Tag: Fitlife Challenge

I am thrilled to introduce my friend, artist and Fitlifer, Karrie Hovey. Karrie is based in Marin County, California but I discovered her incredible art work while on exhibit at the Red Fox Gallery in Pound Ridge, New York, my home town. Her art immediately resonated with me. As someone passionate about art, design, and architecture, I found myself drawn to the impact of her work. 

I became a collector of Karrie’s work, and we forged a genuine friendship. Today, I’m excited to share a recent conversation with Karrie about her commitment to living a fit life and philanthropic endeavors. Her story is both fascinating and inspiring, and I’m confident you’ll be captivated by her insights and experiences. Join me in exploring the world of Karrie Hovey, where art extends beyond the canvas into a life filled with passion and purpose.

Professionally – I am an artist. Athletically – I am a cyclist. Spiritually – I am a wildlife conservationist. Politically – I am a liberal. Personally – I am a loyal friend. Socially – I am an introvert. Inspirationally – I am a nomad. Intellectually – I am a lifelong student.

Karrie Hovey installing a recent exhibit at The Project Space, Victoria Yards, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Libby: I’m lucky to know a little about you Karrie, and what I know is very interesting. I’m not sure where to start so why don’t you share your story around your sport, your purpose, and your passion. What are some of the key moments that made you who you are today?

Karrie: This is an interesting question to ponder, as typically the answer is always tailored to the audience and not necessarily how I holistically see myself. In many ways I have compartimentalized my life into venn diagram of sorts. Professionally – I am an artist. Athletically – I am a cyclist, Spiritually – I am a wildlife conservationist. Politically – I am a liberal. Personally – I am a loyal friend. Socially – I am an introvert. Inspirationally – I am a nomad. Intellectually – I am a lifelong student.

Key moments that have defined me.

I grew up in rural Vermont. This instilled in me a sense of community/family, love of being outdoors, resourcefulness, a practice of making, and respect for physical labor.

Transferring out of an engineering program to pursue design – believing you can pursue your passion. You just have to pursue it with fierceness, faith, and truth. 

Moving to the Bay Area. I don’t think it was until I moved west that I was fully independent. I wasn’t part of a structure or place that defined who I was or the choices I made. I was completely on my own and needed to discover who I was. When I found myself, I found my tribe. Then I took another leap of faith and went to grad school for my MFA.

Watching a mother leopard play with her two baby cubs on my first trip to the bush – more on this later.

I don’t like that this next one is a defining moment but it might just be THE defining moment as an athlete and a conservationist. I’m not certain if my dislike is because the moment was an random event, because it took bad fortune to realize my good fortune, or because I was fully reliant upon others and my fate was in the hands of others – regardless, it is why I am where I am and why I am taking on this challenge. Seven years ago I was struck by a truck while riding my bike. I am incredibly fortunate to be alive and to have not sustained brain damage (wear the best helmet you can find that fits your head properly – a three hundred dollar helmet is priceless when you need it to save your noggin). I will forever be grateful that I can walk and ride. 

The difficult aspect was that I needed to be put back together, heal, and rebuild. It wasn’t easy. It has taken four surgeries to repair the damage and regain functional stability. And it wasn’t just the physical aspects that I needed to overcome. I was shaken up emotionally and mentally. There were dark days for sure. I definitely went through the – “well, that could have been the end” – cue a Mary Oliver quote.

So while spending several months in a hospital bed, and attending my Mother-in-Law’s funeral in a wheelchair, I had time to reflect upon how one chooses to priortize their life – cue another Mary Oliver quote… I decided the one thing I would regret not having done was live in the bush.

My year in Southern Africa training on a game reserve to be a wildlife guide, living in the Central Kalahari, and guiding in the Okavango Delta.

Life Lesson – Hang on tight to your mentors and your cheerleaders. At nearly every critical juncture in my life, I always had a strong support from people that I respect and love. They were either encouraging me to push myself or giving me permission to believe it is possible.

Libby: Mentors and cheerleaders matter and help reinforce that inner voice. Looking forward. You have a significant competition coming in March 2024. What inspired you to pursue the Cape Epic race?

Karrie: The Cape Epic is truly epic. It is a race I never even dared aspire to. If you google the top mountain bike stage races in the world, the epic will always be listed in the top three – usually it is the first. 

If you have ever been to the Western Cape I need not tell how stunningly beautiful the  landscape is. That alone is reason to participate. But when you get right down to the fundamentals of what inspired me – it is that I think I can. I believe that I can finish. 

Four years ago this race would not have been a possibility. I was still injured. I had two more knee surgeries to go at that point.

Libby: Was there a key moment that you realized you could compete, complete or take on this challenge and how did it come together for you?

Karrie: It is funny that your question includes compete/complete. I will only be competing with myself with the goal to complete. This race attracts world class riders, many of whom are or were professional cyclists. I am definitely not in that class of mountain biker. My goal is to finish. By no means is this a defeatist mentality. I will see completing this race as a true accomplishment – mentally, emotionally, and physically.

I thought it was a possibility once we (Karrie and Charlie) completed our second JoBerg2C in 2022. JoBerg2C was a 9-day, 950 km stage MTB race from Johannesburg to the Indian Ocean. The first JoBerg2C was in 2015 – we barely made it through – we were physically exhausted and wrecked at the finish line. Our goal was to return in 2017 in better condition and more prepared for the rigors of the event. Then the aforementioned accident happened and I thought my stage racing days were over. I was unable to rebuild the strength in my left leg due to the instability in my knee. It wasn’t uncommon to be walking along, have my knee just give out and topple over. 

In 2019, I found the right surgeon, the right physical therapist, and the right coach. The ‘never going to happen” became a “Do you think we can? – Maybe…” scenario. We completed our second JoBerg2C seven years after the first feeling strong. Knowing I could have gotten up on day 10 to ride another 100k of single track made me believe that the Cape Epic is possible. 

It is easy to say – yeah, I could ride the Epic, when you don’t think you will get a spot… but it got real when we got one of the coveted lottery spots. (There are only 680 2-person teams competing each year. The majority of those spots are reserved for pro riders, returning teams, corporate sponsors, and previous volunteers).

Libby: Were there certain people that propelled you forward? Tell us about them? Who’s your tribe?

Karrie: Can I add animals into this question? If so, I am propelled by a desire to share knowledge about, and support efforts to curb wildlife poaching. 

My partner in riding and life is Charlie Merrill. He is my number one. He is also my cheerleader, bike boy, teammate, co-conspirator, and enabler for all of this.

We work with our coach Dario Fredricks from Whole Athlete. He takes a holistic approach to training (yoga, weight training, skill development, endurance training, and nutrition) and his coaching philosophy is one I can fully embrace: Dedication, Integrity and Fun. Marin County has generated a number of world class mountain bikers – many of whom came out of Whole Athlete. Dario trained us for the second JoBerg2C and he was my coach qualifying for the UCI Gravel World Championships this past fall.

Libby: I deeply respect and understand the importance of a trusted tribe when embarking on big endeavors, or life change. Curious to know if you face any challenges as a female athlete in the world of competitive mountain biking?

Karrie: Females are definitely still a minority of the riders out on the trails. I find that I mostly train solo. It takes a whole lot of time on the bike to build a solid base. Unless you are a pro rider or someone that is preparing for an endurance event like this it is impractical to allocate the amount of time the training takes. Yet you carve out that time when you know you need to be prepared to ride 8+ hour days for 7 straight days. You just keep pushing the pedals to condition your body.

I have to keep up (we have to stay within 2 minutes of one another on course at all times). I do not produce the watts that Charlie does and I don’t have the weight that helps with descents. To compensate, I have had to find ways to be more efficient while conserving power for when it is most needed. My technical bike handling skills and my confidence descending have definitely increased. Much of this can be attributed to being very comfortable (physically and mentally) on my bike. 

Not all bikes are created equally and without question it helps to have the right equipment for the route and terrain. Despite the influx of women into mountain biking, high end mountain bikes are still built for men. Thankfully, the bike industry has finally abandoned the condescending “paint it pink” strategy for marketing bikes to women but unfortunately, they abandoned the notion of women specific bikes all together. A professional bike fit by an experienced fitter is necessary. The bike needs to be adjusted for optimal fit and function. Charlie and I both ride medium Specialized S-Work Epics. To compensate for my proportions, strength, and knee injuries, I installed 165mm cranks. The shorter cranks optimize my power on each pedal stroke while also allowing me to pedal at a slightly higher cadence. Other adjustments include: saddle shape and size, handle bar width, smaller silicone grips, shorter stem, shock pressure adjustments, pedal release, throw and tension on my brake leavers.

It’s also critical to hire a coach that doesn’t take a one-size fits all approach to training. Our coach has as many professional women riders on his roster as he does men. My training program is significantly different than Charlie’s to prepare for the same race. 

One more thought here – I find it challenging to eat enough while training. There is so much stigma around food and weight, especially for women. When I am training hard I need to eat a lot and I need to eat frequently. I know that I am making training and strength gains when I start adding a pound or two.

Libby: You are navigating a lot of challenges as a female competitor in this sport. Any thing else you want to share?

Karrie: I will add that going into a race like the Epic knowing that I am  physically prepared to perform allows me to focus on the actual experience. Isn’t that why we do these things? We want the experience – the enjoyment, the sense of accomplishment, the comradery from a shared journey. Sure there will definitely be moments of pain, fatigue, suffering but that is also part of it all.

Mountain biking is still a bit of a bro scene. The Epic will be one intimidating group of riders – we will be riding with the best of the best but I can’t let that psych me out. If anything, it’s empowering. I am also realistic – the only person that I am out there competing with is myself – and who am I kidding. I will likely try to sprint Charlie to the finish line each day – lol!

Libby: I take on a lot in my life but I must ask, how do you navigate being an artist/competitor/fundraiser in such a busy world?

Karrie: I wish I could say “I can do it all!” but I can’t. Something has to give, there are only so many hours in the day, energy in my body, and focus in mind to balance all three. At any given time, I can be fully dedicated to one of the three, and squeeze a second in in the between time. At the moment training has to hold the top spot and I am in the planning stage of our next fundraising campaign that will coincide with our participation in the Epic.

During my first stay in South Africa in 2012 for an artist residency I was alerted to the poaching epidemic that was rapidly annihilating the rhino population. It was still early in the poaching crisis and had yet to hit our news cycle in the US. Upon my return, I began to strategize ways I could help even if only in a small way. I knew I could get Charlie onboard with the idea to help if I could somehow incorporate riding a bike into the mix. One of the “Reasons to Ride” for JoBerg2C was philanthropic and one of the beneficiaries the race supported was the organization 12Hours. When the organization was established 1 rhino was being poached every 12 hours in South Africa. The mission of 12Hours is to help small game reserves protect their rhino populations. As part of our participation in the first JoBerg2C we conducted a fundraising campaign to sponsor RhinoArt, an educational and art program, in 8 community schools. After the race, we had the good fortune to join one of the programs at a school in Mtubatuba and to meet with the lead anti-poaching ranger at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi. From that meeting we learned that it would not take a lot of money to make a significant difference in the protection of the rangers and the rhino in the reserve. Meeting a 16 hour old baby rhino in the reserve’s boma sealed the deal. He stole my heart.  

We returned to the US and I established a volunteer run non-profit called ProjectThorn – Tangible Help Our Rhinos Need. ProjectThorn’s first project was to build stables, then purchase, train, equipe, and support a 6 horse anti-poaching patrol unit in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi. Our partners at 12Hours oversaw the project implementation.

We used our participation in the 2021 JoBerg2C as an opportunity to establish and fund a canine anti-poaching unit in Zululand. I could ramble on and on about how skilled and valuable a trained canine is to anti-poaching efforts. Well trained canines are by far the most effective members of any anti-poaching unit in the bush. The are highly effective as a deterrents to poachers and they are invaluable in the detection, tracking, and apprehension of poachers. 

For the Cape Epic we are partnering with 12 Hours again to further support the canine unit we funded in 2021. We are aiming to raise the funds needed to purchase a response vehicle that is equipped properly to safely transport canines within the region. A new “strong” vehicle (currently they are using a “tired and weak” 30 year old truck) will allow the unit to monitor a greater expanse of the reserve, respond more reliably and timely to incursions, and expand their visual presence as a deterrent. As the only certified canine APU patrol in Zululand, the unit is called out to poaching incidents on neighboring reserves. A new vehicle will greatly improve the unit’s efficiency (i.e. they won’t be in the repair shop or waiting for a tow).

Libby: Okay girlfriend. What do you want to get out of the Cape Epic competition?

Karrie: Given the response to the question above – I want a truck – lol

Below is a potential social post – I’m trying to decide if “Give a Truck” is edgy or off putting. It is right for the mtb crowd, not sure it’s right for my mother’s friends – and how ridiculous is that – I am 50 not 15 – I probably don’t really have to worry about offending my mother’s friends on social media 😃. 

Personally, I want the sense of accomplishment that I gain from pushing beyond my preceived limits. This ride was inconceivable 10 years ago. I didn’t have the grit needed. Yet oddly, it only became an attainable goal after I was shattered by the truck. 

Funny how that all happened. 

Remarkable fortune came from remarkable misfortune. I think there might be yet another appropriate Mary Oliver quote for this response.

Libby: Karrie, I think I need to launch a podcast to share your fascinating story! In wrapping up, tell me – if I could give you a worldwide platform, what message would you like to share?

Karrie: Go for it! 

You are capable.

Don’t limit yourself before you begin. And always have fun. 

And help me buy a truck 🦏💚🦏. https://projectthorn.com/

Libby: Thank you my friend. You are an incredible inspiration and YES, go with “Give a Truck”. I want to help you buy a truck and hope others are inspired to donate at ProjectThorn. #vital. Hey Ford, Chevy, Mercedes, Isuzu, Nissan, Hyundai, Dodge and Toyota how about making Karries’ pursuit a reality?