053 | Growing up Mountain Biking with Katy McDicken

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Our guest today indirectly thrust our family onto Mountain biking and single trek trails. As I have mentioned several times, my husband Mr. Dusek has been a teacher for the past 20 years and this student was someone who intrigued him. When I began this podcast over a year ago we were on a long drive across the state and brainstorming adventurous families we'd love to have a conversation with and my husband mentioned the McDicken family. Katy McDicken has been mountain biking since she was 7 years old and was not excited about sitting on the sidelines watching her brother race. She quickly immersed herself into the competitive world of mountain biking and later transitioning into cyclocross. Today she is a sophomore at Marian University in Indiana where she competes on the cyclocross team and studies mechanical engineering and mathematics.

Key Takeaways

1. Mountain Biking trails are a good metaphor for life. The trail is rocky and rutted and the only way to get through it is to pedal harder. Sometimes you just need to do the work and grind through the rough terrain.
2. Sometimes we bond through our differences. As Katy mentioned, since there are few females in mountain biking, the shared experience of being a female mountain biker has been a bonding experience. Katy also shared that through both biking and engineering most of her friends are guys.
3. Moms, sometimes the greatest adventure is allowing our kids to try something that scares us.
4. Not all of our kid's adventures and passions will be driven by parents' experiences. In the McDicken family the roles were reversed and the kids inspired the dad to race.
5. If you are interested in learning more about mountain biking WORS in Wisconsin ( https://wors.org/americas-largest-state-mountain-bike-racing-series ) NICA(https://www.nationalmtb.org/) and USA Cycling (https://usacycling.org/ )are great places to start.
6. Hidden gems are locally owned bike shops. They often know the nuisances of the trails and are hubs for the biking community. If you are traveling and interested in hitting some mountain bike trails, make sure to check out the local bike shops for some untouristy local insights as well. Also mentioned was the App Trail Forks.
7. If you are interested in learning more about mountain biking or cyclocross, want to explore racing, or just want to support Katy McDicken in her quest for a National Title, you can follow Katy on her social handles in the show notes. If you are in the Chicagoland area this weekend and up for a different experience the link to national cyclocross is in the show notes as well. USA Cycling Cyclocross nationals.

Whether or not Mountain Biking is your thing or not, I hope this episode exposes you to new opportunities and inspires you to explore what adventures are available in your own backyard. I was pleasantly surprised to learn more about the Mountain Biking network in our neck of the woods.

Name: Katy McDicken

Email: katymcdicken@gmail.com

Facebook: Katy McDicken

Instagram: katymcdicken

Twitter: katymcdicken