Born in Russia, Colorado Raised

Born in Russia, Colorado raised. Throughout my, so far, short life, I have been a gymnast, a tennis player, a swimmer, a climber, a soccer player, a downhill skier, and a skate skier. Out of each sport I tried on, nothing fit quite as well as mountain biking and cyclocross racing. It's easy to say that I have fallen head over heels in love with riding my bike in circles. Literally. My very first ride with a local mountain bike camp, SMBA, I went down on a gravel road and had to get stitches at the end of the day. What made me want to keep going? Who knows, I was 11. It must have been some sort of irresistible pull for riding over rocks and eventually mountains.

I grew up chasing boys and pretending like I wasn't trying to keep up. My first few years of racing were me racing me, myself, and I. It never even occurred to me that it was possible that there were other girls that wanted to end the day covered in dust or mud or grease marks. Let me be brutally honest, when I showed up to my first race with another girl, I was a little bummed that I didn't have the sport to myself anymore. Very soon after, I quickly began to love having more and more girls show up to races. In recent years, my races have consisted of categories ranging from 5-100 ladies. Most of these girls have become my closest friends. 
I love riding my bike because the cycling community has introduced some of the most unique and interesting people. I have met aerospace engineers, teachers, artists, food scientists (not nutritionists), nutritionists, high school dropouts, pilots, lawyers, doctors, business owners, and so many more. We all have something in common and that is our passion for putting ourselves in the red, our tenacity for sweating when it's 100 degrees, our perseverance for nursing frost bite when it’s below 0, our eagerness to splash around in puddles, and our excitement for finishing rides with a dust unibrow. There is nothing better than riding a bike.

The End

Four years ago, we stood anxious but excited in front of the towering and mystifying castle. We approached the doors representing different schools but quickly all became Knights. Soon the complex and sporadic twists and turns of our halls became second nature and our castle seemed friendlier. The unfamiliar rooms became easy and instinctive to navigate.

Four years ago, we fumbled with our combination locks, stood awkwardly in the middle of the hallway, and wondered how the seniors could possibly have everything all figured out. Truth is, I still don't know what I'm doing. Yet here we are, ready to take on the world.

Four years ago, we were clueless, immature, and tiny freshman. Although I am still short, today we have built up a successful launchpad to project us on our future paths. No matter where we go, there will be challenges ahead.

In four years, I have learned that you can not put a large box inside of a small box. We can not fit a full life in one little dream box. What we can do is put a bunch of little boxes in a big box. What I'm saying is that in four years, the most valuable thing I have learned is how to set smaller goals in order to achieve bigger dreams.

In four years, I have learned that it is okay to take risks and it is okay to not succeed every time. In life, the things that go wrong are often the things that lead to something going very right. So another thing I will take away from four years at Fairview, is that it is important to nudge yourself to push your limits. As Amy Poehler once said, "You never know what is around the corner unless you peek... Take your risks now."

I chose risk taking, failure, and goal-setting as the most important lessons I have learned in high school because not only can I apply them in life, but they can also be applied to biking. Which brings me to something that I will miss. I'm going to miss returning from a different world filled with different people to my small community at Fairview. The difference between the cycling world and the Fairview world is striking but pleasant. I am going to miss returning to this familiar environment with familiar friends and teachers. Even the strangers at Fairview are somehow familiar.

After spending four years counting the semesters, months, weeks, and days until we graduate, I think it's about time to start measuring differently. It's time to measure the time through the memories we've earned through different friendships. This seems to be a more valuable measurement of time because as high school memories begin to fade, the people are what we will remember. Not the semesters or assignments.

To conclude this little piece, I have to end by quoting J. K. Rowling. "Time will not slow down." We must look ahead to the future, but we would do well to not forget the time spent at Fairview.

Just a Wee Little Poem

We, USA

The graceful Alps range across Austria.

Our team battles and thwarts the crowning peak.

We reach the end, we shout Hallelujah,

The top of the steps is what we all seek.

We climb up each of the loftiest hills

Then we fly down the arduous descents.

Our elation quite simply overfills.

Nothing beats this but that's just our two cents.

We sweat, our faces light up with smiles.

We bleed, we are covered in heaps of dirt.

We can do this for all the rad miles

And are not afraid to overexert.

We appreciate this great life we live.

For bike riding, anything we would give.

Post Austria 

Post Germany

Why do you race?

Today, my coach asked me to think about the reason for my willingness to race. Usually I would completely forget about the question until seconds before I was required to answer it. Right now, maybe I'm feeling philosophical or maybe its the few hours of sleep I got last night, but I feel inspired to right a blog post for the first time in around a year.

Let’s start off by talking about how I became a bike rider rather than a ski racer or rock climber or musician or artist.  Art and music, although I enjoy them as much as anyone else, were never for me and those dwindled out of my life fairly quickly. Ski racing and rock climbing, both super wonderful sports that I have no negative words about.

I love the idea of an adventure, and any outdoor sport that can further the experience of a true one, I am on board. Biking has always been my favorite form of escape from the stress of reality. The idea that I was born into a world where it is expected that I will go through 13 years of school, then head out to do optional, but recommended school, then immediately find a job, get married, and have kids, is an obnoxious trajectory that is blindly followed by masses globally. Why is this the main goal? My goal in life is to be happy and to live life to the fullest. Although I do plan on following this mapped out path, I plan on bushwhacking and making my own way by taking the time to break away from the “norm” and leading a life of freedom from this locked path we call life.

Now why did I choose mountain biking over road biking? First off, road biking is terrifying. I would take rocks, mud, and trees over high speeds and cars any day. Second, I love the halcyon silence that comes from being out on pleasant tacky dirt, amply moist to provide ultimate cohesiveness to my tires. The high grip plus low mud equals ultimate freedom. I feel grounded yet unrestricted. I love the feeling of my lungs burning, my heart pounding, and my legs being pushed to exhaustion. Call me crazy, but testing the limits is extremely gratifying.

I race because it combines my passion for adventure with the devotion that I have for doing it the best that I can.