Once the unlikeliest of athletes, a Fond du Lac woman is now a champion bike racer teaching others the joy of the sport

In 2018, Alexandera Houchin biked 2,745 miles from Banff, Alberta, to the Mexican border, crisscrossing the Continental Divide. Carrying her own supplies, she'd traversed the Rocky Mountains on terrain so rough that at times she had to carry her bike. Through inclement weather and on minimal sleep, she'd made it in 23 days.

When Houchin arrived at the finish line of the Tour Divide - the country's most grueling, off-pavement, self-supported cycling race - she found no ribbon to break, no television cameras or cheering crowds. As the women's division winner, all she saw was a desolate stretch of two-lane and a border station staffed by an agent who said he couldn't leave his post to come take her picture.

So Houchin treated herself to an orange soda from the vending machine and sat on a folding chair to wait for her ride.

https://www.startribune.com/once-the-unlikeliest-of-athletes-a-fond-du-lac-woman-is-now-a-champion-bike-racer-teaching-others-th/600071937/