TD Rider Profile: Alexandera Houchin

Boozhoo, nindinawemaaganidoog. Alexandera nindizhinikaaz zhaaganaashiimong. Wisconsin keyaa zhaawanong nindoonjibaa. Nahgahchiwanong nindaa. Hello, all my bike riding relatives. My English name is Alexandera and I grew up in the Rock River Valley of Southern Wisconsin; south of Lake Superior, west of Lake Michigan. I live in northern Minnesota now. I’m not much for talking about myself, but I have been growing to know this woman very well over the years, and I call her Ditibised.

She told me she’d been racing bikes all winter— Shelltrack: 25th place Tuscobia: 16th place? Polar Roll: 63rd place Ragnarok: 55th place Arizona Trail Race 300: DNF

She’s usually mid pack when it’s time to cross the finish line. But, somehow, last year, she placed first female in a race spanning the country, over massive mountains that took her three weeks to traverse. Back at it again this year, she told me she’s going to try and shave 6 days off of her finish time from last year. I said she’s crazy, and she said, she’s only bringing one speed.

She told me that racing the divide isn’t pitting you against them; it’s you against you. And if you keep at it long enough, you may win a race that will change your life, even if you never win races any other time. And if you have a dreamy bike build from the radical team at CHUMBA USA, they will set you up with a single speed shred machine so that the only person out there racing against you is your inner quitter. And if you share your dreams loudly enough, Broken Spoke Bike Studio may be listening and ask you to race on their team, alongside badass riders who are way tougher than you’ll ever be. And if you climb the same mountain 27 times in a row, and all of your gear gets stolen, the great folks at the Austin Patagonia store will send you a recovery package in the mail. Or at least that’s what Ditibised told me could happen.