(Interviewed in the Lower Haight, San Francisco, May 27, 2026)

Ian: When did you first start riding road bikes?

Sarah: I guess I started when I joined my college triathlon team (radical vulnerability) the fall of my senior year. I borrowed my mom's road bike — she had raced sprint triathlons when she was in her early-to-late twenties, and I kind of wanted to follow in her footsteps. So I started training for triathlon and was borrowing her road bike. That was my introduction to road biking, but it was very triathlon-focused, so I wouldn't really count it. I ended up quitting triathlon within about six months, and didn't pick up road biking consistently again until around January 2025. That's when I really started doing it regularly, and since I was newer to the city at the time, it became how I built my community here.

Did you ride other types of bikes before road biking?

Yes. My dad was a huge mountain biker, and both my parents tried to get me and my sister out on bikes when we were pretty young, but we were pretty volatile kids — they were probably tired of cleaning up our wounds and listening to us complain, so they gave up pretty quickly. I got really into soccer and stopped doing much else. Then in 2020, during quarantine, I started mountain biking a little with my dad. I was using his 1990s cross-country bike — it would only shift into two gears, the chain fell off constantly, and I kept getting flats. But it was a way to spend more time with him and kill time during lockdown. Then around 2022 or 2023, my aunt gave me her old Trek mountain bike, and I rode that for a while before getting my own Specialized Status, which is now hanging on my wall. That was around April 2023, so I'd say I've been riding mountain bikes seriously for three or four years.

You mentioned "radical vulnerability" — what did you mean by that?

I would be a little embarrassed to be branded as a triathlete. The cycling community tends to dog on them pretty hard. LOL

There's a bit of a divide between cyclists and triathletes, isn't there?

There is a big divide. Mostly based on personality and not on the hobby itself because in reality cycling the way we do it versus triathlon training are really not the different. I do have a small goal of completing Ironman Kona someday, which would obviously mean training for triathlon again, but I can't really wrap my head around the swimming component. I was doing a lot of swimming when I was training in college, and then had this kind of wake-up moment where I thought, “what am I doing?” I'm staring at a black line on the bottom of a pool for an hour and a half every single day. I fell out of love with swimming — Oh, and I was also getting a lot of ear infections, so that was another good reason to move on.

When did you get serious about road biking?

Probably as soon as I got into the San Francisco cycling community, because everyone here is really fast and fit. January 2025 was when I started doing intervals with Kathay and Sophia and going on longer rides. And then that summer I was just saying yes to all of these random, heinously long rides.

What does "serious" mean to you?

I'm not sure I'd necessarily call myself serious about cycling, because I feel like I'm still having a lot of fun — I'm not "locked in" all the time. When I hear the word serious, I tend to think of it in a negative context, like someone being overly intense. But I guess serious could also mean just investing real time into something, and I'm definitely doing that. So maybe I am serious. I'm not sure where I fall on that scale.

In what ways does biking impact your life?

Biking has been the one way I've been able to build community really easily. Especially compared to a lot of my college friends — I graduated in 2024, and everyone scattered to different cities. I hear a lot of people talk about struggling socially, but I haven't experienced that at all, because cycling is such a social activity, especially in the city. You meet so many people and you're always riding with someone. I love a good solo ride too, but the community aspect has definitely made things easy. And beyond that, having some kind of regiment or routine after graduating is really comforting. You can feel a little lost after school, and having structure — a schedule, something to organize your time around — really helps.

Have you been able to turn cycling friendships into off-the-bike friendships?

Yeah — actually, I was talking with Sophia about this kind of recently. I pretty immediately started suggesting we hang out off the bike, go get dinner, do other things. She told me I was kind of the first person she’s met through biking to really make that transition quickly. And I think it's made us really close — me, her, and Kathay get dinner all the time now. Honestly, I don't think riding together is the best way to really get to know someone. It's hard to have a meaningful conversation going 20 miles an hour in a bike lane. So I'm always looking toward off-the-bike time when I'm trying to build a deeper connection.

Have you ever felt like biking has negatively impacted your life?

I feel like I don't really let it. There are always trade-offs with anything you do — and for me with cycling that sometimes I'm going to bed early because I have a ride in the morning or sometimes I've had to skip going out the night before a race. If something fun was happening and I had to sit it out, I'd feel a little FOMO, and I guess that's a tinge of negativity. But I also get so much fulfillment out of racing and these adventure-style rides that it more than balances out.

Net-net, is biking positive or negative for you?

Definitely positive.

Do you have any goals for yourself in cycling?

No really defined goals, other than wanting to build more connections and maybe get some free stuff. Me and a couple of friends are planning to do the Four Peaks ride — we're going to complete the full circle — and my friend Ava and I have been trying to reach out to brands to sponsor us. We were really hoping Nature's Bakery fig bars would send us some supplies, which would be amazing. That's still a ways off though. I'd have to keep planning events like this to make it happen.

What are some things you absolutely love about cycling?

I really love how mentally consuming it is. You can be completely engulfed in the activity — the scenery, the effort, the focus required on a descent. It kind of takes you away from all your other mental stresses, which brings me a lot of peace. I also love that it shows you places you'd never otherwise get to see. And I basically have an adventure every single weekend, where I challenge myself and feel like I’ve escaped development a little bit, without needing to drive anywhere. All I have to think about is food and water, and then I can just enjoy being out there. It feels very primal, almost like being on a backpacking trip where you only have to focus on addressing your basic needs like food and water and just keep walking. Cycling kind of simulates that on a weekly basis, which I find really special.

If you had zero constraints on your time, how many hours a week do you think you'd ride?

Probably a lot. I think I could easily ride three hours every single day during the week, plus a five-hour weekend ride and one day off — so maybe 25 hours. That feels pretty doable. One thing that's interesting about cycling is that you can ride at a lower intensity and just keep going indefinitely. It's not like running, where if you just run more, you're almost guaranteed to get injured.

How many hours a week do you ride now, on average?

Probably somewhere between 15 and 20, maybe pushing 20 if I do big weekend rides. I should probably look at my Strava to be sure — I might be totally wrong — but that's my estimate.

Do you ever feel like it's a waste of time?

No, I'm enjoying it. It's honestly what brings me the most fulfillment out of every single day of the work week, other than hanging out with people. Even this morning, I did a little figure-eight loop and got to experience trees and sunshine and a little adventure. So yeah, I think it gives me a lot. Sometimes it can feel like a waste in the moment — if you ride for five hours on a Saturday, the time flies and you get back and think, “what did I just do?” But if you really think about it, I bet a lot happened; you just have to tune into it. And there's something funny about how you can have that feeling one Saturday and be right back out there the next.

You think it's all chemicals — the pull that keeps bringing you back?

Everything is chemicals, in a way. But I think there are a lot of different things people get out of weekend riding, depending on what they're looking for. Some of my friends are really seeking adventure; others are just trying to get some exercise or check off their training plan. All of those things bring fulfillment in different ways. If you're following a plan, you're checking a box, which is satisfying. If you're doing it for the ride itself, you've got a fun activity that fills the day — which is also really nice.

What is something you wish a non-cyclist could experience about cycling?

I really wish more people could feel the endorphin high of doing something genuinely challenging. I feel like a lot of people never get there. The learning curve — especially building fitness — can be steep, and it's really not fun in the beginning. But once you crest that initial hump, you can get so much joy out of just pushing yourself really hard, maybe for longer than you thought was possible, and then having it be over, and thinking, oh my gosh, I just did that. That was actually a huge turning point for me — realizing that it's painful for everyone, and that people who seem fitter aren't necessarily not feeling the pain. They're just pushing through it a little more. Leaning into that - understanding that it’s almost just a battle of who won’t give up first, has been one of the biggest shifts that has made cycling so much more approachable and way more fun. I'd want non-cyclists or beginner cyclists to understand that and lean into the discomfort a little more, knowing that pushing through will be so rewarding. Overcoming something painful but so low stakes is a hard feeling to find elsewhere in life.

Exercise as a way to simulate adversity?

Absolutely. Cycling especially — there's a hill, and if you try to go up it really fast, it's going to hurt. But you're training your brain and your body to overcome pain and struggle, and I think that's genuinely valuable. And so much of it is internal. The doubt is real, but getting through it is the whole point.

Have you ever taken a total break from cycling?

Since I started road biking consistently about a year and a half ago, I haven't really taken an extended break. I did take a week off after crashing on a gravel ride, which came after a stretch of really long efforts — including the queen stage, which was a nasty 150-mile ride that climbed Tam five times all using different routes. I was just generally exhausted, so I took a week off. But I don't really think of a week as a true break. What was interesting, though, is that I didn't really miss cycling during that time. I just redistributed those hours — slept a little more, hung out with people more. I realized I could operate without it. But if it had been longer than a week, I think it might have felt different.

Please choose only three words to describe yourself as a cyclist.

Try-hard, adventurous, and silly. "Try-hard" because I'm definitely putting in the effort. "Adventurous" because I'm really in it for the experience and the ride itself. And "silly" because I don't take it too seriously — I like keeping things a little lighthearted, even while pushing myself.