Pro rider Lauren Gregg shares her recipe for mountain bike racing success

Lauren at the Granite Bay Grinder with two of the students she coaches for the Kirby High School Mountain Bike Team in the NorCal League (Dietmar Burkhardt).

Lauren at the Granite Bay Grinder with two of the students she coaches for the Kirby High School Mountain Bike Team in the NorCal League (Dietmar Burkhardt).

1. Believe in Yourself

First and foremost, you have to believe that you will succeed. Learn to silence the doubtful voices in your head and focus on believing 100% that you can do it!

2. Set Goals

Goal setting is incredibly important. Goals give you something to work toward, and when you achieve them they give you something to celebrate. Reaching goals makes all the struggles and challenges worth it in the end.

3. Learn your Equipment

Having a working knowledge of your mountain bike or other adventure gear is a key to success. We can only function our best when our equipment is working well, and knowing how to identify problems and fix them is incredibly useful. It is also
important to try out many different setups to be keenly aware of what works best for you.

4. Train Hard and Eat Clean

Training and keeping our bodies in top shape is the name of the game. Seek out a coach, or get advice from seasoned athletes about training regimens. Finding a healthy diet that works best for your body while you are training is a trial and error process – all of our bodies are unique and respond differently. Once you find a training regime and diet that suit you, your body will know and you’ll see results. Stick with it.

5. Find Role Models and Inspirations

Finding riders or athletes to look up to is extremely important. Emulating the habits of your role models will help you work towards achieving the same results. Also, ride with people way faster than you. Having someone to chase is the best way to get faster, and riders are usually awesome about giving tips and sharing their experiences.

6. Give Yourself a Break

Never get down on yourself when you make a mistake or face an obstacle in your progression. Also, take breaks and let your body rest. When you’ve been training hard, never feel guilty when you just need to curl up on the couch and binge-watch Netflix!

7. Focus on the Positive

Every time you achieve even the most minor goal, celebrate! Let yourself get stoked when you hit that new feature or PR a climb. Dance, smile, and give yourself a pat on the back every single time. These moments will get you through those times when your body is aching or you are cleaning dirt out of your mouth.

8. Help Others

Teaching or motivating others to ride is one of the best ways to teach and motivate yourself. Even if you are a beginner, there is someone out there with still less
experience than you. Help someone start on their journey. Seeing their face at the bottom of their first decent is an excellent way to rekindle the stoke in yourself.

9. Push Your Limits

Fear is good. It is important to keep yourself safe, but it is equally important to scare yourself. If you never push your limits, you’ll never progress. Find an environment that empowers you, a fellow rider that motivates you, and push yourself outside of your comfort zone.

10. Believe in Yourself

This is worth saying twice. Believing in yourself is the most important key to your success. Silence the voice that says “You can’t do it.” Yell “Yes I can!” and then go for it with all your heart and soul.

Lauren giving it all she's got at Round 1 of the 2015 California Enduro Series – Battle Born Enduro. Photo by Called To Creation.

Lauren giving it all she’s got at Round 1 of the 2015 California Enduro Series – Battle Born Enduro. Photo by Called To Creation.


Lauren Gregg is a professional mountain biker on a mission to explore new destinations and epic trails. She enjoys traveling, riding and racing bikes, and getting rad across the globe. Follow Lauren’s adventures on Instagram at instagram.com/lauren_gregg_ and Facebook at facebook.com/laurengregg55.

Learn more about Lauren and her fellow female Enduro competitors: Ladies of Enduro. Read about Lauren’s inspiring path to mountain bike racing success: The Dirty Sanchez.