Athletes

Who we are

Our team consists of athletes from a wide variety of competitive adventure sports. In addition to competing, we focus on new athlete development, community, volunteerism, and stewardship.

If you are interested in being part of the Northwest Competitive Adventure team, please click below for more information.

More than numbers

STATS

Partaken Events

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Podiums

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stoke

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Jesse Blough - Ultra-distance Cyclist

Bend, Oregon

Jesse is an ultra-endurance athlete who competes in ultramarathons, ultra-distance bikepacking races, and has pursued FKTs. Jesse regularly competes in road & gravel cycling races, and has volunteered, directed, or otherwise supported nearly every variety of athletic event. His experience as a board member for a non-profit cycling team and a background in operations management provide a strong leadership foundation for Northwest Competitive Adventure.

Notable Events Include:

2020 Atlas Mountain Race – 5d18h10m
2019 Iberica Traversa – 4th place
2018 Silk Road Mountain Race
Oregon Gravel Grinder Series – 2017 Winner, Mid Distance
Oregon Hillclimb State Championship – 1st Place in Category
Numerous FKT Attempts on PCT Segments in Oregon
Race director and creator of The Big Lonely
Co-creator of the Alaska Divide

Tom Hainisch - Ultra-distance Cyclist

Bend, Oregon

After 20 plus years as a competitive distance runner, Tom Hainisch transitioned into competitive cycling about 10 years ago. In just a couple of years, Tom earned his Elite/Pro category license in mountain biking and continues to race all cycling disciplines and distances.

In 2017, Tom chose the 2700 mile Tour Divide as his first ultra-distance bikepacking race, earning a top 10 finish despite a 50-plus pound bike and painful knees that prevented him from standing while riding. Learning from this experience, Tom lightened up his bike and gear, and earned 2nd overall at the 2018 Smoke and Fire bikepacking race. In 2019, Tom won the overall and set a new course record at the BC Epic 1000.

Tom rides anywhere from 7500 – 11,000 miles per year and races in at least a dozen races each year. He also enjoys slower bike tours when he is not racing. Completed trips include the Colorado Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail, Trans America Bike Route, and entire Pacific Coast.

Notable events and recent podium finishes include:

Day and stage race results:
2019

1st overall – Oregon Coast Gravel Epic
1st overall – Oregon Gran Fondo Sherman Route
1st Master overall – Cascade Gravel Grinder Stage Race
2nd overall, 1st Master – Sasquatch Duro Gravel Grinder

2018

1st overall – Skull 120 Gravel Race
2nd overall, 1st Master – Bust your Butte Gravel Challenge
2nd overall, 1st Master – High Desert Gravel Grinder Race
3rd overall, 1st Master – Ochoco Gravel Roubaix

2017

2nd overall, 1st Master – Ochoco Gravel Roubaix
2nd overall, 1st Master – Cascade Cream Puff 50 Mile
2nd overall – Goldendale Gran Fondo

2016

1st Overall Masters 1/2/3 – Baker City Stage Race
1st Master – Pierre’s Hole 100 Mile MTB Race
1st Overall Masters- Deschutes River Valley Time Trial Stage Race
2nd Overall, Elite Men – Spring Thaw MTB Race
2nd overall, 1st Master – 6 Hours of Mt. Hood MTB Solo Race
3rd Overall, Elite Men – Mudslinger MTB Race

Ultra Race results

1st Overall and course record – 2019 BC Epic 1000
2nd Overall – 2018 Smoke and Fire 400
9th Overall – 2017 Tour Divide

Distance Running

10 Marathons, including 2 Boston Marathons and Pikes Peak

Daniel Jessee - Ultra-distance cyclist, ultra-runner, mountaineer

A 27′ Airstream named Eddie

Daniel grew up as a runner with a love for endless adventure in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of Georgia and North Carolina. Following a stint as a collegiate rower, Daniel returned to the mountains racing trail ultras, mountaineering and guiding clients on a variety of outdoor pursuits. In 2012 Daniel combined his obsession with long-distance adventures and bicycles to dive head first into bikepacking.

Daniel’s first race was the inaugural Highland Trail Race in Scotland where he finished 8th without having a clue what he was doing. Really, it’s a miracle he survived. At the end of this type-2 adventure, with zero feeling in three fingers, a crunchy achilles tendon, and the beginnings of trench foot, Daniel came to love the indelible impressions the raw Scottish countryside and it’s wonderful people had left on him. Those experiences drew him to compete in a number of bikepacking events over the next six years from the Kiwi Brevet to Cairngorms Loop, Stagecoach 400, Allegheny Mountains Loop 400, and Cross-Florida ITT–all with top-10 finishes–and failed attempts at The Transcontinental Race and Iberica Traversa.

Throughout this evolution, Daniel has used his adventures to inspire people to care about the natural world, rescue dogs, and each other. One of his proudest accomplishments is the creation of the 290-mile Cohutta Cat route in North Georgia and East Tennessee. Designed as a preeminently rideable fall route, the goal was to show off the best communities, people and nature Daniel’s home region has to offer. Judging by the comments on the route, he’s succeeded!

When he’s not on a bike, Daniel is living full-time in a 27-foot Airstream named Eddie with his wife, Julie, and their lab rescue, Aspen.

Helgi Olafson - Ultramarathon Runner & Triathlete

A yacht in some amazing place, Earth

Helgi Olafson is a middle-of-the-pack ultra endurance athlete with a very colorful background. Helgi is a professional yacht chef and travels through work to some pretty cool adventure destinations. He started in the sport of triathlon in 2012 at age 28. Helgi strives to promote exercise as medicine and use his own life experiences as a way to inspire others to get off of the couch. Helgi has ankylosing spondylitis (AS), which is a form of autoimmune arthritis that can cause minor to severe fusion in the joints of those with the disease. To learn more about AS, please read Helgi’s story here: Helgi’s Life with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Helgi spent his first four years in endurance sports at the top of his age group in triathlon. After setting foot on the trails in the Columbia River Gorge, he realized that adventure running offered much more than just a workout for the human body. Helgi views trail and ultrarunning as an experience not only to test whats humanly possible both mentally and physically, but also to feel closer to the natural beauty of this earth as Mother Nature intended it to be. Even better when he gets to experience it with like-minded individuals.

In 2018, Helgi was the first to circumnavigate Lake Tahoe (mostly on the snow-packed TRT). Two days later, he did his own version of the Iconic Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim, adding a fourth Rim in there for 64 miles and 15,000 feet of good measure. Helgi is no stranger to greater than 100 mile solo, self-supported adventures. He’s a gear junkie and comes prepared for battle. Helgi is one of 39 in the world to have completed Destination Trail’s Triple Crown of 200s and is not planning on stopping anytime soon.

We won’t reveal all of his plans, yet, but in 2020, Helgi plans to go for a few supported FKTs and become the first to race the Triple Crown of 200s while running about 3000 miles from Bigfoot 200 to Tahoe 200 to Moab 240, all within the 10 week span. We think he’s crazy, but we will be cheering for him and definitely joining him along the way to watch him hallucinate from sleep deprivation.

Helgi is an ambassador for Kogalla RA, Salomon Running, and Leki Poles. More importantly, though, we consider Helgi an ambassador for the sport of ultra running. He always has a smile on his face and is looking for the next runventure. He is the life of the party at any race, whooping and cracking jokes all of the way to the finish line. In a world where things can go wrong very quickly, Helgi is a pro at keeping it positive with finesse.

Feel free to connect with Helgi on his social media channels below and check out some of these links to learn more about the guy:

Ben Handrich - Ultra-distance Cyclist & Runner

Salem, Oregon

While an emphasis on fitness and nutrition have always been integral in his life, it was only in the last year that Ben decided to step into the world of ultra-endurance events. After a number of bike tours around Oregon and one week long tour through the Canadian Rockies, Ben purchased his first mountain bike – A Surly Krampus – in 2014, and from there bikepacking became his primary form of adventure.

Ben created a number of singletrack-oriented ‘weekender’ trips around the state of Oregon, which can be found on his blog, Pedals Packs and Pinots. Ben also toured a number of multi-day rides, including the Colorado Trail, Oregon Outback, and the Oregon Timber Trail, among others.

After qualifying the previous year in his first marathon – the Portland Marathon – with a top-10 finish, in 2019 Ben completed the Boston Marathon on April 15th, and then immediately after took the next two months to train for his first ever ultra-endurance bikepacking race – the BC Epic 1,000. Having finished the race in 4th place, Ben now has his sights firmly set on future mountain bike and gravel-oriented ultra-endurance events for 2020, and will continue to catalog these events, the training process, the gear, and the food he uses on his blog.

Follow along with his adventures on his blog, Pedals Packs and Pinots and at his social media links below.

Sam Rivera - Mountaineer & Ultra-endurance Cyclist

Bend, Oregon

Sam Rivera is a 37-year-old builder, biker, and badass Dad. From spending his youth shredding on a BMX and punk’ing around Detroit to evolving into a legit mountaineer and cyclist. Sam climbed all 15 of California’s 14ers, and in his 29^th year he climbed 29 peaks. After the move to Bend, Oregon in 2015 and with endless adventures at his doorstep it was game on!

With the cycling roots from his background Sam started slaying the dirt and paved roads spending his time tearing up the trails and easily logging 100-200 mile rides on an easy Sunday morning. Living the dream in Bend, Sam is often up at 4 a.m. riding the trainer in the garage during the winter months, or trying to get in as many laps up Pilot Butte as possible before heading to work. (16 laps is his record, done in time to head to work at 7am!)

Several years of mountaineering, ice-climbing and hard core crushing led to a full knee reconstruction and a renewed fire to take his cycling to the next level with his repaired knee. Only 10 months post-surgery he buckled in the Leadville 100 MTB and placed 3^rd in the Oregon 12/24 mountain bike race riding solo. In 2019 he placed 1^stin his category at the Echo Red2Red XC mountain bike race and 2nd in the Open Men’s Solo category at Oregon 12/24.

Since reclaiming his rolling passion, his stoke level has been at an all-time high by competing in endurance cycling events, and balancing home life by taking his two kids (4 and 6) on epic adventures and going on rad dates with his wife, Ann the Northwest Competitive Adventure Mindset Coach.

Sam currently holds the FKT for instantly giving in to his daughter Sierra’s requests the very moment she asks. (But really, who could blame him. She’s adorable.)

Kristen Quadrone & Emma - Bikepacker, Runner & Best Dog Ever

Bend, Oregon

My name is Kristen and my furry companion is Emma. We are a package deal based in Bend, Oregon, which provides the beautiful backdrop and easy accessibility for our outdoor endeavors. While we spend our forty hours a week working at Ruffwear, we spare no effort to spend quite literally the rest of our time outside.

I began riding bikes after a hip injury in gymnastics caused me to call it quits, and the bike provided a great low-impact alternative to stay active (and sane). I poured everything I had put into gymnastics into cycling, and the rest was history. I started touring and bikepacking before I got Emma as a puppy so when she was old enough, I introduced her to running with the mountain bike. Day rides on the trails were fantastic, but I wanted a way to include her on longer adventures.

We went through a few iterations, but finally landed on a trailer setup that allows us to bikepack together. Emma will run along the bike on trails and long climbs, hopping in the trailer on command to rest or to allow us to pick up the pace. I’ll never leave her behind on a bike trip again, which is why she has joined me on everything from countless local overnights to the Oregon Outback.

While we spend a large amount of time on the bike (and in the trailer), we also spend many days on mountaintops and have also taken on trail running in the last couple years, slowly building our bipedal (and quadrupedal) miles.

You’ll constantly find us riding, running, or hiking outside of office hours, whether it’s at 3:00am to catch a summit sunrise before work or trail riding afterward before setting up camp for the night. We’re not decorated athletes, and we don’t set out to win races or break records, but we are dedicated to fitting as much adventure as possible into each and every day.

Seth Dubois - Ultra-distance Cyclist & Runner

Portland, Oregon

Seth recently started his endeavors in bikepacking and ultra-endurance cycling in 2018 when he competed in the Steens Mazama 1000mi, following this race he quickly became passionate about the sport and the community of people involved.

Originally from Albany, NY, Seth attended SUNY Cortland where he was a nationally competitive track and cross country athlete with a 5,000m personal best of 14:35 and a 10,000m personal best of 30:17. In 2008, Seth led his team to win the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships with a 7thplace finish.

Following college graduation in 2010, Seth moved to Corvallis, Oregon with a focus on competing in the marathon. After an unfortunate series of setbacks due to reoccurring injuries, Seth found himself cycling as a means to cross-train. Cycling soon evolved in to a new passion with an interest to pursue self-supported ultra-endurance cycling, which was inspired by the movie “Inspired to Ride,” created by Mike Dion.

Seth is excited to represent the Northwest Competitive Adventure Team because he appreciates the passionate and community-focused group of ultra-endurance athletes the team is comprised of.

Notable Events:

2018 Steens Mazama 1000mi – 2nd place, 3d 21h 56m
2018 Swift Summit 200mi – 8th place, 12h 32m
2019 BC Epic 1000km – 2nd place, 2d 20h 13m
2019 Oregon Outback ITT – 39h 39m
2020 Utah Mixed Epic – 2nd place

In addition to competition, Seth is passionate about documenting his adventures and the adventures of other athletes through digital and film photography, which can be seen on his websites at sethdubois.com

Mike Maurer - Ultra-distance Cyclist, Mountaineer

Bend, Oregon

Throughout Mike’s exploration and racing career he has been guided by a single principle; “I wonder if I could do that”. This has led to a lifetime of adventure and pursuits. Mike started by thru hiking the PCT, which led to completing 3 marathons and qualifying for Boston. At the same time he honed his offshore sailing skills and became a well-known multihull racer competing against and defeating folks like Dennis Conner and Roy Disney in offshore events.

Mike moved to Oregon in 2007 and shifted to high mountain pursuits, and also joined the local Search and Rescue unit. His attempts and accomplishments include all of the Cascade Peaks, Rainier, Mt Hood, Mt. Everest and Aconcagua. Pulmonary Edema kept him from completing his Everest expedition and weather forced him to shut down on Aconcagua but his sense of adventure remained. Mike moved into ultra-distance bike racing next, and competed in the Trans Am Bike race in 2017 and again in 2018. He has recently moved into shorter distance gravel and mixed surface racing, and has plans for a multitude of events in 2020 including the Steens Mazama 1000 around Oregon, and the Utah Mixed Epic 1000 mile race.

Notable Accomplishments:

2018 Swift Summit 200 – 11th Place Finish
2018 Trans Am Bike Race (avg 188 miles/day)
2017 Trans Am Bike Race (avg 211 miles/day)
2016 Mt Aconcagua expedition
2014 Mt. Rainier via Leuthold
2014 Mt. Rainier summit for 4 days, mapping ice caves
2013 Mt. Everest expedition

Historic events:

Multiple marathons, Boston qualifier
2007 PCT thru-hike
Multiple sailing 1^st place wins

Jon Conway - Ultra-distance Cyclist and Ultra-runner

Prineville, Oregon

Jon has had a passion for bikes ever since highschool. He started riding and racing in 1995, at the age of 15. On any given weekend you’d find Jon racing mountain bikes and cyclocross in and around his home state of Massachusetts. Upon moving to Oregon in 2013, Jon continued to push his limits, competing and winning numerous cyclocross and mountain bike races in the singlespeed category. Jon is an endurance runner and cyclist, having competed in the Smith Rock Ascent 50K (running) and High Cascade 100 (cycling).

Cross Country mountain bike racing had always been Jon’s passion until recently when he found ultra distance riding and racing to be far more exciting and rewarding. When Jon’s not hanging out with his wife and four year old daughter, he can be found bikepacking in the Ochocos. Having completed the Oregon Timber Trail in 2020, Jon is looking forward to riding and racing in even more ultra endurance events in 2021.

Phil Stiff - Ultra-distance Cyclist

Bend, Oregon

Howdy! I am Phil and I have a healthy obsession with riding bikes. I have been competing in XC mountain bike races since my early 20s after a small stint in adventure racing. While racing was a good test of my progress, mountain biking became much more about my mental & physical wellbeing. Like any chapter we don’t understand until it is complete, this value wasn’t clear till it was missing.

After spending a few years in PDX & more time away from the trail than I wanted, I realized I had a large piece of my life missing. In 2018, I moved to Bend to maximize my work/life balance and the passion for mountain biking has since been reignited. In 2019 I focused on completing my longest XC race to date, the High Cascade 100. There was something about this format that changed my view of racing and turned me onto a whole new focus.

Since then I thought my next goal was going to be a 24H race because it was the natural progression but I just was not excited about doing laps for that time. My excitement was the adventure and constantly changing scenery. Fortunately I met 2 great guys that somehow convinced me to move my goal to 3x the length in 8 fewer months, with 0 laps. Enter ultra distance mountain bike racing. This is not a path I ever thought I would have gone down but couldn’t be happier. I am constantly learning new things about my bike and myself + love the community that is involved with such humbling events.

Colton Berk - Ultra-distance Cyclist

Portland, Oregon

Dirtbag Extraordinaire and recent addition to the competitive scene, Colton got into bikepacking and cycling in general a little over 3 years ago. After his first overnighter, a fire ignited in him – pushing him to want to go further and get there faster, not to be faster than others but to push himself further than he thought he could go. As a gear junkie he is always tweaking his set up, never settling until the ‘perfect setup’ is achieved.

Having to postpone his first race season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Colton just bikepacked all summer until the oppourtunity to compete in the first annual Big Lonely race in October of that year. Having got heat exhaustion and needing to get a hotel 100mi in when he set off the next morning at 3am the rain started coming down, creating a sticky mud and slashing his tire sidewall causing a scratch just 115 miles into the race. That said Theres a busy spring race season for Colton in 2021 having already completed the 100k Shasta Gravel hugger in 49th( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) and upcoming races including

-Gorge Gravel Grinder(Medium Grind) – April 11th
Cascadia Super Gravel(100mi) – April 24th
Cascade Gravel Grinder(5mi, 64mi, and 68mi) – April 30th-May 2nd
Odyssey of the VOG(346mi) – May 29th(Grand Depart)

Currently based in Portland, OR feel free to hit him up for a casual overnighter or exciting gravel route!

Kraig Pauli - Ultra-distance Cyclist

Portland, Oregon

Kraig is a native to the Willamette Valley and a lifelong cyclist. He grew up riding the city streets of Portland, first starting out on a 5 speed Schwinn Stingray. At the age of 14 he had his first taste of solo endurance cycling, riding his Trek 320 from Portland to Astoria. He did a few more bike adventures in his early 20’s, most notably touring western Europe in 1989. After 16 years off of the bike, he started riding again at age 44. A few years later, he joined the Oregon Randonneurs gaining more experience at longer distances. Wanting a little more adventure from his long-distance cycling endeavors, he entered his first ultra-endurance bike race in 2017. He won that race and was hooked on the thrill of riding his bike for endless hours of endurance adventure training and racing.

In 2020, Kraig purchased his first gravel bike. Wanting to give it a thorough shakedown ride, he rode the bike from Portland to The Dalles and then proceeded to ride the Oregon Outback route backwards to Klamath Falls and then complete the loop by returning to Portland via the Oregon Cascades Volcanic Arc 400. It was an awesome 5.5-day, 1,000-mile gravel ride that was a great taste of remote gravel adventure riding. Kraig has more gravel rides and ultra-endurance races planned in the future.

Notable Accomplishments:

2017 Steens-Mazama 1000 – First Place
2017 Swift Summit 200 – Sixth Place
2018 Trans Am Bike Race – Third Place
2018 Swift Summit 200 – Sixth Place
2019 Bike Nonstop US – First Place

Meaghan Hackinen - Ultra-distance Cyclist

Okanagan, BC

Meaghan Hackinen is an Okanagan-based writer and ultra-distance cyclist whose two-wheeled adventures have taken her from Haida Gwaii to Mexico’s high plateaus, across Canada and the United States, and from North Cape to Tarifa along some of Europe’s highest paved roads. With an extensive background in bicycle touring, Meaghan made the transition to competitive ultra-endurance cycling in 2017 after three ACL tears, two knee surgeries, and a brief stint in flat-track roller derby.

Meaghan has since competed regionally and internationally in self-supported bikepacking events. She is a Trans Am Bike Race, NorthCape4000, and Paris-Brest-Paris brevet finisher, as well as the 2019 24-Hour World Time Trial Champion and current course record holder in the women’s division. A three-time “Everester”, Meaghan was the first person to Everest Knox Mountain in Kelowna, BC (2018) and the first woman to complete a 10,000 metre Everest in Canada (2020).

In 2021, Meaghan took the overall win in the BC Epic 1000 and landed on the podium of the Alberta-Rockies 700. She has an MFA in Writing from the University of Saskatchewan (2016) and her debut travel memoir, South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels (NeWest Press, 2019) was a finalist for two Canadian book awards. She looks forward to tackling even more challenging pursuits on the bike in 2022 and beyond.

Notable Events

2021 BC Epic 1000: Overall win; new women’s FKT
2021 Alberta Rockies 700: 3rd overall; women’s division winner
2019 NorthCape4000: 5th overall; women’s division winner
2019 World 24 Hour Time Trial Championships: 5th overall; new women’s FKT
2019 Marysville 600 Brevet: new women’s FKT
2019 Paris-Brest-Paris: Sub-80 Hour Finisher
2018 World 24 Hour Time Trail Championships: 7th overall; 2nd women’s division
2017 Trans Am Bike Race; 24th overall; 3rd women’s division
2017 Granite Anvil 1200: Finisher
2016 Swan River 1200: Finisher