Leigh Donovan is a World Champ downhill racer, and helping to get more women riding bikes.
Leigh Donovan is a World Champ downhill racer, and helping to get more women riding bikes.

There is a really cool movement happening right now in the mountain bike world, and it’s all about getting more women out there and riding. Today, Leigh Donovan announces her awesome new company, I Choose Bikes. Leigh is a downhill mt bike world champion, 9x US National Champ, and BMX Hall of Famer. This gal can RIDE! Flat out. She’s partnered up with some really cool companies, and they’re all working hard to get the word out to women to come out and ride.

With the support of Liv/giant, SRAM, Rock Shox, Troy Lee Designs, Camelbak, and KINDbar, Donovan will help educate women cyclists, work with race promoters and offer free fundamental bike clinics across the U.S. and abroad.

While Leigh has been doing a yearly women’s event at both the Ray’s MTB bike parks in the Midwest the past 5 years, she wanted to bring that type of event out West. Leigh reached out to some friends at Mammoth Mountain to host a women’s 3-day event and they loved the idea. So this Summer, Donovan and Mammoth will host their first ever “women’s only” event July 23-26, 2014. “I have known Leigh Donovan for over 20 years, beginning in the early days of her MTB career, with downhill and dual slalom. To have Leigh come back to Mammoth and partner with us for mountain bike camps is such an honor, and we are excited for her to be part of the Mammoth Team. I am looking forward to this year’s camp and the many to follow in the future.” – Bill Cockroft, Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.

With Mammoth and many other events on Leigh’s calendar for 2014, be sure to check out her website I Choose Bikes and join her contact list so you can stay up to date with new events! As Leigh says often, “it’s always more fun to share the ride, happy trails!”

There’s a full schedule of great events that Leigh, and her elite crew of female coaches, will be at, on her site. Also a “How-To” section that she promises will help riders with some basics.

Guys out there with a significant other that maybe doesn’t ride, you know you’ve thought how awesome it would be if she would ride with you. But you’re a horrible teacher (most of us are). Give that gal a gift of a skills clinic with Leigh. You’ll be thankful you did.


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About the author

Manne Schmitt

As the proud father of Robin and Max-Philip, Manne has been there from the start and is the wise elder of the editorial team. He won his first cycling race in elementary school at a school sports day. After less successful attempts at football, he found his passion for cycling via endurance racing in 1989! The world of racing still consumes him and no one in the team knows the EWS pros better than Manne. As a former head analyst of a state agency, he knows how to do proper research and finds exclusive news that no one else has. He supports his sons in day-to-day business dealings as the authorised signatory for 41 Publishing – viva la familia!