Bryna Blanchard

By Skip Holmes

So how does a nationally ranked endurance mountain bike racer get started? How about starting out riding horses as a teenager. Riding on a horse with a saddle on trails is not that much different than riding a mountain bike other than having more ‘horse’ power.

Bryna lived in Buffalo as a young girl and enjoyed downhill skiing with her Dad. After they moved to Largo, Fla., she took a job working on a horse farm, started riding horses, and continued annual ski trips to the snow country out West for a week or two of downhill skiing. In high school she ran cross country for exercise and had friends who had road bikes. She enjoyed riding with those friends who were racing as juniors but did not have any real urge to compete on a road bike.

After high school, Bryna headed north to attend Penn State University as a photography major. She soon found that the area was conducive to mountain biking and quickly connected with other students to explore all the local trails. Riding mountain bikes soon became almost a daily ritual while attending college. 

After graduating from Penn State, Bryna embarked on a new track and went to work as a wilderness instructor for an organization that worked with troubled youths. She would take them on eight-day backpacking trips, then return for a break, and take another group out in the backcountry. After doing backpacking wilderness instruction for a couple years, she decided to change course, moved to Albany, and got a job working in a photo lab using some of her photography talents. While working in the wilderness she didn’t have much time to ride her mountain bike, but she found a community of mountain bikers in the Capital Region that she became good friends with, and they shared all the great locations to ride bikes. 

The Capital Region’s mountain bike community is a close-knit group and eventually a local named Todd Crisafulli decided to start a race team named North American Velo. Todd eventually moved out West but still returns to the Northeast where his roots are to ride with teammates. Bryna became an early team member and soon launched into what would become a phenomenal racing career. Her first race was at Garnet Hill Lodge in 2001 where there’s an extensive set of trails for mountain biking. 

Around this time period, Bryna decided on another career change and went back to college to get a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Russell Sage College. She now works for the Eddy Visiting Nurse Association as an occupational therapist. Bryna finds working with people who are in need of assistance after a serious health issue or injury as an opportunity to help them regain a level of activity that they previously had. Her flexible schedule as a visiting nurse is ideal for her training program as Bryna can schedule her visits with patients and block out training time.

As Bryna entered more races and gained additional skills she soon advanced to higher classifications. She joined the Cannondale Factory team, worked her way up to earn her USA Cycling race license, and then moved to the Windham Mountain Outfitters team. Her races were focused on the cross-country events as opposed to downhill or endurance racing. She raced in the NORBA National Series, then the Pro XCT series, and traveled to races all across the United States, as well as at the Canada Cups. She also raced in the Windham World Cup events for three years, which were held at the Windham Mountain Resort in the Catskills.

After racing in some of the more prestigious cross-country events, Bryna switched to endurance races. This is similar to marathon events in terms of duration and terrain. These events are typically 50 to 70 miles, climbing up mountains, and riding down on a variety of terrain. Considerable skills are needed, as well as endurance to compete in these events as they can last five or six hours. She also joined Barker Mountain Bikes team based in Bethel, Me. that supports a number of endurance racers.

Recent years have seen Bryna competing in numerous endurance races. She just returned from the Shenandoah Mountain 100 on Labor Day weekend. At the end of September, she’ll travel to California to compete in the Big Bear Grizzly 75K, another National Ultra Endurance event. Bryna is looking to win this event and gain additional points that will allow her to win this year’s series. She raced it last year after crashing while doing a preride of the course. Even with a gash on her knee and a twisted ankle she competed the next day and finished the event. This course has one climb that took her an hour and 26 minutes to get to the top, and then made a 20-minute decent. The altitude of the course ranges from 5,000 to almost 9,000 feet. Altitude acclimation is necessary in order to successfully compete in this event. This race clearly exemplifies the character of an ultra-endurance mountain biking.

Bryna has had a full race schedule so far this season and as part of her training she raced in the Black Fly Challenge, and has now won this event a total of three times. Other notable races include the Wallum Lake EFTA (Douglas, Mass.) in April, the Tran-Sylvania Epic seven-day stage race (Marysville, Pa.) in May, the Wilderness 101K National Ultra Endurance race (Coburn Park, Pa.) in July, UCI Mountain Bike Masters Cross Country World Championships (Mont-Sainte-Anne, QC) in August, Shenandoah Mountain 100K National Endurance race in early September, and the upcoming Big Bear Grizzly 75K National Endurance race at the end of September.

In order to compete at this level, an athlete like Bryna has a disciplined training program that consists of significant saddle time on all types of terrain, a conditioning program that has her in the gym twice a week, and a careful nutrition program prior to the race – as well as on race day. These ultra endurance events put a rider out in the wilderness for long days on the bike so ensuring that you have sufficient food and hydration is imperative. No one wants to bonk on an hour and a half climb up a mountain with aid stations few and far between.

One of Bryna’s favorite events is the Carrabassett Valley 100K in Maine. The race provides all the components of a great course such as single-track, double-track, dirt roads, climbs, and fast flowy descents. Her other favorite is the Vermont 50 with over 8,000 feet of climbing. You got it, Bryna loves to climb hills! She would occasionally show up on one of my Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club “Terrible Tuesday” road rides when there was going to be some significant elevation gain, and proceed to charge up the big hills like it was a flat road for her.

This year, the UCI Mountain Bike Masters Cross Country World Championships was held at Mont-Sainte-Anne, so even though Bryna doesn’t focus on cross country racing, she wanted to participate in this unique opportunity since it was relatively close, it’s usually held in Europe.

Even though Bryna is a serious competitor on her stable of mountain bikes she also finds time to race some cyclocross events to stay fit in the off-season. She prefers the CX courses that are more technical and allow her to utilize her bike handling skills. A fat bike is also known to come out when the ground gets frozen or snow covered. 

She continues to downhill ski in the winter and can frequently be found on the slopes of Gore or Whiteface mountains skiing with her significant other, Thierry Blanchet, who is also an accomplished mountain bike and cyclocross racer. Bryna and Thierry have raced in many of the same mtb cross country events as well as cyclocross events for many years. Their relationship is based on a love of many similar outdoor activities that provides them with a great training partner and shared experiences.  In the past two winters Bryna has put on a pair of Nordic skis and I ran into her in Vermont one weekend last winter. Her fitness allowed her to hang with a several of us Nordic skiers on our skinny skis even though she was using a pair of heavy, wide backcountry skis. We are now waiting to see when Thierry will put on a set of Nordic skis!

When I asked Bryna if she rode horses anymore, she said no and I realized that she had more horsepower than most of us ever will, and the steadfastness to accomplish any challenge she anticipated. Her story exemplifies the quiet confidence of a woman who is a role model for many female mountain bike riders.

Skip Holmes (serottaskip@gmail.com) of Delmar teaches sustainable building design at RPI and provides training programs for the Urban Green Council of NYC. He is a member of Mohawk-Hudson Cycling Club and Capital Bicycle Racing Club. He can be found road and mountain biking, kayaking, canoeing, hiking or Nordic skiing.