You never forget how to ride a bike.
Name: Bonnie Osborn
Age: 30
Job: Booking agent for photographers and stylists
Hobby: Racing bikes
Cycling goal: Stay “with the pack” for a whole racing season.
Favorite workout routine: Warming up pre-race with 45-minute interval routines created by Velo Girls coach, Lorri. A must!
My inspiration: My dad, who raced bikes in the 1970s
Proudest cycling moment: Telling my father I was going to follow in his footsteps.
Other: I always use the same safety pins for my race number; they’re my lucky charms.
Bad Habit: Biting my nails
Favorite Riding Snack: Strawberry Clif Shot Bloks-They’re like candy!
My favorite quote: “Keep cycling fun.” My dad Charles always said that. He was a racer, but he just loved to ride his bike.
Friends from my Las Vegas childhood would never guess it, but, at age 30, I’m an athlete and I race bicycles.
I’ve always ridden bikes. In my adolescence, I rode a 10-speed Huffy behind my dad while he ran; and 15 years later he built an old hybrid which I rode through the streets of New York City to my entry-level advertising job. I moved to San Francisco during the recession and passed my time exploring on that hybrid until I got a new job and started commuting by bike.
Riding was always pretty independent for me, then a friend recommended a local riding group, Velo Girls. I rode with them every weekend for 6 months. When I graduated to a “real” road bike, Velo Girls founder and coach Lorri Lee Lown invited me to join the racing team. Racing? I’d never really considered it, but it spoke to my competitive nature, so I joined the team last spring.
The toughest aspect of competing is making time to train. New professional ventures filled my schedule, so I rode to the office and trained before and after work. Even with all the effort, I fell behind the pack in every race and thought I’d never be as fit as other Cat-4 racers.
My goal in the Timpani Criterium last August was just to keep up with the group for at least three laps. I did-until a crash brought me down. I ignored the post-crash pain and finished in seventh place. Later, I discovered I had a chain-ring puncture in my shoulder, but that race was the highlight of the season for me.
Now, when I’m overwhelmed juggling work and training, my chain-ring scar is proof that I’m tough enough to keep racing my bike.
Stay Upright, Bonnie
Timeline:
Bonnie age 10: Pedaled alongside my dad while he trained.
Bonnie age 16: Stayed away from sports and made art, went to school, and worked instead.
Bonnie age 26: Rode for the first time in 15 years.
Bonnie NOW: Riding for fun and upping the ante as a Cat-4 racer for the Velo Girls. I want to get fitter, be faster, and have even more fun next year.
Bonnie in her 40s: Make more money so I can buy lighter gear and hopefully be as fast as I was in my 30s.
Bonnie in her 50s: Learn to build my own bikes and make them for my family, like my dad did for me.
Bonnie in her 60s: Continue riding and add swimming to my workouts, I hear it’s easy on the joints.
Bonnie in her 70s: Make sure I look like I’m still 50
The jump between beauty queen and ultra-runner is smaller than you think.
Name: Sophia Wharton
Age: 40
Job: Territory Manager for Mizuno USA
Hobby: Trail running
Running goal: Complete a 100 miler
Favorite workout routine: Running 20+ miles in the woods followed by a microbrew with my fiancé or coffee with the MudBabes.
My inspiration: Braden Hofen, a 6-year-old with neuroblastoma who fights and succeeds against the odds.
Proudest running moment: Running through the finish line of my last 50-miler at an 8:30 pace.
Other: My musical background benefits me as a runner; having good rhythm makes me steadier and less likely to bonk.
In my 1980 middle school gym class, I was chosen last for a team-again. It seems a strange start for a person who now excels at ultra-running, nevertheless, it is my story.
I started running to look fit for beauty pageants, but despite my talent with a fiddle, I never actually won the title of a beauty queen. As a 20-something with a master’s degree in music, I made money playing gigs with local orchestras and only exercised sporadically. When music stopped being fun, I worked as a broadcast reporter until my passion for news died too. Finally, I traded in my microphone for a pair of running shoes.
I got hooked in 2004 when a friend said, “If you can run 8 miles, you can run 10. If you can run 10, you can do a marathon.” I could run 8, so I tried a half marathon that summer and a year later I finished the NYC Marathon. I’ve since completed ten marathons and five ultra-marathons.
Now, I direct races, do trail maintenance, and work as a sales rep for a sporting goods company that makes running gear. The highlight of my job: encouraging people like me to let running transform their lives. I’m off to a good start with that already. The all-female running group I started, MudBabe Mondays, is so popular that men beg to join. We let them run-but they do the course in the opposite direction so that we have a relaxed environment where women can chat and keep a comfortable pace.
Last spring, my fiancé and I directed Braden’s Race for Life and Miracle Mile, an event benefitting Braden Hofen, a 6-year-old with neuroblastoma. We saw 1,600 participants raise $42,000. This year, it is called Braden’s Miracle Mile and 5k, and we aim to increase our support. When I see people about to bonk during a race I’m directing, I often tell them that, if Braden Hofen can fight and smile and laugh, they can surely run another 20 miles!
Muddy hugs, Sophia
Timeline:
Sophia age 4: I mostly ran from boys, and I learned to swim.
Sophia age 13: Ran half a mile in middle school PE and a full mile in high school after the summer.
Sophia age 24: First career change (from musician to news anchor). I exercised inconsistently but ran 5k races, took spin classes, and learned how to lift weights.
Sophia age 35: Got hooked on distance running and completed my first marathon.
Sophia NOW: I’m training for my first 100-mile race, and I’m helping to grow the Trail Nerds and Mud-Babes race series in Kansas City.
Sophia in her 50s: Run faster 100 milers and continue directing Braden’s Miracle Mile and 5k to raise money for neuroblastoma.
Sophia in her 60s: Retire in the mountains, where I can run, play, and continue race directing.
Photos courtesy of: Bonnie Osborn and Sophia Wharton
