Our Mission
- We are growing the bikepacking community by welcoming, engaging, and connecting people of all races, sexual orientations, backgrounds, and skill levels.
- We create and sustain intentional, enjoyable, and accessible bikepacking routes and route networks throughout North America for beginner to expert riders.
- We advocate for public access to and increased protections of public lands.
- We connect bikepackers with landscapes, inspiring riders to become public lands and conservation advocates who follow a “positive impact ethos.”
- We provide and promote visibility and access for bikepackers by fostering positive, long-term relationships with public land managers, private landowners, and the small communities through which we ride.
Our Team
Noelle (she/her, Baltimore, MD) has built her life and community around bikes adventures and is thrilled to be able to channel that energy full-time leading Bikepacking Roots. She put her amateur route building skills to the test on a 4,200 mile solo bike trip from Baltimore through the Northeast and Maritime Canada. In recent years, she has immersed herself into bikepacking and is eager to support the creation of more opportunities for folks of all identities and skill levels to get out on bikes in wild places. Noelle’s diverse career has ranged from running a small medical non-profit in Guatemala to most recently providing programmatic and operational leadership for a national advocacy initiative at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Noelle has a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University.
Kurt (he/him, Prescott, Arizona) has been riding and racing bikes since his early teenage years and began bikepacking more than a decade ago. Since then, he has bikepacked throughout the world and co-developed Prescott College’s Geology through Bikepacking course. But he’s most at ease when immersed on the wild public lands of the American West. Kurt has now chosen to direct his energy toward co-founding and developing Bikepacking Roots to grow and advocate for the bikepacking community. He has a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences and is particularly fascinated by the evolution of Arctic, alpine, and glaciated landscapes. Beyond Bikepacking Roots, Kurt is an endurance cycling coach, one of the winningest ultraendurance mountain bikers, and was a college professor for 6 years before moving beyond academia.
Kaitlyn (she/her, Victor, Idaho) loves wild places and believes the opportunity to travel in, experience, and connect to landscapes is critical in inspiring a conservation ethos. She has been a professional adventurer and educator for a decade, teaching Adventure Education for Prescott College, NOLS and Outward Bound. Since adding the mountain bike to her repertoire of avenues for exploration, Kaitlyn has bikepacked extensively in the western U.S. and abroad. She co-developed Prescott College’s Geology through Bikepacking and co-authored the first instructional book on bikepacking, The Bikepacker’s Guide. Kaitlyn has a M.A. in Environmental Education and brings expertise to Bikepacking Roots in adventure-inspired conservation education efforts.
Gabriel (he/him, Mill City, OR) is the founder and former executive director of the Oregon Timber Trail Alliance. He helped co-found the Oregon Mountain Biking Coalition and is now finding a new way on old ground with Orogenesis. He’s passionate about backcountry trails and long-distance connectivity, and is a staunch believer that outdoor experiences have the power to transform people’s lives.
Andres (he/him, Mancos, CO) is a Senior Consultant at Training Resources for the Environmental community (TREC) and facilitates non-profit conservation leadership programming. He’s a proud dad and husband and an avid climber, backcountry skier, and cyclist. Originally from El Paso, TX, his work in the field of environmental education and guiding, along with personal adventures and travel, has allowed him to travel the world and truly fall in love with our country’s vast public lands. When’s he’s not out supporting grassroots organizations or advocating for public lands, you can find him outside enjoying whatever opportunities the place and season allows. He brings to Bikepacking Roots his knowledge of the outdoor and conservation community, particularly in the world of philanthropy, capacity-building, and leadership and a deep and passionate knowledge of Equity and Inclusion work and an endless passion and stoke for all things wild and fun. He’s generally a fan of Type II fun and believes that anything worth experiencing is also worth fighting for.
Katherine (she/her, Denver, CO) is a proud Texas native who grew up exploring the suburban wild and living for family trips to Big Bend National Park. Katherine first grasped the power of two-wheeled travel after crossing the U.S. by bicycle in 2008. It was a transformative experience that introduced her to new cultures, communities and landscapes at a pace of appreciation and learning. Katherine has worked extensively in the outdoor industry in marketing and communications roles—including for the International Mountain Bicycling Association and Dirt Rag Magazine—and previously served on the parks and recreation advisory board for the city of Golden, CO. She has a master’s degree in marketing from the University of Denver, where she now works.
Kristen (she/her, Nederland, CO) is an unabashed bike nerd who lives for long adventure rides and bikepacking excursions throughout the Southwest desert and high alpine trails of the Rocky Mountains. She’s a former racer who still needs to scratch the competitive itch every once in a while but would rather stop and enjoy a sunset and eat too many snacks along the way. When not dreaming and scheming about quiet dirt roads and trails, she leads PR and content strategy at Dispatch Communications and works with endurance athletes of all kinds through her coaching company Rambleur.
Nan (she/her, Driggs Idaho) may be called by some a lost Cajun. She grew up in south Louisiana on the bayous. Once in college, she discovered a huge love for both wild places and bikes. She has since worked in outdoor education for 15 years and the non-profit sector for 9 years. She enjoys any form of off-road biking, but her favorite is winter ultra fat biking. “Don’t worry, I know my screws are loose,” she says. The simplicy of bikepacking is what has drawn her in – eat when hungry, sleep when tired, enjoy the ride, the rest of the world goes away for a while so that she can escape into “Nanland.”
Jan (they/them, Cerrillos, NM) developed a keen interest in the great outdoors at a young age, attending three wilderness trips with Outward Bound before the 10th grade. After a back injury sidelined them from road and crit racing they developed a deep appreciation for bikepacking. Their personal experiences while scouting the Pony Express route moved them so deeply that they decided to commit themselves towards helping others to experience the route. You can find them outside of Cerrillos, New Mexico when they’re not out exploring gravel roads across the country.
Jon (he/him, Kayenta, AZ) is a full-blooded Navajo and aspiring adventure biker. He has been on two wheels since his toddler years and has been bike packing the last 6 years in and around Navajo land. He currently owns Dzil Ta’ah Adventures, a bikepacking company on Navajo and also runs trips as a tour guide with Four Corners Guides.
Mike Teachey (he/him, Simpsonville, South Carolina) is the co-owner of Noble Aim Consulting focused on helping communities and non-profit organizations achieve challenging goals. Mike learned the value of pushing past one’s own perceived limitations as an Outward Bound student and later as an Outward Bound instructor. This lesson helped Mike complete a full Ironman in 2017 and the Great Divide Classic, riding from Rooseville, Montana to Antelope Wells, New Mexico in 2021. Mike enjoys all form of cycling; however, he has a passion for bikepacking claiming that he feels like he is his best self when traveling by bike.
Sam (she/her) is a designer and bike mechanic living and working in Detroit, MI. Her love of bikes came out of necessity – a commuter to start after her car broke down. Now she rides and races everywhere she can. Sam loves riding in the mountains, sand, and dirt; and wants to create space for more people of color to do the same. In 2020 she founded Jubilee MFG, a custom framebuilding and small bicycle components company.
Grant (he/him, Lopez Island, WA) has a passion for protecting the western landscape and connecting people to the natural environment in a meaningful and sustainable way. As a conservationist and attorney, he has worked at the nexus of conservation and public access project management and policy development for and with local land trusts, non-profits, and municipalities in the West. Grant has practiced land use and property law, led the open space and conservation program in Missoula, Montana, and now works to develop and promote climate change and sustainable transportation policy on the San Juan archipelago of western Washington. He finds solitude and inspiration in pedaling through remote and challenging landscapes, paddling wild rivers, skiing deep powder, and sleeping under the stars.
Wendy (she/her, Hood River, OR) was born in South Africa and grew up traveling through remote parts of Africa. She has since lived in different parts of the world and after traveling through many more, remains at heart an avid outdoor enthusiast who loves to travel by any means possible, preferably a bicycle. While based in Southern California Wendy was a Professor at The University of California Los Angeles studying the addictive properties of opioids. She has also worked with different environmental nonprofit organizations and is now a Board member and Officer of a biological research station and a land trust in California. Wendy currently spends her time, if not biking all over the Cascades, crafting grants and fundraising opportunities to expand equitable access to healthcare for underserved communities. With a wealth of experience in nonprofits and their financial stability, Wendy brings a depth of knowledge to Bikepacking Roots.
Our Reports and Financials
Our 2022 Annual Report • Past Annual Reports
If you have additional questions about our governance documents, please email us.
Our Partners
