Adventure in her DNA

By Linda Waxman Finkle

Residence: Saratoga Springs
Hometown: Cape Cod
Age: 41
Family: Anne-Sophie,10; Zoe, 8
Career: Geologist/Environmental Consultant
Sport: Mountain Biking

If all you knew about Anna Laloë was that she started the Saratoga Girls’ Mountain Bike Group and STEAM Talks for Kids, you’d be impressed by her creativity, initiative, and willingness to take risks. In each case, she saw a need, and harnessed her talents to meet it. The reality is that these character traits have been consistent throughout her life, and these two projects are just the latest tip of the iceberg, a fitting metaphor.

Since her childhood on Cape Cod, Anna has led an exciting and atypical life, combining a love of learning and sports, with a burning desire to be outdoors. With a mom who was an archaeologist and an Ironman triathlete – top 10 overall female at the Kona Ironman World Championships three times – a sense of adventure and a competitive spirit are in her genes. Weekends were spent traveling from race to race, and she was a three-sport athlete in high school, excelling in track, cross-country and gymnastics. Ultimate Frisbee was her sport at Carleton College in Minnesota, and she won the College National Championships her senior year. “I studied Geology as an undergrad as an excuse to be outside,” she freely admits.

After college, unsure of what she wanted to do next, she moved to Alaska and worked for the National Park Service for a year, at the base of Exit Glacier. Her undergraduate summers had been spent in Iceland and Svalbard (Arctic Norway) studying glacial sediments, and she decided to pursue that field, earning her master’s degree and PhD at the University of Cambridge in England. Although there were no women who played Ultimate Frisbee there, she joined the team and coached, eventually becoming part of the Great Britain National Women’s Team, playing all over Europe and the world.

Working in Antarctica for the British Antarctic Survey came next, including three field seasons camping with only a field assistant, as she studied ancient glacial sediments to reconstruct past climates. “We lived in a four-sided 9’ x 9’ pyramid canvas tent with no floor, hiking every day, and taking in so many calories just to maintain our weight. Once, we were stuck inside for four days straight as a snowstorm raged outside,” she recalls.

After returning to the US, she continued to publish academic papers, and gave birth to her two daughters, Anne-Sophie and Zoe. But she missed competing. Mountain biking became a big part of her life in 2014, after an astute neighbor brought her to the Saratoga Mountain Bike Association trails, right behind Skidmore College; he didn’t tell her that they were some of the most technical trails in the Northeast. “I was a stay at home mom in Saratoga, and mountain biking became the little bit of crazy that I needed in my life.” She was hooked.

She hit the road for three to five hours every day, and raced with team North American Velo, a Saratoga-based cycling race club, quickly becoming NYS Mountain Biking Champion in Category 1. “If you have the chance to ride the same trails on a different bike, or the same bike on different trails, your bike handling skills will improve dramatically,” she offers. This approach worked well when she raced cyclocross in the Elite category.

This was also the time when Anna began her XTERRA career in the off-season. XTERRA organizes off-road triathlons and trail runs around the world, and SkyHigh Adventures at Grafton Lakes State Park was one of the oldest races in the country with a 1K swim, 15K mountain bike, and 6K trail run. With relentless perseverance, she became northeast regional champion in short order, qualifying for the XTERRA World Championships in Hawaii.

Regularly training three to four days per week in the off-season, for three to four hours at a time at a low heart rate, her endurance grew rapidly. “I was really just cross training for mountain bike racing, basically swimming Ironman distances every time I jumped in the pool (2.4 miles) and running two half marathons per week,” she explains. She also snowshoed, cross country skied, and took out her fat bike. 

These days, Anna is focused on getting young girls on bikes. “I started this selfishly a couple of years ago for my then six- and eight-year-old daughters. When you hike and bike with your own children, they’ll often complain. But, as soon as other adults or kids join, the complaints stop.”

Participants in the Saratoga Girls’ Mountain Bike Rides range in age from five to 11 years old, but kids are eligible as soon as they’re off training wheels. They meet once a week – usually Wednesdays or Fridays at 4pm – in the fall and spring, for about eight to 10 weeks each season. While there are about 130 families involved, 10 to 20 girls (plus moms and other women who lead), show up every week; these break up into a few groups of five to seven riders each. Special bikes aren’t needed as kids’ bikes have wide tires. “This isn’t a racing group – that would mean fewer opportunities for the girls who want to do this. There’s healthy peer pressure. We want them to feel a sense of accomplishment, and also that they’ve been on an adventure every time they go out,” she says.

The fun begins with an information session and learning very basic mountain biking and group riding skills, such as leaving enough space between riders. Anna provides the snacks, and the girls bring their own water bottles. They start off together, and then split, with two adults riding with each group for about an hour. To cover insurance costs, there’s a nominal $40 fee per girl for the eight-week sessions, and rides usually take place in the Saratoga Spa State Park or Luther Forest.

One of Anna’s hopes, although not an expectation, is that the girls will be ready to join a NICA NY team once they’re in sixth grade. The National Interscholastic Cycling Association aims to foster character development through mountain biking programs for student-athletes across the US (racing is not required to participate). NICA also has a GRiT (Girls Riding Together) program specifically designed to get more girls together on bikes, including special rides and camps. Some of these NICA girls go on to compete at a college level. 

Girls living in the Capital Region in grades six to 12 that would like to join a NICA team, can contact Andrew Rizzi (arizzi5@yahoo.com) with the Niskayuna/Mohawk Mountain Goats or Rich Tortorici (rcubednica@gmail.com) with R-Cubed. The teams even have a few loaner bikes for those in need. Girls in Glens Falls and Saratoga Springs, should contact Niles Gagnon or Steve Fairchild with Grey Ghost Bicycles (greyghostbicycles@gmail.com). The teams ride and race with the New York High School Cycling Association, but racing is optional and not required for joining; everyone rides no matter what her/his ability or skill level. 

When Covid-19 hit and kids were suddenly home, Anna developed another idea that quickly proved popular, “STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) Talks for Kids!” a Facebook group where she hosts weekly Zoom calls for 200+ families. “I have a large network of people with very interesting backgrounds – scientists and artists, for example. I reached out to them and asked if they would share their knowledge, and now we have 20 to 70 kids on every week.” Topics include emperor penguins in Antarctica, muscle movement and foot orthotics, what being a pediatrician across the world is like, and how the body functions in space. While listening in on a talk by Anna’s cousin, who works for Facebook, it was clear that the kids were soaking it all in.

Professionally, Anna works as an environmental consultant for Arcadis, focusing on sustainability projects around the world. “I missed my career, and am glad to have found my science path again. It’s wonderful to have the flexibility that allows me to be home with my kids and also to do work that I’m passionate about.”

When asked to recall her best races, her most memorable is the Black Fly Challenge in the Adirondacks. “It was the very first cycling race I ever entered, 40 miles in one direction on any kind of bike on chunky gravel roads. I won the Sport category, and it just fueled my fire for racing. It’s one of the original ‘gravel grinders’ that have become so popular in bike racing in the last couple of years.”

Anna’s favorite mountain bike race is the Vermont 50, a 50-mile race in Brownsville, Vt. “This is a trail system that only opens to the public one day each year for the race because many parts are on private land. It begins at 6am., you start off wearing a headlamp, and then you’re out on these gorgeous trails, racing for six hours. There’s just an amazing level of grit and endurance required in the race,” she says.

And, how are things going during the pandemic? “I love having the kids at home. We’ve been doing fun things like sleeping outside.” What do you want your daughters to learn? “To have fun and be kind. That they can have it all – they can play and have a career in the outdoors. I hope that I can always adventure with them the way I adventured with my family – respecting the environment while fully enjoying being surrounded by it. I want them to understand that you can have fun, that life can be an adventure, and that you can also be successful all along the way.”

Clearly, it’s all in her DNA, and her kids, and now all of us, are the lucky beneficiaries. 

Linda Waxman Finkle (LWF518@gmail.com) is an Albany-based writer who loves sports, science, history, and learning new things. She spends many hours on the road, exploring the world, and visiting family and friends.