Bike Bikes Bikes! Growing up in a small town in rural southern New Hampshire, bikes quickly became the lifeline for us to visit our friends, go to Baboosic Lake in the summers, and get around town. If we threw bikes in our dad’s pickup truck, we could skip Church after Sunday School and bike home from the town next door. That was an easy choice for me and my twin. 😉

Oh My God, Girona! I have wanted to bike european tiny towns with cafes & castles, linked by dirt roads, for years & years now. IT’S HAPPENING!! Girona is a Biker’s Town – pro teams riding all over it; bike perfection of hills, road & dirt options; bike paths everywhere. Not to mention it’s utterly adorable Medieval old town & river. Perfect weather. You can be a Fake Pro biker every day!

Here are my favorite photos from 2023.

Lost & Found 100 mile gravel race - I won my age group, women’s 50 years (and up)!

2023 Grinduro! at Mt. Shasta - 61 miles race where they interestingly only time four segments (~20% of the race) of various representative skill/terrain combinations. I had rough rear derailleur issues after lunch and wasn’t sure was gonna finish!

Utterly fantastic gravelbike climb up Mt. Tam, to Muir Beach, during rare snowy week in Bay Area. Thirsty Thursday group of five of us – part of East Bay Gravel Bikers. The snow was in the cooler areas up Mt. Tam (didn’t get on video, but picture stills).

Hunter and I bike the crazy 80 mile Rock Cobbler race in Bakersfield, CA, with 4 of our friends. Slippery mud, impossible climbs requiring hike-a-bike, cows, and over 8,000 feet of climbing insanity with 1,000 riders. This is the longest and hardest dirty ride of my life!

Hunter and I gravel bike up Mt. Tamalpais “Old Railroad Grade”, and head down the challenging “Rock Springs” fire road, circling 3 lakes! (Bon Tempe, Lagunitas & Phoenix)

Well, we upgraded my gravel bike “Candy” to be a MUCH better climbing bike (really we turned it from a “cyclocross” bike to a super-light gravel bike). After upgrading the tires, we upgraded the rear cassette (and derailleur) and front chainring.

One Gravel Race; Two nights camping; 62 miles. OMG I just biked my longest off-road ever – by a long shot! (This is also my first bike race ever).