Jessica McWhirt

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Exploring the world by bike with a minimal bikepacking setup offers riders an experience they’d never get if they did it by automobile instead. For bike packers and cycling tourers, traveling by bike encourages self-sufficiency and adventure. Bikes can go places cars,...

At the lip of the hill, I imagined plummeting to my paralysis, slamming my face against toothed rocks, breaking my neck, and wrapping my body around a tree trunk.
I dropped my saddle. I leveled my feet. I leaned back. Trying to remember everything I was taught a few months prior. Strangling the brakes, I inched down the hill, hoping to make it to the bottom alive. Whispering to myself, “Trust the bike.”

I like to think that I’m above the comparison trap insofar as I know that comparing yourself to others is detrimental to your mental health and well-being.

But isn’t that what life is? Winners and losers? There is only one winner in a bike race, for a job position, at Kona, bar trivia, and field day. In that sense, if you are not the winner, you are the loser. It doesn’t have to be a negative thing where we hold an ‘L’ to our forehead and stick our tongues out at you.

Established in 1956 by the League of American Bicyclists, National Bike to Work Month encourages more people to ride bikes. The most popular day of the month is Bike to Work Day, promoting commuting by bicycle. According to the League of American Bicyclists, 40% of all trips in t...

Our first event to bring women+ social riders and racers together was an informal gathering with a professional cycling panel: Meredith Miller, Jennifer Sharp, Katie F’n Compton, Margot Clyne, and Cari Higgins. The spread of experience among these successful women inspired the 50+ folks in attendance.

This was accomplished with no marketing budget. Instead, we used social media and word-of-mouth.

I was bored at work, stuck in too many situations out of my control, and having sex with men to forget my worries and failure. I lied to myself that a trip would bring me to the present, living moment to moment. Instead, I was too worried the entire time about what I ate, where I slept, and when I’d fly back. I thought the idea of the “law of attraction” was bullshit, but what I thought about I brought about. I learned that we have a choice and I continually chose the wrong one.

Competition isn’t for everyone, I know. I often ask myself: Are we born competitive or is it a learned trait? Through my teens and early 20s, my idea of “getting my sweat on” was dancing at ska shows. Working out was a form of punishment for eating brownie and ice cream every night. That was until I found cycling. I had to borrow a mountain bike my cousin had outgrown. After enough time spent slogging uphill on the hunk of aluminum, I finally convinced myself buy a road bike.

“Just enjoy it every day,”
Serghei says, leaning back in the chair. Blue jeans, a grey-scaled camo shirt, and gelled hair – a stark contrast to his Jelly Belly jersey at the Colorado Classic; still just as quiet.
“Yeah. I mean, you have to focus first, to get your goals, but at the same time you need to have fun.”
Originally from Moldova, Serghei made his move to the U.S. in 2010 – Georgia, of all places – after applying for the U.S. Diversity Visa program. Months after he applied, forgetting...

What do you get when an Italian and an Irish lass walk into a room?
A bike fit.
When asked, “What does a bike fit mean to you?” most people – like me – respond with, “To be able to pedal efficiently and powerfully without pain.” There I was, in this small room, with Pat, an Italian (“as it gets”), convincing myself that my answer was philosophically sound. That no one else could have come up with a response like that.
Pat wasn’t impressed. “That’s good, but a bike fit is getting you balanced ...

Jessica McWhirt is a Cat 3 road racer, avid cyclist and active participant in
Women Bike Colorado, a Bicycle Colorado initiative aimed at getting more women on bikes.
As a female Cat 3 Road Racer and avid cyclist, I don’t just want to see more women on bikes, I want to see women racing their bikes–women strategizing together, winning and losing together, racing in our own Tour de France. To see Colorado’s women’s race scene explode, with everyone on a team, and brackets created featuring the ...