Call it what you will—fate, meant to be, or the workings of the universe—but there’s no doubt in my mind that all of this was at play when I connected with Gwendalyn Gibson at the Denver International Airport in early November.
I was on a layover from Bozeman, Montana, to Colorado Springs, en route to the USA Cycling Coaching Summit, when a young, strong and seemingly ordinary (by Colorado standards) looking woman in her early twenties walked by, lugging a big duffle bag on her back. I immediately recognized her as anything but ordinary—the one and only Gwendalyn Gibson.
Let’s first give a little back story. This last year was my then fourteen-year-old daughter’s first season racing a mountain bike for our local NICA team. She had a strong freshman campaign, taking 5th in the Montana overall in her division. There’s no doubt that her swim engine helped propel her up the climbs, but the technical nature of the courses slowed her down as she picked her way through the descents, which she found frustrating, especially racing against girls who started their mountain bike skills training years earlier. So, like any good dad, I went on a hunt for a good story, trying to find a rider she looks up to, who–like her–might have started their racing odyssey in high school.
We’re big fans of the UCI World Cup Cross Country Mountain Bike Race scene—and even bigger fans of the women’s circuit. There are so many big names: Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Evie Richards, Jolanda Neff, Alessandra Keller, Loana Lecomte, Jenny Rissveds, Rebecca McConnell, just to name a few. But there was one rider this season—in her first year racing Elite after a strong U 23 season the year before—who really captured our attention and hearts on race days, especially on those punchy Friday, short-track race days that are plugged onto our calendar months in advance.
I did some digging on this young rider from Ramona, California, a graduate of Colorado Mesa, a two-time collegiate national champion, racing for the Norco Factory Team (part of the lure that drew her to us originally, as we appreciated her representing a team from the Pacific Northwest). I found that this rider having a breakout season, like my daughter, didn’t start racing her mountain bike until her freshman year of high school.
And so the story goes. Every World Cup stop from then on, we were rooting for the young Grand Junction-based rider with the black kit, green trim and flowy braid, who was taking the World Cup racing season by storm.
When she popped one off and won her first World Cup Elite XC short-track race at Snowshoe, we cried with her, as there’s just something palpable about the energy and spirit of Gwendalyn Gibson.
As fate would have it, as the agent began boarding my plane for The Springs, Gwendalyn sat in a section across from me and being the “Be Audacious” guy and believing we need to share with others a sense of gratitude when they impact us in a big way, I introduced myself, just to say thank you for inspiring my daughter.
On the verge of missing my flight—at this point, the connection felt more important than the next leg—Gwendalyn was gracious enough to let me snap a selfie to send to my wife and daughter (which blew their mind), and after learning about Be Audacious and my upstart podcast endeavor, we exchanged emails, with the thought of teaming up to build some community around vulnerability, being real and bouncing forward from injury and performance anxiety.
Talking story and creating community with Gwendalyn Gibson.
Fast forward to the start of the new year, just days before she flew out to Valencia, Spain, for a two-week training camp with her new team, Trek Factory Racing, and we jumped on an Ecamm session for a three+ hour conversation that dove deep into Gwendalyn’s story, her growth on and off the bike, her 2022 injury that almost derailed her season, her experience with anxiety, and how she’s bounced forward with grace and grit, becoming her strongest and truest self.
Without giving too much away, my conversation with Gwendalyn was rich, rewarding and relevant to everything we’re trying to build with our new show. It will be broken into two parts, representing Episode One and Two of my new endeavor, The Bounce Forward Podcast.I can’t think of a better way to kickstart this show than with somebody I admire and respect and, perhaps most importantly, someone who inspires me and my daughter, on, and even more so off, the bike.
I can’t wait to introduce Gwendalyn to all of you when we hit the launch button on the first episode of The Bounce Forward Podcast. Young or old, male or female, rider or swimmer, athlete or chef, it really doesn’t matter what you identify with, I’m confident that Gwendalyn Gibson will rock your world and inspire you with her humility, grace, strength, conviction, courage and perhaps most of all, her witty sense of humor.
As a storyteller and avid listener of NPR for over twenty years, I’ve got so many podcasts that I enjoy and that enhance my training, my thinking and my travels; and while I couldn’t be more excited about this next chapter, the learning curve of building and recording, editing and producing a podcast on a budget, has been steep. But my sit down with Gwendalyn has me more motivated than ever to make this podcast a reality and to produce something that can inspire, uplift and make people think, all while sharing stories worth telling. Gwendalyn does all of this and more.
We’re planning on getting a half dozen (ideally more) shows in the bank before pressing launch, and I’m going to be working fast and furious to record and edit these so I can get Gwendalyn’s story out there—because it’s sure to inspire.
Every so often we encounter an exceptional human and if we’re really lucky, and have the audacity to put ourselves out there, we may even be fortunate enough to build community with that person. I’ve got a feeling that this first Gwendalyn conversation, won’t be the last and I’m feeling awfully grateful to tip-off 2023, by sitting down and talking story with a person whose depth, wisdom and fight are well beyond her revolutions around the sun.
One week following our conversation and I’m still riding the Gwendalyn Gibson wave. I can’t wait to bring Gwendalyn’s story to you all!
Until then, dig deep, lean in and stay true.
With nothin’ but love, Michael