sure I did better at sprint tris. I can’t remember - maybe I just had lower expectations. But this weekend was about family. Three of us raced. This is the second year of a fun tradition that my sister and her son - a competitive teenage triathlete and runner - enjoy doing together. My husband joined last year but was sick this year.

Here’s my quick recap!

Pre-Race: If you’re not elite, olympic distance, or a man or a teenager, you have to wait quite a while to start your race, since those waves start earlier. So, I just sat there with building jitters, building and building until I was silently freaking out.

My sister ate a tiny cup of peanut butter, probably calm.

Swim: And we’re off! Still as tough as I remember. I shot off the dock with goggles in place, “hauling ass” for my standards. Then about 1/3 of the way through realized that I hadn’t continuously swum that distance since last year’s tri and my pace was not going to work.

Cut down to sidestroke and splashing around but made it out in 16:53. Town Lake, as I call it (it’s now called “Ladybird Lake” but I am a classic Austinite who refers to its old name) was filled with hydrilla, an invasive non-native plant growing rampant. It’s gross to swim through. It’s thick, to the point that the course was shortened this year due to a hydrilla patch.

Bike: This is part is supposed to be where I shine. The cyclist! Downed a gel and ran out of the transition area with my bike, still getting over the haze of the swim. Rode out on the 6 mile track that lines up to a dazzling view of the state capitol and back over the lake. Looped it twice.

Cyclists of all skill levels and gear levels are at once on the track. The rookie, sprint and olympic riders are all out there looping it once, twice or four times. I was grinding through the Jetsons at about 18 mph.

Run: Hot, humid mess. Got back in transition area, chugged some carb mix with water and jogged/slogged out onto the 5k. So hot by then, I was pouring sweat. Many were walking. I was wiping sweat with a shirt I had been wearing for modesty over my tri suit, which now seemed ridiculous and I was carrying it in my hand.

So much wiping in fact, I was earning a lovely rash aka “contact dermatitis.” I didn’t learn about this until looking in the mirror that afternoon. Hydrocortisone does the trick getting rid of it, btw. Stumbling through 31:45 minutes of hell on earth I ran through the finish.

My family was there, already cooled off, to greet me. Success! Another finisher’s medal gathered. Another water, banana and Nature’s Valley down the hatch. The glorious euphoria of chemicals that occur at the end of a race event flooding in. It’s the feeling I live for despite mediocre results.

So worth it! So fun. See you there next time.

I’ve always wanted a partner who would be able to share at least one hobby. I am active with a lot of interests and it would be hard to maintain a relationship with someone who lived outside of all those worlds.

And as both a musician and fitness nut, for me the accompanying lifestyles can be really different. I have been drawn to and dated quite a few fellow musicians, having been single through my 20s-30s. But as I get older and can’t pull off both late night gigs and partying along with triathlons, races and training, I’ve chosen to default to fitness. The occasional midnight show with my band can take me a down for a day but the north star is staying fit and healthy.

So that said, sharing the fitness hobby (vs music/art) lines up better for me and I’ve gratefully found a partner who loves mountain biking, and other types of cycling. Cycling together gives us a center, shared quality time, health and fitness, fun memories, shared travel goals and empowers us to see the world from a unique lens.

Now that we’ve acknowledged the benefits let’s talk about how sharing a hobby doesn’t solve your relationship issues. It can actually amplify them!

I met Jason in December 2020 when I pulled up to a local trail on a first date planned through a dating app. We connected after swiping each other’s pictures on bikes (Pro tip: the featured activity in your profile can really impact your date and thus relationship activities - took me a little too long to learn that with all those pictures of me in my band.)

My date was polite and handsome. He had rolled up in a lifted Toyota Sienna with a blingy Santa Cruz on the back and a bunch of tools. He fixed my air valve within the first few minutes, and I thought this was a good sign. I was a former road cyclist now enamored with mountain biking because covid did things to us.

Fast forward and mountain biking became the anchor of our romance for the first two years. We took every break we could get (from our full-time work and his raising three children) to hit bike travel destinations like Sedona, Moab, Bentonville; and do local rides and enduro races. He even proposed marriage on the side of a downhill trail at Trestle.

So, yes, mountain biking has been central to our relationship from the first date. Outside of that, our lives look very different. Jason is a humble, hard working responsible father to three daughters from another relationship. I am a bon vivant, single Austinite who played in rock bands while climbing the tech career ladder, traveling the world and chasing new experiences.

While we were at first inseparable on the trails, our rides together evolved. Jason didn’t always let me lead, and started waiting for me to catch up a bit less. He’s a stronger, faster rider with a history of motorcycles and aggressive downhill mountain biking. He’s also 6’1’’to my five feet.

This caused some stress for me as our riding time was the bedrock of our bond. While he assured me I was improving, that he didn’t worry as much, that he just wanted to ride his own ride and progress his skills, it flared my doubt and insecurity about myself, my abilities and the relationship. I was realizing that Jason had ridden WAY below his abilities in service of our dating, and now what. Can we not ride together?

We took a break mid-ride one time at a point my frustration with all this left me crying on a ride after he had zoomed off again (he had waited at the end of the trail segment). We sat down and unpacked: I am slower and he is faster, and I’m riding alone when we’re supposed to be together. If we don’t have this then what do we have!

Does a ride need to be a metaphor for our relationship? Well, kind of, because a relationship is those pieces of our lives shared.

Shared interests can serve as catalysts for connection, but they also expose all the insecurity and vulnerability, and scripts we are using in our relationships.

After sharing our fears and our needs, we’ve gotten much better about negotiating our cycling needs. Jason needs to ride on Saturdays with his buddies and “act a fool” as he says, and I need to ride for fitness and endurance. We often ride separately now, even on the same ride. We communicate checkpoints. I bring my headphones (bone conduction so I can hear my surroundings!) and meet up with him for a snack. We’ve also procured some walkie talkies for long days at the bike park, doing different rides.

I’ve gotten better at working on throwing out the script and learning to communicate. The hobby is great, but it wasn’t a shortcut to connection. It doesn’t alleviate the need to work on understanding what I need, what I can get and give in a relationship, and what I need to do for myself. There are no shortcuts, just practice.

And my husband had to remind me, since we started skiing together in the last year, that I totally smoke him on a ski run. He hasn’t been skiing very long, but has to go through some of the same feelings as I do when we bike: slowing the other one down, fear of being left, etc. I honestly do not mind waiting on him. And I’m glad we have something that evens us out in that way. It’s a journey we are on together.

I saw a question about how to get started with off-road triathlons on my local women’s mtb forum, and this prompted me to elaborate on my experiences for any curious readers.

I was at the same point a few years ago and I’m so glad I got into it. Off road tris are FUN, but they can be intimidating to a newbie, especially with the element of single track racing.

For context, I’ve completed numerous sprint tris, road rides, road cycling events, half marathons, and one marathon (Austin), and have podiumed at four local cross-country mountain bike races. I have an Austin-based enduro race series under my belt as well.

The off road triathlons in Austin are XTerra events, so that’s where I’m coming from on this post.

Training and Preparation

Similar to a traditional triathlon you can train for any distance that suits your time and interest level.

There’s the physical conditioning, but you’ll need to prep on gear, plan navigation, terrain and weather as well.

In a road cycling event, the directions are pretty well marked. But in mountain biking, it helps to have an idea where you are going to go even if markings are expected.

Find and grow support team

If you’re new to the sport, you’re going to want a little help along the journey.

How? You can join a local triathlon training group, hire a coach or team up with a friend or co-worker who has done this before.

In training for my first first on-road sprint tri, I joined a triathlon training group for women and it helped a lot. I learned about changing bike tubes, hydration, nutrition and open water swimming techniques. We also had accountability through the workouts we did together multiple times a week. The coaches were very experienced and talked us through the panic of open water swimming for the first time, among other topics like transition areas and prepping the day before.

I couldn’t find any off-road specific triathlon training groups in Austin, Texas in my search. You may have more luck in your area. If not, maybe try a regular tri training group and practice mountain bike handling and trail running on your own or with a friend. Or just train on your own and beef up on YouTube videos! I’ve taken many mountain biking clinics and hired coaches for bike handling skills there.

For the last couple of years, I’ve gone the route of hiring personal coaches who race mountain bikes themselves, and can look at my specific data to help me improve. My current coach sends me workouts based on heart rate, power and distance data. But that’s beyond what you need getting started.

Bike Thoughts

One of the crucial pieces of off-road triathlon prep is getting all your gear in order.

For off-road tris, this is especially important on the bike segment. For starters, you’ll need mountain bike (cross country is what most people use), you’ll have bike-specific concerns like ensuring sealant in your tires, your dropper post is working, etc. I’ve found the swimming and running portions to have similar gear needs to on-road, except that you’ll most likely want trail running shoes instead of road runners.

But back to biking, I currently use a carbon 2020 Pivot 429 Trail bike, which is just an excellent bike for the terrain in Austin. However, lighter cross-country bikes are highly suitable for this sport and offer a balance between uphill performance and downhill agility. You want a lightweight bike that can handle the rugged trails efficiently. Knowing the needs of the tri can also dictate what bike you use. Remember, you can often rent or borrow bikes if you don’t have the right one. You can also change out pedals and tires if needed.

Pedals

I am in it for the fun and fitness, and I race with flat pedals. It makes it easier to dab if I need and navigate chunk. I would say more competitive racers mostly use clipless (aka they clip into their pedals), but this is not official data, just based on conversations.

Tires

You can find lots of content about what tires to select, so I’m just going to note here that it’s a consideration. I will switch from knobbier, slower tires to cross-country tires for endurance and off-road triathlon events. They ride faster but you are trading off on traction when things get sketchy. It’s up to you.

Pads

This wasn’t a tri, but I actually wore knee and elbow pads my first single track race. I also wore bulky mountain bike gear. Don’t be a dork like me! Wear a tri suit and probably leave the pads behind. Yes they will protect you in a crash, and people do crash in these events sometimes. But overall, you will be much faster and have better performance the lighter you are. Make your own trade offs here, but I no longer wear pads in these events.

Getting organized with a checklist

When it comes to gear, checklists are your friend. I recommend them for race day to ensure you have everything you need to be successful. You don’t want to show up without something important.

• Swim

  • Tri suit - Consider wearing a tri suit with a built-in chamois for biking, or just workout clothes.

  • Swim cap - check race regulations for cap color coding. Sometimes they’ll use a cap for your wave.

  • Wetsuit - If required, invest in a wetsuit or rent one from a local triathlon store. Austin Tricyclist is mine. I rented before I bought.

• Bike

  • Hydration pack or water bottles. I like hydration packs because I don’t want to mess with a bottle cage while I’m riding, and because my bike is so tiny it doesn’t fit much.

  • Energy gels - one every roughly 45 mins. I use Gu (tasty) or Marten (no taste, better for “race tummy”).

  • Helmet: This will most likely be required to race

  • Footwear: Clip or flat shoes

  • Eyewear! Rocks, dirt, wind and tree branches are all potential threats to your eyes in racing off road.

  • Gloves, optional. They take time to put on in the transition area which is getting timed. I use them to protect my hands and keep a good grip.

• Run

  • Trail running shoes - You will change into running shoes in Transition 2. Regular running shoes if you must. I wear Brooks Caldera but there are many great options.

  • Socks to avoid chafing. Some triathletes skip socks. I do not.

  • Race number - You can secure your race number with a race belt and can throw it on before heading out on the run. Your bike has a race number attached so this comes on during the run.

  • Shirt, optional - You can throw a shirt over your tri suit or not. Depending on the distance, consider carrying a hydration pack for the run segment, or grab water at the aid stations.

  • Eyewear - can be the same from bike or different.

Building Tri specific Techniques

You will want to train and practice techniques of both traditional triathlon (open water swimming) and off road riding (bike handling).

While there is a ton to read about here, However, what I’m here to say is you don’t have to be a total beast to give it a shot. Just be prepared enough to know what you’re getting into and that you should seek input on this.

Racing on Single Track

Racing on single track scared me the most before my first race like this. What about passing? What if I slow people down? What if they slow me down! And, I found that in some of the tree gates or highly technical areas of a race, bottlenecks happen and people get annoyed and competitive with each other. It’s a race after all. You can choose to be patient or try to get out in front of as many people as you can to avoid those bottlenecks. You can train to practice surging your speed at the beginning to get past the herd, but if you’re reading this as a beginner, I wouldn’t fret too much about those techniques yet.

For the most part, issues resolve themselves and you will not get mowed down. Be prepared to clearly communicate what you are doing. For example, “On your left” to pass, or pulling over if someone is barreling behind you. You will make it through and feel like a badass!

Transitions

Be prepared for transitions. Transition areas can be chaotic, with many racers quickly switching from swimming to biking and then to running.

Awaken your inner Marie Kondo and focus on efficiency and organization. Lay out your gear in a logical sequence. For example, have your bike and run gear separate with shoelaces untied, ready to put everything on. Eyewear inside your helmet with the helmet laying open. Pre-mix hydration mixes and have multiple bottles. Transition is not the time to untie shoelaces and dig around in a bag.

You can practice your transitions beforehand to minimize time spent, and make sure your equipment is in good condition.

Mental preparedness is just as important as physical readiness, so visualize each transition and remain calm and carry on.

Review the Location and Terrain

Familiarize yourself with the race location and terrain. Unlike traditional triathlons held on paved roads, off-road races take place on mild or rugged trails. Understanding the terrain you’ll be racing on can significantly impact your race strategy and equipment choices. One question is: how much single track vs double track? It can be tougher to jockey for position when the route is entirely single track. I personally like a good double track every now and then to pass or be passed with fewer shenanigans.

Another topic is what tires to use depending on how dry or rocky the terrain is. I always go tubeless myself, but even then there are faster vs grippier tires to choose from.

Check for routes and maps. Many race organizers provide detailed maps describing the route’s elevation changes, technical sections, and aid stations. Take advantage of these resources to gain insights into the challenges you’ll face during the swim, bike, and run segments.

If you can, pre-ride the bike course to get familiar with trail conditions and any technical features. For some races, you’ll be able to find and download a GPX file of the route, upload it to a Garmin device for navigation during training rides.

By studying the course and terrain in advance, you can tailor your training regimen to simulate race conditions and develop an approach to the race.

Good luck and see you out there!

Author’s note: I wrote this in Jan 2024 and updated it in Jun 2025.

Is mountain biking dangerous? That is the big question.

The easy answer is YES, but it’s worth it. The longer answer can depend...

How common is it?

The term mountain biking refers to a broad set of activities, some with more inherent risk than others, but all with some risk.

As this study’s summary states, it is difficult to get true data and there is lack of cross-sectional surveys. The study from National Library of Medicine, authored by Michael Carmont said: “the incidence of injuries in mountain biking is comparable to that in other outdoor sports, the majority of injuries being minor. Mountain biking athletes were found to have an overall injury risk rate of 0.6% per year and 1 injury per 1000 h of biking.” (I’m guessing this doesn’t apply to professional downhillers).

Anecdotally, if you are a mountain biker on the internet following mtb content you are inundated with stories and images of injury. A practice of mountain bikers that I found bizarre at first but now get it is how much we love to watch ourselves crash.

Pinkbike’s popular “Friday Fails” and endless posts of pro and peer athletes in hospital beds outfitted with careful screws and wires take up a lot of our mtb scrolling on social media. Many are giving a thumbs up from their hospital beds among tubes, black eyes and casts.

Comments abound with healing vibes. I now see the voyeurism as a form of desire to understand what went wrong so it doesn’t happen to us, and also commiserate with our own experiences.

For example, and this is not scientific, just my observations from experience and stating the obvious-- downhill mountain biking can seem more risky than pedaling the local crushed granite trail around the lake, and of course there’s a wide spectrum of cycling in between those extremes. If you are riding downhill, you are more likely to be carrying higher speeds, and leaving the ground. Even if the terrain is the same level of difficulty, technically speaking, the speed combined with the “gnar” creates an environment ripe for injury. Freeride and slopestyle are also obvious risk-laden action sports. (Learn more about types of mountain biking here.)

However, I’ll say a few things here. One of the reasons I revisited this post is that my husband is going through a recovery of a shoulder separation (AC Type 5) from crashing at a bike park. We were watching GoPro footage of his crash, and despite riding advanced terrain all day, his crash was on a loose but flat transition trail between other trails that was beginner friendly. In watching the footage, there’s no obvious environmental cause for the crash (rock, hole, etc) and as an advanced rider he was doing nothing that would obviously cause him to get an injury that required full surgery to repair.

Watching the footage was actually somewhat disturbing, because there was no takeaway -- nothing to avoid, or practice until he nailed the technique. He wasn’t riding over his head. He just crashed.

Risk mitigation approach: Avoid or Accept

As a matter of degrees, there are ways to avoid the rate of injury.

Bicycling magazine has published injury prevention methods such as strength workouts and other techniques, and you can find these in other resources. A valuable body of knowledge!

As a beginner mountain biker, in my naive exuberance I was scratched, bruised and thrown on the ground many times. I limped in and out of doctor’s offices with swollen wrists, whiplash, torn fascia or a busted lip.

In my riding, I have toned down the impatient risk-taking into a more steady experience of fun with a bit of thrill. Clinics and coaching, practicing the basics and not riding over my head help. I realized that riding is less fun and more dangerous when I’m trying to be anyone or anywhere else than the present.

But it’s not the full answer. Even with the above, I’ve come to the unsettling conclusion that injury is not avoidable on a bike at all, road or mountain or any other. We have to accept the risk of injury to some degree, even if small, if we are going to do anything in life. Life itself is risky.

In fact, crash related injuries are not the only type. Last year I earned some lovely, debilitating sciatica from excessive time on a stationary bike.

So yeah... running, road cycling, mountain biking, swimming, skiing, etc are all sports that have this downside.

Risk and reward

Ok, so injuries are a natural part of the process of learning how to be dynamic on the bike, increasing one’s ability to adapt to constantly changing terrain.

Why are we doing this then? Because it’s incredible rewarding. In fact, most of the injured athletes I know, including my husband before his recent shoulder surgery, ask one question. When can I get back on the bike?

This is true for most sports. After tearing my ACL skiing in 2009 and going through reconstructive surgery, I spent months to years working back to run, ski and do other sports. I never got back to my full abilities.

This could be said for many situations in life, and not just sports.

All in all, while there are ways we can mitigate risk, we also have to embrace the chaos, and in doing so earn its rich rewards. Life just beats you up. Choose your weapon!

Hey fellow riders and readers. If you love to do both as I do, here are my top reads for you to peruse. I’m always looking for both adventure memoirs and informational books about the sport, so please send any suggestions you may have.

Word of warning: This page uses Amazon affiliate links in hopes that one day I can escape corporate life be outside more.

Something I have to remind myself is that books are not substitutes for learning by doing, which in cycling is the way you improve. They do provide a framework of thought to interweave as you ride. While some riders can take a purely intuitive approach to mountain biking, I tend to enjoy bouncing from written methodology and “best practices,” to coaching, to riding and back again. I find that I start to reinforce bad habits if I ride without checking in with experts.

There is so much to it. So, with that said, here we go.....

Just Ride: Racing 2,725 Miles to Mexico

by Ty Hopkins

I love adventure memoirs, especially to listen to while I’m training on the stationary bike or on walks.

And this is an adventure book for those of us who can relate with the intense and somewhat obsessive curiosity toward fitness and our physical abilities, and understanding why we push our limits and what happens when we do. I listened to the audio version of this book and loved it.

Author Ty Hopkins recounts his epic journey racing 2,725 miles to Mexico as a participant of the Continental Divide race in 2018. Not just a race memoir, this book is full of information for the curious. There’s a high level of detail from Dr. Hopkins, a professor of Exercise Science at Brigham Young University. He goes into race preparations and describes his somewhat obsessive tracking of metrics (hello urine samples!).

I enjoyed the intensity of his personality, and the very candid anecdotes of unique challenges of extreme distance riding such as falling asleep while riding, gastrointestinal distress and timing your fuel intake, the inner turmoil experienced with endurance riding.

Throughout the book Hopkins also goes into detail about the terrain, his cycling gear and set up, race logistics and the role of friends and family in supporting him.

The Cyclist’s Training Bible

by Joe Friel

I got into the Cyclist’s Training Bible and the Training Peaks app toward the end of 2023 when I started to train for longer cross-country efforts and realized Peloton workouts are not going to cut if for the goals I had set in distance and intensity.

As I discovered, this book is kind of legendary and lots of coaches use it as a reference in writing training plans for their athletes. Friel just released a new edition available Jan 2024. If you’re ready to up your game in mountain biking or any other cycling discipline, this book is a great addition to your library. I also recommend his son Dirk Friel’s Training Peaks podcast.

In a description pulled from his website, “Joe Friel is a life-long athlete and has a masters degree in exercise science. He has trained and conferred with amateur and professional endurance athletes from a wide variety of sports since 1980. Based on this experience he cofounded TrainingPeaks.com in 1999 with son Dirk Friel and friend Gear Fisher.”

From goal-setting and periodization to nutrition and recovery, this book is a comprehensive manual for those who want to ride faster, stronger, and smarter. Friel’s decades of expertise shine through, providing valuable insights into optimizing your performance on and off the trail.

I do not have specialized training in exercise science, kinesiology, or any related field, so this book can get a little technical for me. But I use it as a reference to return to when I want to understand training concepts in depth. Repeated readings can help.

Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance

by Lennard Zinn

No rider wants to be stranded on the trail with a malfunctioning bike. Enter Lennard Zinn’s comprehensive guide to mountain bike maintenance. Zinn is a respected figure in the cycling world. With a background in engineering and a passion for bikes, he has authored several maintenance guides, becoming a trusted source for cyclists worldwide.

I will admit, bike maintenance is not my strong suit. Fortunately and somewhat stereotypically, my husband is the more mechanically minded one of us. I also frequent my local bike shops for repairs and tune ups. However, having a comprehensive bike maintenance book, even if just to understand the bike’s anatomy and conduct layman’s conversations about bikes, can make a big difference.

I have taken my bike in for help before, and unable to describe a specific issue very well, it does not get looked at and fixed. The old, “please make sure this works for my Bentonville trip” doesn’t always give the mechanic enough information to go on.

So that said, this book can be treated as a reference (not necessarily a cover to cover read) and addresses everything from basic repairs to advanced techniques, providing step-by-step instructions and illustrations. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced rider, Zinn’s guide is an indispensable resource for maintaining and troubleshooting your mountain bike.

Mastering Mountain Bike Skills

by: Lee McCormack and Brian Lopes

This is one of the first books I purchased in 2020 when I started riding. Mastering Mountain Bike Skills, co-authored by Lee McCormack and Brian Lopes, is your ultimate guide to becoming a skilled and confident mountain biker.

This book covers a wide range of skills, from fundamental techniques to advanced maneuvers. With clear explanations, insightful tips, and detailed illustrations, McCormack and Lopes provide a roadmap for riders looking to enhance their abilities and conquer any terrain. Lee’s background in information design really shines through, and Brian Lopes, a professional mountain biker, bring a wealth of knowledge and experience, making Mastering Mountain Bike Skills a valuable resource for riders at every level.

Can I just say I freaking love Lee McCormack? He is a mountain bike skills coach. The content on his YouTube channels Lee Likes Bikes and Joy of Bike as well as his Instagram account are somewhat messy in a good way, self-reflective, positive, encouraging and gracious. I love his integrated mindset around riding and living with honesty and excellence. Much respect to Lee!

So that’s the brief tour of my bookshelf. I hope these help not only fuel your passion for mountain biking but provide some food for thought in your own journey of riding smarter, faster, and with more confidence.

Happy reading and happy trails!

Every year Jason and I get a large dry erase calendar with a year view and start to sketch out our adventure goals.

We calculate projected costs to make sure it fits in with our travel budget, and start to get excited about all the cool stuff. Having a plan up front helps make these trips a priority when life comes up throughout the year - puts them front and center.

These are the trips on our list for 2024:

Angel Fire, New Mexico

Skiing in Angel Fire - This is the only ski trip on our list. Skiing and biking go together, right? Jason has caught the ski bug! I’m roughly an intermediate skiier, Jason had not skiied, but he tried it on a work trip to Utah and is now hooked! So we are starting the year off with a weekend in Angel Fire (low key and family friendly). I used to prefer Taos, which is nearby, down US Hwy 64 by about 40 mins. As far as skiing goes It is steeper and more “no nonsense.” I learned my limits by tearing my ACL in 2009 and spending the day in the medical tent. These days, I am totally happy to coast around Angel Fire. Ironically, Angel Fire’s bike park is the no nonsense one. Someone we met on the lift in Taos called Angel Fire “the Jetsons,” which I loved as a description of the pure chaos that descends there (skis, snowboards going every direction, those ski bike things, etc etc). The apres-ski Taos is still magical. I love the hippie vibe and there are some amazing restaurants there. We tend to cook our own when in Angel Fire.

Womble Trail, Oauchita National Forest, Arkansas

We’ve had this one on our list for a couple of years. It’s an epic mountain bike trail near Ouachita National Forest. After a lot more cross country riding last year we thought we could be ready for it now.

Las Vegas

Jason turns 50 in May and has not been to Vegas, so we are going to live it up in the way that we do – riding trails, playing craps (Margaret) and eating buffet food. I’ve been scouring YouTube and Trailforks to figure out the best riding for us.

Trestle / Winter Park

We got engaged at this bike park, so it is romantic and also really fun and beautiful. This year will be our first time back since July 2022. While I do prefer cross country riding, bike parks are really a sweet spot for us, a bike-centered couple with different skill levels. I like greens and blues, and Jason rides more advanced trails. In a park, especially if we can stay nearby, we get to do what we want, meet back up for lunch and get back to it at our own paces.To make coordination even easier we bring our Rockie Talkies. We have been able to communicate at large distances to give status or coordinate a meet up.

The Whole Enchilada, Moab Utah

Another bucket list item. We are doing it this year! What else to say, the premier Moab experience. Quoted from MTB Project: “7,000 ft of descent from the high alpine zone to red rock desert.”

Little Sugar and Rattler - Two Leadville race series races.

These are kind of “destinations” even though one of them is 1 hour away from us.

We have checked off the 20 and 40 mile distances of Rattler, an Austin based cross country mountain bike race. We love Bentonville and last year became interested in doing the Little Sugar race that occurs in October. With enough training, I think we will be ready to hit and hit Rattler in early November. Read more about this very cool race series here

As a middle-aged female, I am not in the camp of professional racers, and also not genetically advantaged to race bicycles at 5 feet tall.

However, that does not stop me from loving cycling and dreaming up goals and chasing after them. My goal was to ride the 40-mile distance of a cross-country Leadville series race. So if this is your situation, read more to find out how how I did it, because it was a really rewarding and fun journey, and I want you to do the same!

The Goal

The Rattler, my favorite race xc race, is an annual part of the Leadville series that includes options for trail running and mtb racing. Mountain bikers can choose 20, 40 or 60 miles, with the 60 mile race opting them into a potential race entry for Leadville.

Rattler takes place at Reveille Peak Ranch, a private location an hour north of Austin - well known and loved by many local Austinite mountain bikers, hikers, dirt bikers and sometimes concert goers. Reveille has strikingly beautiful terrain with pink and black granite marked by languid cows grazing in fields.

Central Texas is hilly but not particularly “mountainous.” There is some hilly elevation in that area, which makes it a good spot for for these races.

Getting Started

I raced the 20 mile distance of the Rattler in 2020, 2021 and 2022. As these things go, to get the same positive benefit of goal setting and good ole rush of accomplishment, I had to push for the next distance. My husband who prefers enduro and downhill agreed to sign up as well, and for the record he ended up liking it.

Gear

I’ve ridden a 2020 version of the Pivot 429 Trail bike each year and I feel like it is a solid bike for that terrain. You see a lot of lightweight cross-country bikes there as well. Also, most xc racers in the 60 are using lighter bikes and clipping in. I use flat pedals.

Enlisting Help

As this was going to be my first 40 mile attempt on a mtb, I enlisted a professional coach to get in shape. This became a game changer for a couple of reasons. Reason 1, I worked with my coach and used Training Peaks to track my workouts and metrics, and he provided daily workouts based on my data that allowed me to slowly increase without getting injured or burning out. Reason 2, I got a solid energy strategy going.

Train by Pedaling

Zone 2 training is the big thing right now. And it works!

Though I have seen guidance that mountain bike training should be done on a mountain bike, which has a logical ring to it, it’s not always feasible. With the need to train daily, work full time, and not living near trails, and 100+ degree heat of Austin summers, daily trail riding was beyond my reach.

So I used what I had and trained on a Peloton during the week, supplementing with 2 to 6 hour outdoor rides on the weekends.

I rode mostly zone 2 with some interval training for 1 to 1.5 hours on the Peloton most mornings, and Jason did similar with Zwift (and eventually switched to Trainer Road).

I combined an instructor led warm up and cool down ride with a “just ride.” “Just ride” is an option on Peloton that is what it sounds like - no instructor and you are just riding. With this approach I was able to get more precision on the workout targets assigned to me based on wattage and zones on my Peloton. Audiobooks are your friend to combat tedium of hours on the bike.

From a data collection perspective, I had to do some manual effort of downloading and combining Strava files to upload them to Training Peaks for analysis. That is one minor annoyance of Peloton/ Training Peaks combination that Zwift or smart trainer with Trainer Road doesn’t have.

Peloton offers a lot of shorter workouts that are more in line with spin classes than long distance training. However, there is an offering of long zone 2 training options that are instructor led. If you are into long distance training rides can really help. Shout out to Matt Wilpers who is my favorite endurance coach on Peloton! Sam Yo and others also do solid endurance training rides.

It’s good to have checkpoints, so we signed up for a couple of 50 and 60-ish mile road rides during this time. I was really impressed with how far I’d come. I was in the best cycling shape of my life!

The power of the almighty carb

A big moment in my fitness and training was that my coach finally convinced me that energy gels wouldn’t make me gain weight. I know all the progressive thinking on this matter but look - true honest confession: I avoided carb intake during training and races for close to two decades due to an irrational fear of gaining weight.

I expressed resistance in a few long, skeptical email exchanges with my coach, especially to taking in the amount of carbs (30-60g per hour) prescribed by my coach, which seemed like a LOT.

He convinced me that carbs not only enhance performance, they are absolutely necessary past a certain point of endurance. And they keep us from overeating after races, so in some ways are useful for weight management. What? After some deliberation and research, I decided to give it a shot. I tried some energy gels and carb mix with water while I rode, somewhat below the levels assigned but still way more than I ever had.

And I was… amazed. My fitness and endurance increased significantly.

WHAT! I have been running races (up to marathon distance) and doing sprint triathlons since 2005, and I have never had more than 1-2 energy gels in the entire effort, maybe a few cookies or a sip of gatorade at the aid station.

I would race to the point of delirium often and thought this was a normal part of racing. Once I started mountain biking same thing, I would hit a wall at 3-4 hours, no ability to ride the next day and thought this was just the limit of my fitness. If this is happening to you consider whether your fueling strategy is working.

After I got on the carb train, I could not believe how much I had been limiting my performance this way. Furthermore, the realization that I had gotten used to delirium, dehydration and mild bonk state and even looked forward to it in a way, well.... that’s just how weird I am.

By refueling on carbs, I took my longest training ride from 3.5 to 6 hours with no issues. Achievement unlocked!

Outdoor Training

A big challenge to training cross-country in Austin is the lack of many long distance cross-country trails. After much trial and error here is my report of the options.

If you don’t recognize any of these locations, just know that while there are some options, it is pretty difficult to avoid monotony and to find elevation when training for long-distance on a mountain bike in Austin, but we made it work.

Race Day Location and Diet

Staying at a location close to the venue can really help out. We do not have a camper so we stayed in a tiny house on site the night before race day, which saved us from having to get up super early, drive in and wait in traffic.

To prevent digestion issues we avoided fiber (and drinking coffee too late in the morning). So our breakfast was scrambled eggs with brown rice that I had cooked the night before. We added Tamari to give it more flavor, and it was delicious.

I was amped! My nerves were going nuts.

After some of the other waves started out, the 40 milers lined up.

After months of training I couldn’t believe it was finally happening. It started, I played my the special Spotify playlist I made the week before with hours of music (bone conduction earphones so I could hear the environment) and took off. Loop one went great, and on loop two I started to feel the climbs. I couldn’t eat solid food but I was able to choke down the energy gels and drink carb mix. At hour 5, I pulled into the finish line. Boom!

Success

So finally, I was standing on the podium of women’s riders for the Rattler 40. I was 12 minutes away from 2nd place, so I silently vowed to get more efficient with my transition tasks next time.

In any case, my goal was to finish so I was ecstatic about this result.

Sedona is my favorite destination for mountain biking so it’s a good starting point for our new travel blog. In the past three years (now 2022), I visited once per year. I don’t know if that number is sustainable but I’m grateful for that many visits. There’s a peaceful, mystical energy to this town cast in the shadows of red rock formations.

Even before I rode mountain bikes, I loved browsing its unique bookstores. I have fond memories of wading through polished crystal displays to discover a wolf tarot deck, which was carried home to sit proudly on my bookshelf though I’m not sure how to interpret the cards.

As a mountain biker, I first visited solo, driving 17 hours from Austin in a Volkswagen hatchback. I rode Bell Rock after reading that it was dubbed “Intro to Sedona” trail, and also paid a guide to lug me around the Mezcal trail system, waiting as I dismounted and struggled through the ride.

The next year I returned with Jason and we rode Adobe Jack which became a fast favorite. The next year we rented an Airbnb in a neighborhood near Adobe Jack to ride it again. I haven’t yet been ready for the “H” Trails (Hiline, Hangover, etc) but they are in my future sights.

Trail Notes

Take these with a grain of salt as we are not locals to Sedona. Our local riding grounds are Austin, Texas.

Adobe Jack

• Slippery when wet (snow and mud from last ride)

• Crusty is unpleasant. I don’t know anyone who enjoys this type of riding. It is basically a craggy creek bed that you have to suffer through to get to a trail you want to ride.

• Go up Adobe Jack and down Javelina or Central Station. This is key as we treated AJ as the down on our past few trips, but it is a much easier climb trail.

• Grand Central and Javelina were labeled as black, but with the exception of a 75 ft steep rock section at the top of Grand Central, these trails are very approachable.

• Do not attempt to ride Cibolar Pass. We did not notice the no cycling signs coming in from below and ended up hike a biking the entire trail.

Bell Rock

• We rode a loop that had: Llama, HT, Templeton, Phone Extension, Little Horse

• Our favorite was Llama

• Others are green or black climbie trails

• Bell Rock is very crowded with hikers at the start, but once onto the more challenging trails, the crowds thin out quite a bit.

• Parking can be an issue at peak times (9-11am), so try to arrive accordingly

Bikes

• Jason: Santa Cruz

• Margaret: 2020 Pivot 429 Trail