My Coaching Story

Hi! I’m Coach Kim. You can usually find me at the bike park riding the beginner dirt-jump line over and over or practicing on the pump track. (Look for the middle-aged mom in the tornado of teenage boys.) This is how I self-medicate: with adrenaline, endorphins, and joy.

My coaching journey started with failure. I’m good at failing — repeatedly and prolifically — without giving up.

I learned to mountain-bike on the wheel of a Well Meaning Dude (WMD) more than two decades ago. “You’re athletic,” he said. “You’ll be fine! Just follow me.” Within my first eight rides, I found myself on The Slickrock Trail in Moab, Utah, bleeding, crying, and cussing at my brand-new clipless pedals (a gift from said dude).

After ten years of trying to keep up with the WMD (now my husband), I went on my first ride with another woman. She let 30 psi out of my rock-hard tires and invited me to a women’s clinic. In one day, I developed more skills and confidence than I had in ten years of riding with awesome dudes, whose skills were so intuitive that it didn’t occur to them to teach me.

That’s when I decided to become a coach.

In 2011, I was certified as a coach by Redbull rider and DH world champion Shaums March, founder of the Bike Instructor Certification Program. As a BICP Level II instructor, I’ve coached hundreds of riders, male and female, ages 7 to 82. I’ve run my own clinics, and I also enjoy coaching for first-class companies like Ninja Performance, Brave Endeavors, and Ladies AllRide. I’m Wilderness First Aid and CPR certified.

My paid clinics and lessons are not formally part of NICA, but I’m also a Level 3 licensed head coach in the Idaho Interscholastic Cycling League. I work with kids from 6th to 12 grade. I love riding dirt jumps at the bike park with my teeange son and cruising the Green Belt with my mom, who learned how to mountain bike at the age of 69. (She’s 84 and still riding.)

In my day job, I’m a New York Times best-selling author and freelance writer for Bicycling, Outside, ESPN and other outlets. I teach narrative nonfiction writing classes for Harvard Extension School and writing workshops nationwide.

In 2023 I wrote my first documentary: 8600FT, the story of Braydon Bringhurst’s quest to climb the Whole Enchilada. Many of the mental skills that Braydon uses have become part of my coaching tool kit.

I used some of these mental skills myself during 13 years as a competitive water skier. When I was nine, I set a goal: Become a national champion. I failed —for ten long years — because I kept choking under pressure. Then I learned how to train my mind as deliberately as I trained my body. That was the year I met my goal and performed consistently under pressure.

I now love incorporating mental-strength-training into my mountain-bike coaching. My passion is building courage, confidence, and community—two wheels at a time.