Up to the challenge

As a Tahoe guy who loves to get out there and hit a mountain trail, whether it’s to hike, bike or cross-country ski, I am confronted by a harsh, but pleasant reality: The Tahoe girls kick my ass. That’s OK. They’re nice about it. While their friends in the city might be just returning from a late night party, they are out there heading to the top of Mt. Watson for an awesome view of the lake, or rolling along on the Flume Trail. In the winter you’ll find them Nordic skiing before work with their headlamps on, or rushing to hit the trail after dropping the kids off at school.

Don’t just take my word for it.

“I have been doing sports performance testing in the area for 15 years,” says Colleen Conners-Pace from Tahoe Peak Performance, who has finished the Ironman Triathalon. “I have found that there are a lot of women who are exceptionally fit. I am not just talking the more ‘elite competitive’ type athletes but the ‘recreationalist’ as well.”

Why is Tahoe a hotbed of womanly athleticism? As my friend Wendy Lautner told me, many women move to Tahoe because of the outdoor lifestyle available here. But for many others, it’s only when they get here and are surrounded by the incredible opportunities to do fun stuff in the woods that they become athletes. What also keeps these Tahoe women excited about outdoor sports is that there are always a whole bunch of other ladies ready to ride, run or ski with them. Take the Luna Chix and The Betties, for example.

The Luna Chix is part of a national organization sponsored by snack treat Luna Bar. In Tahoe they have regularly scheduled rides for any woman who wants to join. Lautner is an active Luna Chix who says the rides are always well attended because women like the social aspect of riding with other women.

Coral Lochridge just started going to Luna Chix events this summer to improve her mountain biking skills. What she found was a group of “super bad ass athletes, but they are encouraging and very supportive.”

“We went on some pretty challenging rides for me, but the Luna Chix girls gave me tips that helped me get through it,” she says. “Sometimes I don’t feel comfortable going out on my own, but with this group I am comfortable.”

Susie Sutphin, one of the original organizers of The Betties, says they are a “renegade group of misfits” who get together once a week to ride. They hold skill clinics where top athletes pass on their knowledge to other riders, but it’s really about being supportive of each other and having other ladies to regularly ride with.

Polly Triplat is a regular Betty and she says the rides are just part of a “collective consciousness of like-minded people that egg each other on to do all of these activities that they might not do on their own.”

“With more support around them, women are trying something out of the box,” Triplat says.

Tahoe women’s attitudes toward pushing themselves athletically are not just for the young and single. Tahoe City’s Pam Holman discovered a new love for challenging herself athletically about the time her kids were heading off to college.

“The trainer at the gym challenged all of us who are between 40-60 years old to pick a physical goal to work towards,” she says.

Holman started by spending five days paddling around Lake Tahoe. From there she discovered that in Tahoe we are surrounded by great outdoor events that kept her excited about trying new athletic challenges.

“You don’t have to do a marathon,” she says. “And whatever you do, you can find women to do it with.” Holman chose triathlons, because for training she gets to swim in Lake Tahoe, ride past beautiful scenery, and run on mountain trails.

Conners-Pace says that many of the women she trains are moms, some with several young children still in tow, but they are able to find the time to exercise. For others, like Holman, now that the kids are not underfoot they are free to really focus on athletics. Either way, when Pace held a tough interval class last winter at Tahoe Cross-Country Ski Area, it was only women who signed up. This is partly because of the dedication of Tahoe women to athletics, but also because many women find it easier to train if other women are doing it with them.

Lautner is now pregnant with her first child and is excited to be raising a child in Tahoe.

“I have friends who are nervous to do the things that don’t scare me at all,” she says. “You are affected by the people around you and what you see possible. There are inspirational woman athletes here that spur you on. You see it can be done, so what is to stop you from doing it? We are pushing what is acceptable as to how to raise your kids as well. Being around people trying to get out there, you rise to the level of what is around you. I will be raising kids to be outdoors. They will be around other people who are doing active outdoor activities.”

Tahoe women not only want to live their lives and raise their kids outdoors, but they want to pass along that love of outdoor exercise to the rest of the community. They feel blessed to live in such an inspiring place and want to give back. Lochridge originally heard about Luna Chix while volunteering with the group Girls on the Run, which focuses on building self-esteem and good decision making amongst girls. It’s primary method? Take third through fifth graders outside running. Sounds like a kids’ version of what a lot of Tahoe women are doing every day.

Want to have fun with the Luna Chix? http://teamlunachix.com/tahoe_mountain_bike

How ’bout them Betties? You can find them on Facebook at Tahoe Betties.