Kari Alsager has been racing the clock since she asked her mom to time her heats through the obstacle course at her fifth birthday party. She’s a career athlete who has played all the sports and raced all the races, and she started bike commuting along the B2B Trail when she and her doctorate in physical therapy moved to Michigan Medicine in 2013.

Right around that time, Kari joined the Ann Arbor Velo Club to meet racers and find races to race them in. And now, in her third year as its president, she still thinks it’s hard to beat the physical and mental benefits of flying down a dirt road — and later mopping a lot of that road off your forehead.

Since the mid-70s, the AAVC’s mission has been to facilitate cycling for as large and diverse a community as possible. Need a bike? Borrow one for a year. Looking for instruction? Join the Spring Training Series, which runs for three Sundays starting on April 27 (you can register here on BikeReg). Ready to pedal hard and get dirty? Come to a weekly ride, sign up for a club event, or just use the Slack chat to schedule a pop-up jaunt with whoever’s around.

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She believes your bike is your way to access the world, and building a little bit more strength and confidence is the best way to make that world open up. We also talk about children’s triathlons, avoiding skinnies, and how she spent lockdown learning how to turn her ride into a work of art.

Other links:

* Follow AAVC on Instagram and Facebook

* Kari the baby sitter spells her name

* Symptoms and treatment for torticollis

* Michigan’s Coast-to-Coast Gravel Grinder

* If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, you might end up replacing your drivetrain

* The home of Zwift community racing

* Referenced in the episode:

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