Every fall, Lisa travels across the mountain west as a member of the Pivot Cycles marketing team to help get more kids on bikes. We caught up with her to find out what inspired her passion for life on two wheels in the interview below.

Tell us a little bit about your background in the cycling industry. How did you get started, and what are your responsibilities now?

I started my mountain bike career in 1991 being one of the few, or maybe even the only, girls working in a bike shop in Crested Butte. Eventually I could do most repairs, but my primary job was helping customers and all of the bike and parts ordering. In the 90s I was also on the committee for Fat Tire Bike Week, the largest MTB festival at the time.

In 2010 when Travis and I left Crested Butte and moved to Los Angeles, I got a job in customer service at Crankbrothers through an old Crested Butte friend. In 2011, we moved to Phoenix where I was lucky enough to land a position in the marketing department at Pivot Cycles—which I still proudly have.

Currently, I handle all of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) relationships at Pivot, as well as help out with other events when I can.

Why are you working with kids in Arizona, in particular?

In 2012 Pivot Cycles, an Arizona-based company, became the Founding League Sponsor of the Arizona NICA chapter and I got to take the reins and GO! It is truly a passion project of mine and I have been lucky enough to go to every race but two in 9 years!

When we were thinking about how we (Pivot) could be involved in a way other then “another booth at a bike event,” I told a story about a college job I had in a peds unit at a hospital where we had a rec room for the kids that adults weren’t allowed in. What if we had a bunch of chairs and shade where no coaches/parents were allowed, and the kids could share their race experiences with each other after their races? We could have cold drinks, snacks, and chilled towels to cool them off after their race—and they love it!

Why are you so passionate about getting more kids on bikes?

When I was a kid, my mom could never get me off my bike at dark. It was my freedom then and still is.

"Your bike takes you places you may never see otherwise; it gets you to these places under your own power."  

NICA is a no-drop sport. The leagues supply bikes to kids that may otherwise never be introduced to a sport that requires some expensive gear. When an athlete finishes their first race, their smile is like nothing else. They did it and are hooked. The coaches are required to have some serious, time-consuming training, and they do it all for free.  

"I’m passionate because the athletes and their coaches are my people and I want them to love mountain biking for all the same reasons I do, for where it takes them for the rest of their lives."

To learn more about NICA and how you can get involved, visit their website or feel free to send Lisa a note. You can follow along with her travels on Instagram.