The founder: Jen Fisher found her place in the mountains in 1993 when she took part in a 30-day Outward Bound Alpine Mountaineering course in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains in California. Upon finishing her education at Boston University, she moved west to Colorado and settled into a one-room cabin with no running water. Thus began her career as a ski instructor, white water raft guide, and outdoor educator. She spent the next ten years climbing, skiing, biking and traveling. Eventually her interests changed and led her to massage school and then onto the Teton Mountains in search of a simpler way of life and more snow. She currently runs her own massage practise and works for an all women’s surf camp in Costa Rica where she teaches yoga and practises massage. Jen has participated in many women's specific clinics including two rounds of Chicks with Picks, an all women's ice climbing clinic in Ouray, Colorado and two rounds at Pura Vida Adventures, the all women’s surf camp in Mal Pais, Costa Rica with whom she is currently employed. "I truly believe that something special and unique occurs when women get together. The supportive and nurturing environment creates a container in which we are able to shirk our inhibitions and really go for it."
Jen began mountain biking twelve years ago and with each passing season has become more obsessed with her bike. Riding through the woods one day this spring trying to better handle the switch backs with a little more speed, she had the A-HA moment. "If only someone could give me the magic nugget of knowledge to get through this corner more quickly, smoothly and with confidence, that would improve my riding greatly and I would have MORE FUN!" And when you meet Jen, you will instantly know that her M.O. is fun, fun and more fun. "Life is too short to spend your time sitting around being upset about the state of your life. It is your life and up to you to make it what you want. As my Dad says 'Life is not a dress rehearsal. When you get up each morning it is your choice to make about what kind of a day you are going to have.' And I try to live each day that way." And so the idea for the camp began to percolate in her mind.
Through her work with Pura Vida Adventures, she began to develop the concept of a camp that included the hard skills, i.e.; the how-to's of mountain biking, but also saw that there is so much more to being an athlete. Whether you are a beginner or a more advanced rider, their combination of physical skills, mental prowess, and a healthy body all come into play for athletic performance. By combining time on the bike with yoga, nutritional counseling, and sports psychology women will carry home with them from her camp a more holistic approach to their bike as well as their lives.
