Surviving Pregnancy
My pregnancy journey is not a story of an adventurous woman continuing to do the things she loves. Merely surviving the day-to-day has been the biggest physical challenge of my life.
Whoa Baby Part 2: My journey to be a competitive bikepacking mama
It felt like it was about 90 degrees out. I was battling a headache and a touch of nausea as I pedaled the singletrack out of Cottonwood and began the 15-mile and 3,500-foot climb up Mingus Mountain. I veered off trail under the first shade-providing bush I spotted and pulled out my breast pumps. The…
The Oregon Timber Trail: Past and Present
Over the years I have developed a reputation for “liking to be the first”; not to the finish line in a bikepacking race, an outcome such as that is unlikely with this body of mine, but to be the first to ride a new route. It’s not so much that I actually desire to be…
Bonus time: My journey back from the edge
After 82 hours of pedaling 302 miles through headwinds, epic Arizona sunshine, rain, and temperatures ranging from 20 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, I arrived back at the Flagstaff Bike Revolution shop. I was the last finisher, but half the field had dropped out. Race organizer, Dana Ernst, and one of my riding buddies who had…
Faces Behind the Dots: Pinyons and Pines 2023
Starting this Thursday in Flagstaff, Arizona, the Pinyons and Pines has a strong field of women lining up for either 300+ or 500+ mile routes. This event is fast becoming one of the classic bikepacking races in the west. In fact, it’s become so popular that it filled up in a matter of hours when…
PolarRoll Ultra – My First Winter Ultra
Two years ago my husband Al and I watched the documentary Safety to Nome. If you’ve not seen it, it’s about the 350/1000-mile human-powered (by bike, foot, or ski) race through the Alaskan wilderness in the dead of winter. By the way, it’s going on right now. As we’re watching, Al turns to me and…
New Year, New Look
Welcome to the new year (plus a couple of weeks, but who’s counting?) After taking a bit of a break for the holiday season, we’re back at it and looking forward to a year filled with amazing stories, photography, and more. We’ve also got ourselves a new logo, which was designed by none other than…
To Be an Athlete
It’s dark outside and I laugh at myself as small balls of ice hit my face. Perhaps it’s just cold rain falling quickly from the clouds that circle above me, but either way, it is slightly painful. How many hours have I spent inside, on my trainer sweating profusely in a grand attempt to prepare…
Winter Adventure and the Warmth of Community
I first met Jay Petervary, ultra-endurance cyclist, ambassador of sport, and the founder of Fat Pursuit back in 2017, at a winter workshop hosted by Pedal of Littleton in Colorado. Captivated by his passion, knowledge and experience with fat biking in events like Arrowhead 135 and Iditarod Trail Invitational I was inspired to dream bigger…
Jennifer Hanson’s Fat Pursuit
Jennifer Hanson lives in Florence, one of the hottest parts of the arid state of Arizona. While many people around the country are fleeing the cold winter temperatures of the north, often ending up in southern Arizona, Jen and her husband Jason headed up to Idaho for the 200km Fat Pursuit. Even as a desert…
