Having a Coach Holds You Accountable: Tales from an Endurance Mountain Biker

My name is Ray Landry. For work. I am a dental rep. I race mtn bikes and gravel mostly and a little road for fun. So many races. It’s hard to pick a favorite. But my favorite would be the event that got me into cycling to start and that would be the Leadville 100.

My favorite achievement besides getting a sub 9 - 8:54 at Leadville which I wanted more than anything would be the 2020 season when I won the overall in the Intermountain Cup for my age group in xc mountain biking. That was the first season that I had set a goal with my Coach Nikki to get on a podium. With her help I was able to achieve that and then actually win a few events, which was awesome. It was the first year that I raced any shorter distances and it ended up being a lot of fun.

Having a coach holds me accountable. I know every day what I need to achieve and I make sure I do that because I don’t want to let my coach down. I failed a work out one time and remember calling Nikki because I was so upset. I don’t want to let her down. So besides not wanting to let my self down I feel responsible to achieve the goals she sets for me too.

And a little extra would be my 2022 season that is just wrapping up. I did all new events to me all year long which was fun (other than one repeat event I am a camp guide/ride lead for the Leadville 100MTB team camp, something I’m super honored to be able to participate in and give back to that community and race series). Even made it to my first race out of the country and did The Rift 200k gravel race in Iceland.

I also got to do my first race with my dad present. this is my sixth season and he hadn’t gotten to see me do any events yet but I did the Whiskey 50 in Prescott and Barn Burner in Flagstaff.