Katie Holden on paving the path of the future big mountain MTB riders

Originally from Half Moon Bay, CA, Katie became a fixture on the race circuit for nearly 10 years, where she competed in local and national levels, in addition to world cups and even urban races in South America. For Katie, racing allowed her to develop a sense of community, to push her limits, and to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Driven by a desire to explore unique terrain and discover new forms of motivation, Katie transitioned from racing to freeride almost 10 years ago, and her passion for women's freeride continues to fuel her to this day. As the brainchild behind Red Bull Formation, a week-long women's freeride camp, Katie hopes to elevate women's freeriding and to clear the path for the next generation of female freeriders. Currently residing in Bellingham, WA, Katie is continuing to explore ways she can connect sports with places, people, and the global community. When she's not riding steep trails, creating vision boards, or collaborating with peers on Formation, Katie often grounds herself -- literally -- by laying on the ground and letting the earth pull her back into the present moment. - (written by Arc’teryx)

Katie's Website
Follow Katie on Instagram: @katieholden
Grow Cycling Foundation

Conversation Summary:
From being a very competitive profesional mountain biker who used to see other women as big competition, Katie has become one of the main figures on paving the path for the future of female freeride mountain bikers. She takes us through her journey as an athlete and as an advocate for the sport and the female athletes, the reasons and the thinking behind Formation and an overview of the current status of the women's field. 

But she also talks about her lessons learnt through injuries and evolving other pillars in her life taking the conversation to her other project, "Grow Cycling" which is creating the space for communities to flourish in whatever way that they want to flourish by being able to show up  as who they are and who they want to be and the kind of cyclist they want to be. Because in Katies words "it doesn't matter what kind of cyclist you are, if you ride a bike, you're a cyclist. And that's all that matters."