Krista Park

  
  


Date of Birth: June 4, 1974
Height: 5'5"/1.65m
Weight: 116lbs./53kg./8.3st.
Place of Birth: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Hometown: Durango, Colorado; Santa Fe, New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona
Teams: Kenda-Titus-Hayes (2008), Incycle/Magura/NoTubes (2009), Cannondale/NoTubes (2010-pres.)
Education: Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
Website: http://kristapark.com
Blog: http://kristapark.blogspot.com
Twitter: @kristapark

Olympic/World Championship experience:

  • 45th place — 2011 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Championships, Champery, Switzerland
  • 27th place — 2010 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships, St. Wendel, Germany

National Championship experience:

  • 3rd place — 2010 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships, Breckenridge, Colorado, Elite Women
  • 2nd place — 2010 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Cross-Country National Championships, Super D, Granby, Colorado, Elite Women
  • 4th place — 2009 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships, Granby, Colorado, Elite Women
  • 10th place — 2009 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Cross-Country National Championships, Granby, Colorado, Elite Women

Career Highlights:

  • 3rd place — 2011 Bonelli Park, San Dimas, California, Cross-Country
  • 4th place — 2011 Mellow Johnnys Classic, Dripping Springs, Texas, Cross-Country
  • 5th place — 2011 USA Cycling Pro Cross-Country Tour women's overall standings
  • 47th place — 2011 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Cup Series
  • 9th place — 2011 Cyprus Sunshine Cup #2, Afxentia - Macheras Forest, Cyprus, Cross-Country

Points of Interest

  • Park and her husband, Todd, live in a recreation vehicle and spend most of their time in Durango, Colo., Santa Fe, N,M. and Tucson, Ariz.
  • They duck hunt and trained their labrador retrievers to compete in hunt tests.

Personal

Krista Park delivered newspapers as a 13-year-old girl and while she is not ready to attribute her cycling success to that, she does lend credence that it may have helped with some bike handling.

Growing up, Park skied, hiked, backpacked and played co-ed soccer before finding cycling. As a collegiate, Park joined her husband on trips to go duck hunting, fly fishing, camping and training their dogs to compete in hunt tests. After graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, Park took a job with Motorola in Georgia.

Some of her co-workers invited her to join them on rides and she became serious about it. Before long, they quit their jobs in Georgia, sold their house, bought a recreation vehicle and moved west. The plan was for Krista to look for a job, but that was postponed as cycling grew into a passion.

Park credits her husband, Todd, for allowing her to pursue her career as a professional cyclist, "Without him believing that focusing so much time on cycling makes some sort of sense, I couldn't do this."

Todd's belief in Krista paid dividends in 2011 as the results began improving. Krista placed third in the Bonelli Park Cross-Country race, fourth in Mellow Johnny's Classic en route to finishing the season fifth on USA Cycling's women's Pro Cross-Country Tour standings. Her performance through the season earned her a spot on the team representing the United States at the 2011 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Championships in Champery, Switzerland, where she finished 45th.

She enjoys living in the recreation vehicle as it allows her to "focus on finding all the social cycling/fitness events in all the towns we 'live' in. Every week I am riding, doing yoga, or dining with folks I've never met in places I've never been. This lifestyle keeps things fun and interesting."

Krista also volunteers with Trips for Kids and visits schools to help get kids into cycling, become more confident and comfortable with the bike.


This Article Published November 30, 2011 For more information contact: