Ksenia Lepikhina

Ksenia Lepikhina

Career Highlights

• Three-time Juniors Mountain Bike National Champion
• Two-time winner of the Iceman Cometh Scholarship

Hobbies: Mountain biking, reading, attempting to learn languages, movies and baking

Favorite Race: "My favorite out of state race is the Vermont Pro XCT because it combines swift jumps and drops with short, steep climbs that are spectator friendly. Also, who doesn’t like getting maple syrup as a podium reward?"

Favorite Place to Train: "Flowy Betasso Preserve Trail and the Link Trail. They are a perfect combination of flowy trails and steep climbs just outside of Boulder."

Motivation: "I ride my bicycle because there is no way anyone can get on a bike and not have some sort of an adventure, big or small. I race because it combines my passion for exploration with the devotion that I have for doing it the best that I can."

Best advice you received from a coach when you were starting out: "Just keep pedaling." (A parody from Dory’s "Just keep swimming.")

What is your best cycling memory: "I’m not sure if this is my 'best' cycling memory, but the most distinct and silly cycling memory I have is from way back when. When I was first learning to ride a bike, my dad had a trailing bike. The bike would attach to the back of my dad’s bike and my family would go on little biking adventures. I would always think that I was pushing my dad up hills and that he was being lazy and making me do all the work. Only recently did I realize that I could have fallen asleep on my bike and I would have magically made it to the top of the hill. Clearly, I was not the one doing all the leg work. Thank you, parents."

Hero/Role Model: "As cliche as it is, Amelia Earhart is my role model when it comes to the rawness of her story. She was one of the most well known women that has done what no other woman dared to do at the time. She may not have physically encouraged other women during her lifetime, but she now stands as a symbol that you can do what you want as long as you dare to do it."

Cycling & Personal/Career Goals: Cycling goals: top finishes at ProXCT races; USA Cycling MTB Nationals podiums; win a World Cup and a World Championship; attend the Pan American Games; earn a USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National podium and compete at the Olympics. Personal goals: Attend College and earn a degree in either computor/aerospace engineering or business management/marketing.

First Involvement in Cycling: "When my family moved here from Russia, my parents wanted to get into the infinite outdoor activities that are available in Colorado. As I grew up, my parents frequently took me on mountain bike rides and eventually signed me up for a summer camp called SMBA. They took me on many adventure rides and I slowely got into racing. At the time, I was still more of a ski racer and rock climber, and cycling was used more as cross-training. Then suddenly it flipped and ski racing and climbing competitively began to fall back."