I have not been able to make as many women’s group rides as I wanted to this past year. Life, classes, work, it all stacks up. I caught a couple last season and made it to one so far this year, but not nearly as many as I had hoped.
But here’s the thing…even without being at every ride, I’m still feeling it.
Something is changing out there.
Now that classes are wrapped up for the summer, I am all in. Because the energy I have been seeing, at the trailhead, at the start lines, out on the course, it is something I do not want to miss.
It starts before the race even begins.
Standing at the line, you start talking. Where are you from? What have you been racing? What brought you here? And then you hear it, the why. Everyone has one. Some are chasing goals, some are just getting started, some are out there proving something to themselves.
Those conversations stick with you.
And then the race starts.
What I have been noticing more and more this season, especially at races like Barry Roubaix, Yankee Springs Time Trial, and this past weekend at Mud Sweat and Beers…there are more women showing up.
And not just showing up…racing.
Really racing.
But it does not feel cutthroat. It feels connected.
There is encouragement mid-race. Quick words as you pass. A shared understanding that we are all out here doing something hard.
At Mud Sweat and Beers, there was this one moment I keep going back to.
Three of us women ended up together on the trail. We passed a couple men, picked up the pace, and just…flowed. No words, no hesitation, just that unspoken connection. We were moving fast, hitting lines, riding smooth.
I remember thinking in that moment, this is it.
That feeling when everything clicks on singletrack…when you are not overthinking, you are just riding. And to share that with other women, all of us pushing, all of us in it together…it hit different.
No ego.
No competition in the negative sense.
Just respect, effort, and shared momentum.
And honestly, I do not think that is something you can fake.
It’s something that’s being built, ride by ride, race by race, conversation by conversation.
I’m seeing more women at the line.
I’m hearing more stories.
I’m feeling more connection out on the trail.
And now that I have got the time to fully lean into it this summer, I’m ready to be part of it in a bigger way.
Because something is happening out there.
And if you have felt it, you know exactly what I mean.
Mud, Sweat, and Beers
Lady Parts group ride at Fort Custer (Peep our 2025 Iceman Trailblazer Haleigh Curtis)
Thank you to Heather Newman @goodtimesally_mtblife for being our 2026 Iceman Trailblazer!