Pushing the Limits: An Interview With Professional Cyclist & Olympian Kate Courtney
Last week, Olympic athlete and professional cyclist Kate Courtney helped toast Rapha’s partnership with USA Cycling with a sunset ride to Twin Peaks in San Francisco, followed by a meet and greet to celebrate the launch of the USA Pro Team’s new kit. And a pair of white Oakley Meta Vanguard Performance AI glasses with Prizm™ Sapphire lenses completed her ’fit.
We got a chance to talk shop and learn more about the partnership with Rapha, the She Sends Foundation, the upcoming Cape Epic race, and her history with USA Cycling.
Kate Courtney: Hi, my name’s Kate Courtney. I’m a professional cyclist. I grew up in Marin County, California, and have spent most of my career competing in cross-country World Cup mountain bike racing. I’m a World Champion, an Olympian, a World Cup overall winner, and in 2025 became a Marathon World Champion as well. I’m driven by the ability to push my mind and my body to the very limits and see what I’m capable of — and hopefully tell stories that inspire others along the way.
KC: For me, my favorite feature of the Oakley Meta Vanguards is definitely the camera. More and more, it’s a really important part of being a professional athlete to tell the story of doing really hard things over a long period of time. And the ability to tell that story and capture these important moments in my journey — without coming out of the moment and being distracted — is a huge benefit.”
It’s really important to be able to capture video, pause audio, and decline calls while I’m out riding. And because I’m primarily a mountain biker, I often need both hands on the grip, so one of my favorite features of Oakley Meta Vanguard and Meta AI is that I can do all those things with voice commands rather than needing to pull out my phone or stop and adjust something.
KC: The She Sends Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that I started in 2023. It was an evolution of some of my philanthropic work to get more people on bikes. I really found that my heart was in getting more women and girls on bikes and empowering them to send it, which means to go after big goals, big dreams, and apply that mindset well beyond what they do on two wheels.
The foundation primarily operates by giving grants. We support a lot of grassroots efforts to get more girls on bikes, for example through the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) high school league, which reaches almost 25,000 students annually. Our grant program last year got over 2,000 girls out on “Try It Out” rides, having skills clinics, getting female coaching and mentorship, and hopefully will result in more retention and more girls feeling like they have a place in this sport.
KC: We like to say at the foundation, “If she can see it, she can send it.” And to me, that’s not only about being able to ride a bike, but it’s about what cycling allows us to discover about ourselves. From the very first time that I rode a bike, I found this challenge and this ability to push yourself and build confidence and see what you’re capable of. It’s just such an amazing tool to build those connections and then be able to apply that mindset to anything that you do in life.
KC: In 2025, I launched my own privateer program, and that meant calling a lot of companies and asking them to buy in and believe in me and in the She Sends Foundation mission to get more women and girls on bikes. And Rapha was, of course, a huge supporter of that. It’s a really special partnership, especially now that Rapha is part of the National Team program, and we also have a female CEO. Fran Millar is the CEO of Rapha, and it’s the first time in my decades-long cycling career that I’ve gotten to ride with a sponsor logo on my jersey with a female CEO, so I’m really inspired by all the work that they’re doing and really grateful that I get to partner with them.
KC: USA Cycling has been a part of every stage of my career. When I was in high school, I started racing through the high school league, the NorCal League, which was the first and one of the biggest NICA high school leagues. I started racing locally, then nationally, and finally got the opportunity to go over to Europe and race with USA Cycling. From that moment forward, they’ve been a huge part of my development as an athlete, giving me opportunities to race on the world stage, at World Championships — I think I’ve been on the Mountain Bike World Championship team for almost 13 years in a row, so I’m feeling very old on the national team, but very well supported.
We talk a lot about how you set your goals for the year, and I was saying earlier on this ride when we were launching this kit that I like to set goals that make you really feel something, and no matter what race it is, when you get to pull on the national team colors and race for the national team, that’s a goal that makes you shiver. It’s a goal that really is inspiring and makes all those hard days worth it. It’s an honor to race for the team any time I get the opportunity.
KC: Yes! My first Cape Epic, I raced in 2018. I had never raced a stage race before, I had never raced more than one day in a row, and I teamed up with one of the most iconic mountain bike racers on the marathon side of all time, Annika Langvad. It was a huge challenge. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and one of the biggest wins of my early career.
I could not be more excited to be taking on Cape Epic for the second time with Melisa Rollins. Melisa and I actually met last year through Leadville 100 — we raced the stage race and the event together, and I would say that our super fierce rivalry pushed us both to go faster, and we both ended up riding under the 10-year-old record, becoming the second and third woman in history to finish under seven hours. I’m hoping that if we combine forces, we’ll be capable of even more.
KC: We’ll see. And outside of the results goals for this race, I’m super proud that we’ll be racing for the She Sends Foundation and trying to convey this message that we’re all stronger together — and that the goal of competition is to really raise the bar and the level for women’s cycling across the board. I will also get to race in the rainbow jersey, which is a pretty big honor and something that honestly will make lining up there a huge win from the very start. And I can’t wait to see what we can do out there.
KC: I think my fun fact for the rest of my life is gonna be that I’ve had a stunt double. Crashing on purpose is hard. I did it — I did it myself — but we had to run a lot of takes. So that’s pretty cool.
It’s just so crazy to be featured alongside this all-star crew of athletes. I also think it’s a special thing in general for a female mountain biker to be in it, right? We have a female skateboarder, a female breakdancer, and a female mountain biker in this ad — I don’t think that would’ve happened 10 years ago. And that’s a huge part of inspiring more people to see themselves in these sports. It’s a really cool honor for me and hopefully a big deal for mountain biking.
