By: Elizabeth DeFauw Hello! My name is Elizabeth DeFauw and I am 17 years old. I am a junior (11th grade) in high school taking online courses from Home School Legal Defense Academy (HSLDA) and Memoria Press Academy. Homework fills, 8-10 hours, of my day with studying, quizzes, tests, and several various homework assignments. It is not fun to study but… my free time is always amazing! I spend my precious free-time cycling, skiing, seeing my amazing friends, reading Scripture and praying, or hanging out, playing games with family. I absolutely love to be active in almost any sort or fashion. Before I got hooked on biking, I had tried multiple different activities and sports, such as Krav Maga Israeli
By Raquel Torres “Fear is the biggest disability of all. It will paralyze you more than being in a wheelchair”. Nick Vujicic. Tough people handle difficult situations with strength and grace. They stay positive instead of letting criticism rule their day. Being mentally tough is essential to staying positive, happy, and moving forward. For many of us it doesn’t happen overnight, it takes practice and time; after consistent work we become braver not less afraid. Coming back from many life setbacks, personal and in triathlon as a professional elite, I dedicated many years researching about mental strength and how to improve it, learning from many different authors, doctors, scientific studies, and experts in several areas like psychology and sports medicine, so
This is my bike setup. By Jonathan Meyers Over the Thanksgiving weekend my brother and I were invited to go bikepacking for the first time with fellow Team Athletic Mentors rider Joel Bretzlaff near Cadillac. Not surprisingly, the weather 180 miles north of where you live is bound to be colder and more wintery. But our expedition would not discover that until it was too late to turn back. Picture from the first singletrack we rode. All four of us (James Meyer, Joel and Jason Bretzlaff, and I) are experienced campers and backpackers, but this adventure would still have us venturing into uncharted territory literally and figuratively speaking. Due to our limited experience in bikepacking, we had none of the required
By: Bob Schultz This year’s Iceman Cometh reminded me why I enjoy being a member of the Athletic Mentors family. Shortly after Williamsburg Road, which is considered halfway, I had a rider behind me say “on your right” and was surprised to see an Athletic Mentors Kit go around me. I did not get a chance to see the face but got on their back tire to draft them. I was able to keep on his tire and finally pass but still did not recognize him. We started talking and introduced ourselves. It was John Harris, a new member from Petoskey. I recognized his name because he joined a Messenger group we have where he introduced himself. While we had just met,
By: Dawn Hinz WAIT! Am I really saying that you should have MORE than one wetsuit? … Possibly. I have to confess that I have 3 wetsuits. Yes. Really. One for very cold water. One for regular cold water. And one for warm water. In water below 60* I wear my cold full sleeve suit with a neoprene hood, booties and gloves. In water below 68* I wear my regular full sleeve suit. In water below 78* I wear my sleeveless suit. Let’s think about this. A wetsuit’s main purpose is to keep you warm in “cold” water; temperature below 78*F according to USAT. As an added bonus it also makes you more buoyant, improving your body position and helps you
By: Jared Dunham Barry Roubaix is a uniquely Michigan festival of gravel that generally starts the season off. However, this year things were a little different. Due to rescheduling from COVID, we experienced the race in early October, just as the leaves began to change and Iceman prerides become a regular thing on weekends. Barry has four distances to choose from, the 18-mile Chiller, 36-mile Thriller, 62-mile Killer, and 100-mile Psycho Killer. No matter the distance, Barry never shies away from a healthy serving of elevation on each route. However, the 100 miler has approx. 6,800ft of climbing and showcases the most remote two-track that Barry county has to offer. This was my first experience tackling the Psycho Killer, but after
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