Melissa Putzer

I’m Melissa Putzer and I’ve enjoyed the challenge of mountain biking for the past 23 years. Some day’s I find myself upside down, bruised and wiped out while other days I’m blessed to find myself on top of a podium. The bad days and good days are all opportunities to learn about how to be my best possible self.

The Fearless Woman of Dirt help me appreciate the profoundly positive influence cycling is in my life. 

When I was asked to be an ambassador I had to say yes because I’ve been mentored from early on and I want to encourage other women to get out and ride every chance they can with confidence and joy. One of my favorite mantras that works well for biking as well as life in general is to “breathe deep, stay positive and focus on moving forward”. No one has ever mentioned “look around, compare and judge” as a good strategy, for anything, and it shouldn’t tangle people up, but it does. I picked my landing page photo because I look kind of small, off to the side, in the sea of hu-”MAN”-ity but none of this occurred to me while racing the Fat Bike Birkie because I was “breathing deep, staying positive and moving forward”. I’m #738 on the left. My wish is to teach or remind others to do the same and to celebrate all that they can achieve even if it’s just clipping out well and not tipping over. It’s all good and getting a little dirty along the way is a good thing.Check out Melissa's interview: Women on Bikes