Becky Gardner

Professional Mountain Biker. Adventure Enthusiast. Artist. Twocaps Tamer.

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Third Times a Charm, Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals.

Last weekend I traveled with Fort Lewis College to Snowshoe Mountain located in West Virginia. It took three flights and a three hour drive but the twenty-something of us made it to the mountain late Wednesday night.  Growing up on the east coast and enjoying the rowdy and rocky nature of the courses which play to my strengths, left me in anticipation for the weekends race. The next day we coursed walked and to my surprise we were given a relatively smooth course with a massive pedal section that appeared to be much faster and less technical than most east coast courses. Although at first glance the course seemed easy, Fridays practice showed us just how tricky the fast pace course was once you were up to speed. Quick turns and fast straightaways had everyone feeling pretty awkward and slow. I told myself to take it easy in seeding later that day and just see where my time would put me. My seeding run went smooth and as planned with a couple encounters from other racers, but still put me in the top spot going into race day. Saturday’s downhill race was late in the day and the gloomy sky showed signs of rain. However the trails stayed dry and my run went as planned as I came down in 1st landing my third National Downhill title. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to race and attend Fort Lewis College and I’m stoked on being the National DH Champion for three years in a row. However my achievement wasn’t the only highlight of the weekend, the rest of the team crushed it in their events as well giving us the overall team win and crowning Fort Lewis College as the Division I National Champions.

Photo by Max Thilen

Photo By Max Thilen

Photo By Mark Poore

Photo by Max Thilen

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Engineer

The First Snow Ride

Riding Engineer trail a few weeks ago in the prime of Durango’s fall foliage had me eager to find time to ride the sweet single track one last time before the snow begins to fall. If you haven't ridden Engineer, you’re missing out. The trail itself is smooth with a few tricky rock sections on the climb keeping any level mountain biker wanting more. The trails summit is at the base of Engineer Mountain where the climb ends and the downhill begins, bringing riders winding and flowing through a series of trees and open fields. The trail however is not the only highlight of the ride. The views are some of the best in Durango.

Racing collegiately, professionally, and attending school full time doesn’t leave me a lot of weekends home to ride Durango’s awesome trail systems. Luckily my busy schedule finally let up enough to give me one of the first weekends at home in Durango in months. Taking full advantage, we loaded up the truck and headed to Coal Bank to get one last Engineer ride in before winter. The trail was all time; snowy, rainy, and perfect trail conditions. The light dusting of snow made for some amazing shredding. The cold didn’t bother us because the snow was too much fun. The top of the trail had about 2-3 inches of snow which dwindled down to hero dirt as we descended. The snow filled trail not only got us stoked on the current ride but also got us excited for the winter which lays ahead. If you haven’t gotten a chance to ride Engineer, do it, you won’t regret it.

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The Most Epic Ride

I’ve had a lot of epic rides in my career, I’ve ridden in different countries, I’ve ridden countless rides in the majestic high country miles from home, but a few weeks ago I witnessed one of the most breath taking rides thus far and it was in my own back yard. My roommate, Leila and I had decided we were going to ride a quick Fooses lap on Monarch Crest after work. We aimed to ride at four but in true Leila and Becky fashion we didn’t get to the top of the Crest until six thirty. However the ride didn’t begin until nearly thirty minutes later do to an uncooperative tubeless valve. After much frustration we decided to ride anyways into the dusk with a leaky tire and no headlights, leaving my boyfriend and his fellow shuttle driver in serious concern. Leila and I on the other hand had nothing but the excitement of what we knew was going to be an epic adventure.

Half way up the crest we turned and looked at each other in slight worry. The clouds were coming in and a giant storm was surely about to start. Light was running out even faster because of the intense cloud coverage, we stopped and talked about turning around. There were a few moments of silent and Leia looked at me and in a few profound words convinced me to keep going; “Sometimes you just got to Send It.” So we continued, and moments later we witnessed the most beautiful view we have ever seen. The sunset in the clouds surrounding monarch bloomed an array of orange that slowly turned to red and gold, lighting up the entire sky and surrounding mountains. It was truly one of the amazing views of all time and a memory Leia and I will never forget. We already knew we would be riding down the trail in pitch black with no headlights and a slow leaking tire, so we stayed on the stop watching the entire magnificent sunset until there was no color left in the sky.

Enjoy #NoFilter