Racing Season is Here! Crying in the Desert & Other Summer Highlights

54 women took to the start of the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race. Listen to their voices and words of wisdom to themselves. I hope you are inspired by their stories to take on your own grand adventure. Here are as many of their voices as we could gather: Kate Nelson — Cap 137 Merlijn Sluiter — Cap 177 Isabelle Berti — Cap 12 Hannah Simon — Cap 175 Erin Poland — Cap 311B Peta Mc Sharry — Cap 119 Claire Sharpe — Cap 174 Nathalie Baillon — Cap 7 Kristen Tonsager — Cap 196 Helene Keuthen — Cap 318B Shona Oldfield — Cap 319B Svenja Betz — Cap 13 Susie Douglas — Cap 45 Emma Missale — Cap 312B Cynthia Carson — Cap 23 Lynn Meier — Cap 123 Helene Fromenty — Cap 61 Rosalyn Osborne — Cap 142 ⚠️ Laura Deave — Cap 39 Femke van Kessel — Cap 305B Nicole Farrier — Cap 53 Maxi Unger — Cap 199 Katrien De Smet — Cap 37 Emma Bateup — Cap 10 Tess Elias — Cap 52 Blair Blackwell — Cap 15 Ariane Richter — Cap 158 Meg Pugh — Cap 153 Justine Rondeau — Cap 162 Claire Stevens — Cap 185 Jeanne Lepoix — Cap 110 Karen Ekman — Cap 51 Tori Riemersma — Cap 159 Heidi Seeto — Cap 172 Leanne Bentley — Cap 11 Marei Moldenhauer — Cap 127 Catherine de Medici Jaffee — Cap 36 Meaghan Hackinen — Cap 69 Freyja Moreton — Cap 131

We often set out on these big adventures with a picture in our heads of what we're going to get from them. The reality is that they almost never deliver that thing. Instead, they hand us something else entirely... and that's exactly what makes them worth doing. Hannah Glatter rode the brand new Great Plains Gravel Route this summer, travelling 3,000 miles from the Texas desert to the Canadian border, through the states people love to write off as flyover. She covered around 100 miles a day for 36 days — and before this, she'd never bikepacked more than a few days at a time. In this episode of Detours we talk about choosing community over going it alone, letting go of who you think you should be as an adventurer, learning to be proud of our accomplishments for the genuine feats they are, and building a life you love so much you don't need to escape from it.

What does it take to win an ultra-distance bikepacking race and then run 192 kilometres across the Balkans three days later? Dilara Tuna is a Belgian adventurer who moves as comfortably on foot as she does on two wheels. In 2026 she took the women's win at the Trans Balkan Race, riding on women's record pace for much of it, before heading straight out to run the Peaks of the Balkans trail through Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo.

Now in my 30s, the question of whether or not to become a mum sits heavier than it used to. And when I go looking for a template to follow — women who've done it without giving up riding, racing, their freedom — I come up with a handful. Today's guest Luisa Werner is an athlete who has won the women's race at Atlas Mountain Race, stood on the podium of many ultras AND she's a mum. In this episode of Detours we talk about identity, the physical changes of pregnancy, coming back to sport postpartum, and how Luisa is approaching this season of her life.

Meaghan Hackinen just rode the Tour Divide faster than any woman ever has in 14 days 10 hours 2 minutes, taking more than a full day off her own previous time across nearly 4,400 kilometres from Banff to the Mexican border, and besting Austin Killips record 14 days 23 hours. In this episode of Detours, Meaghan shares the ins and outs of her record-breaking run: what she learned from her rookie attempt in 2024, the marginal gains that added up, the collective she built for women and underrepresented riders to build community around the divide, how she managed to find time for a skinny dip on route... yes you heard that right! and so much more.