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Vega Brhely - President & Founder
president@inspirecycling.org Vega moved to the Roaring Fork Valley from Boulder with her partner, Erik Obermeyer, in 2017 to enjoy a lifestyle centered around cycling and skiing. She is a Licensed Acupuncturist, USAC coach, and Professional Bike Fitter who owns Hill Climb Acupuncture & Bike Fit in Basalt. Vega has had a lifelong love affair with bicycles and is passionate about getting more women on bikes. She spent grad school racing her road bike in Chicago and Boulder. Since "retiring" from road racing, she has participated in Bike MS as a top Colorado fundraiser for the past 8 years, completed the Double Triple Bypass, dabbled in some local bike park races, has tested the waters of gravel racing with an age group win in her first race, and is looking forward to her first Enduro MTB race in July at the Sturdy Dirty. She is an ambassador for Alchemy Bikes. Vega created Inspire Cycling out of the collective desire that many clients and friends expressed to have more ladies to ride with for fun. She loves connecting people and building community and encourages ladies to find their potential both on and off the bike. |
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Aaron Simmons - Vice President, Sponsorship Director
sponsorship.inspirecycling@gmail.com Aaron, her partner Zach Garcia, and their two dogs Callie and Cooper moved to the RFV in May of 2021 from Austin, Texas. Aaron got into cycling when she got tired of driving in the Austin traffic and started bike commuting to and from graduate school at the University of Texas. Once moving to Colorado Aaron wanted to continue to improve her cycling and find friends and community within the sport. Inspire was the perfect fit! Aaron enjoys social rides as she loves to chat, however has tried her hand at MTB and road biking and intends to expand her cycling experience in the 2023 season. Learning new skills is a fun passion of Aaron's as she learned how to ski for the first time ever in 2021-2022 winter season. She plans to continue to explore new hobbies. Aaron enjoys trail running, cycling, fly fishing and skiing. |
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Lily Binford - Secretary, Membership Director
membership.inspirecycling@gmail.com Lily is relatively new to the RFV but hardly new to bikes. While attending the University of Texas at Austin, she joined forty other students to complete the Texas 4000, the longest annual charity bicycle ride in the world: a seventy-day, 4000-mile journey from Austin to Anchorage on a Trek 1500. This experience introduced her to long-distance cycling, and she's been happily rolling on two wheels ever since. She moved to Rife, CO in 2021 from Dallas, TX with her husband James and husky Haze. She recently expanded from road to MTB, and she plans to explore gravel in the near future. Lily currently teaches middle school science at Two Rivers Community School in Glenwood Springs, where she finds every opportunity to get her students outdoors to explore the natural world. She enjoys camping, hiking, crafting, reading, skiing, and you guessed it, cycling. |
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Megan Blaszak - Treasurer
treasurer.inspirecycling@gmail.com Megan is a Michigander who moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in 2019 to pursue a new career and way of life. When she's not working as a social worker, she can be found out on the trails or roads in every season. An avid ultra runner, she rediscovered biking after an unfortunate injury in 2022 and now owns more bikes than she has room for. In the winter, she spends most of her time skiing (uphill and downhill), nordic skiing, and playing hockey. She enjoys all adventures, big and small, and believes the best ones always involve friends (and cheese). |
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Alicia Robb - Social Media Director
socialmedia.inspirecycling@gmail.com Alicia Robb is the CEO of Next Wave Impact and manages two early-stage venture funds. She was previously a Senior Fellow with the Kauffman Foundation for more than a decade. Alicia received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently works as an economist with Reveal Global Consulting and previously with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Office of Economic Research in the SBA. She is a prolific author on the topics of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance. In addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, she is the co-author of six books, including: A Rising Tide: Financing Strategies for Women-Owned Businesses and The Next Wave: Financing and Investing Strategies for Growth-Oriented Women Entrepreneurs published by Stanford University Press, as well as Race and Entrepreneurial Success published by MIT Press. She splits her time between Glenwood Springs and Tucson and enjoys mountain biking, road biking, hiking with her husband and four legged kids, and running trail half marathons. |
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Anna Simpson - Ride Director
ridedirector.inspirecycling@gmail.com Anna first learned how to ride a bike at 22 years old as a New Year's Resolution. It's the one resolution she's ever kept! Nearly a decade later, Anna is still riding and enjoys long adventure mountain bike rides. Anna has completed Leadville 100 Trail MTB race twice, and is signed up for the 2023 race. She is also looking forward to riding more 14'ers and trying out bike-packing. When she's not riding bikes, Anna works for Aspen Skiing Company in the IT department for the hotels, enjoys making ceramics, and hosting occasional craft nights. |